When Henry Ford introduced the assembly line at his car plants, the finished products could be assembled faster and the work did not require workers to move a lot as they stood at their stations.
This kind of repetitive process did not require employees to think creatively.
Nowadays, many businesses require the exact opposite from employees. Employers such as Google opt for candidates who demonstrate the desire and will to keep on learning. An article published in Industrial and Organizational Psychology highlights that people's employability now, to have and to maintain a job, no longer depends on what they know – or what they have learnt at school, but on what they are likely to learn on the job, and their willingness to do so.
While organisations such as Google are ahead of their game demanding such commitment from their employees and actually creating learning and a working environment simultaneously, many other businesses are yet to pay attention to that, and instead focus on academic qualifications and certification.
Although we could not disregard the importance of academic qualifications, learning on the job often takes place in a different setting, and to have a team member who is eager to juggle tasks, achieving targets, and as well develop themselves, could be quite challenging.
As a start-up entrepreneur or if you are managing a small to a medium-sized business – how could you foster a learning environment at work? From experience, I suggest the following:
Be highly selective when choosing a training programme to send your team members to, and make sure that you are sending a member who has demonstrated willingness to learn. That way you could guarantee a return on your investment and ensure that whatever they have learnt is applied in the job.
Just think about it this way: would you send someone to learn about history if they have showed no interest in it whatsoever? They would not do great. Of course this should take you back to when you start hiring, and just like Google be selective when hiring a staff, and to ensure that not only are they interested in the company, but are also passionate about developing their skills.
Create a learning environment. As a business owner, your vibe will rub off on your employees. If you want to encourage your team to do something, you also have to do it. Aim to create an environment where learning and expanding knowledge is encouraged. My mentor had a great habit of sharing valuable books, articles and facts he has learnt with his staff.
He would do that during the morning meetings, and would then open a room for discussion. If an employee shows interest in a certain department or something new, he would encourage it, and would allow them to research the new pursuit they are interested in and then ask them to show them how they could incorporate it in the company. The results were brilliant. Not only did he encourage employees to learn and to think outside the box, but also as a result new products were introduced, and the company’s profile was raised in the community for all the good things that it had been doing.
Last but not least, you have to acknowledge it. It is not enough just to hire people with the right skills and provide them with the right environment, but also to show them that their effort is appreciated and rewarded.
It does not have to be in a monetary form, but could be in a form where they are presented with a new challenge, such as structuring a new division.
In my mentor’s case, he rewarded behaviour by having his team members be the leaders of certain projects, especially ones that they suggested would improve the business, even if there were more senior members in the company more eligible to lead.
Although people in general express different interests when it comes to learning, as a business owner you should cultivate a learning culture, which eventually would attract those eager to learn and who would like to develop your business further.
Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer and communications consultant based in Abu Dhabi. Twitter: @manar_alhinai.
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What is double taxation?
- Americans living abroad file taxes with the Internal Revenue Service, which can cost hundreds of dollars to complete even though about 60 per cent do not owe taxes, according to the Taxpayer Advocate Service
- Those obligations apply to millions of Americans residing overseas – estimates range from 3.9 million to 5.5 million – including so-called "accidental Americans" who are unaware they hold dual citizenship
- The double taxation policy has been a contentious issue for decades, with many overseas Americans feeling that it punishes them for pursuing opportunities abroad
- Unlike most countries, the US follows a citizenship-based taxation system, meaning that Americans must file taxes annually, even if they do not earn any income in the US.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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