Insead holds 'The Strategic Government Leader' workshop

The workshop, which was held at Al Raha Beach hotel in Abu Dhabi, comes in light of the programs prominent role in developing government leaders at the federal level.

Adopting an interactive approach, the workshop has tackled discussion and study of realistic project scenarios from the Authority of Securities and Commodities as well as the Authority for Standardization and Metrology. The project scenarios revolved around four major strategic areas being: strategic thinking / planning, implementation, performance measurement, and managing change resistance. The latest scientific theories were presented and then applied through practical exercises including setting the best strategies and ensuring their proper execution, to enable measuring performance against strategic goals and leading the likely resistance to change.

The authority of securities and commodities has shared its experience with the participants in the UAE Government Leaders program, wherein Mohammed Khalifa Al Hadari, Deputy Chief Executive of corporate services and support at the authority, presented the long-term strategic goal of the authority as "making the UAE's financial market the best performing and the most attractive market at the local, regional, and international levels".

He also shared the plans set out by the authority to achieve this long-term goal. Meanwhile, Mr Mohammed Badri, deputy Director General of the authority for standardization and metrologies, has presented a project study for a distinct initiative aiming at developing and advancing the custom inspection process related to standardization and metrologies. Participants have contributed to discussing these projects from a strategic perspective in an attempt to suggest the best approaches to implement these projects whether through identifying strategic approaches, proposing initiatives, or proceeding with implementation.

These project scenarios presented a unique opportunity for participants to demonstrate their creative thinking and strategic planning skills, as well as their ability to transform distinct ideas into practical initiatives and strategic projects in the workplace. Mr. Badri and Mr. Hadari have expressed their admiration of the skills and expertise of participants. They also stressed on the importance of having these participants contribute to setting the strategic plans of the federal entities they work for in line with the UAE Federal Government Strategy.

The significance of the practical exercises covered in the workshop stems from the fact that both project scenarios are real-life projects of top priority for both authorities. It's also worth noting that during the preparation for this workshop, interviews with a selected set of investors and stakeholders were conducted.

"The program aims at adopting international best practice in developing government leaders, in order to qualify them in the manner most suitable to the strategic needs of the federal government. This workshop has made it possible to share and exchange knowledge and expertise between the Future Leaders program participants on one end, and a number of prominent government officials who are also participants in the Executive Leaders Progamme as part of the UAE Government Leaders program. "This has contributed effectively to achieving cross - class knowledge exchange within the program"

said Abdulla Al Basti, Director of UAE Government Leaders program.

The UAE Government Leaders Program, launched during last February, is considered one of the leading initiatives in developing UAE government leaders. The program consists of two main sub-programs: (1) Executive leaders: targeted executive directors and department directors (2) Future Leaders: targeted deputy department directors along with all remaining staff levels throughout the UAE federal government.