Abu Dhabi Women's College hosts consultants on Leadership and Professional Development

World-renowned leadership consultants Dr. Bonner Ritchie, Norm Smallwood and Kate Sweetman presented workshops to ADWC's Bachelors and Higher Diploma Year 2 students on Results-Based Leadership, a concept which focuses on the integration of results and competencies. The intent of the workshops was to show how the best leaders can use intangible assets to build the value of their organizations.

The visiting consultants are part of the RBL Group, a firm which was recently ranked as the #1 Leadership Development firm in the world by Leadership Excellence. Dr. Ritchie's expertise is in the area of leadership development, organizational change and ethics. He has worked with international corporations such as Shell Oil and the Arab Banking Corporation, and has co-authored several books on organizational change and management. His most recent focus is on leadership, management and change in the Arab world.

Norm Smallwood, the co-founder of the RBL Group, is a recognized authority on business development and leadership. In 2005 he was selected as one of the top 100 Voices in Leadership in Executive Excellence magazine. Kate Sweetman's expertise is in helping executives and senior managers adopt fresh approaches to business, processes and people. She was part of the team which took the 2004 American Society of Trainers and Developers (ASTD) top prize for developing a leadership program which resulted in a 250% ROI within the first six months of implementation.

These highly-trained educators led the ADWC students in exercises to help build leadership skills and recognize opportunities for change within a business. The students were actively engaged in learning new processes for management development and creating strategies for organizational change.

"These workshops were the first of many that ADWC is planning in order to help young women enhance their leadership abilities so they can advance into positions of influence within the local community, industry and government," noted Dr. Brad Cook, Director of ADWC. "Building capacity in women's leadership is a core issue for sustainable development here in the UAE, and these kinds of workshops help to build necessary skills which enable National women to overcome challenges at the national, regional and global levels. The workshops provide an opportunity for young women to articulate their visions, freely debate concerns, network with others, share knowledge and information, and learn from the best practices and life experiences of proven leaders."

Abu Dhabi Women's College is part of the Higher Colleges of Technology. All media references to the organization should be noted as the Higher Colleges of Technology's Abu Dhabi Women's College or Abu Dhabi Women's College of HCT. For more information on the college's activities, please visit www.adwc.hct.ac.ae. For more information on the Higher Colleges of Technology, please visit www.hct.ac.ae.