Strategy Office Manager
Dur Hospitality PLC
Total years of experience :14 years, 7 Months
Championing the case for developing a new hospitality brand targeting Saudi millennials, themed to “empower the interconnected guest to craft their own experiences”, and gaining approval of the board of directors.
Adopting the principles of ‘service design’ in the development of brand standards. Hardwire customer centricity by design. This included carrying out focus groups, prototyping concepts with actual groups of targeted customers in mock-up venues created at the head office.
Establishing suite of automated targeted Google alerts, providing invaluable early intel on competitors, and early identification of business development and sales leads.
Conceptualizing and planning a transformation program that aims to ‘bring the customer back to the center of each business line’ inspired by in-depth research of Amazon’s and Ritz Carlton’s customer focus ethos.
Rolling out the Four Disciplines of Execution as a standard format of execution across the head office and hotels in 2019, which increased employee participation in planning from 30% to 57%, and is poised to decrease decision making bottlenecks by 40%.
Updating performance scoreboards towards more evidence-based measures, and introducing a strong suite of lead measures to enhance employee engagement with lag measures.
Managed the execution of a portfolio entailing 6 programs (strategic themes), and 75+ projects (initiatives).
Worked closely with function leaders in establishing Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), performance measures, detailed project schedules and consequent budgets for each of the projects on annual basis.
Oversaw programs and projects execution through a series of weekly, monthly, and quarterly check-ins and progress reporting with implementation teams.
Developed user-friendly Excel applications using VBA userform programming and marcos to enhance project teams’ user experience, minimize reporting mistakes, guess-work and the time required to complete project management duties.
Overcame environmental barriers to execution, through one-to-one coaching sessions, bridging gaps between siloed functions, conducting frequent company-wide awareness sessions.
Assigned by the board of directors to investigate real estate project delivery issues, conducted a thorough analysis and audit of existing practices, concluded a root-cause analysis and real estate delivery improvement plan that was endorsed by the board.
Re-engineered the budget planning process which was responsible for significant project delays and budget overruns in a SAR 2.4 billion pipeline. This has improved budget overruns from an estimated 60% down to around 15%, and decreased average design phase from 2-years to around 6 months.
Provided strategic and organizational design consultations to a client Headquartered in Jordan with presence in USA, Palestine, and Libya, specializing in providing business services and serviced office space. This entailed support in designing the overall corporate structure, as well as designing organizational structures for the different maturity stages of companies branches in new territories, in addition to conducting a market study on main potential competitors in KSA as a targeted market
Provided performance management consultations to a leading Saudi player in the agro-industry, which entailed the development of a performance management framework for individuals in alignment with the strategy, as well as a strategic incentives program, in addition to providing implementation support in cascading down balanced scorecards objectives and KPIs to individuals
Supported a group of entrepreneurs in KSA in their new venture which aimed at developing a crowd management simulation software, this entailed designing a business model and organizational structure for the startup as well as assessing the overall market dynamics using Porter’s Five Forces model
* Engaged in multiple projects through assuming multiple roles that ranged between Lead Consultant and Project Manager, mainly in the disciplines of strategy development and build-up, organizational design and development, human capital development and management, and implementation management and escort. (detailed roles and activities on selected projects are found in my enclosed CV).
* Introduced the practice of Project Risk Management across the the company's growing number of Project Management Offices (PMOs)
* Introduced the practice of evaluating, designing, and configuring business models using the Business Model Canvas methodology
* Engaged in the periodical review, development, and implementation of Business Insight's strategy, as well as internal restructuring.
* Involved in operations planning and management, and lead multiple internal developmental initiatives in this regard.
* Involved in business development activities, including supervising the development of related materials such as executive proposals and presentations, and conducting introductory presentations at potential client's premises.
* Was appointed as a direct supervisor over a team of fresh Business Analysts as a materialization of top management's belief in empowering exceptional performers. This role included carrying out activities such as onboarding, on the job training, coaching and mentoring, and appraising performance.
* Engaged in multiple projects through assuming multiple roles that ranged between Researcher and Team Leader, mainly in the disciplines of strategy development and build-up, organizational design and development, human capital development and management, and implementation management and escort.
* Involved in operations planning and management; drawing up detailed project plans, following up on progress and reporting results, as well as participating in addressing emerging issues and obstacles.
* Engaged in business development activities mainly through participating in diagnostic visits at potential clients' premises, and developing executive proposals and other related materials.
