$575 bn yearly is lost by the MENA due to legal & social barriers that exist for women’s access to jobs. According to McKinsey report on Women at Work, the share of women in professional and technical jobs is set to more than double by 2030 in the Middle East through digitization, online platforms, and entrepreneurship.
What we must think about is the support and the empowerment that is provided in the workplace for women to succeed. In the survey conducted across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and Egypt, to understand women’s journeys in the workplace, McKinsey found that women face the highest level of challenges—having few interactions with seniors, sub-par support from colleagues, and limited experiences with committed role models.
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These challenges are pertinent to all women, including those leading CX functions where they are often preventing female CX leaders from driving the customer centricity agenda. I will let you conclude what this means for an organisation, given that customer experience is a strategic imperative in the modern world. What it means for a woman is losing her confidence, not feeling empowered or valued which can be detrimental to her career and participation, defeating personal, organisational and government objectives.
I deeply care for the success of all CX professionals but supporting women in the Middle East is particularly close to my heart. I am happy to bring my global experience to drive their career success through tailored CX coaching. This is a way to get that much needed senior level constructive challenge, role modeling and practical advice on how to overcome the everyday barriers.
Here is what my clients have to say:
“Working with Olga has been an absolute lifesaver for me. It’s been really helpful to have someone like Olga to look at everything that I’ve planned, the strategy, the operations, all of it, to make sure I’m on the right track.”
“It was always great fun speaking with you but more important my learning curve because of you was incredible. Thanks a lot for all your patience, support and great attitude.”
My CX coaching is structured, yet flexible to be tailored to individual’s needs and challenges. It starts with a discovery phase to identify key challenges and development priorities. In weekly sessions we work through these, regularly reviewing progress, emerging needs and results.
A typical engagement usually includes 4 sessions per month and lasts between 4 and 6 months. Our discussions are focused around developing CXPA competencies, with a healthy dose of theory and a significant focus on real-life case studies, best practice and in the moment application. They also touch on the important aspects of stakeholder buy-in, strategic planning and agile execution. I am happy to have my CX Coaching approach certified by the Customer Institute.
Stakeholders, including policy-makers and business leaders, have a responsibility to drive female participation in professional and technical jobs through: (1) tailored education and training to upskill and retrain women; (2) an enabling structural foundation with a support system, enhanced regulatory, and policy framework; and (3) creating an environment conducive to women’s growth. In addition to these interventions, the importance of self-empowerment and grit cannot be ignored and will need to be driven by women.