As part of its leadership in investing in human capital, developing their skills and enhancing their capabilities in accordance with global standards, Kuwait Finance House (KFH), the world leading Islamic financial institution, has partnered with Headspring, the joint venture between IE Business School and the Financial Times, to support KFH’s senior leaders learning and growth.

The fully customised Transactional Leadership Programme, which has been designed according to KFH’s needs, was delivered to a group of Executive Managers and Deputy General Managers as part of the bank’s Enterprise Leadership Programme. Focusing on the development needs of the bank’s leaders, the Transactional Leadership Programme helped participants to adopt new habits and mindsets to become more efficient, organised, and effective in their day-to-day.

The programme equipped KFH’s leaders with the ability to execute accountability, monitor performance principles, as well as setting objectives and rewards.

In conclusion to the programme, KFH Executive Manager - Talent Management Mohammed M. Al-Musalam stated in a press release: “At KFH, we believe in the holistic development of our leaders”.  He went on to say: “This is a key component of our leadership development program, which also covers modules on Transformation and Network Leadership.”

He added that in today’s work environment, where complexity has become the norm, it is crucial that leaders understand how to motivate, and drive accountability, explaining that the habits and skills developed in this programme will help KFH leaders to achieve more in their current and future roles while enhancing the global leadership of the organization.

Al-Musalam added that the programme was structured around four key pillars which were designed to help participants establish clearly defined criteria for superior performance. Each pillar focuses on key outcomes, such as analysing complex information and applying expertise, responding and adapting to change, supporting and co-operating, planning and executing.

He noted that “to ensure the applicability of their newly acquired skills, participants also had the opportunity to conduct self-reflection exercises. They will also have a chance to prepare their individual development plans to cement knowledge.”

“Transactional Leadership is about valuing order and structure”, says Bassem Banna, Headspring’s Vice-President of Corporate Partnerships for Middle East and Africa. “Being part of KFH’s Enterprise Leadership journey, this programme is about helping leaders motivate their teams to work well in a structured environment and ensuring that people are able to perform well to achieve their objectives”.

On his participation in the programme, KFH Executive Manager Foreign Exchange and Treasury Sales, Zakaria Al-Ansari commented: “The program which KFH organized in collaboration with Headspring had a way of opening my mind to aspects of leadership and human behaviour that had a profound impact on my personal leadership. The professors were enthusiastic, and insightful and kept us engaged.”

Al-Ansari added that the Transactional Leadership Programme was designed to combine the exponential factors of leadership with the limiting factors of the real-world environment. He noted that participants gained a much wider perspective of the banking industry and had a chance to explore how economic, socio-demographic and technological development have impacted the industry.

It is worth noting that key sessions were facilitated by Headspring’s educators. From understanding the key characteristics of agile organisations to best practices to organising and executing projects, the sessions helped participants identify their own areas for development, improve and execute their own ways of working.

Following the modules, the programme continues with the implementation and self-reflection stages, where participants are invited to apply the learning into their working environment.