Case Study
IDENTIFYING
Tell Us Your Name and What You Currently Do?
My name is Elie Georgiou-Botaris and I am the Practice Leader at Towers Watson Middle East. My focus is on Talent Management and Organizational Alignment.
Tell Us About Your Background?
I have been in HR my entire professional career, spanning around 35 years in operational, strategic and Consulting HR roles, in the EMEA Region.
What Is Your Specialist Skill?
Human Resources/Talent Management and Development.
What Is The Best Learning and Development or Talent Management Strategy You Have Implemented?
The best learning and development/talent management strategy we have implemented is one that has been derived from and closely aligned to the business strategy of the client organization, where investment decisions have been made based on critical needs and pivotal roles identified in the organization.
Can You Take Us Step-by-Step Why It Was a Success?
The reason behind the success of such strategy was its full alignment to the business needs in order to respond to the actual skill/competency needs and gaps that were identified as crucial for the organization’s business success.
The first step was to identify the behavioral (core and leadership) and functional competencies that were critical to the business, its success and growth, as well as being critical for building and sustaining its competitive advantage.
These competencies were then communicated and positioned by the top leadership as the minimum behavioral and performance standards that the organization required its employees to demonstrate, in order to reflect its values, corporate culture and internal capabilities.
This integration of the behavioral and functional competencies into the key HR programs, coupled with a regular competency-based assessment for existing staff and job candidates/ new hires, provided the organization with a clear view and more focus on what areas needed development or upgrade in the short, medium and long-term, with better alignment to the business strategies and the specific current and future job roles. Hence, it provided the organization with clear guidance regarding what and where to invest in the area of training and development to ensure an immediate and high return on their investment in their people, at all levels and across the various employee segments.
Tell Us More About Your Background?
Beofre moving to Dubai, I worked in sales for an advertising agency in London. My background is predominantly in Telesales.
Tell Us More About Biz-Group
Biz Group started two decades ago when I first came to Dubai. We are a training and development company, predominantly like your magazine. We also have a team building division and a strategy division that helps small businesses.
Everything we do is about improving performance. For example, how do we improve the performance of teams, the performance of people and the performance of businesses?
What Made You Originally Set Up A Training Business In Dubai?
I originally came here two decades ago to launch a product for a client from the training industry and just fell in love with Dubai in early 1992. Dubai was entrepreneurial, optimistic and sunny. Every time I landed back in the UK it wasn't sunny and the 90's was quite a depressing time for UK business.
So, I looked at an opportunity to start a new business. I didn’t have enough funds to start an advertising agency, so I started a training company which grew from an initial idea and a passion, to what you see today, with 46 people in the company and a very passionate team helping companies improve performance.
How Do You Help Companies?
From a training and development perspective, traditionally we work with an organizationt o find out what their business objectives are, what strategic issues they want to improve and how we can provide training and development solutions tailor made for them, or alternatively implement some of the international programs we have that help get companies from A to B. We also help individuals, whether it’s leaders, front line customer service employees or the general population through professional development. We help companies improve their business results.
Take Us Through A Typical Day As CEO?
Having just read Arianna Huffington’s new book 'Thrive', what I shouldn’t be doing first thing in the morning is checking my iphone to find out what emails have come in overnight from our overseas partners, but I’m still doing that.
Then my day is pretty much mapped out intensively, sometimes I think I’m like a doctor, my PA manages to fill in appointments back to back. If im not in the office, I am in a training room first thing in the morning .
So, a typical day of mine may start with introducing a new concept, like multipliers for senior leaders, followed by running an 8 hour workshop.
But. I don’t think there really is a typical day in my diary, I could either be in the office supporting the team, I could be delivering business keynotes internationally or even delivering a training
COMPETENCIES
44 | TRAINING MAGAZINE MIDDLE EAST JAN 2015