Q&A with Hayat Mansour

Exclusive Trusted Magazine Q&A with Hayat Mansour, Planning and control Manager @ MVL Group

How could you describe your career path in a few words?

I’ve always loved to manage and control the projects and find a way to finish the work as per required time and cost, as you can see from my background, I've spent the past twenty years since graduate school as a Planner and cost control improving my work to be in management position since more than 14 years. During this time, I've enjoyed my work in scheduling, controlling and deliver the construction projects. Additionally, teaching and volunteering are always part of my life as Director of volunteer’s board member in PMI UAE and trainer in Society of engineers which also helping me to keep improving my knowledge.

What was your most challenging experience, and it has changed your mindset?

As a manager dealing with oversee teams commonly I faced several challenges related to productivity and communication, mainly Lack of communication due to different personality for each team member and different place to work, will cause a chance for miscommunication from time to time, but increasing the frequency of communication to ensure employees know exactly what I expect from them and when they need to complete required work, by making all requirements, goals and purposes clear enough, considering implementing a messaging platform for the workplace that allows everyone to communicate quickly. When people feel they are not part of the plan, their level of trust becomes compromised so clear communication and honest interactions help resolve skepticism in most instances because it builds trust between an employee and manager. When you delegate tasks, explain why you assigned it and how it contributes to the overall goal. Knowing how to recognize all challenges and address it, will help in increasing a manager's confidence and ability to lead the team efficiently.

Based on your experience, what’s the key success factor for a female leader/manager?

First, from my management experience, people are the most important part of any business, your team are the main business key. It is, therefore, of utmost importance to make deliberate investments in developing your team. As a female business leader, you need to genuinely care about your team. This starts from how you hire and continues to how you train and support your staff to grow, and this will improve company deliverables. When your people know that you truly care they will be motivated to give their best to the business and this will yield positive business results.

Furthermore, being able to take and act upon a decision is a critical success factor in management. Indecisiveness or delays in acting can be costly for any project, decision-making is required to stay ahead of the progress.

In addition, Planning plays a key role in having schedule clear and monitor it in regular basis to reach the goals in the future and keep communicating with all stakeholders.

The combination of these key factors can help building and steering projects ,drive that in the right direction and manage it successfully.

What’s the challenges factor for a female entrepreneur in cross cultural context based on your experience?

Women in business face many challenges. To achieve success, they must take appropriate measures that will create the desired result for their business, for female career advancement into manager positions is a difficult step. The ubiquitous work/family narrative, and the associated “choices” a woman may make about her work life, provide only a small explanation for why women's career progression tends to be slower than that of men. In addition, resilience efforts do not always assume positive outcomes, particularly when the barriers and limitations placed on women are too entrenched and impermeable