We want to be number 1!

I was greeted by a smiling man in kandura, which is a traditional man clothing in United Arab Emirates. “How many people?” he asked me kindly. I pointed my big luggage, an instrument hard case and myself. “Three people.” I jokingly said. He smiled back. Then, I clicked “1” on the screen, as I was the only passenger. I walked around 50 meters. Another man in kandura greeted me. “You have a lot of luggage. Please have a seat here until your taxi arrives.” he said. I noticed another screen next to him asking my opinion about the service quality. I immediately selected the highest satisfaction grade on the screen. This conversation took place at the end of the HR Summit and Expo (HRSE) Dubai, where I was a speaker, while waiting for a taxi at a taxi stop not far from the summit venue.

Out of some sessions in the HRSE that I could attend, the following two talks were absolutely remarkable for me.

In their talk titled “Becoming an employer of choice”, Henry Fares, VP of HR at DHL, and Anu Daga, Head of Organisational Development at DHL, shared their best practices of creating a super engaged workplace at DHL Middle East and North Africa. With their leadership, DHL has achieved outstanding results that only a very small number of companies in the globe might accomplish. More than 90% employee engagement for four consecutive years was one of these results.

“Agile organisations are like a music band.” said Henry Fares to emphasize collaboration, openness and sharing in and among teams to achieve such a high employee engagement level. After talking about the 21st century leadership capabilities at DHL, Fares and Daga provided details about how DHL leaders motivate their teams. Leaders give on the spot recognition cards to employees who do great work. To listen to employees and take into account their suggestions, DHL uses a process called Gemba. In this process, employees go to real place, talk to real people and get real answers. Additionally, every team in every department carries out a huddle every single day. This ensures that team members are aligned with each other.  DHL’s mission is not just to ship packages but to add value to people’s lives.

The second thought-provoking talk was given by Sudhir Saseedharan, Global Lead of Workplace Design at LEGO. He shared the story of LEGO designing Shanghai Hub, one of its offices in China, based on the ideas of its employees in Shanghai. He started the talk by explaining the tone of the LEGO workplace. “Adults and children learn best when they play” said Saseedharan.

After mentioning LEGO values, Saseedharan drew attention to sense of belonging in a workplace. He listed three forms of sense of belonging, namely belonging to oneself, belonging to the team and belonging to the organisation.

“Based on LEGO values, how do you want your workplace to be?” was the question asked to employees in Shanghai Hub who were happy to share lots of ideas and suggestions. As a result of this employee involvement, LEGO created a unique workplace in Shanghai with an open working zone, open and closed phone booths, quiet zones and silent areas. Saseedharan finished his talk with the slide below.

Going back to the story in the beginning, the same man in kandura at the taxi stop said in a candid manner: “I am really sorry. Your taxi is arriving a bit late.” “No worries. It is ok.” was my reply. In fact, I was still very surprised to get such a stunning service at a simple taxi stop not far from Dubai World Trade Center, which was the HRSE venue. “There is a screen here to get back my feedback about the service. The level of customer service is very high.” I said to him. “Yes. We want to be number 1!” he replied. “Number 1?” I repeated. I was confused. “Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, always says that we should aim to be number 1 in the world.” I could not help but wonder about how a leader can ignite people’s motivation in such way that they strive to be number 1 in the world in what they do.