building A creAti v e teA m

maryam al-beshri always wanTed To do someThing differenT. someThing creaTive, afTer her graduaTion in fine arTs from virginia commonwealTh universiTy in QaTar, while The resT of her baTchmaTes venTured inTo creaTive professions, maryam chose To Turn regular professions, creaTive. she has noT only founded creaTive careers consulTancy buT has also inTroduced a whole new concepT of Team-building in QaTars work culTure Through biz-evenTs. maryam in conversaTion wiTh cassey oliveira.

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reativity and innovation these were two concepts that maryam wanted to inculcate in a work-place. she felt that for many of us, its the monthly pay-cheque that keeps us motivated to work. Theres no loyalty to the job or excitement, she says, and i wanted to change that. giving shape to her thoughts was the launch of creative careers in 2010, that dished out remedies for mundane working environments, by bringing creative solutions to challenge ones working style or careers either through consulting or team-building activities. Maryam feels that there is a definite energy

a good Manager...

women usually end up sitting at home after working for a considerable period because they want to focus only on their family. i see myself in a similar situation as well. hence through biz-events, i gave them an opportunity to work part-time with us; so they get to serve their family and contribute to the community as well, she says as the general manager of biz-events. a good manager is one who not only looks into the needs of the business, but also the personal needs of the employee.

February 2011

a grateful Citizen...
Maryam was appreciative of the fact that she didnt have to fly abroad to pursue higher studies because foreign universities were brought to Qatar. on a similar note, she too wanted her country to experience an international concept without crossing borders. Its not about being the first one to start something new in the country; its more about sharing a new knowledge with the country. Launching biz-events is one way to say thank you to my country.

teaMing uP is fun!

Activities that teams partake in:

that is absent when co-workers have to collaborate towards a common goal, and this affects business. once again, maryam took charge of launching a team-building service provider; and soon biz-events was roped in as a franchise under creative careers. There are still other creative thoughts, but she prefers to remain tight-lipped till they actually materialise.

unteers of the afc asian cup 2011, she recollects. since these volunteers came from different parts of the world, our challenge was to unify them as a team, and we were successful with that. even the feedback that we received from the press and participants was encouraging.

beats work: in facilitated teams, delegates learn to play samba instruments ultimately coming together and performing in harmony.

how Qatar suPPorted her

Qatar is a role-model in terms of nuturing local businesswoman, says maryam, The country has offered various centres, conferences and forums that present women with opportunities to share their ideas. There are also several networking events that encourage woman to do more in business. and like most Qatari woman, her role model is hh sheikha mozah bint nasser al-missned. by following her steps, we women are trying to get out of the box and do something different to contribute to our community. now you can see women in Qatar holding ministerial positions, so starting a business is nothing, she says. maybe if we didnt receive this scale of education, i would question a womans capability to run a business. but with Qatar turning into an educational hub, there are universities that impart the required entrepreneurship knowledge to women who want to start a business.

WHAT bOnDS A TeAM?

its communication, synergy and transparency, says maryam. "The activities that we provide are fun and interactive sessions that create a synergetic and highperforming team who can work together to achieve business goals of the organisation, she says. when it comes to employer-employee bond, she says i believe a hierarchy is always needed in a business, but we try to break barriers within it. hence, we introduce the required collaboration through activities that lets a junior staff work together with a senior staff. since this concept is relatively new in the region, maryam is keen on focussing primarily on raising awareness on team-building and its benefits. There are several international companies working in Qatar that have an idea about this concept, and want to implement it. but the real challenge is the local Qatari businesses and the government sector, that dont have the slightest idea about it. so far, the response has been positive. one of the most successful sessions was with the 1,500 vol-

big Picture: Teams need to coordinate and communicate while drawing and painting on cleverly crafted sections of a picture on canvasses, as not all information is provided to them. after completion, the canvasses are joined together to create the Big Picture that highlight the results of working together. Kon Tiki: Teams are provided with the basic requirements to make a sea-floating vessel with cardboard. only with coordination, commitment and energy, can the teams succeed in the hilariously competitive race. benefits: it supports strategic planning, induces high energy, promotes problem solving, reinforces creative thinking and guarantees fun. Challenges for Maryam: many people back out as they consider themselves incapable of performing a given task. women usually dont perceive certain tasks as their cup of tea.

faMily first
maryam has an entire business to handle, but that doesnt curtail time with her family.

by following The sTeps of sheikha moZah, we women are Trying To geT ouT of The box anD Do someThing DifferenT To conTribuTe To our communiTy.

2011 February

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a ConferenCe that insPired...

maryam was introduced to the biz-events team and its founder hazel Jackson during the conference How Women Work, and she immediately recognised the need to bring a corporate team building business to Qatar through biz-events. as a participant, she remembers vividly the

session that she attended was titled Employment Vs self-employment. The panellists had put across four different scenarios to the women being employed, being self-employed, transition from employed to self-employed and vice-versa and each of this had its own challenges. learning that proved to be a great guiding factor in her

professional endeavours. i encourage every woman to participate in the upcoming conference on march 6. who knows, maryam might be one of the speakers sharing her many thoughts. Or may be provide team-building activities during the conference! she says.

hww was an inspiraTion for Those women who were caughT up BETWEEN SHOuLD I siT aT home or can i Do much more? by proViDing Them wiTh opTions of freelancing, VolunTeering anD parT-Time Jobs, we help Them uTilise Their poTenTial.
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February 2011

a good Mother...
she says its important for mothers to spend enough time with their children. you can always give your kids the fanciest and most expensive of toys, but playing with them is what counts.

its all about time-management. i work with a calendar and plan weekly as to what i have to do at work, and what needs to be done at home. since i am a mother of a four-year-old girl, i would like to give her all the time that is needed without missing out on any of her needs, she says

During the nascent stages of developing a business, Maryam says its natural to find it difficult to juggle between home and work. even when working at home, i try to engage my daughter with what i do in a very simple way. my highest priority is always my family. so far, i am managing fair enough. but i dont know what will happen when the business grows bigger. so far, everything is under control, she quips. maryam has played it all shes a doting mother, a caring manager and a grateful citizen and thats the best trait of a woman, she says. its in our nature to play multiple roles. we have the power to achieve more than what we are given.