Agthia Group PJSC

Can you tell us about yourself and your experience in the HR field to date?

As a People and Culture advisor with over 25 years of extensive experience working in the US, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, I have been privileged to gain an in-depth perspective of these regions' diverse cultural nuances and business practices. My experience has been gained while working with leading local and multinational corporations, such as Agthia Group PJSC, Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), Hewlett Packard (HP) and Coca Cola Bottling Company. 

Having worked with individuals from multiple cultures and backgrounds, I have developed an understanding of the nuances and subtleties of optimal communication and business practices within diverse environments. This knowledge has proven invaluable in navigating cross-cultural business relationships and building successful partnerships.

How would you describe your experience in the Human Capital sector, and what are your responsibilities within the organizations in which you currently work?

My experience in the People and Culture sector has been exciting and rewarding. I have been able to experience tremendous personal growth and a sense of fulfilment, knowing that I have been able to make a difference to so many people’s lives. This experience has helped me to nurture my passion for developing people through continuous improvement and human-centric approaches for building skills, experiences, and knowledge. I currently work for Agthia Group, the leading FMCG company in the region, with over 11,000 employees engaged in the manufacturing, distributing, and marketing of various consumer products across the GCC and international markets.

“The value of every organization is increasingly based on the ability to adapt and learn quickly. Learning is not just a department; it is an essential element of the activities in every business unit.”

At Agthia Group I am responsible cultivating the desired culture and capabilities to support our strategic growth ambitions. Agthia Group continues to experience rapid growth, both organically and through disciplined M&A, and our team is critical in fostering a culture that embraces diversity while inspiring people to align their behaviour to support and champion the company’s values. Culture and learning are inextricably connected, with the development of a learning culture in turn leading to an understanding and desire for embracing the desired company culture. People tend to exhibit and adapt to desired behaviours if they are surrounded by leaders and peers exhibiting these desired behaviours.

As already mentioned, I believe that learning is critical in developing and fostering a desired company culture. We focus on four main pillars for building a culture of learning: first, awareness and belief in the value of learning; second, role modelling by leaders, peers, and others in the workplace; third, access to the right tools and programs for skill building; and fourth, the environments, policies and systems that support upskilling and learning.

Are you integrating a learning approach into your day-to-day activities at your organization?

At Agthia Group, we recognize that learning and culture are interconnected and cannot have one without the other. As we have acquired six companies in the past 24 months, we understand the complexity of integrating hardware, policies, system structures, and software. We are also committed to integrating the softer side of our people and culture through learning.

We are on a journey to help people rethink learning, not just what to learn, but how to learn. Learning is not just about attending a course or training but, more importantly, about how we expand and integrate learning and what we have learned into our daily work environment. Learning is a social process, and we strive to improve awareness around learning, access to learning and the learning agility of our employees.

Given the focus on daily tasks and objectives as well as the diverse physical locations, many companies find it a challenge to engage employees in learning interventions. At Agthia Group, we simplify the learning process to make it more accessible and available from anywhere and at any time. Our employees are encouraged to develop a self-motivated learning mindset and our learning programs are designed to provide performance support and to bridge the gaps to address business priorities. Rather than focusing on the number of training programs that we provide, we focus instead on providing learning opportunities that are targeted and curated to our employees' developmental needs and time constraints.

Many of our employees are frontline workers, sales reps, and customer-facing, so we provide bite-sized online learning, podcasts, recordings, reflective questions and other curated resources that they can access while on the go. Our business leaders assist in identifying the methodology, where and when learning should occur, and what skills our employees need to develop. Through our learning programs, we aim to drive engagement, scale up skill-building, and reinforce a culture of learning.

We have observed that our employees prefer short courses that can be easily accessed. At the same time, they can also engage in other activities, such as listening to a podcast during a long drive or watching a summary video while waiting to offload orders or waiting for customers. Thus, we are designing our learning methodologies based both on their work style, preferences and fit-for-purpose. Similar to the concept of book clubs, we have adopted a cohort-based approach where 10-20 individuals with similar skill sets and competencies go through a learning journey together. This approach includes a combination of different interventions, such as online or in-person content, virtual discussions through MS Teams, sharing of documents, and assignment coaches. We aim to foster social learning by encouraging participants to engage in discussion forums and asking thought-provoking questions.

We understand that learning is a human right, and we want to help individuals build awareness, confidence, and the conviction to step up and show up. However, we have observed that sometimes learning is wasted when individuals do not fully utilize their opportunities or learning does not address learners’ needs. For instance, some individuals start but never complete MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) courses, which wastes an opportunity for themselves and others. We call out such behaviours and encourage individuals to expand their knowledge by consuming learning content and then applying this knowledge to develop their skill sets.

Turning knowledge into something valuable and transferable requires significant effort and work. Therefore, our organization is focused on educating our learners about the learning process and how to effectively apply knowledge to their work.

In your opinion, what are some of the current challenges in organizational development?

As the workplace continues to face unique and complex challenges, leaders must prioritize the development of their employees to prepare for rapid changes in the future. Business leaders have a crucial role to play in supporting their employees in building the necessary skills for success. This is essential to address the unique and complex challenges that arise in the workplace and prepare for rapid-scale changes in the future. Research indicates that leaders play a significant role in this regard. Leaders must prioritize making time for their employees to engage in conversations around their learning experiences, challenges, and successes. Consistently engaging in such discussions can make learning a habit and a natural part of daily life.

When leaders actively prioritize and acknowledge employee skill-building, employees feel encouraged to learn and deepen their knowledge. This strategy can also help foster employee engagement and, ultimately, culture change. Culture is the sum of an organization's people, behaviours, mindset, and perceptions. Ongoing learning engagement and interventions can help to build a desirable and productive culture.

Our team is responsible for employee engagement, interventions, culture, and learning. These are all interconnected and vital aspects of any successful company with a clear purpose and KPIs. The three pillars of company performance, culture and capabilities must be addressed in unison. Our team is privileged to support the business and serve our people in achieving these goals.

Are there any new strategies or techniques that helped streamline your HR strategies, or are there any new technologies or practices that you look forward to using to enhance your position and face challenges in the future? 

Agthia Group has embarked on a journey to become a mature learning organization and technology is a key enabler in this journey. Having said this, we have been exploring latest digital learning technologies, research, methodologies, and pilot run to accelerate learning. Their effectiveness is only as good as the people who use them. Without human skills, curiosity, exploration, learner’s mindset, learning agility and learnability, the value of these enablers is limited.

It is essential to focus on the basics of human skills, learnability, and learning agility, the ability to learn quickly and process ambiguity to make decisions using technology. Even though we have recently introduced digital learning platforms such as Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, Bookboon, and Viva Learning, we must also train our people on the mindset and how to use these tools. We focus on improving the learning capability of our employees, enabling them to find learning opportunities that will help them achieve their best potential. Without focusing on improving our people's learning capabilities, even the most advanced technologies and platforms will not be effective.

It is truly fascinating to gain a comprehensive understanding of people's behaviour. However, it is also important to acknowledge that not all individuals are equally motivated. For instance, learning was greatly emphasized in my experience with the Korean education system. I recall studying for 12 to 14 hours a day and sleeping only a couple of hours per day for many years to enhance my learnability, critical thinking and achieve results that I desired. In my class of 40 students, we were all ranked based on our academic results and learning attitudes. Despite this, we were eventually integrated into society, with some working in corporations, some continuing their studies, and others pursuing different occupations.

It is clear that people's motivation, learnability, learning agility, and capability are different. While we may expect everyone to be trained and achieve their best, this is not always possible or realistic. Some individuals may possess excellent cognitive abilities, while others may not, but it does not necessarily reflect their worth or value as individuals. Thus, it is crucial to recognize that everyone has different motivations, cognitive abilities, resilience, coping skills, and purposes in life, and we should accept and integrate them into society accordingly. The ability for leaders to embrace this concept is fundamental to the creation of successful teams where each member has different strengths to support the team’s success.

As employers and leaders of a learning culture, we should embrace technologies to provide tools and opportunities for individuals to achieve their dreams and work on their strengths. While not everyone can be a rocket scientist or excel in every area, it is crucial to offer opportunities for individuals to develop their skills and pursue their aspirations. Ultimately, we are all integrated into society, and we should appreciate and celebrate the diversity of individuals' motivations, capabilities, and dreams. This is a fundamental principle that we should keep in mind, especially with the latest technologies and thinking.

The advent of AI using tools like CHAT GPT or Co-Pilot will change the way we learn and the skills that we need in a way that no one has yet understood. It is a new and exciting tool for us to embrace as we look ahead.

What is your advice for budding professionals in the field?

In my opinion, it is crucial for all Human Capital professionals to position themselves as learning advisors, possessing technical competencies in knowledge, continuously learning, and being curious about the latest thinking, behaviours, data, trends, best practices (and how they might work for the organization that we are working with) and research. This is a must if we are to be successful. As learning advisors, we need to be true business partners, not merely paying lip service. It is imperative that we build close relationships with business leaders, understand their problems and goals, and leverage our technical knowledge, competencies, and human side to provide a combined solution that supports them.

Actions speak louder than words, and we have a duty of care to look after the people in our charge. As a support organization, we aim to serve people, and our humanity, empathy, passion for supporting people, and the company, are critical elements of our role. To accomplish this, we need to possess the expertise, a humble mindset, and a passion for our people. As we move forward, these qualities will only increase in importance, and it is essential that we strive to cultivate them in ourselves and our peers.