Sohar International felicitates employees for leadership course

Keeping in line with its ‘winning’ work culture and its vision of becoming a world-leading Omani services company, Sohar International recently organised a felicitation ceremony for its employees who had undergone the ‘Erteqa Plus’ Training Program – an leadership training programme organised in association with Harvard Business Publishing.

With over 100 enrolled candidates, the programme was a sixmonth training course with various modules and workshops held to develop leadership skills and qualities in employees. Upon completion of the programme, all participants were felicitated at a graduation ceremony held at W Hotel, Muscat on December 15 in the presence of Ahmed al Musalmi, chief executive office of Sohar International and other senior officials of the bank.

The programme was tailored for different employee grade levels with each grade level based on the candidate’s years of association with the organisation. The programme ran across four levels including Supervisor Level, Managerial Level, Senior Management and Executive Level.

Stressing upon the importance of such programmes,

Musalmi said, “With the rapidly changing work environment, it is essential for organisations to continuously acquire new knowledge and skills while enhancing competencies of employees to cope with dynamics of the everchanging market. Today, with the government’s agenda of

Omanisation and building the incountry value, we as an organisation have aligned ourselves to introduce such programmes for our employees that benefit our employees in unleashing their leadership potential and help them become leaders of the future.”

He added, “Developing such training environments in an organisation is the key to creating a ‘winning’ culture. These training environments work as tools to enhance performance, whether it is an individual, a team, or the whole organisation which has an impact on the way we serve our stakeholders.”

The graduation ceremony initiated with a welcome note by a representative of the bank followed by a video showcasing the various editions of the programme held over the years.

The attendees were then addressed by Musalmi, congratulating the graduating candidates. Mutheer al Kalbani, head of Learning and Capability Development at Sohar International, highlighted the benefits Harvard Business Publishing is bringing to the company with such leadership programmes.

The Harvard Business Publishing representative, Stefaan Van Waes, head of the Middle East region for Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning, also spoke at the occasion, highlighting on the importance of developing competencies of employees.

The event then proceeded towards the felicitation ceremony where the graduating candidates were handed over certificates having successfully completed the training programme.

Following the felicitation ceremony, the bank presented a token of appreciation to the representatives of Harvard Business Publishing.

Stefaan Van Waes said, “We are glad to partner with Sohar International for this employee leadership training programme. With the changing landscape, only leaders can leverage these changes and turn them into growth opportunities for positive, beneficial progress of the company. Organisations that envision such opportunities are the ones that embrace our training programmes prioritising leadership as a crucial element for employee development. These programmes also encourage employees to achieve their highest levels of innovation and creativity.”