UAE Government Leaders Program marks its first year with workshops on change management and Mentoring Program

Targeting Executive Directors and Directors in the UAE ministries and federal entities, the sessions, which were held at Al Raha Beach hotel in Abu Dhabi on February 22-26, come in light of the program's prominent role in developing government leaders at the federal level.

In a workshop titled 'Leading Others through Change', participants learned about the mechanism of change through leading others and discussed the latest theories, techniques and tools of engaging employees in bringing change and creating 'collective spirit' to achieve the desired results for the benefit of their institutions.

They also had the opportunity to share information and experiences about the directions of change within their institutions and methods used in assessing employees' individual contributions to the process of change.

The UAE Government Leaders Program has also launched 'The Mentoring Program', which will extend over nine months targeting 30 executive directors and department directors in different ministries and federal entities.

The 'Mentoring Program' aims at honing the leadership skills of the participants through introducing them to the latest tools in self-assessment and personal development.

The program will help participants, who will be assigned personal leadership mentors, recognize their own areas of strength and weakness. Every participant will work closely with a mentor, through individual meetings, phone calls and emails, towards creating a personal development plan and then implementing its short and long-term goals.

Abdulla Al Basti, Director of UAE Government Leaders program, says:

"Developing leadership training programs that enable the UAE government entities to promote the best international practices and bring effective changes is a critical task, particularly with the challenges that the world is facing nowadays."

"The sessions 'Leading Others through Change' and 'The Mentoring Program' have come to equip leaders in the different government entities with the skills and tools needed to implement their plans and projects in line with the UAE government strategy," says Al Basti.

The UAE Government Leaders Program, launched in February 2008, aims to develop visionary leaders and promote the best international practices in the government leadership. The multi-pronged UAE Government Leaders Program focuses on UAE federal employees across two levels: Executive leaders: targeted executive directors and department directors, and Future Leaders: targeted deputy department directors along with all remaining staff levels throughout the UAE federal government.