Mohammed bin Rashid Housing Establishment launches the “Housing Pioneers” initiative

The Mohammed bin Rashid Housing Establishment launched the “Housing Pioneers” initiative with the aim of building leaders who possess vision, flexibility, and the ability to make change, qualify and empower second-level leaders, and prepare a new generation of leaders capable of leading institutional transformation and creating sustainable innovation in the housing sector.

The Executive Director of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Housing Establishment, Mohammed Hassan Al Shehhi, said, “The initiative is a training program aimed at qualifying and empowering second-line leaders, and preparing a new generation of leaders capable of leading institutional transformation and creating sustainable innovation in the housing sector,” pointing out that the initiative comes as a practical embodiment of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, in investing in people as real wealth and the main driver of sustainable development, and preparing national leaders. She has the ability to anticipate the future, create opportunities, and turn challenges into achievements.

He added: “15 second-tier leaders participated in the program, and they went through an exceptional experience aimed at enhancing departments’ readiness for the future, raising the level of institutional flexibility, and establishing a culture of innovation and continuous development, in line with the Dubai government’s directives to build proactive institutions capable of keeping pace with changes.”

Al Shehhi continued: “The initiative is consistent with the objectives of the Dubai Urban Plan 2040 and the Dubai Social Agenda aimed at building a more sustainable society and quality of life, through flexible and innovative government institutions led by national competencies qualified for the future. The initiative is not a traditional training program, but rather an integrated transformation journey that extended over a period of six months, which included 162 training and practical hours for each participant, with a total of 2,430 hours of learning, application, projects and interactive activities. The program focused on developing leadership aspects.” And administrative, technical and personal, through a balanced mix of theoretical knowledge, practical application and realistic challenges that reflect the real work environment.”

3 projects
Al Shehhi explained that the most prominent feature of this program is its direct connection to institutional results, as the initiative resulted in the development of 3 strategic innovative projects that represent practical models for transformation in the housing sector. The first project is “Smart Hybrid Building,” which aims to accelerate completion, improve the quality of implementation, and benefit from modern technologies in construction. The second project is “Smart Housing Maintenance,” which aims to move from traditional maintenance to proactive maintenance based on data and smart technologies. While the third project focused on employing drone technologies to follow up projects, audit productivity, raise the efficiency of oversight, and improve the quality of decision-making.

The impact of the initiative was not limited to the participants only, but extended to include the entire work environment. The program contributed to enhancing the culture of cooperation and innovation between different departments, and launched more than twenty knowledge and development activities and initiatives in which employees and leaders participated with the aim of transforming knowledge into practice, and ideas into tangible results.
One of the qualitative initiatives that accompanied the program was the “Coffee and a Book” initiative, which was based on distributing the book “You Taught Me Life” by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and studying its content on a weekly basis within departments and divisions, which contributed to disseminating knowledge, enhancing the culture of continuous learning, and creating a positive work environment capable of dealing with challenges with a spirit of initiative and responsibility.

The results of the program confirm its success in achieving its goals, as the members’ satisfaction rate reached 99.7%, and the program received global accreditation, in addition to the participants obtaining nine specialized local and international certificates that supported their professional and leadership careers. The impact of the program was also directly reflected on approximately 200 employees working within the teams led by the participants, which contributed to enhancing institutional performance and raising the level of future readiness within the institution.

During the graduation ceremony, the participants were honored and awarded the “Leadership Medal,” in addition to honoring the winning team for the best innovative project, and honoring the five best leaders in leadership, excellence, creativity, and making an impact, emphasizing the culture of appreciating achievement and stimulating institutional excellence.
One of the most prominent indicators of the initiative’s success is that one of the participants was appointed to the position of Assistant General Manager, which reflects the program’s ability to discover and empower leadership competencies and prepare them to assume greater responsibilities and contribute to institutional decision-making.
Perhaps the true value of the initiative does not lie only in the number of training hours or professional certificates, but rather in its ability to bring about an actual shift in leadership thought, enhance the culture of initiative, responsibility and decision-making, and build a second class capable of ensuring the sustainability of institutional performance and the continuity of the process of development and innovation.
The “Housing Pioneers” initiative represents a pioneering national model in building future leaders, and a practical embodiment of a vision that believes that institutional change begins with human development, and that innovation is not a temporary project, but rather a daily practice and a sustainable work culture. At a time when institutions are moving towards digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and sustainability, the need remains for leaders who have the ability to think differently, create opportunities, and turn challenges into achievements. This is exactly what the “Housing Pioneers” initiative succeeded in achieving. Preparing leaders who not only manage the present, but also create the future.