What should you look for when hiring a new manager to join your company in the GCC?
Most firms would look first at the candidate's experience in the field, whether finance or retail, and the technical knowledge that would make them suited for the job.
But new research conducted in the region showed that the best managers were set apart not by their business abilities, but their social skills.
A study conducted by the Kenexa Research Institute showed that regional workers say an effective manager is fair, engages employees' ideas, solves problems quickly and practises open, two-way communication.
Kuwait had the most effective managers in the region, with 62 per cent of employees giving their bosses high ratings on the Kenexa Manager Effective Index.
Qatar and Bahrain were next, with 58 per cent of respondents rating their managers as effective. In Oman, 56 per cent rated their managers as top-notch, while in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, 55 per cent and 54 per cent gave their bosses a thumbs-up respectively.
"The level of scores on overall managerial effectiveness is very high and we should be really proud of that in the GCC," says Vernon Bryce, the managing partner at the Dubai-based human resources firm Kenexa Middle East.
"The clever bit is constantly doing those right things: respecting, involving and solving problems in an open way. And I'm afraid some managers don't have those qualities. They shouldn't really be managers."
Globally, the countries with the highest manager ratings in Kenexa's survey were India (68 per cent), Brazil (61 per cent) and the US (60 per cent). The worldwide average was 60 per cent.
The lowest ratings were in France, with just 41 per cent rating their managers as effective, and in Japan, where just 43 per cent thought their bosses were doing a good job. This was followed by Italy (44 per cent) and Spain (46 per cent).
Mr Bryce says that as economic centres such as China and Brazil continue to grow, it will be increasingly important for GCC companies to perform to the highest level possible to stay competitive. The key to motivating employees lies with the middle manager, Mr Bryce says.
Not only can they boost performance, but a good boss can also help retain top talent.
"It boosts productivity, people are likely to stay in their jobs longer and research shows employees innovate a lot more within these engaging, involving teams," he says.
Hossein Hassani, the regional divisional marketing manager for Chevrolet at General Motors Middle East, said gut instinct was also useful in the region.
"One thing you have to deal with more here is somebody who can deal with ambiguity more," Mr Hassani says. "Most organisations today are data-driven organisations but we're in an area, in our industry in particular, where there is real dearth of data available to us.
"And we're talking about foundational data - sales, registration and so forth. When you're in North America, you have too much data and there you need a person who can get to the information quickly. Here, you need a person who is able to make decisions with not a lot of data at their disposal."
Companies need to consider these so-called "soft qualities" more when making hiring decisions, says Mr Bryce.
"What we should be doing is recruiting the managers that cultivate respect, involvement and open problem solving," he says. "We're probably recruiting for technical skills, not actually recruiting for management skills."
Mr Hassani says it may be more important to be able to adapt those management skills for each employee, rather than having a set number of tactics.
"It really comes down to your own experience, how long you have been in an organisation, and it's your own interpersonal skills," he says. "I think everybody runs into people they really gel with and people they don't.
"So I'm not sure there is one sort of rule on how to cope with that. It all comes down to a person's ability to cope with those situations."
aligaya@thenational.ae
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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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.