Encana and SAIT: Collaborative, Cost-effective and Connected Learning and Development

Written by Jessica Albers Friday, 03 December 2010 10:17

Encana, a leader in unconventional natural gas production and SAIT Polytechnic, a leader in learning are working together to provide Encana employees with the skills, knowledge and attitude to support a team-oriented environment.

The importance of team competency and learning

“Creating effective teams, team work, and team building is a challenge in many organizations, “ says Steve Brierley, Group Lead, Learning & Development, at Encana. “We recognize the importance of ‘team’ in all of what we do every day and see the ongoing need to keep our most important resource—our people—focused on the results we need to deliver.”

Left to Right: Steve Brierley, Group Lead, Learning & Development, Encana; Debra Grab, Project Manager, Delivery, SAIT; Angelique Linge, Program Administrator, Encana; Diane Blair, Instructor, SAIT; Faisal Ali, Corporate Training Representative, SAIT

“Programs like our Employee Development Series provide our employees with the tools they need to meet this strategic objective,” he says.

“Encana is a self-directed learning environment,” Brierley goes on to say. “We encourage employees to proactively and thoughtfully manage their careers and programs, and we help them meet their learning goals.”

Brierley explains that at the beginning of the calendar year (every January), Encana supervisors and their employees meet to review and agree upon the development needs of the employee for the year.

Encana Employee Development Series

Encana’s Employee Development Series is a program offered to employees working in various capacities and roles across the organization. The program consists of various Encana-selected seminars delivered in groups at Encana’s offices covering topics on Influencing, Communications, Time Management, Conflict, Teamwork and Project Management. The program also includes Encana-approved courses offered to employees for individual enrollment at SAIT’s on-campus corporate training facility.

The skills gained from these courses support individual development plans and the improved performance of work teams at Encana.

SAIT’s tailored training solution for Encana

Encana’s program was created in collaboration with training partner, SAIT Polytechnic in early 2010. “We chose an external training vendor to provide a consistent approach to training for our employees,” explains Steve Brierley. “We wanted all of our employees to have the same quality learning experience.”

“We chose SAIT because we know SAIT very well,” Brierley says. For a number of years Encana has utilized SAIT’s experience and expertise to train its employees, many of whom are SAIT graduates.

“We chose SAIT because we knew it had all the ‘right stuff’ to make our initiative happen,” he continues. “SAIT’s ability to build a program that supported our teamwork objectives and goals and deliver the training at the times and locations that we needed—all that was important for us,” explains Brierley.

As part of SAIT’s consultative approach, it assessed Encana’s organizational needs and defined the outcomes of the required training. Courses were then selected from SAIT’s School of Business portfolio of professional development courses to meet those specific requirements. All of these courses are now delivered on a regular basis at Encana’s training facilities.

“SAIT’s flexibility on an ongoing basis is important, too,” Brierley says. “If there are adjustments to be made to the training, I can trust that SAIT will work to accommodate.”

Brierley interacts regularly with the SAIT project team including Debra Grab, Project Manager, Delivery from SAIT’s School of Business as well as SAIT Corporate Training representative Faisal Ali, and many SAIT instructional and administrative support staff to ensure a well-organized learning experience for Encana employees.

SAIT instructor Cheryl Scott, one the instructors involved with the Encana training project, has received positive feedback from the students in her classes. “The Encana participants have been actively engaged. They are enthusiastic about creating a collaborative work environment,” Scott says.

One unique value-add that SAIT has been able to provide is the marketing and communication resources to help Encana launch and promote the Employee Development Series internally to Encana employees. In May, Encana and SAIT teamed up to provide a Lunch and Learn session on the topic of Conflict as a launching point for the program. SAIT also helped Encana to promote the training program by creating a web portal for the enrollment courses.