THE NEWS OF AL HABTOOR LEIGHTON GROUP Dubai - UAE ...

NEW Perspecti
EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT
Learning in Al Habtoor-Leighton
Keith Abbot, Group Manager
Organisational Development & Learning
The future success of our business depends on our
ability to continually develop our employees’ skills
and abilities. Successful companies understand that
supporting the ongoing learning and development
of employees is a competitive advantage.
Al Habtoor and Leighton have made commitments to
their employees’ development, even prior to the merger.
These commitments include initiatives such as Habtoor
Engineering Enterprises Training School (HEETS) and Leighton
University. Learning and development at Al-Habtoor-Leighton is
underpinned by a belief that learning;
• Is a key to our long term competitive advantage
• Is a shared responsibility of the employee, their manager
and the organisation
• Improves employee job satisfaction
• Is supported by, but not limited to, training programmes.
Significant learning occurs on the job.
So what can you expect in regard to your development with
Al-Habtoor-Leighton?
Everyone can expect to be involved with some or all of the
following:
• An individual development plan agreed with your
manager
• Regular feedback from people you work with about what
you are doing well and where you can improve
• Significant opportunities for learning on the job
• Attendance at technical/professional development
courses, seminars and workshops
• Participation in leadership and management
programmes
• Involvement in team building.
What do I do to ensure my development?
Every employee, supported by their manager, should have a
development plan. A comprehensive development plan should
include the following steps;
1. Assess
2. Plan
3. Implement
4. Review
1. Assessing development needs
There are many things that can be the focus of someone’s
development, and determining learning priorities is paramount
to ensure energy is directed towards the right areas. To identify
these areas requires both an assessment of your capabilities
and an evaluation of your current and future role requirements.
There are several tools that can assist with identifying your
strengths and development needs. These include structured
feedback (e.g. 360º assessment and aptitude tests) and
informal feedback from colleagues, clients and manager (e.g.
“Can you tell me how I can improve?”). Similarly discussions with
your manager to clarify the key deliverables of your role, the
skills required, expectations about who you need to work with
effectively and other expectations about conduct and behaviour
will inform you where to focus development to optimize your
performance.
2. Development planning
Effective development planning is about finding effective ways
to enable the improvement of knowledge, skill development
or behavioral change. A common assumption is that training
courses are the best, or even the only way people learn. A
study of learning in corporations indicated that 70% of real
learning actually takes place on the job. People learn largely
by doing, or practicing the skills and competencies required
in “live” situations. Approximately 10% of learning occurs
in a formal training setting. That is not to say that training is
not effective, but it requires on the job application to ensure
learning is retained. The most effective development plans
include identifying workplace opportunities to learn.
There are other ways people learn. We all learn from the
people around us, and finding a suitable role model or coach
can be an integral part of a development plan. Learning from
others can be done informally - observing others, and formally
- agreed coaching and mentoring programmes. You should
also consider reading (magazines, journals, and books), various
20 AKHBAR ALDAR - NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2007