Month: April 2014

28/04/2014

The continued development of all the aspects of government performance, combined with the achievement of one accomplishment after the other and the provision of excellent and pioneering services are some features of the UAE smart government, which the Emirates Identity Authority was able to translate into reality through tireless efforts as embodied in its issuance of the smart ID card.

The Emirates ID was able to be a bridge that connected the various data by continuously developing the smart ID card as demonstrated by making it easily accessible and providing the best services to citizens and residents alike.

The ID card is one of the UAE’s most outstanding strategic projects and a mainstay of the project aimed at building the future government, shifting to the knowledge-based economy and strengthening the elements of security and global competitiveness.

Here lies the importance of holding the Open Government Data Forum under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Advisor and Chairman of the Emirates Identity Authority, which is organized by the Emirates ID in co-operation with the United Nations Public Administration Network and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The forum, the first of its kind in the Middle East, is a unique opportunity to discuss the importance of open data for promoting the transparency and governance approach and support the process of achieving a balance between making data available and maintaining its privacy at the same time.

The UAE realized early the importance of making data and information available to those concerned at both the government and private sectors in such a manner that would support the involvement of the society in the process of development and help the government understand the needs of the society and meet the demands of global competitiveness. To this effect, the UAE implemented several information and service-related initiatives in the areas of knowledge and dissemination of statistics and data.

In this connection, Dr. Ali Mohamed Al Khouri, Emirates ID Director General, underlined the importance of the role of open data in enhancing creativity in the interest of the society and markets in general and its effective contribution to promoting the success of decisions in the economic and social fields by providing the information necessary for establishing investments and taking decisions on the horizontal and vertical expansion of individuals, companies and organizations.

The UAE approach is one of the basic guarantees that support its aspiration to be one of the best countries in the world through government action which is based on clear guiding principles that put citizens at the top of government priorities and are characterized by responsibility, flexibility and innovation.

Based on this, all those who contributed to presenting a bright image of the UAE should be thanked, not only at the level of the Middle East but at the global level as well.

The UAE’s efforts to support and launch initiatives related to open data contribute to supporting the performance of government entities and their contribution to identifying innovative methods and strategies that enable governments to give added value to customers.

government entities are currently seeking to accelerate the pace of work to link their databases with that of the Emirates ID’s population register in an effort to improve the quality of operations and public services in the government sector, expand the scope of use of the ID card and its advanced applications in all sectors and activate the ID card to become an essential source of identification in direct or digital dealings.

21/04/2014

An international award is granted only to those who deserve it and fulfill its main requirements in terms of application and implementation of work strategies and excellence in activating the performance indicators based on creative thinking.

I am talking about the Richard Goodman Award for Strategic Planning, which is granted by the American Society of Strategic Planning to government organizations known for their excellent strategic planning and organizational performance. The award has been granted to one of our federal authorities, the Emirates Identity Authority, which is an extraordinary authority in the full sense of the word, thanks to its positive energy, which is aimed for excellence and stimulates innovation, creativity and quality work, and its performance, which gains the satisfaction, admiration and appreciation of those who are inside and outside the UAE.

The world-class award is a new achievement by the Emirates Identity Authority, which has creative thinking skills and is changeable in terms of planning and implementing national action strategies, which serve the future vision of the UAE as far as goals and anticipation of the future are concerned. This milestone should be added to the Emirates Identity Authority’s list of creative achievements, while the Emirates Identity Authority is making its way towards excellence and creativity, excelling global government organizations, which were established some decades before the Emirates Identity Authority but failed to have the honor of winning such world-class awards.

Words about the Emirates Identity Authority as well as its achievements, which have contributed to the great reputation of the UAE, and its projects, initiatives and programs remain inadequate to give it due credit and fall short to describe its sincere effort to upgrade government work, serve the national economy and keep pace with the objectives of the UAE Vision 2021.

The Emirates Identity Authority, which has won many awards for its excellence, mastery of work and high-quality performance at the local, regional and global levels, is distinguished for its flowing positive energy, teamwork and commitment to trust-based corporate values and integrity and responsibility principles. It adopts a systematic and scientific approach for planning and implementing its strategic plans as per the standards of excellence, which help gain awards at home and abroad.

The Emirates Identity Authority, which is achieving one dazzling success after another, is also distinguished for its bid not to stop at this point but to seek the highest levels of excellence and the highest peak in its projects, which it launches and carries out for serving the UAE and its praiseworthy security, economy and sustainable development trends and visions. Undoubtedly, such authorities which do so will reap awards and will be distinguished, appreciated and honored.

21/04/2014

In the previous article, which had the same title without a number, I wrote that the words that a human being utters and the way they deal with others are evidence on how far they are cultivated, elegant and intellectually developed. This is because it is such standards as cultivation, elegance and intellectual development that measure the human speech and behavior rather than the number of books a human being reads or the types of degrees they are awarded, though these two elements are highly important.

Now that more than 40 days have elapsed since the first article was published, there are still a lot of ideas going on in my mind about what everyone of us should do to achieve self-development and improve positive thinking. I want to present these ideas before the readers of this section, including my fellow employees of the Emirates Identity Authority, customers and the public, as they might constitute an incentive and an encouraging element for the exchange of ideas that contribute to refining our knowledge and exploring the reservoirs of our creativity for the ultimate goal of serving our personal interests as well as those of our work and our esteemed authority.

Here, I would like to say that failure and the fear of failure are the most formidable obstacle to one’s success. So, carry on, my brothers and my colleagues, and do not be afraid because success has a wonderful taste and life is beautiful if you live day by day and moment by moment. Make the most of your life, time, health and leisure and enjoy your days and moments, because other people are so sick and upset that they can hardly sleep.

Walking towards success is an endless journey. Therefore, develop yourself and keep going because success is not easy and requires you to  be perseverant in order to reach excellence. You have to develop your personal skills to achieve your future goals.

Do not think much about the future in order not to be obsessed by anxiety, nor about the past in order not to be possessed by depression. Think in a balanced way in that the present is meant for achievement, the past for experiences and the future for planning. Be always confident that “the only person I always try to be better than him is yesterday’s me.”

Moreover, you should always put your trust in those who can see five things in you: the sadness behind your smile, goodwill behind your action, kindness behind your anger, strength when crying and logic behind your silence.

I know that a successful and efficient human being in this life is not only a one who produces or accomplishes things but a one who achieves the desired results in the time available.

You should make others feel how valuable they are in your life and not only how valuable you are in their lives if you want to seek a place in their hearts. Remember that the way you deal with people is not forgotten; hence, do not regret moments in which you made someone happy even if he/she did not deserve. It is enough to be something beautiful in the lives of those who know you because Allah Almighty will reward us in the same way.

21/04/2014

* Our time is no longer our own but belongs to the others and everyone is competing for your time to take a slice of it.

If you are currently reading a book on time management or intend to attend a course in this field, I suggest that you wait for a little bit. As we all know, life, no matter how long it is, is short and we have a great hope. Most of us always seek to be better and improve constantly but we do not have plenty of time; we always have pressures and there are always urgent things that have never been planned. Our time is no longer our own but belongs to the others and everyone including your boss, subordinates, colleagues, family members, friends and relatives is competing for your time to take a slice of it. This is apart from the time you waste in waiting, whether waiting on the phone, or queuing for a service or stopping at traffic lights.

In addition, a large part of our time is wasted in many things such as checking e-mails or deleting unimportant messages, not knowing that time is the most precious element we have and that all of us are equal in this respect, given that each one of us has got 168 hours per week. Based on this, it is difficult and impractical to manage time because demands are increasing and time is limited.

Most writers and leadership scholars like Peter Drucker, Tom Peters and Marc Fritz agreed on the importance of focusing on what we do and what we should do by asking ourselves whether what we are doing now is consistent with the goals we aspire to achieve.

We must always focus on our goals and not forget the purpose we are working for. Based on this, it is a matter of focus management rather than time management. Focus only on significant issues and watch how time is spent and where your time goes. If argument rages in a meeting, is the purpose to prove your point of view or to fulfill a task? Focus on how to fulfill the task. If something goes wrong, it is not as much important who caused the error as how to avoid it, learn from it and move to the next step. Do not begin your meetings or day with a list of tasks but with how much time is left. It is preferred at the end of the day to record where you spent your time during the day, where most of your time goes and whether your time is spent on your major goals or is wasted without added value.

Learn to delegate some tasks to others as long as they can accomplish them on your behalf. Do only what others cannot do for you. If you can seek the assistance of a driver or use public transport, do not waste your time driving, particularly if you are driving long distances, spare the burden of looking for a car-park and make use of the time needed to do so.  Use smart services instead of physically go to where the service is provided. Finally, do not forget your family’s share; you must allocate part of your time budget to your family members, provided that it should be time of high quality and concentration, i.e. do not sit with them with the phone in your hand and do not allow them to do so either. You must allocate high-quality time for your family; it is focus management rather than time management.

13/04/2014

We used in the past to remember beautiful, meaningful phrases by heart. These phrases had a direct and indirect effect on us, were firmly established in our minds and often motivated and encouraged us to defy the odds and overcome obstacles in order to be able to achieve our aspirations and surmount all difficulties whatsoever.

Phrases like “As you sow, so will you reap” and “No pain, no gain” etc. tell us that everything in life has a price and that achieving success requires you to show diligence and perseverance, to exert as much effort as necessary to reach it and not to be submissive and dependent and wait for miracles because “If wishes were horses, beggars might ride.”

One of the reasons behind success as commonly known by mankind is work. This is because success in any job is not achieved through wishes but through proper, error-free planning. It is obvious that too much work generates a lot of pressures, which need hardworking and perseverance to be confronted and overcome.

It is also natural for those who work to face pressures that vary according to the nature of work as well as its place and time. A hardworking person, whether a man or a woman, who tries hard to excel in his study, will be subject to huge psychological pressures but, thanks to his/her intellectual uniqueness, he/she can convert these pressures into positive effects that urge him/her to work hard until he/she achieves his/her objectives, build a presence and gain prestige. In contrast, a person who crumbles after facing a few pressures believes that this is the end of the road and that the right decision is to quit work and look for another job where there are no pressures, imagining that success is easily achieved without challenges or obstacles.

13/04/2014

Have you ever hesitated to take the appropriate action towards a certain challenge but have failed to act? Have you ever waited for a solution from someone else,  through a certain instruction or  through a gesture to act upon?

Have you waited until you build confidence in yourself or even until obstacles  have vanished so as it will be easy for you to achieve your goals?

If yes, then you are a person who does not have initiative and who is not interested in being an active member in his/her practical or humanitarian environment. Nevertheless, you have to be cautious because the longer you are so, the more this passive attitude is firmly established and the more difficult for you to take a step or move on your own. Hence, you will keep waiting and waiting without doing anything.

The truth is that no challenge or problem will be solved by itself and no obstacles will be removed without your effort. Likewise, no one will volunteer to achieve your goals.

Every minute that passes with you standing in the same location means you are more steps behind and away from believing that by doing so, you are sitting in the comfort zone where there are no problems and you do not need to make any effort. The truth is that you are in the area of ​​oblivion, retardation and setback, and therefore you have to wake up and recognize the meaning of initiative and how to have a positive attitude towards everything around you.

When anyone of us feels lazy and avoids taking any action toward any incident, they do so because they convinced themselves that the situation is very difficult, that they would not be able to confront it by moving forward and that there is nothing that would necessitate them to be the first to take the initiative to solve the problem, given that the situation is insoluble.

Do you know what the solution here is?

The more firm steps, albeit small, you take towards achieving your goals, the more you are interested in taking initiatives. Hence, the steps that will follow will become easier with every step you make. At last, you will discover that these small steps have a great effect despite the little effort you need to exert. You will also begin to enjoy what you have done and accomplished because you have started to have initiative and act confidently and the effort you have exerted has yielded excellent and significant results.

Are you ready now to make a few steps forward and be a person with initiative?

07/04/2014

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, recently said “All can learn from ‘five star’ service centres.” The word “learn” in HH Sheikh Mohammed’s statement led me to questions like: What is learning? How do we learn? Who is to learn? What are the types of learning? At that moment, I remembered the story of a manager in a multinational company who had a project idea and did not leave any chance to talk about it and the huge profits that the company would earn from it.

After the idea had been presented to him, the company CEO found the project had a poor chance for success but agreed to it following the young director’s insistence. The $10-million project failed at the end and the young manager offered his resignation, which was rejected by the CEO. “We have neither lost nor failed; we have learnt lessons worth $10 million”, the CEO said.

Learning is always an absent/present issue; a word we repeatedly utter but only a few apply the lessons learnt. “The only truly sustainable competitive advantage is the ability to learn”, says Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric. So, what is learning? who is to learn? Are they the managers or the staff? Is there corporate learning?

There are four levels of learning: individual learning, collective learning, organizational learning at the level of the organization as a whole – such as learning through benchmarking, audits and quality awards – and finally government learning. Each of those levels has its own application strategies. In order for the process of learning in its 4 levels to be implemented and for learning to turn into a useful practice, we must ensure the availability of essential resources.

Learning has become an industry worth of billions; in the United States, the annual spending on organizational learning exceeds $160 billion and there are currently jobs that are based on organizational learning industry. So, we badly need to learn how to learn due to the fact that learning can add a value to what we do towards reaching an innovation and knowledge-based society, which has the highest levels of quality and ensures happiness in life. Learning is a lifelong process

01/04/2014

Smiling is a language that doesn’t need to be translated and is a key to opening hearts. It doesn’t cost money nor effort, nor does smiling take time more a blink of the eye. However, it does penetrate our hearts.

Smiling is the oldest and fastest way of communication known to human beings. It the only common language that is understood by all nations without the need for translation. Smiling was the practice of Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) who was known to be the most magnanimous, the greatest, the most honorable, the most gorgeous and the more smiling human being. He urged people to smile when he said: “smiling to your brother is charity”. This virtue was followed by all the Prophet’s followers.

Smiling has many good effects on health; it strengthens body’s immunity against diseases and stresses, eases the stress resulting from life’s difficulties, particularly in our days. It makes your life more stable and helps you be optimistic as it evolves positive sense, purity of mind and ability to surmount obstacles.

Smiling has a great role in bringing happiness to others’ hearts, emits positive energy among them and develop hope in their souls. Seeing you smiling, many patients or distressed people may also smile and feel better.

 

The Emirates Identity Authority was always keen to bring happiness to its customers. It continuously urges its employees to make smiling a practice while providing services to customers and it allocated an award for the “most cheerful employee”. This is based on the Authority’s understanding of the importance of smiling as a key factor for any organization’s success.

My brother and sister employees, here is a call for you to keep smiling.. Glory to our Islam that made smiling a charity that will be rewarded.