By Anna Schebsdat, Head of Executive Education at Heriot-Watt University Dubai,
As Middle East governments set National Agendas – UAE’s Centennial 2071, KSA’s Visions 2030, Oman’s Vision 2040, Qatar’s National Vision 2030, Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030, Kuwait’s Vision 2035 – it is evident that the region is undergoing rapid transformation in a wide variety of sectors. To navigate complex reforms and stay at the forefront, Executive Education programmes customised and interactive professional training, become a strategic tool in both the private and public sectors, especially relevant for leadership functions.
Within all agendas, an important element is Human Capital Development, which covers leadership, education reform, and gender inclusion. The government is playing an active, essential, and critical role in talent acceleration across the region and beyond, aligning national priorities and, in many cases, funding customised leadership development programmes in partnership with global educational institutions, such as Heriot-Watt University. Such partnerships translate the world-class research of the university into the industry, driving innovation and growth.
To summarise the above, it goes without saying that developing leadership capabilities is becoming a national asset and a competitive advantage, where the country and the wider region can go above and beyond in its economic and social development. This leads to transformation and showcases the nation as forward-thinking globally as well as its national competence. This enables foreign investment attraction and creates a competitive advantage to attract the best talents, new partnerships and collaborations.
It is also important to mention that National Agendas can create change fatigue, and Executive Education programmes are supporting the resilience and ability to manage the change management in a sustainable way, instead of plain acceleration. Many custom programmes include leadership assessments and coaching sessions to receive expert feedback, which supports leaders on an individual level to address their specific challenges and understand their leadership style. Leadership style, specifically, evolves with added responsibilities and environments, which is today’s reality in a fast-paced age. Coaching is also a great opportunity to allocate time for feedback and reflection as a leader, whereas it is not an easy task in senior roles to pause in a fast-paced world. Aside from coaching, the programmes are also delivered by external industry experts alongside global academic experts. This approach provides participants with fresh perspectives, actionable tools, and engagement with experts who understand participants’ context and share firsthand leadership experiences. This provides an opportunity for out-of-the-box thinking, which is not easily achieved through in-house internal training.
Regional mobility and regional office bases in the Middle Eastern region require leaders who are capable of navigating the cultural, organisational, and regulatory aspects of businesses. Furthermore, the ever-increasing global talent mobility in the region necessitates cultural intelligence from leaders. Executive Education programmes can support the strategic thinking about the global and regional workforce and how it impacts business operations, as well as help to reflect on the mindset required to effectively manage such a diverse workforce for those at the helm of organisations. The criticality of this is more evident once leaders want to motivate and retain high-potential global talent, which keeps their organisations competitive and innovative.
At the individual level, today’s leaders should be agile, inclusive, and empowering multicultural and multi-generational teams, able to make decisions faster, leading with both global and local practices in mind, all while embracing innovation, digitalisation, and ambiguity. Executive Education custom interactive programmes can help leaders to strengthen three key areas – further develop the abovementioned capabilities, improve their existing knowledge and create a new powerful network with peers. This is done in a flexible format that is both interactive and engaging for senior participants. Such learning is also not limited to face-to-face modules, but is increasingly taking place in a hybrid format to accommodate busy schedules.
After completing executive education programmes, leaders can apply their learning to achieve institutional transformation and create a wider societal and community impact. Teams and the community are inspired by their leadership team, which encourages a learning culture and a growth mindset. Amidst rapid changes in today’s world, especially in the Middle East, leaders who want to make an impact in a highly diversified and competitive economy have no choice but to become lifelong learners.
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