Building The Leaders Of Tomorrow

Aaron Hennessy, General Manager, Douglas OHI

Learning and development are fundamental to working at Douglas OHI.

Douglas OHI provides opportunities for career development through a combination of training, coaching, and on-the-job experiences. This tiered approach to development provides employees with the right balance of learning options. Employees are able to create an annual development plan that aligns their annual goals with key developmental actions they can focus on to ensure they achieve their objectives. Training opportunities are available via online courses on a variety of safety, business and operational subjects. Leaders are encouraged to support their employees continued development. 

Aaron Hennessy General Manager was appointed Oman Hub CIOB Chairman in 2020. Through this appointment, Aaron seeks to raise standards of ethics and integrity across the profession, as well as helping to encourage the next generation’s enthusiasm for a career in Construction. 

Created and aimed at young professionals, the CIOB has a network called NOVUS offering complimentary membership to full-time students. Members are able to learn, interact and network with industry professionals, as well as attend events such as construction site visits and online CPD opportunities. The key message we are driving within Oman is to join an organisation and see where it takes you.

The CIOB MENA Hub is a thriving community seeing an increase in new members in 2020. In line with this the member engagement levels have also increased with the online events. Through the various events, membership benefits and the appointment of Aaron Hennessy as Chairman we are gaining momentum for future growth within the Sultanate.

During 2020, CIOB MENA Hub covered several different CPD events related to how we prepare industry for life after COVID-19. One of the most common focus areas has been ensuring that companies invest in their own people to learn new technologies and prepare for the future. The use of drones in construction, virtual reality, and wearable technologies has been covered but we will continue this focus in 2021. A recent poll on the CIOB MENA Hub LinkedIn page found over 50% believe that financial pressure is the biggest obstacle for construction management. With this in mind future online CPD events will consider project efficiencies and collaborative contracting in order to reduce costs.

In addition, Douglas OHI also shares deep and meaningful insights within construction through blogs, podcast and events to intrigue, challenge, and inspire others.

By working with a wide range of construction associations in global and regional forums, Douglas OHI aims to deliver a common approach and set new standards that help the industry as a whole become more efficient and ultimately more sustainable.