Middle East Leadership Challenges Confronted at Contax Forum

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Leadership challenges in the Middle East were discussed by over 60 regional decision makers from government, service industries and the oil and gas sector at a forum held by Contax, the leading Middle East consultancy, in Dubai in mid-October.

Economic growth, while exciting and profitable, often stretched organizations and leaders beyond their limits, said Tony Bury, CEO of Contax. The Middle East is suffering from a shortage of talent, especially at middle and senior management levels. At the forum, speakers and invited executives emphasized that in order to realize their organizations’ full potential, leaders have a clear responsibility to develop themselves to take their own performance to the next level, develop and mentor their people to build the next generation of leaders and to re-align their organizations and processes to truly hear and respond to customer needs.

Rapid and sustained growth in most Middle East markets is creating new and significant strategic challenges. World-class leaders are starting to make long-term strategic decisions that will allow them to dominate their chosen markets, even when the hyper-growth has slowed. As growth slows and the market matures, success will no longer be based so heavily on relationships, but instead it will be based on strategic intent and the ability to execute better than the competition. For related news item see October 26, 2006 – Contax Dubai Forum Provides Expert Insight on Changing Middle East Construction Market.

Click on the image at right to view a photo from the Contax Forum.

Speakers addressed the transformation of leadership in the Middle East that was taking place in a new environment where problems of culture, social consciousness and corporate morality had to be faced. These challenges required leadership attributes of a master builder who could develop a process view, establish metrics and boundaries, build trust and nurture relationships, value cultures, celebrate diversity and communicate often. The leader was becoming a resource acting as a detached advisor, leading by example and actively mentoring his or her people.

A wry spin was put on the tricky business of communications with some definitions of well worn terms: reorganizing - ‘We need to conserve cash and though we claim people to be our greatest asset, they are easily jettisoned to improve the bottom line;’ realigning – ‘We need more cash;’ right sizing - ‘ We really need cash;’ restructuring -’We are telling our investors we need cash;’ organic growth – ‘We haven’t a clue, maybe nature will solve our problems;’ outsourcing – ‘We have given up on trying to control our cost, maybe someone else can do it right;’ insourcing – ‘We outsourced and learned a valuable lesson.’

On the factors changing new organizational structures, the forum was told that the old product focused value chain had moved through the value shop concept, which focused on opportunities to the value network, which established relationships then brokered the relationships adding value focused on the customer. The old hierarchical organogram had served the unidirectional export-driven and international business model. The company organized on an interrelated matrix served the multinational and transnational company, but these, and a truly world enterprise, were best served by networked organizations where the information and skills flow and feedback was available to all locations and levels of the organization without direction from the center necessarily dominating. The network was customer focused and the inherent value network developed and maintained customer relationships.

In the network environment, the leader must be a catalyst for change and strategic thinking within the organization and reflect the value-focused brand identity to customers. Growth orientated and profit conscious, the leader must be seen as part of the community by the media and be seen to operate within the norms of society.

The forum was told that a large-scale review of where power resides in an organization and how it can be leveraged is ongoing. The perfect fit for the leader was not as important as the alignment factor that enabled the leader to enhance the focus on organizational integration at many levels. The leadership opportunity came with huge costs at a commercial and personal level and also required the personal qualities of extroversion, conscientiousness, openness, emotionality and agreeableness.

The challenges facing the identification of aligned leadership included the scarcity of resource in that there are fewer people in their ‘good middle years.’ The pace of change at every level (technological, economic, political and social) placed enormous constraints on time and ability to prioritize. Continued business expansion runs with increasing connectivity and the redefinition of cultures and the failure of once strong institutions accompany the increased call for transparency. In this demanding environment, the leader must be able to recognize the emotional impact of growth and change on himself and his people.

The power of emotion was called in many ways during the forum, at times with a revivalist fervor. The dangers of stagnation and stretching old paradigms were set against the renewing value of disruption and taking action. This was also set against the reported testimonies of top executives in anguish at the zero or negative sum of their careers and lives. The teacher and mentor concepts were again mentioned as a priority when leadership had to cut through chaos and needed to refine and accelerate the learning process.

The disruption theme was supported with quotations include that from Andy Grove, former Intel CEO, ”What are we clinging to that is no longer serving us? Our first task is to break away from ruts. Only staggering out of ruts will bring new insights.”

Dubai based Contax is the leading strategic advisor in the Middle East focused on identifying and delivering client growth through market insights, strategy development, major project acquisition and business acquisition.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 23 years. IIR is respected as the leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.