people conversations

Regularly communicate expectations and discuss performance and development with others

People Conversations
Why is this Important
One of the key roles of leaders is to identify how each team member will
contribute to organization goals. Employees have a responsibility to ask
questions if they are uncertain about their priorities. They also need to respond
constructively to feedback from their boss, peers and customers to increase
their positive impact at work.
Leaders also try to align projects and tasks with employee strengths and
motivators to maximize team engagement. For this to be possible, employees
need to be self-aware and to be able to explain their career aspirations.
Some of the benefits of People Conversations include:

Key employee behaviors

Seeks to clarify desired goals and outcomes for his/her role
Initiates career discussions with their supervisor and plans
broadening/deepening development opportunities accordingly
Seeks feedback from others
Is honest and constructive in offering feedback to others

Key leader behaviors

Conveys clear expectations for assignments at the start of the year,
revisiting agreed goals at regular intervals to review progress

Increased role clarity and productivity

Discusses career paths and recommends development activities to others

Enhanced team alignment

Increased individual and team motivation

Provides on-going honest and helpful feedback to others on their

performance, identifying both strengths and development opportunities

Knowledge transfer and skills building

Models and encourages sharing and transparent communication to others

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people conversations

Regularly communicate expectations and discuss performance and development with others
People Conversations

Giving Effective Feedback

Coaching Process

Effective feedback helps the recipient understand what he or she did and
the impact of their behavior on others. When a person receives specific,
non-judgmental feedback and they understand the impact of their behavior
they are far more likely to take action to change their conduct in the future.

Coaching is the interactive process of equipping others with the insight,

knowledge, opportunity and expertise to maximize their performance and
potential. The GROW coaching model helps engage people in open and honest
conversation yielding critical information and investing both parties in the
process to build committed action.

The Situation Behavior Impact (SBI) approach is a simple way to provide

constructive feedback.
Situation

Behavior

Impact

Connects feedback to a
specific time and place.

Is always an action
or words.

How the persons actions

affected you or others.

Helps the person remember

or understand the context.

Can be observed, described

or heard.

How others responded

as a result of the persons
behavior.

Can be changed.

When assessing employees, make sure your feedback is based on observable

behaviors about their results or behaviors and not inferences (e.g., You are
lazy. vs. You are late.).
Inference

The GROW model is structured similarly to how you might plan a journey.

Goal

Set the Goal.

Reality

Identify current Reality.

Options

Explore Options to achieve the goal.

Identify potential obstacles to goal achievement.

Way

Agree on the Way forward, including key actions,

roles and responsibilities and follow up.

Behavior

Is a conclusion you make.

Is always an action or words.

Cannot be directly observed.

Can be observed, described or heard.

Is your opinion and not always a fact.

Can be changed.

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empowerment

Give people responsibility to achieve results and help them overcome major issues

Empowerment
Why is this Important
Employees are most motivated when they are empowered and can plan their
work. For this to happen, leaders and employees need to agree on which
decisions and activities employees are empowered to take, and which ones
need to be escalated. They also need to agree the nature of potential
project risks and at what stage leaders need to become involved in
overcoming obstacles.
Making these agreements up-front gives leaders confidence that they will
be kept informed of any critical issues and allows employees to implement
projects without being micro-managed.
Some of the benefits of Empowerment include:
Increased accountability for results
Employees develop new skills faster
Frees up leaders time to accomplish more
Creates a climate of transparency and trust
Encourages employees to escalate concerns early so that projects stay on track

Key employee behaviors

Acquires the authority, support and information needed to carry out work
Holds self accountable for outcomes
Anticipates and works to remove obstacles to achieving quality
results in a timely manner
Provides timely, relevant information to those who need it

Key leader behaviors

Ensures that others have the resources, information, authority and support
needed to achieve objectives
Delegates assignments to the lowest appropriate level and provides
the person with the space/latitude to carry them out
Trusts others judgment, recognizing that the best decisions
are not always made at the top
Accepts mistakes as a part of the process of delegating tasks and uses them
as an opportunity for learning and development for the team member

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empowerment

Give people responsibility to achieve results and help them overcome major issues
Empowerment

Delegation Premium

Delegation Framework

The Delegation Premium is the incremental gain that you can realize by
delegating a given task, project, or initiative. Over time, by enabling others to
execute key tasks, the Delegation Premium can be quite substantial, freeing
you to focus your attention on other key priorities. Increasing delegation also
fosters a culture of empowerment.

The Delegation EDGE Matrix describes the four stages that employees
transition through as they build competence and confidence in their abilities.
Leaders need to understand the current position of each member of their team
so that they can modify their delegation approach to maximize their effectiveness.

De

Higher

High

ate

Lower

Keep

Skills

Your time required

leg

The Delegation
Premium

Guide

Enable

Demonstrate

Explain

Lower

Higher
Motivation

Low
Now

Future

Explain: Work side-by-side with the person to execute the task, allowing them
to complete portions on their own as their skills increase.
Demonstrate: Delegate portions of the task or project that you are confident
they can execute successfully.
Guide: Delegate task or project authority and hold accountable for
key deliverables.
Enable: Fully empower and hold accountable for outcomes. Make yourself
available for support when needed.

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collaboration

Commit to and work towards shared goals with colleagues across the organization

Collaboration
Why is this Important

Key employee behaviors

Saudi Aramco is a large and complex company and no individual or team

can be effective without aligning their work with the work of others.

Involves others as appropriate to accomplish individual and group goals

We must all work together to achieve desired outcomes for the company.

Supports team decisions and promotes team spirit

Some of the benefits of effective Collaboration across organization

boundaries include:

Builds collaboration by identifying and conveying common interests

and priorities

Achievement of large-scale projects involving multiple organizations

Process efficiency

Volunteers to help others when needed

Key leader behaviors

High quality services to internal and external customers

Builds collaboration by committing to and working towards shared goals

and values with colleagues

Faster communications

Holds self and team accountable for achieving shared goals

Reduced costs

Recognizes and rewards outstanding team accomplishments

and celebrates team and organizational success

Eliminate duplication and rework

Enhanced employee morale

Promotes a culture of collaboration and teamwork across

organizational boundaries

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collaboration

Commit to and work towards shared goals with colleagues across the organization
Collaboration

Collaboration framework
Disciplined, or systematic collaboration is a continual process of identifying opportunities for collaboration, creating shared goals and together eliminating
barriers that prevent people from working together effectively.
Create Opportunities

Engage People

Attend company meetings in which

strategy and goals are discussed.

Leverage Project Status Reports

to communicate proactively with
key stakeholders.

Work with people from other

departments, to align your priorities
with business strategy.

Use multiple channels of

communication appropriate
to different groups.

Create
Opportunities

Identify key strategy and performance

metrics to align the activities of
multiple teams.

Use two-way communication

to build commitment.

Engage
People

Identify Common Goals

Align project goals with the broader
goals of the organization.
Ensure stakeholders clearly understand
project goals.
Ensure goals of different stakeholders
are aligned in a way that supports
achievement of the project.

Identify
Common
Goals

Eliminate Barriers

Eliminate
Barriers

Utilize Helping and Hindering Force

Field Analysis to indentify obstacles.
Mitigate, or minimize the Hindering
forces and maximize the Helping to
collaborate more effectively to achieve
your objective.
Use 5Ws framework to define
problems or obstacles clearly
and objectively.

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decision making

Be disciplined and clear in your thinking for important business decisions

Decision Making
Why is this Important
Saudi Aramco is responsible for making decisions which impact a wide range of
people in the Company, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and across the world.
Our leaders and employees must balance day-to-day operational considerations
with the profitability of the company and environmental protection.
Some of the benefits of effective decision making include:
Optimized investment decisions
Balance short-term benefits with long-term gain
Sustainability
Stakeholder engagement
Organizational health and growth
Enhanced citizenship and company reputation

Key employee behaviors

Uses relevant quantitative information, models and analyses
to guide critical actions and decisions
Identifies the underlying issues and root causes of problems
Welcomes and acknowledges the inputs of others
Provides good reasons for ideas and suggestions

Key leader behaviors

Makes disciplined and comprehensive decisions with significant
business implications (e.g., timing, level, allocation)
Seeks and integrates information from a variety of sources
(e.g., commercial, operational, strategic) rather than relying on subjective
information (e.g., gut feel) to arrive at optimal business solutions
Welcomes and acknowledges the ideas and input of others to ensure
multiple perspectives are included

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decision making

Be disciplined and clear in your thinking for important business decisions

Decision Making

Decision Making Process

Making Objective Decisions

Effective decision makers follow a consistent, structured approach to making

decisions. This involves clearly defining the problem or issue, selecting the
criteria against which the decision will be made, generating ideas and deciding
which solution to implement.

Decision matrices are a simple, yet effective way to consolidate data in

a way that helps you select the best alternative from a range of options.
It also helps you explain the rationale for your decision to others.

Define the
Problem

Develop the skills of existing team

What is the root problem you need to solve?

Cost

Select Key
Criteria

What are the criteria against which you will assess your options?

Generate
Solutions

Generate as many ideas as possible and align on the ones chosen.

Implement
Solutions

Define roles, responsibilities and specific commitments that each person

must achieve. Share the rationale behind your decision to build support.

Time to
competence

Impact
on team
dynamic

Involving Others
The Decision Involvement continuum shows the range of decision making
methods arranged in terms of the level of stakeholder involvement in the decision.
Low Involvement

Team
morale/
motivation

High Involvement

Tell

Persuade

Participate

Announcing a
pre-determined course
of action without
involving stakeholder;
an edict.

Collecting arguments
that support a preferred
course of action;
garnering expert
endorsement and selling
the idea.

Delegating aspects of
the decision to others
(e.g., task force).

Engage

Totals

Recruit new team members

10

Low Cost: 6 people will need to be

trained at $5,000 per head.

High Cost: Need to recruit

an additional 4 people.

Moderate: It will take 12 months to

build the required skills.

Moderate: Recruitment cycle time and

time for onboarding and integration.

Moderate: No impact on team

dynamic; however, some risk of
complacency has been identified.

Low: Team are keen for some new

perspectives but will take time for
new team members to integrate.

High: Career development potential

through training will be viewed as
motivating by team members.

Moderate: Members want to learn

from others but are concerned that
hiring new people will limit their
career choices.

27

15

Fully engaging
relevant stakeholders
in the decision making
process.

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