Interview with Mohsin Ahmad Bhatti, Chief Executive Officer | Senior Partner & Consultant at Global Management Consultants

“When everyone in the organization, starting from a janitor all the way to the CEO, start taking ownership of their actions, then this will eventually pave the way to one of the best organizational cultures” Mohsin Ahmad Bhatti

Interviewer: Mariham Magdy

Brief Biography about the Interviewee:

Mohsin Ahmad Bhatti is an entrepreneur, management consultant and certified corporate trainer. He is currently associated with Global Management Consultants, Dubai as Senior Partner and consultant.

He received his education from UK where he completed his BSc Hons in Business Studies from University of Wales, International Diploma and International Advance Diploma from Oxford House College.

He has been associated with some fortune 500 companies. Apart from the work grind, Mohsin loves travelling and swimming.

1-HR Revolution Middle East: Mr. Mohsin, welcome to HR Revolution Middle East Magazine. It’s my pleasure to have the opportunity to make this interview with your good-self. I’m really fascinated by your amazing biography, and one of the statements that really attracted my attention so much is your specialization in “architect excellence in organizational culture”. To what extent do you believe organizations shall invest in building motivating cultures? And how can negative organizational cultures cause destruction to the business itself?

Mohsin Ahmad Bhatti:

Thank you Mariham. Firstly, I think we need to understand the factors that build organization culture. There is no theory or a formula that you can apply to build a motivating organizational culture.

According to me, the first and foremost factor that builds the organizational culture is ownership. When everyone in the organization, starting from a janitor all the way to the CEO, start taking ownership of their actions, then this will eventually pave the way to one of the best organizational cultures. Taking ownership in what you do will lead to trust, integrity, respect and a positive environment at workplace.

In contrast to this, a negative organizational culture will witness a high turnover, lack of discipline coupled with lack of accountability at workplace.

2- HR Revolution Middle East: “ Purpose-Driven Leadership” your article about this topic is one of the most important articles every leader shall read. What special tips would you share with Leaders to apply Purpose-Driven Leadership with their teams in a way that can grow their businesses?

Mohsin Ahmad Bhatti:

In order to be apply “Purpose-Driven Leadership” within their teams for the growth of the individual as well as the organizations, my advice to the leaders is:

1. Be Bold. Step back and look at the big picture thinking about ‘what difference are you making’
2. Align the individual and team interests with the organization’s purpose.
3. Tap onto the intrinsic motivation of the individuals in the team to help them connect to what they do.

3- HR Revolution Middle East:  “Each of us can be a leader for others in remaining calm during this pandemic” a very inspiring quote you wrote in another article you wrote about “Mindfulness during Challenging Times”. From your experience, how can companies lead their people towards “mindfulness” to pass this challenging time of the CORONA pandemic and the global fears from another wave for the virus?

Mohsin Ahmad Bhatti:

In my opinion, the companies should focus on two key things to lead their employees towards mindfulness specially during this challenging time:

1. Be cognizant of the circumstances and accept the situation – Don’t panic or create one
2. Assess and take action

4- HR Revolution Middle East: Mr. Mohsin, you are the Senior Partner of one of the most important consulting firms “Global Management Consultants”. Would you please share with us, how does GMC present a unique consultation model for her clients?

Mohsin Ahmad Bhatti:

For Global it is very straight forward. We ensure we remain relevant to our customers by creating outcome based solutions. This is crucial to our business model. How do we achieve this? By doing two things :

1) By constantly examining our offerings, by not falling in love with our own work and by discarding old and embracing the new. Our value learn to unlearn reflects this culture and attitude of our partners.  For example recently we conducted a massive initiative Hard Reset Strategy 2020, bang in the middle of the year. A think tank was created to review everything we do and offer.  The team was led by our CEO Saira Akbar. She pushed the envelope to get them to discard everything we did and start from scratch. As a result we identified that given the post pandemic business situation, what we were already offering to our customers was good but we needed to add further 6 verticals to our business to stay relevant and new during these new unprecedented times. We then put in executable processes around the new strategy which means we now offer: digitalization consulting, traditional consulting, talent management, Marcom consulting, customer experience and profitability, public sector advisory services and much more.

2) We ensure don’t ever do cut & paste as a solution for our customer. Every inquiry even at pitch time is treated as unique and handled with personal care. For instance, we do focus interview with the potential customer, then a pitch team is put together, who conduct a live simulation around the execution work, followed by a project delivery plan.  We follow a simple mindset or a model coined by us which is EEE. This means if you know the exact problem, then only we can come up with the exact solution, which will then get us to create the exact outcome for our customers.

5- HR Revolution Middle East: How do you see the future of the consultation business considering the new emerging business models of “Working from Home” teams?

Mohsin Ahmad Bhatti:

I anticipate the consulting business to boom in the coming months. Almost every business be it small or large scale will require expert advice on how to cope with post Covid situation. However, I see many consulting companies laying off their consultants, so I also expect that there will be more independent consultants in the industry in the near future.

6- HR Revolution Middle East: What shall be the priorities of HR Professionals nowadays to lead their organizations and people through this exceptional phase? What special competencies would they need to learn in order to do this?

Mohsin Ahmad Bhatti:

The priority of HR Professionals in paving a way for the organization and its people through this exceptional phase should be being more accommodating and compassionate. And the special competency they need to learn in order to do this will be practising empathy.

7- HR Revolution Middle East: Finally, from your extensive experience as a Trainer, how do you expect the future of L&D to change after the disruption of the online training due to the CORONA Virus? What additional skills shall trainers learn to ensure providing their learners with unique experiences?

Mohsin Ahmad Bhatti:

According to me, blended learning will be the future of training, involving ILT as well as self-paced learning. The additional skills which trainers should acquire post-COVID should include increasing the virtual engagement and interaction with the participants.