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21 January 2023 | TKN

TKN leadership consultant helps strengthen performance management at UCA

The University of Central Asia (UCA) has made significant progress in its performance management systems in recent years. A TKN assignment was intended to build upon this by providing additional training in several key areas. 

Sahib Karim Khan is a professional leadership consultant and trainer and runs his own consulting firm. Academically, he has an MBA in HR from Pakistan, a second Masters in Adult Learning and Development from Ireland, and an executive certification in Leadership and Strategy from the University of Cambridge, UK.

His expertise is in helping organizations grow in areas of Leadership, Service Excellence, Performance Management, and Team Development. Sahib has coached, consulted and trained organizations across Pakistan, UAE, Philippines and Central Asia. He is also the co-author of a leadership book, titled ‘Leading in a Quantum World’, that aims at helping leaders lead better, with a little help from Quantum Physics.

The learning engagement process for this assignment started in October 2022 with UCA HR and Sahib discussing and finalizing the learning needs, methodology of training, evaluation matrices, as well as target audience and timelines of the assignment.

The customized 8-hour long learning engagement process was designed to provide supervisors with the confidence and skills needed to set SMART goals with their team members, align departmental goals with those of the institution, develop more effective ways of evaluating performance on an ongoing basis, and conducting year-end appraisals effectively. SMART is the acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

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Group photo of participants with Sahib Karim in Bishkek
Group photo of participants with Sahib Karim in Bishkek

 

Sahib delivered in-person training sessions for all managerial staff in Bishkek and Naryn in Kyrgyzstan and Dushanbe and Khorog in Tajikistan. Two online sessions were also conducted for non-managerial academic and administrative staff of all departments, across UCA offices.

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Engaging discussion during the training session at Naryn Campus, Kyrgyzstan
Engaging discussion during the training session at Naryn Campus, Kyrgyzstan

 

To gauge the effectiveness of the training sessions, globally renowned Kirkpatrick Level-4 evaluation methodology was used. Post-training feedback was collected from participants, which was extremely positive, and most of the participants highly recommended the training. Participants also converted their 2023 objectives into SMART objectives during the session. In addition, they were encouraged to share session learnings with their teams to strengthen the culture of developing SMART goals, across UCA.

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A participant discussing his SMART goals with Sahib Karim during the session at Khorog Campus, Tajikistan
A participant discussing his SMART goals with Sahib Karim during the session at Khorog Campus, Tajikistan
 
Commenting on the training, the Director of HR at UCA, Jonathan Cartmell, said, “We know that the performance review process should be an important source of motivation. Everyone deserves to know how they are doing by receiving formal feedback. We would like to create a culture at UCA where there is shared commitment to the annual objectives, and where supervisors and team members meet throughout the year to discuss progress towards completion of objectives. This training reinforces this aim, and we hope it will help supervisors to set SMART objectives and ensure that performance review meetings with their team members are positive and productive.”
 
Sahib remarked, ‘TKN assignments have a perfect blend of blessing and learning. On one hand, the TKN volunteer is receiving the blessings, on the other hand, the self-learning is phenomenal. It’s like being on an enlightenment pilgrimage, where one shares their knowledge, learns from others, and everyone wins.’

Sahib has also served on two previous TKN assignments, one with UCA on “Critical Thinking Skills” and the other with AKF Tajikistan on “Performance Management”. His exemplary TKN dedication and exceptional professional contributions are deeply appreciated by both institutions.