Seraj Al Baker, CEO of Mazaya Qatar Real Estate Development Company, has addressed the Financial Thought Leaders Summit in Dubai, impressing upon delegates the importance of recognizing human capital as a key strategic element of their businesses.
Mr. Al Baker giving examples of companies such as Disney who have not only understood the importance of attracting and retaining top people, but of infusing it into the core of their brand, and using the Disney Chain Of Excellence as a worldwide teaching tool. The Chain of Excellence, which illustrates the positive feedback loop of leadership excellence, cast/staffing excellence, guest/customer satisfaction, repeat business, and coming back to drive leadership excellence, has been adopted by other companies such as Emirates Airlines, widely admired worldwide with high customer retention.
Human capital is a key competitive advantage in the case of an airline, Mr Al Baker emphasized. As the Wilson Learning Corporation has found in a study of 28,000 workers, 39% of financial performance is due to worker satisfaction. Of this, 68% depends on how the workers are led, and 28% of all financial performance can be attributed to a company’s leadership.
So increasingly, Mr. Al Baker said, “organizations should be asking themselves: Are we continuously infusing talent and new learning into the organization at all levels? How are we leveraging human resources and technology to achieve results? And is Human Resources a strategic partner? Do we have integrated human resources systems?” he said.
The audience being asked these questions comprised more than 100 top leaders from across the MENA region, at the 2nd Annual Financial Thought Leader Summit, held over 14th and 15th March at Grosvenor House, Dubai. The theme of this high-level summit was “Empower change for a sustainable economic future”.
The summit was a two day platform focused and tailored for decision-makers in business in the region, including CEOs, CFOs, Financial Directors, Chairmen and other Board members, Managing Directors, CIOs and CTOs across various industries and sectors.
Mr. Al Baker explained Mazaya Qatar’s perspective on the value of human capital, and why the company believes in being what can be called a “commitment maximizer” – one of those companies who select, develop, motivate and empower employees.
“We believe that HR is the prime source of sustainable competitive advantage in highly changing business environments; that there is a growing need for globally-aware managers and professionals with multi-functional fluency, technological literacy, entrepreneurial skills, and the ability to adapt to cultures in a globalized world. We believe that large organizations already suffer a chronic shortage of talented people, and this shortage will increase during early 2010s; and that there is an increasing importance of knowledge creation, sharing and retention within competitive strategies”, he said.
Mr. Al Baker finished by lamenting that in many organizations, all of this is not really a priority: “HR is too often the last thing addressed in many companies, and is viewed more than anything as an administrative task, not a crucial pillar of a company’s strategic management”.
