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Muscat adventures: leadership learning in a Gulf state

OPM fellow Stefan Cantore was invited to run sessions on leadership by a large company in Oman. The sessions were well received and also allowed Stefan to learn more about how good leadership can contribute to social results in a context far from his home.

Oman’s economy has expanded over the past few years and to ensure this trend continues, the government strategy is to increase employment and training opportunities for Omani people. I was invited to run sessions on leadership by a large engineering company with a strong commitment to increasing economic growth and social well-being in Oman.

On landing the pilot said that the weather was a mild 35C, compared to the heat of Abu Dhabi where we had made a brief stop about an hour earlier. There, the thermometer was showing 45C at 9 o’clock in the evening!

I had arrived in Muscat, the capital of Oman, a small Gulf state located at the tip of the Arabian peninsular. I was on an OPM assignment to work with the Salman Group, a large engineering company*.

I was contacted a few months earlier by an intermediary, Mrs Behari, who specialises in organising technical engineering courses in the Gulf States, as well as running a legal practice. Mrs Behari was to be my guide, printer of materials, organiser of taxis and hotels, and generally ensure that everything went according to plan.

Touching base

Our first stop the following day was to meet the client and I must admit this is where I felt some slight anxiety. Mrs Behari had been liaising with an HR manager who, in turn, had been working with the owners, the Salman brothers. So there had been no direct contact between me and the client yet.

I had prepared a two-day programme based on what I thought might be useful to any large company and had not received any feedback. I was therefore quite uncertain about how what I had to offer would be received. I was planning a day on leading for excellent performance and a second day focused on leading change. It transpired, much to my relief, that they were more than happy with this.

High expectations

The company’s turnover is estimated at between $200-300m a year, although a manager told me that no one knows because the brothers prefer not to share that sort of information. One takes on the role of chairman and the other is the managing director. The brothers were charming and courteous, and both were very keen to impress on me that they had great expectations of the two days. No pressure there then!

I was to work with their most senior 30 managers and the emphasis, according to the brothers, needed to be on developing trust and improving accountability. I tried to moderate their expectations about what could be accomplished in two days, but still sensed they remained very high.

On the way back to the hotel we dropped in on a Danish company, which Mrs Behari thought might be interested in some training. We met the local manager, a New Zealander, and got on well. He was keen for his architectural team to have a training day and so I was asked if I could design something for Saturday. I said yes we struck a deal.

Exchanging ideas

The following day saw the start of the Salman programme. I was encouraged early on by a conversation with a Yorkshire man who had recently been appointed to a senior operational role in the company. We exchanged ideas about what I had prepared and how it might be received; it was very helpful to have a sounding board.

What surprised me was the proportion of Indian nationals amongst the senior team. Apart from four Omanis, including the brothers, and the Yorkshire man the rest of the workforce were Indian (men – there are no women in the management hierarchy). The ethnic mix in the company means that the Omanis are hugely outnumbered by the Indian workforce.

There are some Omanis working in the unskilled workforce, but they are few in number, which creates real tensions between the ethnic cultures and outlooks. The Indians adopt a particular approach to company life and, more specifically, seem to find decision-making difficult. The Omani owners are keen to see less bureaucracy and prevarication, and more effective leadership as they define it. These two issues look like they just may be related.

‘Omanisation’ policy

The Sultan of Oman is keen to create more opportunities for Omani nationals and has implemented an “Omanisation” policy. The strategy is to force companies like the Salman Group to employ 90 per cent of Omani nationals by 2020.This is proving to be a tall order for all companies and is unlikely to be achieved.

This topic engaged many participants during the two days and a fair amount of the group work was dedicated to developing strategies to re-balance the ethnic mix of the workforce. The irony of Indians doing this task was not lost on me – it had the feel of turkeys voting for Christmas at times!

The day seemed to go well; the Saturday workshop also went well and I was invited back in November.

Achieving social results

Before leaving, I asked Mrs Behari ‘Why OPM and why me?’ The simple answer was that OPM and I came up on an internet search. Apparently a number of her clients had been asking for leadership and management development programmes; Mrs Behari liked what we offered and hence the contact. I got the sense that there is plenty of demand for this type of activity across the Gulf States.

Have I been involved in supporting the achievement of social result whilst working in Oman? I think the answer is yes. Omani society is struggling with a serious ethnic and, indeed, gender imbalance in its workforce. In both programmes, we worked on the diversity agenda in some depth and I hope we made progress.

Achieving growth

More broadly speaking, if companies work more effectively and achieve growth utilising their workforce then Oman, and its people, will benefit directly.

In 1970 Oman had 5km of surfaced roads, three schools and one hospital for a population of 750,000 people. Nearly four decades later, there is an extensive and modern infrastructure serving a population in excess of 2.5 million people. The pace of change has been startling and I am sure there is much more to come.

Would I go back? Yes is the short answer. Professionally, it presented new challenges – everyone was very receptive and keen to learn. Plus, the opportunity to contribute in some small way to the development of this country and its people is a very exciting prospect.

*To protect confidentiality, the names of the company and of individuals in this report have been changed.

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