The UAE is one of only two countries in the world, the other being Qatar, where over 60% of employed nationals need to be leaders if Emiratis are to run the country, according to a recent Oxford Strategic Consulting (Oxford) report discussed at a VIP Summit with Henley Business School in Dubai on May 11th.
Executives and strategic leaders across all sectors make up about 8% of any country's workforce. Since the UAE has a workforce of approximately eight million workers, this means that about 640,000 Emiratis will be needed to fill executive and strategic leadership posts. There are only about one million Emiratis in UAE and if all of the UAE's leaders, by the above definition, were Emirati, then about 64% of all Emiratis would be needed to fill these crucial roles.
The large percentage of leaders needed in the UAE represents both a major challenge and a major opportunity. Given the need to develop leaders fast, Oxford and Henley Business School produced three key recommendations for leadership development, which were discussed at the top-level summit workshop.
First: offer simple, practical help to first line leaders. Oxford research indicates that first line leaders only spend 20% of their time leading, and these leaders tend to carry out fairly simple leadership activities, such as 'organise a team meeting'. Here, practical technology-based help such as Oxford's new iLeader App can really make a difference. The app improves the performance of first line leaders by providing specific 'point of need' tools, guidance and team member feedback.
Second: capitalise on pre-existing UAE strengths. Young Emiratis are most motivated by 'helping the country', found Oxford's Maximising Emirati Talent report. In order to connect this key motivator with leadership development, government figures must stress that leadership is a strategic country goal. Moreover, Oxford has identified that a distinctive Emirati Leadership Style does exist and possesses particular advantages because of its focus on loyalty and family-based relationships.
Third: ensure global accreditation for all UAE leaders. Ideally, all leadership development programmes should adhere to global accreditation standards. It is well known that poorly designed training is worse than no training at all, and UAE nationals deserve the best training on the market. For this reason, Oxford and Henley recommend that all Emirati leaders should be qualified to a globally recognised standard.
Paul Green, a Director at Oxford Strategic Consulting who spoke at the summit, explained, 'There needs to greater engagement of Emiratis in the workplace - ensuring greater levels of motivation, empowerment and accountability among nationals.' He also noted that new services, such as Oxford's Nationalization Benchmark, can help UAE companies identify key areas of their Emiratization programs for focus and improvement.
The summit concluded with a meeting of the Gulf Talent Advisory Board (GTAB), an elite network of HR leaders from across the GCC who participate in thought-leadership workshops with the goal of making a real difference in the development of talent and HR in the GCC.
Oxford Strategic Consulting is an Oxford and GCC based consultancy that specialises in building human capital across the GCC and Europe. With teams in Oxford, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE, our experienced HR Directors, subject matter experts and researchers combine international best-practice with GCC-specific knowledge to conduct human capital research and implement practical and bespoke people solutions.
www.oxfordstrategicconsulting.com
Henley Business School is a leading business school based in the UK, with campuses and offices in 17 countries around the world. Henley offers a portfolio spanning the range of business education, from undergraduate courses to doctoral degrees and pure research, to customised executive education, alongside its world-ranked MBA. Henley is one of a select few business schools worldwide to hold triple-accredited status and is ranked among the top schools in Europe. Henley is truly global, with over 7,000 programme members enrolled on its various courses coming from more than 140 countries throughout the world.
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