• Introduction
• Articles about FLL
• Customized and In-house Leadership Programs
• The Generative Spiral Model

Introduction

BP’s “First Level Leaders” program is an unprecedented effort to solve a very common problem: How do you develop leadership depth and breadth in a global scale corporation? BP is one of the three largest oil corporations in the world; there are more than 10,000 team leaders and supervisors working for it. They work in every business, stream and function, and their responsibilities differ dramatically. But they all have one thing in common: Their decisions, in aggregate, make an enormous difference to BP’s turnover, costs, quality, safety, innovation and environmental performance.

But training these individuals to be effective leaders is an immense challenge—in any corporation. Typically, training programs have emerged locally; they are not coordinated together, and they have no comprehensive mandate. Each is protected by its own history, staff, and priorities. The result is a fragmented base of knowledge and commitment, and a much weaker organization.

FLL is a comprehensive initiative to address this challenge by training and developing first-level leaders around the world. During the first two years, more than 5,000 BP managers took part in this program, which has been offered in Chinese, Spanish, German, and French as well as English.

This project was consciously created with the Dialogos Generative Spiral Model as a guide, with Robert Hanig as one of the three principal members of the design team. The FLL story told here describes how a small group of innovators gradually brought the “whole system in the room”—developing sponsorship among all key constituents—to redesign and recreate this initiative.

Articles about FLL

The story of FLL was orginally written in January 2002, just after the First Level Leaders program was introduced; it was commissioned by BP from Dialogos, the consulting firm that had helped organize and develop the program.

Emery, Dominic, Andreas Priestland, Robert Hanig, & Art Kleiner, 2002. "First Level Leaders: Design and Engagement Story," Dialogos Working Paper series. Click here to receive the Working Paper as a PDF file.

You will note that the report is reluctant to declare success: “The real impact of FLL is unknowable at this stage.” But the impact of FLL has proven to be significant within the company. In 2003, First Level Leaders won the Helios Award, BP’s global award for excellent and innovative initiatives. Only four Helios Awards are granted each year. The report describes how it was done and — more importantly — the shift in thinking which made it possible.

In June, 2005, an updated and refined version of the story was published in Harvard Business Review:
Priestland, Andreas & Robert Hanig, 2005. "Developing First-Level Leaders," Harvard Business Review (83:6), June, 2005. Click here to receive the HBR article as a PDF file.

If you are interested in conducting an initiative like First Level Leaders in your organization, read more about our customized program offerings.

If you would like a taste of existing Dialogos leadership programs, visit our public programs page.

The Generative Spiral Model provides guidance to leaders in any setting who are looking to promote learning and collaboration at scale in their organizations. Dialogos has developed the Generative Spiral through a decade of consulting practice, informed by historical research into the dynamics of social movements and organizational change.