The Learning Journey

The orientation session will focus on building a community of learners, providing orientation to the programme, giving participants an overview of the learning journey, an initial sense of the activities and challenges to come, and the resources at their disposal.

Module 1 takes place in Oxford, over a period of 5 days, and will examine the broad context of development opportunities at the national, regional and global levels from the perspective of gaining competitive advantage through public-private engagement and the instruments which support this approach. Adopting a customer centric approach is a fundamental principle of successful implementation. Best practice examples of service delivery that is customer focused will be introduced along with a debate of the leadership challenges this can present.  During this module, participants will be introduced to their individual coaches and have their first 1:1 coaching sessions. Practical solutions for how to adopt a customer/private sector mind-set in Oman will be explored.

Module learning objectives:

• Develop a comprehensive understanding of future trends within the macro-economic environment and to contextualise this with other national strategic initiatives in Oman
• Enhance their capabilities as strategic executive leaders in the Omani government in shaping and implementing competitiveness, and deepening their understanding of how to achieve this through public-private engagement (and partnership)
• Understand the importance of a customer centric culture across government and to acquire tools and techniques to implement the best practice learnt on this module within their own areas of influence
• Enhance their personal effectiveness and influence to enable them as strategic leaders within government and in support of the private sector through increased self-awareness and enhanced personal impact

A key component of Module 1 is Discovery Visits to organisations and UK government bodies with the specific objective to understand how public-private engagement works in practice in the UK. These visits offer an opportunity to experience how UK public/private organisations work in partnership and how the UK is practically approaching the challenge of becoming competitive. Selected faculty and guest speakers also describe the variety of ways in which nations are reacting strategically to create and maintain competitive value, introducing participants to tools which contextualise these learnings for Oman.

Taking place in Oxford, participants will benefit from the wide range of university resources available and Oxford’s extensive networks of experts, practitioners and faculty.

The second module focuses on the theme of the Executive Leaders role in leading and managing performance for the future within the context of the current public sector paradigm. This module also examines the structures, leadership behaviours and national policies resulting in effective and efficient approaches in driving national competitiveness and includes an Innovation Workshop focused on designing and implementing innovations in enabling public-private relationships. Module 2 also includes a group role simulation focused on strategic influencing/negotiation with participants exploring their own personal self-motivation and leadership effectiveness and how to lead in uncertain and complex situations.

Module learning objectives:

• Understand the approaches which government and governmental leaders can deploy to effectively and efficiently implement a national development vision
• Enhance their understanding of implementing innovations in public-private engagement and to identify specific areas within their own spheres of influence to apply and action these directly
• Understand the specific opportunities and challenges faced by private sector organisations in Oman and how they can develop approaches for increased public-private engagement
• Understand access to markets and the key drivers to attracting foreign direct investment
• Develop their strategic performance leadership skills specifically related to their area of influence in driving public-private engagement
• Build a comprehensive awareness of multi-stakeholder engagement approaches such that opportunities for implementation are realised

Module 3 will provide a unique opportunity to engage in international discovery visits to Estonia and Australia. The group will be divided into two, and each group will visit one country for 3 days in duration: they will have the opportunity to develop deep understanding of the strategies that can underpin national competitiveness and successful policy execution.

The visits and discussions are structured both to broaden perspectives and to explore how lessons from these examples may be transferred back to the Omani context.

Module learning objectives:

• Understand how other countries have actually implemented the competitiveness drivers for productivity and prosperity and how these specifically relate to Oman
• Understand how other regions have practically developed and implemented efficiency and effectiveness in public sector service delivery, built a business-friendly environment and how this relates to their personal roles in the Omani government
• Learn how other countries have built effective public – private engagement, including approaches, structures, policy and governance and to contextualise from an Omani perspective
• Study examples of industries identified as strategic priorities in Oman’s Ninth Development Plan and to identify opportunities to transfer their learnings to their individual roles
• Determine the success factors for policy implementation and strategies for overcoming implementation barriers and to link this directly to their personal implementation and action plans

The visits are thoroughly debriefed on returning to Oman, whereby participants will work over a period of 3 days on identifying clear action elements for application to the Omani context and to their projects. Participant groups are therefore required to complete specific tasks in preparation, during and follow-up of the visits.

Module 4 concentrates on the Executive Leader’s capabilities, motivation and confidence to lead effective delivery. What is necessary to ensure success and what can be learned from others who have already been on this journey? The module begins by listening to policy implementers with experience of improving competiveness and building effective engagement with the private sector.

Module learning objectives:

• Consolidate and communicate their personal and group learnings from all modules of the NLCP into a clear and SMART delivery plan to include strategic approaches (e.g. policy implementation), best practices and personal leadership
• Understand how to innovate in creating and delivering public policy
• Discuss and debate the opportunities and barriers to delivery such that plans for delivery are fully realistic and resourced
• Develop monitoring capabilities and review approaches and processes to build sustainability into their personal action, project and delivery plans
• Present the findings, recommendations and outcomes from their strategic competitiveness projects in order to validate delivery plans and engage senior stakeholders into the initiatives moving forward

Module 4 examines collaborative working between departments and provides insights into other practices in governance and regulation from an international perspective.  A ‘One Government’ approach to the delivery of superior public service outcomes for national competitiveness is also explored. Participants are introduced to practical toolkit for stakeholders’ engagement and participants are tasked with synthesising their personal learning by articulating of their personal leadership brand in relation to leading their part of the journey to achieve competitiveness.  On the final day participants will present their strategic competiveness projects to senior stakeholders from the Oman Government, including relevant Ministers, to seek the necessary approvals and commitment to move to delivery.