Conference Day One

KEYNOTE PANEL:
Building A Career Development Strategy That Is Aligned With Your Organisation’s Strategy Backbone To Support Business Goals

• Business strategy and execution: Understanding the organisation’s plan for the future and its implication on career development
• Identifying the key drivers that support the organisation’s vision; and which of these are attributed to the workforce
• The role of recruitment, talent management, learning and development, and succession planning in achieving the organisation’s business goals and vision for the future
• Ensuring that your career development strategy keeps up with changing business requirements as it progresses and grows

Henry Fares, HR Director, DHL Express, Bahrain
Ria Davey, Head Of Recruitment & Talent Management, SHUAA Capital, UAE
Fahad Al-Abdulkarim, HR Director, P&G, KSA

Addressing Gaps In Skill Requirements And Competency Targets To Ensure Your Organisation Is Equipped With A Workforce That Is Ready To Meet Business Objectives

• Identifying key skill requirements and competency targets necessary to meet business objectives
• Uncovering gaps in the existing skill pool and competency targets and what are the best ways to fill them
• Tapping into the existing talent pool to bridge the gaps with training, learning and development
• Targeted recruitment to fill gaps in the skill pool to meet competency targets

Sangeeth Ibrahim, Assistant Vice President, Head Of Training, Sharjah Islamic Bank, UAE

Successful People Plans: Measuring And Reporting The ROI On Career Development Initiatives To Management And Encouraging Further Investment

• Identifying KPIs of career development initiatives: Employee turnover, business growth and recruitment
• Establishing accurate and reliable measures of success
• How do you ensure that career development initiatives are pushing productivity and business KPIs?

• Employee commitment: Gaining employee buy-in to commit to their own development within the organisation
• Changing the employee mindset towards learning: Providing an opportunity for employees to enjoy learning and growth
• Challenging your employees to step outside their comfort zone and push to improve their performance
• Incentivising employees to go the extra mile: Does the job they are in allow them to experience and achieve personal goals?

Brett Preston, General Manager, Group Learning & Development, Al Futtaim, UAE

• Identifying high potential employees early on in their career: Effectively using potential assessors
• Developing targeted and flexible career development plans that leverage high potential employees to drive business growth and business goals
• New strategies to retain and engage high potential employees to avoid losing them to your competitors

PANEL DISCUSSION:
What Motivates Employees, How to Manage Expectations And Leverage Them To Build Retention And Engagement?

• Tools and tactics to uncover employee motivations and expectations
• Embedding employee motivations into job responsibilities to increase job satisfaction and engagement
• Aligning career development plans with employee expectations to build retention and engagement in the long run
• Keeping up with changing employee motivations and expectations as they move through the employee lifecycle

Sangeeth Ibrahim, AVP Head Of Training, Sharjah Islamic Bank, UAE
Dana Al Hafeed, Regional Talent & MARS University Director, MARS, UAE
Brett Preston, General Manager, Group Learning & Development, Al Futtaim, UAE

EMPLOYER’S EXCHANGE:
The Great Divide: Bridging The Gap Between Job Opportunities Available And Employee Aspirations To Boost Engagement And Motivation

• Is this a realistic possibility?
• What do employees want, what are their aspirations and what do they expect from their jobs?
• Leveraging employee aspirations to create career development initiatives and job opportunities that boost motivation and engagement?

Marius Van Rensburg, HR Director, The Royal Group, UAE
Suhair Khalfan, Vice President HR, Gulf Air, Bahrain
Marc Hoodless, HR Director, Arqaam Capital, UAE
Fahad Al-Abdulkarim, HR Director, P&G, KSA

Do Line Managers Hold The Key To Improving Effectiveness Of Career Development Initiatives?

• Defining Their Role And Gaining Their Support
• Gaining buy-in and support of line managers to drive career development initiatives
• Developing and implementing training: Ensuring line managers are equipped with the tools and skills to drive career development initiatives
• Driving career development initiatives and managing workload: Balancing day-to-day objectives such as KPIs, profits and operations with facilitating career development for employees

OPEN FORUM:
Learning From The Mistakes Of Your Peers – What Went Wrong And What Not To Do

An opportunity for HR professionals to discuss career development initiatives that didn’t work for them. They will share what went wrong and what they could have done differently. This is a unique opportunity to learn from past mistakes and improve for the future.