A regional leadership retreat in Dubai

The brief

The regional leadership team of a global engineering and construction group had grown across the UAE and Saudi Arabia faster than its ways of working. Responsibilities overlapped between the two countries, the business lines competed for the same attention, and the regional managing director wanted one team to leave the retreat with one plan: clear roles, and priorities for the next two to three years.

The format and the experts

A senior leadership facilitator from our Dubai network led the retreat from the first call to the closing commitments. Before anyone arrived, the facilitator held a planning call with the decision makers and a one-to-one call with each of the eighteen leaders, so the agenda was built on what the room needed to resolve.

• Before: a planning call with the decision makers and a one-to-one call with every leader.
• Day one: mapping where authority overlapped, agreeing responsibilities live, then ranking the business lines for the next two to three years.
• The evening: dinner in the desert, away from screens, with the day’s decisions still fresh.
• Day two: turning the priorities into owners and next steps, and closing on the commitment each leader made to the team.

The setting

The working sessions ran in a Dubai hotel meeting room set for a team of eighteen, with the evening in the desert outside the city.

The outcome

The team left Dubai with roles agreed across both countries, every business line ranked for the next two to three years, and a named owner for every next step. Because every leader had been heard before the first session, the decisions were made in the room, not after it.

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