An exclusive interview with Mr Muath Mubarak – Chief Executive Officer – FGA on the topic “Managing Millennials”
An exclusive interview
with Mr Muath Mubarak – Chief Executive Officer –FGA
on the topic “Managing
Millennials”
Muath
Mubarak is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant by profession and an
Islamic Banker, Trainer and Writer by practice in the field of Islamic Banking
& Finance. He is experienced in the field of Management Accounting,
Financial Control, Strategic Planning, Regulatory Compliance, Corporate
Strategy, Training & Career development in Islamic Banking & Finance
industry. Currently, he is the Chief Executive of FGA. For more info & his
videos: www.muathmubarak.com
Interviewed by Anfas Anees
Interviewed by Anfas Anees
We
used to consider the workforce of industrial era specially those who are loyal,
sincere and working for the same company for many years or may be till they
retire so that they can live the rest of the life with the retirement funds.
But the information era / Millennial consider to retire soonest possible, disrupt
the market, flexible working (in terms of attire to attendance), following
their intuition, driven by passion, tech-savvy and most importantly living in
the Artificial Intelligence & Smart Technology market place.
So
managing them is not easy with traditional tools and techniques rather being
the leaders of the modern era, we must adopt the modern managing tools for the
workforce. The challenges begins from the hiring the right candidate to retain
them with ambitious task and challenging work environment for them grow up
their skills & sharpen their knowledge with full exposure to the latest
industry trends.
Q2: We see a transformation where 80's
generation are becoming leaders now and we experience the Millennial taking the
step to start the journey to career ladder. What do you think the gap between
both the era’s?
We
call it “generation gap” whether it is the Father-Son relationship or
Leader-Team mate. The synchronization in understanding the work to how they do
is totally different. However, the degree of generation gap affect is totally
depended the nature of business and the involvement of technology in the
business process. Nowadays, even the banks have a separate committee /
department to close this gap chaired by the Chief Breakthrough / Innovative
Officer as it has become the significant factor of market disruption.
The
millennial are ready to risk their savings, life and career to do what they
love to do and become millionaires at the earliest than the 80’s generation
those who think of climbing the ladder to become the top and retire at the age
of 60. Comparatively, Millennial are fast learners, results driven, tech savvy
and most importantly believing in ‘Life-Style Career’ than the previous
generation’s ‘Corporate Life’.
Q3: In order to manage Millennial you should
be updated with the latest trends and technology. Given this situation do you
like to work with them?
Indeed
it is interesting to work with the millennial as they are more challenging and
it’s a mutual learning experience with them. Exchange of experiences,
expectations, challenges, driving factors help the organization to develop its
competitive edge. As you can’t live without your mobile phone – companies
cannot exist without this millennial workforce as they will be driving the
future of Smart cities, hyper loop trains to having a cup of tea / coffee in
the space.
Q4: As a "C" level person you come
across different departments where the head of them are in their 40s or 50s. And when you recruit Millennials to work
under those departments heads, there will be issues arising as the department
heads are not from the Millennials. How do you resolve these issues?
I
consider this as a Critical Success Factor (CSF) of right sync between both
generations as they previous generation possess the required business
knowledge, experience & most importantly leveraging their contacts build up
for many years whereas the Millennials bring the new experience and live wire
for the business process to be appealing for the current trending business
climate in the countries. Having a right bond between both generations will
make company to thrive in the business as the understanding can be developed
having the strong communication and discussions with open mind-set.
Q5: How do you see the future of Millennials
and your opinion to other Leaders in Managing Millennials
The
leaders have to get equipped with the future tech-driven work environment today
in order to manage the future Millennial. The business world is getting into
the new hands of Millennials those who are already disrupting the entire global
business context from doing banking to collecting garbage. There are many
millennial professions which never existed ten years before is getting rewarded
more than the most respected professions in the world in terms of earning &
learning capacity. Today’s leaders must be ready to accept the virtual office,
freelance professionals with flexible work hours, attire, communication to experience
the smart robotic automation with artificial & emotional intelligence for
the business decision making.