INTERVIEWEE: Yara El Ali Tamer
INTERVIEWERS: Sara Abdelghany & Mahmoud Mansi
1) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: we like to take a general look at our guest’s life. How do you manage to achieve a work-life balance?
Yara El Ali Tamer: My passion towards achieving high-end career goals aligned with my perception of having a settled family which I actually experienced throughout my life with my parents, have encouraged me to work on achieving this balance without jeopardizing any matter over the other. The work challenges energize me and make me feel that the purpose is clear and of an added value, combined with the talented team whom I can count on, that I constantly coach and make sure they happily give their full potential at work. Comes close to business, my personal life takes a priority. It is a must for me to recharge, whether the time spent with my husband whom has been of a great support to my career; my loving family and friends to watching my favorite series and spoiling myself, all guarantees a relief of the stress I face daily. I get back the next day happy, energized and at my full potential.
2) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: The ABC is one of the most popular malls in Lebanon. How do you think it reached this powerful and international reputation? How is the HR department of ABC involved in assisting the organization maintain this level of success?
Yara El Ali Tamer: ABC was one of the first malls to open in Lebanon and the Middle East and known to be the first eco-friendly mall in the region. ABC is still leading the way with its two main flagship stores and the third one opening in 2017 in a very luxurious area of Lebanon “Verdun” along with its standalone and regional stores combining world-class shopping, dining and entertainment. ABC became Lebanese’s first destination for a lifetime shopping experience. Over the years, people in charge of ABC worked hardly to keep it attractive, creative, the one-stop shop and most importantly a fun place for every generation offering a wide variety of services such as CSR program, privilege loyalty cards, gift cards, wedding/birth lists and tax free shopping. I personally believe that each company’s success is mainly derived and determined by its employee’s motivation, by its talents. At the end it is the people inside ABC that have shaped it to be the place it is today. This is where HR department plays a key strategic role in making sure we have the right people in the right position, that their knowledge and skills are in continuous development to match the company’s vision and best benchmarks. Our employees are treated as we treat our clients.
3) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: As a former auditor, how do you think people can achieve high quality work?
Yara El Ali Tamer: Aside from implementing standardization through policies and procedures across the company that make cycles shorter with less duplications, I believe that work is achieved at its highest quality whenever it is done with motivation and passion where employees are champions of their own processes. These drivers push you not only to deliver what is required but go beyond, and only then the employee will feel a personal satisfaction and sense of achievement.
4) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Does the auditing job differ from one company to another, if so, how? And are you required to acquire new skills in order to fulfill the new posts demands?
Yara El Ali Tamer: Auditing differs from one company to another and also changes with the industry. In the Food & Beverages industry for example I had to audit food quality acquiring new skills in regards to food storage, expiry, hygiene and so forth. In retail industry, I had to acquire deeper knowledge in auditing financials and business processes to other compliance engagements. As for the soft skills I have gained over the years from communication, conflict management to assessing and interviewing people work well for both units Audit and HR. However in HR there is more focus on having constant development across all the organization whilst working on employee engagement and retention by adapting a proper balance of EQ/IQ.
5) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: How does your former work as an internal audit and project manager differ from being a director of human resources?
Yara El Ali Tamer: Both audit and project management focus on risk management, processes, tasks optimization and data integrity checking. Teams and employees are supposed to adhere to these so that the project or unit achieves its goal at its best. My main job was to make sure the processes and tasks we create as a team are optimized in terms of time and effort in addition to securing an ethical behavior and proper corporate governance. While the last part coincide with some HR responsibilities, I believe the main focus of HR is more on our employees. The end result is always the same, for the organization as a whole entity to function properly. HR drives human factor at maximum productivity to fuel the company, audit and project management add to the picture by laying the foundation and guidance for employees day-to-day operations and overall communication framework.
6) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: With a 10 years experience in auditing, what are your advices to HRs from an auditor’s perspective?
Yara El Ali Tamer: Derived from my personal experience, I believe that audit and HR go hand in hand in creating an efficient organization. My advice to HR’s would be to never underestimate the importance of the interview and talent acquisition phases. When the right talent is employed in the right position, they are more productive and produce better quality work. Second most important role for HR would be on spotting, developing and retaining those assets and talents who will act as ambassadors by adopting and spreading the company’s culture.
7) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: What fiction or non-fiction books have inspired you in both your career and life?
Yara El Ali Tamer: It might sound as a cliché answer but honestly speaking the best book I have read is “myself” that has guided me into discovering my spiritual awareness and my elevated senses, which have tormented me at a young age, being unable sometimes to differentiate visions from fictions. Reading this book has helped me enhance my perception in better reading people and controlling my focus. In the near future, I will be publishing my book deriving from my real life stories. Reading feeds my thirst for knowledge and keeps me updated with the best practices; some of the remarkable books that have shaped my career are “Winning – Jack Welch” which provides with an in depth look into identifying means for success by having a comprehensive approach to company’s SWOT leading to a clear guidance towards a better career. “The power of now – Eckhart Tolle”, another book that I highly recommend for people in search for enlightenment and the importance of appreciating the present.
8) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: What were your personal success factors that helped you excel in your career till you have reached your current post?
Yara El Ali Tamer: The first important factor is that as a Woman in our culture and society, I don’t have any inferiority complex. My emotional intelligence combined with determination has guided me throughout my career and personal life to shape the person I am today. By nature, I am a dreamer, highly ambitious and hungry for knowledge establishing high goals and setting patterns for myself to reach there. This has helped me in sourcing the energy I need to continuously improve; you cannot raise the bar if you don’t learn and exercise to jump higher.
9) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: You’ve done a year of freelance work, how did that impact your career? And do you recommend the new generations starting their career in your field, to try freelance work?
Yara El Ali Tamer: That one year of freelance work has taught me a great deal of managing my emotions whenever I faced obstacles or failed and made me keen to stand up again and start the fight all over. On the other hand, it did nurture my creativity and boost my confidence where I learned to meet deadlines disregard of the bumpy road I had to face especially that the scope has covered IT, research, translation and in the insurance field. I urge every person to try at some point in life to be on his own, the when and where differ from one person to another but to try is a must. This is where you actually discover your strengths and weaknesses thru real trials. It is definitely a priceless experience.
10) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: What non-work related activities are you involved in? And how do you feel it benefits your personality?
Yara El Ali Tamer: I love movies, they really help nurture my imagination and widen my perspective by putting myself in the character’s shoes. Recently I got introduced to meditation, a great medium to relieve stress, calm down and reconnect with myself to become an effective thinker. Above all, I stay connected to my family who make me remember the reason I want to achieve more because they have set the standard up high. Travelling is a crucial part of my life, every year my husband and I make sure to travel as much we can, it is always an added value to meet new faces, new cultures and come back with an enriched experience. Not to forget my greatest passion towards my dogs that have changed my whole perception towards animals and their extreme need to relieve my stress.
11) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Being an HR director, what advice would you like to give out to employees; and how do you think employees can be encouraged to be more productive and satisfied at work?
Yara El Ali Tamer: Always seek your dreams, set the standard high and move towards achieving it. Nothing compares to the real success you reach when you direct your energy into the right place. Know what you want and follow your gut feeling, it will guide you to do miracles. Learn to be proactive and consider your mind as a factory of ideas to generate initiatives and add value. Employees can be encouraged at work when they have a purpose towards which they orient their efforts to reach. Coaching them creates a connection with the team; make them happier and aware of their role. Engaging employees in decision making, derives the best out of them, when they feel their opinion matters and the communication is open with no barriers, they will own their work and thus make them more accountable and highly driven.
12) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: What do you think about unemployment in Lebanon? What are your ideas to improve it?
Yara El Ali Tamer: We would need a dedicated article to discuss unemployment in Lebanon unfortunately, but I will try to keep it short. This topic has increased dramatically over the years and it mainly derives from the lack of serious professional guidance for our young before they set their choices of major enrolment. Such guidance should go hand in hand with careful planning from the government side, making sure youngsters and talents are forged based on our country’s needs. The second major problem is due to our economic strategy; most jobs are limited to the low value-added sectors such as food, hospitality, retail and transportation services…while our educational system ranks quite high and leads to many talents migrating abroad. As a country we should focus more on industries that can achieve high economic growth. Re-enforcing industries such as technology, telecommunications, nursing and construction open lots of new opportunities, increase GDP and at the same time help our young talents find proper jobs.
13) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: You’ve achieved a postgraduate degree, EMBA, how is it different than a regular MBA? And did it directly help you in your career?
Yara El Ali Tamer: I must admit that engaging in an EMBA program was one of my best decisions. First an EMBA differs from a regular MBA in the way information targets the students and the deliverables required. In an EMBA the students are treated as if they are at the top of the pyramid and leading the whole organization. The content is delivered in a two-way approach where our involvement is highly required through continuous presentations whether individually or mainly in-group work. The projects and assignments are an actual representation of a situation in a real company, the students should use their acquired knowledge as a top-level manager to solve a dilemma or assess the given situation. EMBA has helped my career where knowledge acquired is directly applied into ABC, it has broadened my vision equipped with critical knowledge that enabled me to understand how all units of the organization should function in a total harmony. Secondly, it has helped me shape my career and shift into HR as part of my development plan and a direct outcome of EMBA.
14) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Regarding the dilemma of the Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, what do you suggest the role of HR would be? What are your personal ideas to deal with this problem?
Yara El Ali Tamer: HR is dealing and managing people disregard of their social status, race, religion or any other discriminatory aspect the world tries to enforce. HR can be the bridge to help every refugee in achieving his goal given that he/she didn’t have the chance to do it in their own country given the geo-political situations, which will help in providing a sense of belonging in the community. We can open the room to attract the talents by marketing open days dedicated to refugees who have a slight chance nowadays to be accepted in large companies. Besides, we can partner with major NGO’s dealing with refugees to screen candidates, identify the potentials and recruit them taking into consideration the need to be cautious in mentoring and helping those people during their adjustment period. Australia, America and many other countries were built on the back of migrants and have become the most developed countries in the world, so we can use this success story to tailor made our own by opening our doors to our educated left behind applicants who can definitely add value and incorporate into ABC or any other local organization.
15) HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Recently you were a delegate at HR Tech Summit 2016 in Dubai. Can you share with us your experience there and what did you learn? And why did you attend this conference in specific?
Yara El Ali Tamer: I have attended this summit to gain more perspective into the HR field especially that I am coming from a different background. It was a bridge for my shift where I have empowered my network with high HR professionals coming across the region presenting their highly reputable companies. It was a very successful experience especially with the new vision I have drafted for the department where technological platforms will be the main ingredient to our recipe. One of my team and another from IT have attended this workshop as well gaining new insights on latest developments and how ABC can build the ultimate digital HR organization thru proper alignment to business needs whilst focusing on people; thus developing a human capital management through IT platforms.
–HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Thank you Ms. Yara, you are an outstanding HR professional and it is our honor to serve you and your readers. This is our first interview in Lebanon and we are very proud of that.
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