Leadership Diploma Graduation in Dubai
4th November 2010The fifth and final graduation ceremony for Kentz Executive Diploma in Leadership & Management (EDipLM) was conducted at the Hyatt Regency in Dubai on November 4, 2010. Graduates were joined by their families and many Kentz senior managers.
Certificates were presented by Dr Hugh O’Donnell (Kentz CEO). Hugh’s speech together with speeches by Gwen Gannon (Corporate HR Manager) and Takis Karallis (Group HR Director) both congratulated the graduates and their families and reinforced Kentz’ commitment to developing leaders across the group. They were joined on the platform by Eamonn O’Hanlon (Group Project Services Officer) and Dr Eric Sandelands (Director, Corporate Learning Consultants Ltd and Set Adviser to the group). The formal ceremony was followed by a family lunch and graduation dinner, with many Kentz managers on hand to offer their congratulations and support.
More than sixty people have now completed the EDipLM. Some have gone on to complete Masters degrees and many have been promoted within the company including into Country Manager, Business Unit Manager and Project Manager roles. The original programme has formed the basis for the new linked management programme with Nottingham Trent University which enables selected participants to earn a Post-Graduate Certificate, Diploma and Master of Science (MSc) in Management and Leadership.
The effort that the company puts in to developing its future leaders is perhaps best summed up by Gavin Baillie who gave a speech of thanks on behalf of the graduates:
“From our Board of Management we have had the personal involvement from two members out of eleven and what I find quite remarkable we have had the personal involvement from our Management Executive Committee with five out of eight members who have taken the time to attend our events or speak to us personally, these men are extremely busy individuals with many obligations yet they have made it a priority to attend our sessions and educate us.”
Congratulations to all graduates and we wish you and your families every success in the future. Thanks go to Alison Kelly and Lisa Burns for organizing the event.
Gavin Baillie’s speech in full is reproduced below.
Good Morning – There’s a very successful and well respected collegiate American football coach back in the US named Lou Holtz, fittingly enough he used to coach for Notre Dame – The Fighting Irish!
Lou had a high profile championship game that was due to be played, as he was headed to the locker room to see the boys, he was stopped by one of Notre Dames sports reporters to get the inside scoop. As the man approached - Lou could sense the man’s agitated state. The reporter asked him if he and the team were prepared for the game, he continued to ask Lou how he felt, how his nerves were and how he slept last night.
Lou said, I’m fine there’s nothing to worry about – he said I slept like a baby last night, as he said this you could see the tension release from the reporters body, then Lou said again, yep I sleep like a baby. I tossed and I turned and cried all night long.
I believe there are two types of nerves, one based on fear and one based on excitement.
And I can tell you that I am honored and excited to be here today as our class representative.
I would like to start off today by welcoming everybody who could attend especially our family members, who have stood by us and supported us through this endeavour. I would like to offer our gratitude and appreciation to those individuals within Kentz who are responsible for each one of us taking part in this course.
I would also like to thank Kentz and all the individuals involved who decided that educating and empowering its workforce was and is a vital key to the success of this company, this commitment and dedication has not gone unnoticed by us.
As the group spokesmen I decided it was important that you heard from some of the individuals involved, so I sent out a questionnaire to all of the participants, here are a few of the highlights.
Jonathon:
Spending time with people from the other side of the world and doing exercises with them only to realise that we all face the same issues. I need to thank the Senior Kentz management teams for putting their trust in me as a young manager
Mani:
Great opportunity to discuss and address actual work issues. Sharing and getting to know other subsidiary and country work experiences.
Larisa:
The course was a valuable opportunity for me to study human resource manpower planning within Kentz in depth - and it has provided me a platform to bring this new knowledge to the Kentz global workplace. This has aided my personal development and is enabling me to become a specialist in my field of work – this is a truly wonderful feeling, it has made me way more confident back at work and given me better overall understanding of Kentz business and team building.
Dave Bernardi:
I enjoyed the presentations given by Takis, Hugh and James and found them very enlightening. And overall the course as presented by Eric was very insightful and I’ve really learned some new techniques to aid me.
Narendra:
The overall structure of the course, the presentations and the knowledge sharing by various managers within Kentz group. Meeting people from various cultures, from various countries, who were working with the same company was exciting and rewarding.
Conan:
I enjoyed meeting all the different nationalities, and how everyone was working for the same company and shared the same Interests, and that it is a great honour to have my Dad here, and I’m delighted he made the trip, may there be many more visits to the Middle East.
I would like to welcome to Conan’s Father and while we’re at it say a welcome to Tom’s mother as well, I hope having your parents present gentlemen will mean that you will be on your best behaviour tonight.
Michael:
Meeting new people was the best part of the course. Or as Eric called it, networking. I’m sure everyone will have the same sentiment but I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to do the course with.
Avigail:
I enjoyed the interaction will all set members, and the sharing of lessons learnt……..Going to the Dubai Snow Park and then the picture presentation, another thing is that no matter where we are from we are faced with the same issues. Thanking everyone for making me feel at home far away from home.
Tom Dee:
The great people I met!
As a man who has matured way beyond his years here’s Tom’s words of wisdom for us all:
“you cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds”
Unfortunately: Reform Mathe, Dave Hannaway & Dave Maroney could not attend this event. Dave Maroney did have the following to add.
As with most things, I think that we remember places or events in our lives because of the people that we meet at any given place or time or event, And for me at least I can say this is true of all the times that we met up in Dubai. Whether it was the tutors/presenters/guest speakers or colleagues, there was always a new insight to something or a different opinion or some different angle for looking at any given problem, the power of brain storming or maybe just having a good ole chin wag, I think the whole format of the course is well set-up.
One thing that came across from everyone was a sense of gratitude and appreciation to Kentz for their commitment, support and the opportunities presented.
There’s a statement I love made by John F. Kennedy during his inaugural address in 1961, he said:
“Ask not what your country can do for you – Ask what you can do for your country.”
I would like to rephrase that and say.
“Ask not what your company can do for you ask what you can do for your company.”
Kentz has shown us what they are willing to do, and the commitments they are willing to make. This would include the efforts put forth in getting the EDip and Masters program recognized by an accredited university as well as the commitment of senior management to make these programs a priority and to be personally involved.
Our Board of Directors has 7 members of those 1 person has been involved personally, that would be Dr Hugh O’Donnell, this is the 3rd event he has participated in for this EDip group. From our Board of Management we have had the personnel involvement from 2 members out of 11 and what I find quite remarkable we have had the personnel involvement from our Management Executive Committee with 5 out of 8 members who have taken the time to attend our events or speak to us personally, these men are extremely busy individuals with many obligations yet they have made it a priority to attend our sessions and educate us.
Hugh has taken this company to where it is today through Vision – Leadership – Dedication and Passion and by getting others involved. We have been asked to get involved.
So I want to challenge and encourage the recipients of the Diploma’s today to do more with our Diploma’s received than hang them on the wall, we need to use the knowledge and skills learnt to help develop those around us so they can be the next generation of leaders within Kentz, we have many talented people who work for this organization who can and will help Kentz grow and succeed but they need our help just as we have and will need the help of others.
So in closing from all of us I would like to offer our gratitude and a round of applause to Kentz and all the individuals involved in helping Kentz and this program get to where it is today.
Thank you