Middle East Organizations Urged to Develop Leaders to Build High-Performance Teams

Only One in Six Executives in UAE Say Current Workforce Can Meet Future Business Goals: Oxford Economics

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – 22 March 2015– Organizations across Middle East and North Africa (MENA) need leaders to develop high-performance teams to support economic growth, experts announced at a recent conference.

While the UAE (22nd) and Qatar (25th) lead the Arab World in INSEAD Business School’s Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2014, MENA countries face an urgent need to find and retain talent.

For example, only one in six of executives in the UAE saying they have made progress in building a future-proof workforce, according to the “Workforce 2020” study by Oxford Economics and SAP. Millennials, who will make up 75 percent of the global workforce by 2020, often face a “skills gap”.

“With the Middle East facing an urgent skills and workforce talent gap, leaders must motivate their current teams to collaborate to become high-performing teams. Developing technology skills and supporting Millennials with work-related skills will help close the talent gap and support sustainable economic growth,” said Sultan Al Hajji, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Total E&P – UAE.

Sultan Al Hajji was one of the keynote speakers at the conference “High Performance Teams: How to Build and Lead Teams to Peak Performance,” hosted by the German Emirati Council for Industry and Commerce, INSEAD Business School, and SAP.

“With European companies increasingly investing in the Middle East, this conference demonstrated how European best practices like partnerships between public, private, and academic sectors can be localized to help organizations develop high performance teams, overcome the skills gap, and boost competitiveness,” said Dr Dalia Abu-Samra Rohte, Deputy CEO, Director Abu Dhabi Office – Regional Coordinator Business Development, German-Emirati Joint Council for Industry & Commerce (AHK).

In keynote speeches, Marita Mitschein, Senior Vice President of Strategic Investments, and Managing Director of the SAP MENA Training & Development Institute; and Brigette McInnis-Day, Executive Vice President of Human Resources, SAP, emphasized that leaders must highlight employee initiative and creativity to motivate individuals and teams to produce exceptional work.

The importance of millennials in the workforce, the need to start leadership development early and the linkage of corporate social responsibility activities to leadership commitment were among key conclusions delegates arrived at in sessions at the conference.

As part of its goals of supporting sustainable workplaces, SAP MENA’s Training and Development Institute trains and certifies the next generation of local talent in the region.