A very good investment for Oman

A bit of an unusual post for this blog, but these thoughts were chasing me for some time.

There is a lot of talk and some actions as well on strengthening the employment in the private sector, enhancing the SMEs, creating an Omani labour force that will play a major role in the sustainability of a non-oil economy. This is all good and encouraging. There is one aspect thought, that - in my view - will have a massive impact on the future of the country and that is parenting.  Education and pedagogy as an activity carries a major paradox that of trying to prepare kids for the future, a future that is unknown for the educators themselves.  Parenting is somewhat similar.  We are all trying to educate our kids for their 20s, 30s 40s and beyond; not really knowing what will be challenges they will face in 10, 20 or 30 years time.

One thing for sure, we as parents have a window of 10 to 14 years when we can set the grounds for the development of their personalities.  After that the high school friends, the sports club buddies, coaches, often the boarding school teachers abroad, or the street ‘gangs’ themselves are the educators with most of the influence. All we can do is follow the events and give an opinion eventually try to intervene when things go off track, or we think they do.  In some cases we are very vocal in expressing our opinion in some others we try to be more persuasive given explanations and examples, but no matter what we think, our teenage kids will still consider it just an opinion. The last time I remember really taking away my parents advice I was around 10-12.  But is not just our communication with the kids, and the pieces of wisdom we want them to remember, it’s the whole experience of home, spending time with Mummy or Daddy. Seeing how they relate to each other, how they solve a conflict (do they solve it of just swipe it under the carpet), how they encourage their child. The patience they show and the trust they put in their development. The determination to curb things that are seen as wrong and the creativity of enforcing the good. There is a whole range of situational and contextual information that shapes their personalities and values.

Now this might seem all boring parenting textbook, but here’s the thing.  Most families are heavily relying on nannies, or even worst, maids that are asked to work as nannies. Now think of all these aspects above in the context of being raised by a nanny that unfortunately more often than not is just doing a job.  An underpaid, under motivating, often frustrating job. She cannot behave as a parent for obvious reasons, she is not a mere baby sitter as a full time nanny, and often times she has her own child back home.  Therefore a whole generation could grow up under a very loose and particular parenting environment. A generation the country will have to rely on.

I don’t really know what is the solution to this, but parenting in Oman  - and everywhere else for that matter - definitely needs more investment.  Investment from the scarcest resource 21^st century people have: time.

Service, service, service: selecting the right ones

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” M.Gandhi

Travelers, and generally those who pay (own) money for any kind of travel related service, expect value. Value in what they see, feel and learn. It’s really down to these three things.

Landscapes, breathtaking views, stunning interiors, inspiring monuments, fascinating traditions and cultural artifacts can do a whole lot to attract tourism, but cannot do it all. They are the hardware of the destination, the preconditions of tourism, but service is what enables them to create economic value. The service is the software. And as is with software it is more prone to bugs, flaws and mistakes.  Hospitality unfortunately is more about service than anything else. It's a whole lot about  how you felt while there. There are tons of good and bad examples of how service can make or break a business in tourism.  I have included here are just a few ideas, and tips to help SELECT, TRAIN and RETAIN your best service people.

Does he really mean it?

I take the risk of stating: good service cannot be learned by anybody. Period.  There are types of personalities that would never be able to serve at quality levels. They are just not meant to make others feel good, always, under any circumstances. They don't like to care and think love of others is a weakness.  There are others who have the right personality fundamentals to serve. They are empathetic, attentive, quick, they know how to listen (and not just pretend), they have decent memory, they are creative, have good humor, they are extroverted and just love people. They get their energy from others and not from themselves.

So the better you are able to select those who have these fundamentals, even if they have never worked in a service job, the better off you are. One can save months of frustration and lost business by avoiding hiring service people who are not meant to serve by design. They typically have very high level of self-confidence and esteem, are impatient and impulsive, they often prefer conflict over compromise, they like to take the bull by the horn, they are critical and skeptical by nature etc. They can be great at many other important things but not at service. Let them strive in areas where they can excel and save them buy the misery of pretending to serve.

He really means it!

There is whole science (preached by expensive consultants and usually practiced with major flaws) of best selecting your employees, but at the end of the day it is an art. That of reading a personality and understanding if it fits in your team or not.  Here are some tips that might work: ask the applicant to rearrange the seating in the interview room, or to serve the coffee for themselves. Watch they way they relate to you, to details. Ask them to show you the way to the bathroom, or to explain you the shortest way out from the building, etc. etc. These are situations, where facial expression, gestures, style and approach to helping the other are reviled. It won’t tell you who is the best to hire, but if you have the right feelers, it helps you avoid disasters and save time.

I am not saying anything new by the fact that Oman does have a huge potential in the fundamentals of tourism, but it has to come a long, long way in service. Combining the genuine friendliness and helpfulness of Omanis with consistency and promptness of service will yield the desired results.

Any similar ideas to share? Some more to come on training and retention soon.

Vocational job creation

So here we are in 2013.  Sure with lots of plans, hopes and resolutions.

Just saw that the government aims to create 56,000 jobs forOmanis this year:  36,000 in the public sector (of which 20,000 in military) and 16,000 in the private sector. Wow! That’s over 1000 freshmen every week of the year.  There is certainly a challenge in the volume and also the relatively short period over which they have to be achieved. One might think this will not encourage quality in the selections.

Perhaps on the longer term, some more consideration could be also given to the qualitative, vocational aspects of job creation.  It is hard to believe that all those 20,000 who will be newly employed by the military, do see their carriers as soldiers or support staff. Perhaps a lot of them yes but more likely not most of them.

May sound a bit like leapfrogging some stages of labor market development, but I think employers should have an increasingly vocational perspective towards new hires. Even when it comes to quotas.  Asking people why they are going for that job should not only be a checklist interviewing question. Add on  how do they imagine a day work in that position looks like, and what they see themselves doing in five years, and you’ll pretty quickly get all parts of the puzzle.

There is nothing more disappointing than seeing a service person hating his/her job. Especially in the hospitality and tourism related service areas. It’s not only about service level and quality. It’s also about the sustainability of employment figures. Those people forced in their jobs, sooner or later will feel frustrated and quit, or survive day by say doing a crappy job and discouraging others who might like what they do and want to be good at it. The labor market does not really work on a meritocratic basis (at least not for the Omanis) and in most of the cases, if you have the nerves you can hold onto a position for quite some time without really excelling at it, to say the least. As a result you would be better trying to choose something that you feel some vocational call for.  Assisting youngsters in a vocational job selection is something would do a lot of good in this country. A combination of high school programs and more conscious hiring practice would certainly yield results in the medium to long term.

The other extreme is having your hobby as your job and be lucky enough to a make a good living out of it. Where are you on the scale…?

Sink Hole to become a resort

I just read the other day that Muscat Municipality partnered up with the private sector to develop a new resort in  Quriyat region, on the site of the well known Sink Hole.  It is quoted by some prestigious publications as the world most beautiful sink hole.

If you've been there, you know that the place is quite simple and apart of this great natural attraction which is a huge rocky hole formation, filled with deep green crystal clear water (well at least until some less respectful travelers don't through diet coke cans in it) there is not much around. So using up the fame of the attraction it only makes sense to put up services around.

Not having seen plans though I would think there are a few issues of concern, and perhaps some great opportunities as well, hopefully to be considered by the concept development team.

Original form: This natural marvel is beautiful as long as it is kept clean and and in its original form. Overcrowding it with stairs (take away the current concrete monster stair please), terraces etc. will kill it's spirit and beauty.

Crowd management:  I would even limit the number of people (like at the Al Hoota Caves) to be in at the same time to enable it to better impress visitors. The fact that the resort to be built has a relative low room count (67 rooms and 20 suites) is reassuring that the large crowds will be kept at bay.

Edutaimnent factor: When I was there with my family, I kind of missed some informative element from the experience which would explain the natural formation of the lake, and perhaps show some similar ones elsewhere. (in Tawi Attir-Oman, in US, along the dead Sea etc.) Having the resort there an people staying for few days, it's a unique opportunity to create a geological visitor center for them to show a short story of Oman's geo formations and related things to know. Introducing the edutainment factor would give a valuable and unique ad on to the resort at reasonable extra cost.

Can't wait to see the place ready!

The brand promise of Oman. Delivered?

What comes to your mind first when you think of Oman?  What colors, feelings, scents do you associate with Oman? How would Oman look like had it been a person? What are you most proud of as an Omani when you think of your country? These are all important question from tourism and country brand perspective.

Most likely the Brand Oman Management Unit has done its homework before coming up with the country branding strategy and collateral.

According to them the brand has the following core elements:

• turtle, ocean wave and life - navy blue color wave (in the logo)
• mountains - light blue siluette of the mountain 
• dhow - dark blue shape reflecting the tip of the dhow boat
• frankincense - light green shape

Not a bad call at all. These are pretty much the unique features the country has to offer.  Like with any brand the promise has to be kept. Any tourist visiting the country should find it difficult to leave without unwillingly meet most of these features. Is that really the case today?

We have so many museums, but we don't have (or I am not aware of) a House of Frankincense where the whole story of this great natural product is presented in a creative and interactive way. Visitors could experience and understand that importance of frankincense in the history of Omanis. 

Same could be said with the Dhow. There are some initiatives in Sur and maybe elsewhere, but an interesting and creative Dhow heritage center is yet to be done. This should be by the sea and include several interactive features for visitors. Would be a very nice and challenging work for any museum and visitor attraction planner.

The mountains and wadis do most of job themselves, however some visitors centers in the most popular mountain destinations (Jebel Ahkdar, Jebel Shams, Wadi Bhani Khalid, Wadi Sham etc.) could do a lot of justice for these marvelous places and help protect their environment. And offer jobs for locals.

There is an  Ocean and sea life museum (Aquarium and Marine Science & Fisheries Centre) at the  Marina Bandar Al Rowdha in Sidab but it's somewhat outdated, could really  take a nice revamp and some new features that would worth the trip from Muscat for any visitor.

The Just-do-it factor

During my not so long stay and work here in Oman I often observe a symptom that keeps provoking me especially in work context, and that is the general lack of striving to achieve things, the lack of appeal for a sense of achievement or success.  It might be because of the predominance of inherited wealth and shortage of created wealth, because competitiveness is not (yet) in the DNA of the economy, or just because culturally compromise is preferred over confrontation. Or a blend of the above.

It is far from me to generalize but the effects are so negative that it well worth trying to change this slightly apathetic work culture. I am sure the topic has been overly worn out  by HR professionals and loads of expensive training programs have been developed to improve work morale and motivation in many places.

My humble suggestion is very simple, albeit it requires a bold policy commitment and leadership rather then micro level HR work.

In my view there is one thing that could naturally change this on the long term, and that is not the fear of running out of oil or the ex-pat labor leaving.  It would be sports! Sports as form of play for kids, sports as  entertainment and education for youngsters and sports as a profession for grown ups. I am not saying Oman should be a sports nation only but there should be several times more done to infect Omanis with this wonderful drug of competitive physical activity.  There is not one training program that can achieve a level of personality formation than competitive sports can.  Hard work, practice, concentration, patience, talent, ability, perseverance, self awareness, self knowledge, knowing your limits, team work and above all FUN, lots of FUN. 

So all in all it provides all the ingredients for a striving personality.  Besides education and shier knowledge, I think using sports as a formation tool would be the key to achieve lasting change on this front. It's never to late.

Smiles of Oman

They say the shortest way between two people is a smile. Judging by this Oman should be a rather crowded place. I always had the impression that people of Oman smile much more than people of other GCC countries. Hence, the title choice of  "Smiles of Oman" for the latest training initiative of the National Hospitality Institute is just great! So is the idea! - a service level improvement campaign underpinned by training modules for customer facing staff, their managers and supervisors.

Although I have not had a chance to see the training materials I hope that the one-day modules manage not only to scratch the surface by offering canned formulas of welcome address and deal with problematic cases, but also providing insights on customer behaviors, emphatic understanding and more. I always have the feeling that there are two main issues causing service problems here: 1) failure (or unwillingness) to understand customers perspective and/or 2) lack of knowledge on what they are selling. Perhaps a third one is response time.

Like any campaign the real benefits should be in the follow up. Not knowing what the plans of NHI are I attempted to put down a few ideas:

• Sell it to consumers: a strong social media component of the program (twitter, facebook) could help selling the certification concept idea to consumers as well. If we -consumers- will not be aware of the service value of the Smiles of Oman tag, I doubt it will be able to offer enough for businesses as a one day training program.
• Incentivise businesses to use it: like most new things people have to be convinced to use it. Coming up with some arrangement with radio/tv and written press to favorably price Smiles of Oman certified ads, might help business in considering the program and some fresh promotion as well.
• Build it into a certification program: this is a bit of a larger bite and requires significant resources but in exchange would ensure long term impact and sustainability. An annual rankings and award system for the service sector would do good for everybody.

There is a lot in a smile true, but let's not forget the ultimate goal is to make us -customers- smile.

Making peace with Time

What do you think Dali was inspired by when he came up with the melting clocks?

Only recently I came to appreciate the way most people in Oman relate to time. Westerners are raised to believe that time is money, and the quicker you are the better you are. Time is an essential measure for them.  They are always in a hurry and claim (or pretend) to be very time conscious.  I was puzzled initially and  only recently came to actually experience that here, quicker is not necessarily the better, and time efficiency is not always your best advisor.  Taking the time, “sleeping on it” could put things into better perspective and you end up taking a better decision (or end up not having to take one).  This obviously only works if there is a social acceptance of being slow, which in Oman is more or less there. If everybody around you is going crazy to get things done quickly you will not be appreciated to hold up things in the hope of a...more though-full  outcome.

With the service sectors and cost of labor gradually growing though, it will be interesting to see how this cultural norm is changing or prevailing.

One thing for sure, I think westerners should sometimes ask themselves if their way is really always the best way, given the bigger picture and the cultural context.  I think adapting (but not giving up) your views and routines to what you see and feel (!) around you is a far better way of achieving results, than  just exhibiting arrogance and labeling people (or even worst: groups of people) inefficient or lazy.

ROH: Enter the World of Music

In order to create a sustainable long lasting musical foundation for Oman, the ROH has to take a leading role. No doubt that the flagship cultural institution of the country can have a huge impact on the musical education of the nation. And I am not only thinking about kids friendly production (like the recent Cinderella), but to a whole different approach of introducing kids to classical music, musicals and opera. It has to prove that ROH is there to teach as well, and is available for everybody open to music.

• Musical summer camps – for kids of different age groups where they are presented with different genres, trying instruments, learn about an orchestra and prepare a little performance to end the camp with.
• Music mornings – 1 hour sessions for schools presenting instruments, or showing how movie and cartoon music is written, how singers warm up, practice and perform, what back of the stage world means etc.
• Classical remix of known pop and rock pieces – showing how familiar mainstream tunes can have charm and dynamism if remixed even for a small orchestra etc.

These are all ideas that bring down the perception of music being an elitist thing that most have no access to or genuine interest in, and show that opera is not a mere social promenade or status exhibit. An interesting example is the Educational Program of  the Sydney Opera House. With a little bit of planning and organizing work these programs can also have a huge promotion value not only for ROH but also for Muscat.

The Royal Opera House needs to be much more than just an opera house. It has to lead these efforts of introducing people of Oman, especially youth, to the wonderful world of music.