A group of Qatari employees at Maersk Oil have completed the latest stage of its Qatari Development Programme, which aims to develop the leaders of tomorrow.

The programme is open to employees early in their careers and bridges the gap between the academic environment of university and the skills needed to develop outstanding workplace performance, said a statement.

Maersk Oil began the two-year Qatari Development Programme in November last year, as part of its revitalised Qatarization Strategy which includes a commitment to quadruple the number of Qataris in leadership and senior specialist positions by 2017.

Sheikh Faisal Al-Thani, Maersk Oil Qatar’s deputy managing director, said: ‘Qatarization is a core business priority for Maersk Oil. We’ve made great strides in the past five years by doubling the number of Qatari employees and increasing those with a Bachelors degree but we’re committed to attracting, developing and retaining even more Qatari leaders in the future. Schemes like the Qatari Development Programme will help us do just that.’

The Qatari Development Programme includes a mixture of formal modules, and what are known as action learning sets, where smaller groups meet to discuss workplace issues, typically around prioritisation, problem solving and managing workloads.

Joanna Rawbone, director of Scintillo, a specialist UK-based learning development company, is assisting Maersk Oil with the Programme.

Sheikh Jassim Al-Thani, Maersk Oil Qatar’s head of Qatarization, said: ‘The two-year Qatari Development Programme is a large investment by Maersk Oil in young Qataris, but it’s clearly paying off. The programme is a key pillar of our Qatarization Strategy - we found that the first two years of employment was a critical period to develop Qatari employees and set career paths.  Ultimately we want to provide faster, more structured career development.’ - TradeArabia News Service