María Laura García and Rodrigo Varela spoke at the Innovation Forum for Learning and Development. They highlighted the importance of measuring the effectiveness of training and transferring lessons learned to the workplace. They also presented the Simulators project designed to develop Business Acumen in young talents.

Tecpetrol attended the Innovation for Learning and Development Forum (FIAD), which took place from June 1 to 3. María Laura García, Talent and Communication manager, and Rodrigo Varela, head of Training and Development who is in charge of Tecpetrol University, were speakers on two of the panels. They presented the way that the company measures the impact of training and shared the enormously successful Tecpetrol Simulators innovation as a strategy for knowledge development.

Measuring the impact of corporate training actions

"We need to find out whether the training we provide is effective in helping us maximize the results achieved by our organization, so we can verify its added value," explained María Laura in her talk. She analyzed the importance of measuring the effectiveness of company training courses, and being able to establish how much of what has been learned can be transferred to work.

Effectiveness can be evaluated in terms of return on expectation (ROE), allowing the design to be calibrated accordingly by calculating costs and estimating benefits, with a view to demonstrating to what extent expectations were met in order to estimate its value.

María Laura explained that, before being able to measure how learnings are transferred, you have to understand business needs and desired results. She stressed that a key point is finding the right sponsor: “This person has to be a leader, the top expert on the subject, and they advise us what needs to be measured in order to evaluate effectiveness, and when it should be measured. Having a sponsor is a measure of the depth of our commitment to the transformation we seek.” 

In 2020, the company made a shift in the way it approached training: "Our approach to each project we launch is based on our assessment of its impact on results and the experience of the employees taking the course: how can they impact our objectives with their new-found skills," highlighted Rodrigo.

Simulators, the strategy designed to develop Business Acumen

María Laura and Rodrigo also presented the Tecpetrol Simulators project, which is held as part of the Tecpetrol University Induction Camp (TUIC), a training and networking space for the company's young professionals.

Although the participants had given very positive feedback about the TUIC, in this format it was hard for them to assimilate the technical contents, and also quite difficult to measure their level of assimilation. The challenge was “to attract attention, awaken interest in our technical processes, and transmit the keys to our business so that they could achieve a better understanding of the variables of each decision, their impact on the final result and added value. This is Business Acumen, a key competence for our employees,” outlined María Laura.

The company’s HR experts came to the conclusion that the best way to carry out active learning was through simulators. As Rodrigo explained, they were able to make this happen thanks to the input of a multidisciplinary team. Today, the company has TUICdillo, which is a simulator located in the El Tordillo field, for conventional exploration, and ForTUIC, a simulator in the Fortín de Piedra field, for unconventional exploration.

The evaluations held to measure the results among both participants and their bosses threw up excellent results: “All the indicators point to the fact that simulators are probably the best training tools in the history of Tecpetrol. And this also demonstrates the value of continuing to innovate, even when everything seems to be going fine,” concluded María Laura.