Kenexa (NASDAQ:KNXA), a global provider of business solutions for human resources, today announced it is delivering a leadership program to help 65 senior managers at Vodafone’s operating company in Qatar to lead more effectively by minimising misunderstandings and cultural conflict.
Called Leading and Succeeding in Emerging Markets, the programme provides behavioural guidelines and practical examples to help the leaders, who are predominantly Western expatriates, to embrace diversity, improve working relationships, create a more conducive work environment and enable higher levels of performance.
Grahame Maher, Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Qatar, said: “This is an incredibly useful and enlightening programme. It’s about embracing and celebrating differences and it shows how ex-pats and local nationals can build bridges and work together more effectively. It not only gives our leaders the tools to lead in an emerging market environment, it also reinforces the importance of diversity and inclusion in our business.”
Leading and Succeeding in Emerging Markets highlights the different values and backgrounds that Westerners have, compared to employees from emerging markets. It explains the implications of these differences and shows how leaders can achieve greater impact and manage their teams more effectively.
Kenexa is also running a complementary workshop, on what it means to work in a multinational, for non-leaders at Vodafone Qatar, including locals and other nationals who have limited corporate experience. The workshop highlights issues around performance and examines the work expectations, the operational realities and what it takes for individuals to succeed.
“Out of 300 staff here, we have 40 nationalities so our employees have different needs, different personal values and different expectations about leadership and performance,” said Rachel Laws, Head of Culture & Leadership at Vodafone Qatar. “We asked Kenexa to design two programmes for us that would encourage our employees to understand, respect and work with these differences. Kenexa is a global specialist in employee-related issues and they have extensive experience in emerging markets and leadership.”
Laws continued: “We’re evolving from a start-up to a stage of operational excellence. The Kenexa programmes are playing a part in helping us to manage this transition, by changing people’s perspectives, and we believe Kenexa will help us to be even more successful in our marketplace.”
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Tommy Weir, Head of Leadership Solutions at Kenexa, said: “These programmes have a commercial benefit beyond improving leadership skills and fostering harmonious working relationships through better understanding. The bottom line is that they’ll enable higher performance.”
