Supporting a Successful Merger: The GASCO 21 Journey (part 1)

In April 2001, the Abu Dhabi Gas Company was integrated with Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd. (GASCO), a joint venture partnership made up of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Shell, Total, and Partex. The merger resulted in one of the largest gas processing companies in the world. The merger provided GASCO with a chance to look into the future and discover ways of making two good companies into a great company!

Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd. (GASCO), after the merger, consists of 5 major gas producing sites that are situated in remote desert locations throughout Abu Dhabi.

Getting Started

From the very beginning Mohammed Sahoo, the General Manager (GM) realized that for any lasting changes to take place it would require the support and involvement of the entire company as well as the help of external consultants. The benefit of bringing external consultants in during the strategic discussions was three-fold; 1) they provided professional expertise, 2) their presence 'showed' everyone the management team was committed to making the merger a success, and finally, 3) they provided an air of neutrality. The GM and his management chose a team of external consultants to provide direction and help establish a solid foundation for the change process.

The Company's Team

From the start it was recognized that successful change initiatives would need to be driven by GASCO personnel if they were to become institutionalized. Mohammed Al Qubaisi, Assistant General Manager for Administration assembled a team of HR and operational experts with the aim of identifying company personnel that would be involved with the change process. These individuals would be trained by, work alongside and assume the responsibilities of leading the change efforts once the external consultant's short-term contract was completed. This manning strategy ensured in-house sponsors, part-time change agents and full-time change champions would be dedicated to ensuring the Journey remained successful.

Creating the Vision

To start, a strategic workshop was planned for senior managers from both companies to discuss the new organization's future. During October 2002, the consultants and the Gasco Change Team led a 2-day workshop, during which a Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats analysis was completed by the extended management team. This analysis led to the development of a new vision and the initial change strategy for the organization.

During the workshop ideas were discussed on how to get people interested and involved. The first suggestion implemented was to hold a contest for designing the new company's logo. Although this may appear to be a trivial idea and be more a marketing gimmick than an effective change strategy, it actually resulted in immediate buy-in as people began working together to design a new logo. Thus it helped build a bridge between two different workforces as they came together to form the new Gasco.. This effort was one of the starting points of what would later become the GASCO 21 Journey.

What is the GASCO 21Journey?

The management team decided the transformation that would take place needed to be easily identified by everyone in the company. Since the changes underway would focus on preparing the company for the future, the name GASCO 21 was adopted - it stands for Gasco in the 21st Century. Because the organization was embracing the concept of continuous change with the ultimate goal of making the company vision a reality, the name should reflect that as well. The slogan became 'The GASCO 21 Journey - Realizing the Vision' because it incorporated all the principles that would help the new Gasco change from a good company to a great one!

Although 'branding' the change efforts created awareness and buy-in, the Journey still needed clear and substantial goals otherwise it ran the risk of being seen as just another management fad. That is why the GASCO 21 Journey was designed to be a company-wide initiative that promoted performance centered change while increasing the company's capabilities. The Journey helped the new organization leverage existing strengths in order to reach out and seize future opportunities.

The most significant point management wanted to communicate was the GASCO 21 Journey was not a project. It would focus on driving performance improvements while also enhancing the company's working environment. This would only be possible if the entire organization and not just managers supported the Journey.

The Importance of Change Communications

Next, the GM conducted Q&A sessions at headquarters and the production sites to explain the company's new future. This helped bridge the gap between management and employees by showing openness that did not exist before the merger. It also allowed employees to ask questions about their future. These sessions were an immediate success because managers and employees could express their views and concerns about the merger. The Q&A sessions also sent the message that everyone should expect a change in the status quo and that change was coming so it was everyone's responsibility to get involved.

A by-product of the Q&A sessions is that it renewed peoples' faith in GASCO while promoting awareness and interest in the changes taking place. The briefings had a positive long-term impact on the company because it showed why changes were taking place; it created a sense of urgency and introduced the team dedicated to guiding the change process.

Getting on with 'The Journey'

Even though the Q&A sessions generated awareness for the new vision and priorities the next step required involving the entire workforce in the Journey. This was accomplished using two different tools; individual focus groups and an employee survey. Both gathered feedback and provided a means of identifying employee issues and concerns.

Specific instructions were prepared regarding the focus groups. Across the organization lead employees were selected by their peers to represent them at the focus group workshops. The G21 Team prepared a schedule and then conducted the workshops division-by-division during April & May 2003. The workshop facilitators started each half day session with a GASCO 21 Journey briefing, which emphasized the company's new vision and then outlined specific goals management had identified for the year. During the remaining time the groups raised issues, offered suggestions and identified improvement areas for the company and their specific division.

The focus groups allowed the employees to get involved with identifying the company's future and this enhanced the commitment levels across the entire organization. There were 2 other outcomes from the focus groups; a list of action items and the identification of 8 areas where employees felt there was a need to improve.

GASCO's Cultural Attributes

Although thousands of comments and suggestions were collected during the focus groups they were eventually sorted into 8 categories; Performance, Innovation, Adaptability & Learning, Teamwork, Open Communications & Transparency, Health, Safety & Environment, Family & Community, and Professionalism. After sorting, root-cause analysis was performed, the results were prioritized and 'Implementation Plans' were created to tackle Quick-Wins and long-term action items for each division.

These areas became know as GASCO's cultural attributes because they represented areas people felt the strongest about. The 8 attributes ultimately became the cornerstone for the majority of change activities introduced in the company. To build upon the earlier 'branding' success GASCO 21 Journey posters and handouts were produced for the attributes. In fact, this initiative was so successful that during the 1st year the G21 Team created the posters but by the 3rd year the divisions took over the role of designing and selecting the attribute posters for the organization.

Leading the Journey: a New & Expanding Team

As the focus groups came to a close the responsibility for guiding the GASCO 21 Journey was shifted from the external consultants to the in-house team. The GM asked me to lead the organizational change efforts and I worked with the management team in selecting three high-potential UAE Nationals to serve as Change Champions for a 1-year assignment. As Change Champions the candidates were provided an opportunity to develop their management and leadership skills while supporting the Company's plans in 'Realizing the Vision'.

At the beginning of 2004 the management team held another strategic workshop to review and evaluate the Journey's progress. They were also tasked with identifying the priorities and goals for the coming year. At the workshop the decision was made by the management team to reconfirm their commitment to the GASCO 21 Journey and the 'Commitment to Excellence' certificate was created, signed and then distributed throughout the organization.

It was also realized that additional Change Agents would aid the organizational change efforts underway within GASCO so each division manager nominated a part-time Change Agent to support the core team for the coming year. That had the effect of expanding the GASCO 21 Team from 4 Change Champions to a team of 21, even though 17 individuals were serving in a part-time role.

The success and impact the Change Agents have had on their divisions is clearly reflected by the size of the current GASCO 21 Team today. From 2004 through 2006 the team continued to grow and today there are more than 90 Divisional Change Agents.

Summary

In this article we laid the foundation of the GASCO 21 Journey that was implemented to ensure a successful merger between two gas producing giants within Abu Dhabi. In the next article more information will be provided on the tools and methods that were introduced to help keep the Journey on track!