The Top 5 key capabilities business change-makers rely on to succeed

Grace Najjar

Driving systemic change depends on collaboration and inclusion within and outside the business, its employees, partners, customers and communities at local, national and global levels. More specifically, it relies on an ecosystem of change-makers — all those who can turn ideas into reality, whether through transformational change or through contribution to high-value delivery. Change-makers rely on key capabilities to succeed:

1 New ways of working: Agile, waterfall, hybrid methodologies and digital project management approaches. These include problem-solving tools, AI-driven tools and microlearning apps. Regarding the potential restructuring of companies and governments, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries are witnessing common challenges that need new foundations at work. Modern business methods are based on co-operation, constant focus on business value and achieving high levels of quality.

2 Power skills: Collaborative leadership, innovative mindset, empathy for the voice of the customer, empathy for the voice of the employee and the ability to build trusting relationships. These are in line with the company’s strategy to implement the UAE’s 2021 vision regarding Emiratization across all sectors. To achieve quick results and close this gap with the skills of strength and management, it is necessary to research and conduct studies in this field via specialized companies, including PMI, which provide important surveys to achieve innovative institutional goals.

3 Business acumen: Encompassing a well-rounded set of capabilities that enables people to understand not only their own roles but how their work relates to business strategy and to other parts of the business. However, change-makers must have the means to acquire these capabilities. Continuous learning is the only way to thrive in today’s disruption-driven environment. Some of that can come through virtual education, which has significantly increased since the pandemic began. Organizations that raise the bar by using AI to facilitate continuous, agile and innovative learning — collaborative human-machine learning — are the ones that excel at driving change. This is in line with the UAE’s strategy for artificial intelligence, as this initiative represents the new phase of smart government on which future services, local sectors and infrastructure will rely on to improve government performance and accelerate achievement.

4 Making social impact project a strategic priority: Social investment is an important practical trend that has a positive impact on corporate projects. Companies need to clarify how their products or services affect their community and how they add value to the local community. The topic of renewable energy and sustainability is one of the key topics looked at with great interest by companies in all sectors. For example, water companies must address sustainability solutions when manufacturing their products. These practical trends contribute to the acceleration of economic growth.
5 Fostering open and innovative partnership ecosystems: One of the most powerful ways to drive change is by looking outside the traditional circle of collaborators and pursuing a more diverse range of partners and partnership models — including those with suppliers, customers, private and government organizations. We can do so by investing in education, innovation, Internet access and basic infrastructure for e-learning. This is in line with the UAE’s vision, witnessed in the launch of Innovation Month, which aims to transform innovation into a way of life, an administrative approach to developing government work and promoting economic growth. There are many government institutions that support this trend, such as the Mohammed bin Rashid Center for Government Innovation. The center seeks to stimulate a culture of innovation in the government sector with the aim of enhancing the competitiveness of the UAE, so that the country’s government ranks among the most innovative governments in the world.

The writer is managing director of PMI MENA.

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