Category: Uncategorized

14/02/2013

Many people confuse effectiveness with effort, while there is a vast difference between the two, for example: someone might drive a car with high efficiency, but if the he was going the wrong way, then his work would not be effective. And if the airplane flying from London to Moscow deviated one degree off course, it would eventually land in Cairo.

And the one who is always busy may not be effective, as he might be busy doing little things that do not add much to his mission in life, while keeping him occupied from doing the important matters, so the famous rule “I am busy, so I am effective” is not right.

The foundations of effectiveness are the essence before the appearance and the balance between the productivity and the ability to produce.

First: Essence before Appearance:

The purity of essence means that you are a valuable person building your life on the basis of established values like justice, tolerance, honesty and straightforwardness, as with such values you became great in essence and will use that essence in the good, and then become a true effective personality.

The real greatness lies in the greatness within, in your values and principles that colors your entire life, and not – as some might think- in the certificates you own or skills you acquire, as the effectiveness with all its importance comes from within, in your uniformity with yourself, your values and your principles, and many are mistaken when they concentrate on skill acquisition and possession of certificates, and forget about values and principles.

And some would demote skills or belittle certificates, and this is not right, as no one can omit the importance of these means to the development of the nation and the creation of life, but it is like the body, that is worth nothing without the soul, and the soul is that essence inside you.

To explain the difference between the appearance and the essence, picture someone possessing communication skills, and enrolled in tens of seminars about effective convincing and listening, building relations, interesting talk and many others skills. This person is supposed to be an expert in the human relations and influencing others, but that is only the appearance. And if we added the appearance to the essence, the result will sure be effectiveness.

Second: The Balance between productivity and the ability to produce:

Some might consider effectiveness in the form of “The more you produce the more effective you are”, when the truth is that effectiveness is made of two main parts: Productivity or the product, and the source of productivity or ability to produce.

So it is a scale, on the right hand you have productivity and on the left hand you have ability to produce. And if you outweighed and concentrated on productivity, you should expect a dropped health, worn out nerves, sever life pressures, less time with family, lost kids and a long chain of repeated failures and frustrations.

On the other hand, if you outweighed the ability to produce and concentrated on that, then you are like someone who discovered the importance of sports and started practicing it for 10 times a day, while neglecting work and productivity.

Steven Covey says: “effectiveness lies in the balance and the excessive focus on production results in health deterioration, worn out of machinery, bank account drainage and broken relations. And excessive in dealing with the ability to produce is like someone who runs for 3 or 3 hours a day, vain of the ten years he will add to his life, not aware that is wasting it in running”

“ID World Abu Dhabi Summit 2013” starts tomorrow, for which, Emirates Identity Authority invited government bodies, banking, information and telecommunication sectors to nominate their representatives to attend the summit, which starts its activities under the patronage of His Highness Lieutenant General Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior and Deputy Chairman of the Emirates Identity Authority.

The summit is part of the technical advancement march started a long time ago by the United Arab Emirates, which had a great influence on motivating growth paces at high unprecedented rates, which made the orientation firm in settling the “Technical Development” in reality, action and culture. It may not be possible to show the full effect during the seventies of the last century, but it will fully highlighted with the 21^st Century Generation, that set out like an arrow towards building knowledge bases in the technology field, which bode well for the development and the country achieving leadership status in scientific, practical and civilized areas.

Maybe the interest in the coming generation preceded the technological development itself, as the technology language became common, smooth and easy among the growing generation who took modern means as postulates, necessities and national, individual and community obligations, so they merged with these technologies and it merged in the generation culture, until there is no young man or woman that is linked to the technological culture in its various manifestations, shapes and contents.

Emirates Identity Authority did good by inviting the Higher Education Institutions to encourage students of scientific research to contribute in the summit and view the latest international directions in the areas related to the Advanced Digital ID Systems, which would enable them to prepare scientific researches in the field of digital ID and develop and design innovated software and electronic application contributing to the reinforcement of the “smart” ID card role, increasing its usability and efficiency in facilitating and simplifying the services in the public and private sections in the country.

Such an invitation should be generalized and should become part of the conventions, summits and meetings held by the authorities and institutions, so that the youth would be present in their activities and contribute in their discussions and the shaping of its ideas and recommendations, because the youth may present many creative, excellent and constructive ideas to these summits and meetings, and the youth would also gain the summits and meetings experience, avail fresh information, as the participants in such international summits are keen on presenting the latest ideas and propositions in such areas that develop by the second, especially that the summit will review in its sixth session this year, and over 2 days, more than 50 specialized local and international worksheets, with the participation of an elite decision makers worldwide in many of the areas linked to the “smart” ID systems, and the digital ID recognition systems. This makes it an opportunity for the students and employees of the government institutions to merge in the technological society through summits that combine the scientific visions, academic researches and social discussions carrying the visions of many sectors of the business and other professions’ community.

In a recent report on the eCommerce market in the GCC countries by Visa international, one of the world’s leading payment solutions providers, the UAE came first among the GCC countries, account for the largest share of around 60% of the total volume of the market, which was valued at $3.3 billion by the end of 2011. The report clarified that around 42 per cent of the UAE population use eCommerce solutions. According to data issued by the Digital Economy Study Center (MADAR), eCommerce in the UAE grows at an annual rate of 15 per cent. This compares to an annual growth rate of no more than 10 per cent in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, according to cashU, a secure online payment service provider.

Thesestatistics have significant implications for the national economy in a stage that witnesses an increasing importance of eCommerce asextremely beneficial and an effective tool that can be used by businesses to reach new markets, implement promotional campaigns to attract new customers and rapidly interact with the aspirations and tastes of consumers on a regular basis. In addition, eCommerce solutions offer the possibility of expanding activities without the need to bear more operating costs.Aboveall, dependence on these solutions reduces the chances of human errors.

In general, it can be said that the regional superiority of the UAE in the field of e-commerce is attributed to several important factors. These are:First: the favorable and secure environment provided by the UAEfor practicing eCommerce, starting withthe sophisticated and secure technological infrastructurethrough to compact and flexible  legislation to deployment of technological applications among the various components of the society. This has rendered eCommerce a secure and reliable link for settling transactions between the companies producing or promoting a commodity or service on the one hand and customers on the other.

Second:the awareness of the individuals of the society of the importance of eCommerce as an indispensable tool of the modern age, coupled with their adoption of eCommerce as a way for shopping and fulfilling needs and their great confidence in eCommerce as a secure and reliable alternative in order not to be exposed to the risks of electronic information thefts or commercial fraud.

Third: the great importance of the retail sector as a vital activity and a significant source of income in the national economy coupled with the UAE’s interest in the shopping tourism as an alternative for attractingtourists to it. Thishelped expand the movement of companies operating in the trade and tourism sectorin the UAE and motivated them to invest in the electronic provision of their services and accept online payment alternatives as a substitute for traditional payment for settling their transactions with customers.

Fourth: the attention paid by the UAE to the trade sector, coupled with its distinguished geographical location and its ability to play the role of commercial and financial hub at the regional level. This helped the UAE attract a large number of major international companies that depended heavily on eCommerce solutions for promoting and selling their products in the UAE market or regional markets or contactingtheir branches round the world.

The deadline for residency violators will expire next Monday. The two-month deadline will lead to the departure of thousands of workers and residents whose stay in the UAE is mot in line with the applicable laws and regulations. In recent years, the competent authorities tended to stiffen the punishment of the violators of both the labor law and the expatriates entry and residence law with double punishment in case of return. The issue is hot; it was so in the past and will be so in future. What then is the deadline that will expire next Monday for? Why does the Ministry of Interior announce the application of a deadline for offenders during which they can leave the country without paying fines? Why does the Ministry of Interior launch an awareness campaign prior to and concurrent with the deadline? Why do the mass media bother about the two-month deadline and track it almost day after day? What is the deadline “philosophy” for?

Talking sensibly, our organizations aspire for an environment for workers and the population which is as clean and violation-free as possible. They are doing their utmost to reach this goal. The deadline in this context is not and end; it is a way to ease the lives of people, employers, sponsors and the offenders themselves. This is a country of justice and fairness, and those who want to respond to the call of law and order are invited to show up.

The deadline will expire next Monday, what then?

The signals and directives of the Ministry of Interior stressed the importance and need to respond; otherwise, stricter measures will be taken against those who did not benefit from the opportunity. The awaited measures are logical, and from one of its perspectives, the deadline has a message to give to the UAE society: The UAE is determined to address the labor and demographic file. In this connection, the Federal National Council is launching initiatives, and so are the ministries of interior and labor and the Emirates Identity Authority through the ID card and population register system.

The message is meant to be sent to the whole community and to the offenders who did not respond, some of who are citizens, more than others.

The UAE government is very serious about reviewing and addressing the phenomenon with the aim of putting an end to it and minimizing its effects, particularly in terms of  the offenders’ crimes. Hence, every citizen and resident is kindly requested to consider himself as part of the solution, i.e. to start himself first and move then to those workers and sponsored people who call him.

As indicated by the survey conducted by the Emirates Identity Authority in co-operation with “Ipsos Emirates” and built on themes that match and are consistent with the Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Program, customer satisfaction with the Emirates ID jumped  6 per cent to 88 per cent in 2012, up from 82 per cent in the previous year.

The survey is an annual event that the Emirates ID is keen to conduct with the aim of identifying the challenges facing customers while registering in the population register and the ID card project, which, as is already known,  passes through three phases: filling out the e-form, completing registration procedures at registration centers and collecting the ID card from the Emirates Post centers.

Because the objective of the Emirates ID is to provide the best services, earn the highest customer satisfaction scores and achieve corporate excellence, all of which are revealed only through opinion polls and are also regarded as some of the Emirates ID’s major challenges, the Emirates ID focused on this element, which was paid due attention in its strategic plan 2010-2013 together with the other themes, projects and values covered by the plan. As a result of its focus, the Emirates ID gained local and global excellence awards including the Emirates Award for Government Excellence Performance.

I do not want to go back to the many challenges that the Emirates ID faced and was able to overcome and surpass by means of perseverance, determination and strong will since its inception in 2004. Achievements speak for themselves, are indicated in the Emirates ID’s mission and are related to the national and individual security and to the provision of such population data that support strategic decision-making and e-government projects.

Yet, while witnessing the great advancement and progress strides made by the Emirates ID as a result of which the Emirates ID earned high customer satisfaction scores, we must stop by the ID card project,  which is one of the largest technologically advanced projects, not only at the UAE level but at the level of the region as well, that has been highly developed by the Emirates ID. Although the Emirates ID has entered a post-registration phase and a new phase in its national process of development, this project still poses a challenge so far, especially if we realize that certain segments of the community still lack the concept, culture and value of the ID card. It is a challenge that we hope the Emirates ID to overcome while entering a new phase of development and progress.

The United Arab Emirates is known for the speed of accomplishing transactions in the majority of governmental facilities, departments and institutions, as they all follow one approach in dealing with the customers, with the exception of minor cases that confirm the rule and do not break it, which are cases limited to irregular locations and circumstances, and certain times.

Facilitating procedures is part of the civilized interaction with customers, respecting them, their times and the interests they seek to a complete in the fastest time and the best performance.

The value of respect is the foundation on which service, interaction and relationship can be built, and it exists in essence and appearance.

The essence says that transactions are completed with extreme speed, as the guides and directions for the officials in different institutions, are to follow the transactions so that each transaction does not exceed 10 minutes at most, which what happens in man of the institutions, while exceptional cases remain controversial, for they can turn into a habit –if not dealt with- and infection transferable to others.

As for the appearance, it is what we notice often at the reception, of greetings and sometimes symbolic hospitality in the form of Dates or sweets that makes the customer feel as if he/she is visiting a friend and not a surly employee that would irritate the customer before reaching him.

This kind of welcoming and respect is the one of the civilized faces of the United Arab Emirates that implant this attractive civilized value in its employees, and that remains in the sentiment of each resident and visitor, even in the sentiment of the citizens themselves who serve their guests of customers and stakeholders, with generosity and leniency, in the way they fulfill their needs at expected speed.

Many of the visitors to the United Arab Emirates are astonished by the respectful, generous and civilized treatment they receive from the welcoming Passports and customs employees at the airports and other entry points, unlike other countries where people are faced with hardship and difficulties by the employees of passports and customs, which distinguishes UAE from other countries where employees follow a rough and jagged way of dealing with visitors, as if they look down at them.

If this generosity and respect is the rule, it would be recommended to deal with any defect or expectations of this rule found at some institutions where you would find queue numbers still, while customers are looking and waiting for these boring numbers to move, and hours would pass without any movement. Would that be due to lack of employees? Although this institution or institutions are capable of recruiting sufficient number of employees to handle all customers transactions in no time.

On the other hand, there are institutions and authorities working effortlessly in order for the transaction to be completed in a short time, and even asks customers to receive the services, like Emirates Identity Authority, who’s higher committee called for the managers and supervisors of the authority’s registration centers across the country to guarantee providing the customers the highest levels of services. Which shows the difference between one institution and another.

When I started my first steps working for Emirates Identity Authority, I faced questions about the meaning of the Emirates ID, its aim and role, but soon, these questions faded when I saw the idea of belonging to the nation is reality lived by the authority through its leadership and all of its employees, without fanfare or outbidding, where work attribute was dominant, followed by induced quest for development in a frame of love, devotion and loyalty to the nation and its wise leadership, until Emirates ID became a unique model in the love and affiliation of the nation.

And in the great memory of the glorified union, questions about the meaning, limitation and effects of affiliation pressured my thinking.

These questions do not haunt me anymore, especially with the incarnation of the glory of the union with all meanings of affiliation, in the work of great leaders who gave their love and effort to raise the states of the nation which, thanks to their affiliation to their humanity first, and their land and people second, became a heaven sought by everyone and envied by all. So what did affiliation meant for the leaders of the nation?

Late Sheikh Zayed affiliation to himself as a human immortalized him by history in the brightest pages, and he worked hard so that his life wouldn’t past without showing the entire world what a true human is, and he worked with confident determination towards unifying the Emirates, awakening the determination of his people and inspired their mettles until the barren land turned into a green fruitful heaven, and he spread the wealth to his people, loved the nation and its children, being gentle to the young and respectful to the old. His affiliation to the humanity extended to its widest doors, that he became the best aid to the all peoples, and the helping hand to overcome troubles. He taught us that humanitarian given has no limits or boundaries.

Sheikh Khalifa, the symbol of ongoing giving, every time and everywhere, followed his method, as his white hands reached the bereaved and supported the oppressed, without bias towards a race, a color or a religion, as witnessed by Yemen, Sudan, Filipinas, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Gaza and Jenin.

Whoever wants to understand the meaning of affiliation, needs to study the biography of Sheikh Zayed, and whoever wants to understand the meaning of following an example, should follow Sheikh Khalifa’s path, and whoever wondered about the effect of the affiliation, should look at the United Arab Emirates, the land that transferred with the grace of Allah and the affiliation and unity of its children and to a heaven on earth.

It is about thinking about Abu Dhabi for the coming five years as well as for 2020 and 2030. It is about thinking for this generation and for the future generations. Here comes the planning project, which is the title of all projects and the one that leads to them. The preludes are very genuine and the results are firm.

It is in this way that the sublime directives that reflect the approach of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, may Allah protect him, turn into giant projects on the ground. Yesterday, the decisions of the Executive Council under the chairmanship of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Executive Council, underscored the need for careful planning prior to and concurrently with implementation.

According to the decisions, the image of the coming five years is quite clear, and the objective, as stressed by Mohammed Bin Zayed, is man. The citizen is the goal, the basis and the big title. The citizen is the focus of the development process. This is Abu Dhabi and the UAE usually, and in this way our country provides the optimal model at the level of the region and the territory.

Thank Allah for the blessings of prosperity, security and stability. On the other side, citizens are required to make a maximum effort at work, beginning with self-development so as to be geared up for the new phases of the renewed national action.

Citizen-oriented development is the title and the details include hundreds of billions of dirhams for capital projects and housing projects. Marking the year of Emiratization, the Executive Council has the good news of providing five thousand job opportunities for citizens.

It is about the integration of development projects within a firm awareness of what is most important comes first and within a deep understanding of priorities. What is most necessary comes first, followed by the necessary, and the march towards achieving the citizen’s welfare and the progress of the nation.

The UAE people have the right to rejoice and be happy and even be proud of their 41^st National Day, but it is their duty to know and understand the efforts made by the prudent leadership, especially the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the owner of the idea of the union, who charted the way and policy that took the UAE to such a level that allowed every UAE citizen to be proud of it, saying “I am Emarati.”

The prudent leadership knew how to employ these resources for the happiness of its people and glory, progress and welfare of the UAE. This yielded fruits to all UAE citizens which were shared by other millions of people living in the UAE.

With the wise leadership adopting peace as its approach and justice as its goal, the UAE has become the oasis of security and safety.

A leadership with a vision that adopted logic and science and was not satisfied with only money and oil. As a result, it set progress as its goal and used it to overcome the impossible and plant the desert and the sea but did not forget culture and arts.

A tolerant leadership, which never assaulted others and was marked with genuine humanitarian morals, was a fine example of co-existence by opening its heart for all races. More than 206 nationalities are living in its land who speak more than 100 languages and belonged to many ethnic groups and religions.

A generous leadership that provided support at all Arab, foreign, African and Asian levels including cities, hospitals, bridges and playgrounds, indicating the best the UAE can do.

Go deeperا in reading history and look around you; examples are many. A lot of countries were granted more than the UAE was blessed but lacked the prudent leadership. Consequently, they remained unchanged while others lost their position and suffered from scarcity of security and safety.

See how the UAE was 41 years ago and what it has become today and remember what the UAE builder the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: “Land obeys the men who have hope and are able to challenge the future.”

So, protect and adhere to your union and let your motto be what Sheikh Zayed said: “The union lives in my mind and my heart and is the dearest thing in my life. I cannot imagine that one day I would allow any alienation or complacency about its future.”

May Allah save the UAE and its people and all Muslim countries