Keeping with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's vision to make the United Arab Emirates one of the most innovative and happiest places to work and live, Dubai Quality Group (DQG) recently hosted the 11th Ideas Arabia International Conference 2016.
In addition to focusing on the benefits of engaging employees through a suggestion and rewards scheme, the conference also highlighted the importance of innovation and a happy workforce in increasing productivity and sustaining growth in organizations.
“The theme of the conference was ‘Aspiring for Innovation & Happiness,'” Fatma Buti Al Mheiri, chairwoman of Dubai Quality Group, told Gulf News Journal. “Hence, this year the major focus was on creating a positive, healthy and innovation-friendly environment at workplaces.”
The speakers at the conference shared their experience and success stories about driving employee engagement in workplaces to create a positive, energized and innovation-friendly environment where there is a win-win for both the employees and the organizations. Rather than just focusing on theoretical aspects, they shared practical examples of how to cultivate, promote and sustain a culture of innovation.
“We had both local and international speakers at the conference,” Buti Al Mheiri said. “This gave us a good mix of how things work in this region, and how we could adopt things that are successfully working in other parts of the world to our systems here.”
Dubai Quality Group also held the Ideas Arabia Competition 2016 as part of the conference. One of the primary goals of the competition was to encourage organizations in the region to compete in promoting a culture of innovation and excellence through effective Suggestion & Rewarding Scheme (SRS) programs.
“This year, we accepted submissions under 13 categories, and there was also a special award for an overall winner,” Buti Al Mheiri said. “Participation in the competition has been not just from companies in the UAE, but also from the (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. In the coming years, we would like to see more participation in the GCC region.”
The “Idea of the Year” trophy for the best overall performance was awarded to the Ministry of Finance for developing the “UAE Gate for Government Finance Statistics Reports” system.
Buti Al Mheiri said giving employees a positive and happy environment encourages them to participate and actively engage through their ideas and suggestions. It also increases their morale and loyalty, while promoting growth and productivity in organizations.
“We believe that an innovative and happy workforce can directly have an impact on improving quality and excellence standards of an organization," Buti Al Mheiri said.
Dubai Quality Group started the conference and competition in 2006 to promote the suggestions and rewards scheme for employees in the UAE and other members of the GCC. The company has managed to bring about huge improvements in this area with the Idea Arabia conference and other initiatives over the years.
“Today, (the suggestion and reward) scheme is highly regarded and implemented by both private and public sectors,” Buti Al Mheiri said. “Organizations have realized the value of idea generation and its results, and we take great pride in this.”
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