Coverage of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has made me reflect on the challenges leaders face and the leadership training they should receive.

Tony Hayward, the former BP CEO, left the business as a direct result of the disaster. Exactly who is to blame for the tragic loss of life and the environmental damage is still disputed and will probably be decided in court over the next 10 years. Certainly the BP CEO did not cover himself in glory after the event, with some ill thought through comments to the media. Some communications and media handling training would not go amiss.

However, the question that really occupies me is: “What should Tony Hayward have done differently, as a leader, to prevent the Gulf disaster?”

There’s no doubt he was aware that safety was a key issue in the oil business. Less than a month before the disaster Tony Hayward spoke, at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, about how a previous fatal accident in 2005 had “changed in a profound and fundamental way our approach to safety and operations integrity – providing a safe working environment is a paramount responsibility, and our first and foremost priority.”

Tony Hayward had the vision of what needed to be done on safety. However he failed to translate this through into changes in the organisation’s working practices and culture. So, with the benefit of hindsight, I believe he should have driven his safety message right through to the sharp end of the business. To help him avoid the disaster I would have bestowed on him an urgent course in change management training… and a large portion of luck!

What training do you think could have helped Tony Hayward prevent the disaster?

By Jon Davies | Righttrack’s Interim International Business Development and Marketing Manager