Arabian Knights. A tale of leadership transformation with Iraqi Deans.
by Tony Nelson
January 7, 2012
The Foundation for Technical Education in Iraq wanted a world-class development model for its College CEO's (Deans). It drew from the UK's acclaimed leadership development programme for College Principals.
Dr Mahmood recently said of the Deans Qualifying Programme (DQP) ” We strongly supported DQP from the start. This is an accredited programme which is helping Deans achieve our vision to strengthen the Iraqi economy through local communities. DQP is helping professionalise our senior management”.
‘As you are like, so will your rulers be’ (Arab Proverb) كيفما تكونوا يكون حكامكم
Moneer Tolephih, Dean of Baghdad Technical College, said “There is an expectation that the Dean should manage all the activities inside the college, or at least share every small decision” . This leaves him little time to think about strategy. Since completing DQP, however, he is working to change this culture, coaching his leadership team to help them take responsibility for more decisions. “My main challenge now is how to adapt the tools and techniques I learnt on the programme and to make sure that my leadership team is qualified to adopt them.” (Sunday Times 3 July 2011)
