Leading Organisations in Disruptive Times

Fawaz Al-Nouri is Customer Evolution Ecosystem & Execution Leader with SAP. It’s his job to empower SAP clients globally in their digital evolution journeys. And it’s a job that he loves. But it’s not without its challenges. For one thing, there’s a constant imperative to keep abreast of innovation and change, which means keeping his skill set and knowledge updated. Then there’s the need to “validate” his ideas and approaches; to assess what’s right and what might be missing, he says. And it’s this need to step back and make a sense check that brought him to INSEAD and to the Leading Organisations in Disruptive Times (LODT) programme in 2022.

“I wanted a third perspective in a sense,” says Al-Nouri. “When you’re working with a broad scope of clients on their transformation processes the stakes are high, so I was looking for input on what we were doing and what gaps or areas there might be for improvement. INSEAD came highly recommended to me by colleagues and friends who’d taken programmes and done the INSEAD MBA. INSEAD also offered the right programme in terms of what I was looking for specifically.”

That said, Al-Nouri wasn’t without his reservations coming into the programme. LODT being an online programme, he was concerned that his learning experience might be too passive, too isolated, and theoretical to deliver the kind of real-world value he wanted. In the event, he was surprised by the programme.

“It’s actually a fully dynamic experience with plenty of opportunities to get hands-on about the learning in your own business context,” he says. “The way the programme was structured meant that you could take ideas and concepts shared in interactive sessions and apply them in real time to what you were doing in the workplace. That and the assignments are job-specific which I really appreciated.”

The Action Learning Project (ALP) was a particular highlight, says Al-Nouri, because it meant bringing all the learning into sharp focus around real-life business challenges, and building on that learning week over week to create an actionable plan.

“The ALP is also enhanced by one-on-one coaching which is very powerful. Working with my coach made the whole experience personal and completely applied to my needs and objectives.”

Al-Nouri’s ALP centred on his own organisation and on looking at ways to accelerate digital transformation to better serve his client base. But the concepts and frameworks he was able to develop can also be applied more broadly, he says, because end customers using SAP products are going through the same kinds of disruption. The ALP is a way of bringing together everything that the cohort learns throughout the year, he adds.

“It’s a collaborative experience because as a group, we were able to review each other’s Action Learning Projects, and see how different individuals applied their learning to their own issues. This really enriched the programme for me.”

Another highlight of the programme was its structure, he notes. While the online format delivered the flexibility to learn at an individual pace and simultaneously apply that learning in real life, the tightly organised schedule meant he was able to establish an effective rhythm – there were no “surprises,” he laughs.

“New materials were released every Friday, so you knew when to expect them and how to organise yourself well in terms of preparation. Having a well-structured and timely schedule made it all very manageable to combine with work.”

Meanwhile, any doubts that Al-Nouri had coming into the programme around feeling isolated in his learning were allayed by the “virtual” dynamic of classes, some of which were live sessions, others recorded with faculty in an actual classroom setting. Experiencing faculty teaching in action, and seeing fellow participants put their questions to professors via the learning platform in real time, gave the programme a strong interactive and collaborative dimension that bolstered networking, he says.

“There’s always the fear when you take an online programme that it’s going to be ‘death by slides’ and that you’ll just be learning by yourself. But the way that INSEAD structure online learning ensures that you feel strongly connected to your cohort and that you learn from them as much as from the faculty teaching the classes.”

Online learning is “great,” he says, because of the sheer flexibility it offers and the opportunity that learners must structure their own experience in the way that best suits them and their personal schedule.

“Leading Organisations in Disruptive Times was a first experience for me in learning online, and although I had my initial doubts, it’s been such a positive and impactful experience that I’m already looking to reserve my place on a second INSEAD programme later this year. I would recommend online learning at INSEAD to anyone looking to accelerate their knowledge and skills, and to broaden their perspective in the most effective and manageable way.”