From Values to Beliefs

bp has set out a clear purpose: to reimagine energy for people and our planet. That purpose needed a clear set of behavioural principles. In 2022, bp asked The Team to help position a new set of beliefs in the minds of employees.

Following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2011, bp had approached The Team to help relaunch their values and behaviours. The subsequent set of values had helped bp stabalise and complete a cultural transformation that would turn the business around and drive it towards the more purpose-led approach it has today.

As a result, the values that were being replaced were much admired by bp employees.

“We had already seen the power of values and behaviours to reset a business,” our Employee Engagement lead Cliff Ettridge told us. “Those values and behaviours had made concrete a way of behaving that helped bp simplify its business and make it safe. But the time was right to evolve the values to focus on the new challenges that bp faced in both the energy trilema and in making sure the business delivered shareholder value.”

bp chose to drop the ‘values & behaviours’ language and adopt ‘Beliefs’. This enabled clear distance between the old and the new. We also created refreshed branding the new beliefs.

The Team had already started work on bp’s Code of Conduct, operational management communications and people communications. What was needed was a simple visual device that could eventually act as a signature for the new beliefs.

As our Executive Creative Director, David Recchia says, “With three beliefs emerging, we wanted a simple device that would help us to reinforce the refreshed system. It needed to be easy to apply and become part of the visual vernacular. It needed to be something that people could almost sketch out themselves. The brushstrokes did that.”

We created line manager briefing packs and produced experiences for employees to bring the Code and L&D to life. Our insights have shown us that it is essential to embed values, principles, standards or beliefs into the tools employees use.

In late 2022 bp asked its employees how they felt about the new Beliefs. Two thirds of employees stated that they were already seeing evidence of colleagues living the Beliefs. Together with purpose, the Beliefs contributed towards lifting employee engagement across all measures.

Within 3 months off the refreshed Beliefs being launched to employees, two-thirds stated that they we seeing positive behaviour amongst colleagues.

And in 2024 we launched a further embedding campaign, ‘What’s the value?’.

Following the What’s the value campaign over 70% of employees were clear on what determined value in their part of the business, and 75% were using the campaign language to ask ‘What’s the value?’ at least once a week.

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