In 2017, Linde Engineering brought together a team of 14 men to oversee construction of an ethylene plant for an oil company on the Gulf Coast of Texas. It was a typical assignment for the project management arm of Linde, the industrial gases group: leading a consortium and supervising 2,500 workers, subcontracted to execute the construction plan.
Safety, as ever, was paramount. But this project was a test-bed for a completely different way of working that would use coaching techniques to underpin safety standards.
To say the Linde managers were sceptical is an understatement. Safety manager Bruce Parnell, an outspoken Texan, recalls how he reacted to news that the team would go through a programme, devised by Linde and coaching group Performance Consultants International (PCI) in 2014, and based on the core skill of “active listening”.