Jim's Qatar Assignment - jimsqatarassignment

Back in Doha for the Wrap-up and Certification of first assignment

This trip is being heavily defined for my by the weather. I arrived last weekend and woke up to 45 Celsius heat my first day here (that is 113 F). I have no desire to be as active outdoors so I have not been shooting pictures, either.

My work days have been completely absorbed in preparing my "students" for their exams so that they can qualify as either Green Belts or Black Belts in Lean Six Sigma. There are 3 different groups with very different needs and I feel the need to prepare for each group separately so they will all be successful with their exams.

Friday is here, and that means the start of my weekend. So far I have spent most of the morning doing things that need to be done to prepare for my exit from here. As most of you know I am meeting Sandy for a week touring London and Paris for our anniversary. This afternoon it is out to get some shopping done so I am geared up for next week. Tomorrow I hope to get out to see a movie (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) that was partially shot here in the Middle East. Tom Cruise did some stunt work on the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

I captured a picture of that when I was there. The name of the building is maybe the best story - Dubai built it but couldn't complete it without additional financing - that was provided by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the head of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and president of the United Arab Emirates. Dubai had initially wanted to name it the Burj Dubai since it is the tallest building in the world. Dubai got the naming rights for the Dubai Mall, which lies at the bottom of the building. That mall is the largest mall in the world and has 1200 shops.

At noon the temperature is only 41 C (106 F), so I am heading out to get my shopping done before it gets any hotter.

Last Weekend in Doha on March trip

This is a relatively short trip, but nonetheless it has been filled with lots more activity than usual. That has been true for both the assignment and other things happening in Doha at this time.

As for the assignment, this was the last week of class for all the students. As a result, the focus is now turning to what they need to do to pass the exam and meet certification requirements. I am doing a lot more consulting individually with everyone on this trip compared to others. They are utilizing my time here to get project meetings scheduled, so that we can get good project efforts up and running, as well.

As for other things, the hotel has been especially accommodating this trip, and they provided me with excellent work space in my room. I have a great table and chair so that I can work very effectively here. The weather has been most unusual, too. Last Thursday it was 39 C (102 F) and today it is 17 C (63 F). Coming with the dramatic drop in temperature are extremely high winds that are carrying a sandstorm off the desert into the city. I am hoping it dies down when I am scheduled to leave here this Thursday, since it will make very strong head winds for us to fly into as we head to Europe.

March Weekend in Doha

My first week has gone quite well, and now I am going through another weekend in Doha. Temperatures are very nice here now, so I ventured out for my usual walk around the neighborhood on Friday morning (remember that Fridays and Saturdays are the weekend days here). I completed my walk but discovered that the wind had really not died down as hoped. I discovered that a Red Lobster will open soon not far from me at all - one more sign of Westernization by the American franchises here in the Middle East.

I decided to go to the theater here for both the experience and because they were going to show one of the Oscar-winning movies I had missed at home. I saw the Iron Lady with Meryl Streep in a theater not far from my hotel, and enjoyed both the movie and the theater. The picture was in English with Arabic and French subtitles, and the theater was beautiful and comfortable. I vowed to do this again if other good pictures were scheduled.

Saturday I am spending mostly around the hotel since the wind is still blowing, but I discovered that they have opened a gym at the hotel so I decided to walk there rather than hit the streets again. The gym, I suspect, is because the hotel is now where many of the athletes are staying that have come over here to play basketball now that Qatar is putting more emphasis on that sport in addition to soccer. I have seen many basketball players around the hotel, and spoken to a few - 2 women are here (one from Washington, DC and other from Arkansas) and several men (one from the Philadelphia area and another from France). Qatar has many sports clubs that mainly field competitive soccer teams, but now they are trying to increase the quality of their basketball teams given the interest in the NBA games here. See the March Weekend in Doha photo album to see some of the photos that I captured.

Back in Doha for the Fifth Week of work with Hamad Medical

I left Madison just as the city was about to get a major snow only to travel 7000 miles to find a weather event similar but extremely different. Doha is having a major sand storm that has had families taking their kids to the Pediatric center for bronchial issues. I went for my walk this morning and had some fairly rough head winds as I made my way back to my hotel.

I am getting unpacked and organized for the work week today, rather than venture out. It seems odd looking out my window when the temperatures are very tolerable even though the air is not.

Spending a weekend in Doha at the Museum

On my walk today I saw a Pacifica that looked just like mine here in Doha. I talked to the owner and he explained that he brought the car here when he and his family moved from Detroit where he had worked for Chrysler. We exchanged phone numbers so we can connect the next time I am in town.

I also spent much of the day with one of my students at the Museum of Islamic Art here in Doha. His name is Shankar Sivagnanam, an Indian, and his wife is French. They have a 2 year old so we originally planned to go the zoo. When his son became ill, we decided to visit the museum instead. This is a magnificent building in the harbor that holds countless treasures. I took many photos to share with you in the folder titled A Weekend at the Museum.

Fourth visit to Qatar

I have been back in Qatar for a week now in my fourth visit to work with the Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha. This completes my look at the seasons of Qatar, and I have to say this is the best. The weather here now is consistently in the low to mid 20s C (that is 70 - 75 F) and sunny daily. I go out for walks now in the evenings as part of my dinner schedule, and all that I need to wear is an added layer such as a light jacket or wind shirt. Temps overnight "drop" to 16 to 18 C ( that is 60 to 68 C). That is not unlike what you could expect in Arizona or Florida where many of my snow bird friends go to escape northern winters. Photos in the Fourth Visit album show the trees along the roadway as they appear on this visit.

I have now moved into a more advanced level of training, and I can tell that is getting harder for my students. Yesterday's class seemed to be especially challenging since the material was difficult and it was the last workday of the week (workweek here is Sunday to Thursday since Friday is their holy day). I decided this morning to recap the material again on Sunday before I give them more to handle.

We are also in the midst of planning and talking with them about a second phase of our training effort since we are getting high interest in our efforts as we work with more areas of the hospital to complete improvement projects.

Even though things are changing, many things remain the same, too - I am in the same hotel but I learned on this trip it is very strategically located. The Metro designed would have a stop at my corner that would have 2 of the major lines intersecting there - I have a map in the photos. There are still huge cricket matches in the large parking lot near my hotel. The construction workers from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh play there every Friday morning on their one day off working. I took several photos to give you a sense of how large a gathering this is weekly.

Awards Ceremony for one of the Lean projects

It's not all hard work and drudgery out here in the desert. I had a chance to party one evening in October when the hospital put on an awards ceremony to honor those projects that had made outstanding improvements. It was a while ago now, but I just was forwarded some photos of the evening at one of Doha's nicer hotels. The project that won an award was the one where we dramatically reduced the treatment for multi-drug resistant organisms with a projected savings in treatment costs of over $1 million annually.

All of the people seated at the table with me were part of the Infection Control Department, and a few of them were part of the project. Again, the diversity of the people working here is fascinating.

Good Training Exercise

Our training program is highly interactive and includes many exercises to enhance learning. I did a simulation this week that the class really enjoyed, and I had 2 colleagues with me that shot some photos of the event.

This particular exercise is a "lean" exercise which helps a group understand that a lot of the work they do is unnecessary, and when we help them think about that they can come up with much better ways of doing their work with much less effort and in much less time. This exercise involves cutting up paper models of a bracket and assembling them in a series of steps. One of the photos included is a layout of the work place before we make changes, and a second layout that is the improved layout. Another photo is of the tool we use to help them see the waste of their efforts called a "spaghetti chart." I don't suspect you'll have too much trouble figuring out which one is the spaghetti chart. All the rest of the photos are of the people I am working with taking part in the simulation. What you will notice is the diversity of the group. The full group is 18 people from 10 different countries.

I should also mention that there is a different convention for referring to people in the Arab culture compared to the Western culture. You usually only say someone's first name and add a title if they have one such as Dr. - I am referred to as Mr. James here. Many of them have a hard time pronouncing Christensen - and the idea that I would have a nickname like Jim is quite odd to many of them. Only 2 in the group have nicknames - Jazia uses Jazi and Sivishankar uses Shankar.

I am back in Qatar and What I did while home

It has been awhile since I updated my website about this assignment, so I will give you a little flavor of what I managed to do in the time I was home, as well. Since it was around halloween and I would be back here in Qatar at Thanksgiving, we decided to hold a disguised Turkey day feast for many friends and family. I was also able to get in a football game with Lee - we watched most of the Purdue-Wisconsin game.

Now that I am back in Qatar I am back to my routine walks most days. You can tell it is a different season here now - weather is very pleasant and there is new foliage on the trees. Highs most days are in the 20s(70s F), and I have much less need for air conditioning. People at the hospital are all returning from the Eid holiday now, and resuming their work with me with renewed interest. I have a week of coaching with most of them this week, and we resume classroom work next week. We are going to do 4 improvement projects as teams of 4-6, and each of those projects has a different focus based on the hospital's strategic needs. I am working with all of the groups to get executives engaged with them this week so that each project has an executive sponsor, and that sponsor will help us bring staff from the areas that need improvement onto the teams.

Consulting for the Royal Commission in Jubail this week

In Saudi Arabia, they have built a planned industrial city along the Gulf that includes 3 colleges and many major industries. We are training the college staff to perform excellence reviews using the Baldrige Criteria from the National Quality Model. I am spending 3 days here, and the Commission has provided me with a villa while I am working for them. This is a 3 bedroom villa where I am provided morning and evening meals and very nice accommodations.

I have added photos to capture some of the experience for this visit. It is hard to picture this but interesting to note that since this city was built by Bechtel it has all been built to US standards with US electrical outlets and fixtures. In Bahrain, I need adapters since all their electrical system is built to English standards, and in Qatar I need universal adapters since all their electrical system is built to either British or European standards.

Bahrain and Martin's registration adventures

All of you know that I have been in and out of Bahrain on the last few trips with Martin Hedley. He is opening our Middle East office that is based in Saudi Arabia but moved to Bahrain to live more comfortably in a larger ex-patriot community. There are over 50,000 Brits alone that live in Bahrain, and it is the base of US Naval operations in the Middle East.

One issue I haven't mentioned was all the problems that Martin has dealt with surrounding his car and getting it registered properly so that he can drive the causeway and use his company car in Bahrain. In the Middle East the paperwork is everything, and if something isn't right with the "papers" then authorities make life very difficult for you. Martin has a nice Honda Accord that he was provided in early September to replace his temporary car that he was only going to have for "a few weeks" (he started his assignment in December of 2010. His temporary car is an anemic Toyota Yaris with nearly 90,000 in mileage that was used by the print shop to move finished orders and workers about. All the seats were badly stained with print ink, so Martin had used blankets to cover the seats to protect his work clothes from being marked.

Last night was the first night he finally got all the paperwork in order so that he can now take his Honda back and forth across the causeway. Can you tell he is pleased?

Walks - Another return to routine on this trip to Doha

I am managing to find time to return to my usual habit of getting a good walk each day. Since I am finished training about 3pm each day of the workweek I get back to my hotel and change to walk about 5. When I start then, I can walk away from the sun to start and finish my walk after sunset. I am staying in a section of the city not far from downtown that has 4 main streets I can walk in a square that gives me about a 5 km walk (roughly 3 miles) that takes me a little less than an hour. I didn't do this on my last trip and gained more than 10 lb - walking on this trip has eliminated nearly all of that already.

On weekends I go out in the morning - Fridays are the best since that is the Islamic holy day. There is very little traffic so I am not competing with the Land Cruisers that show no mercy to pedestrians. I snapped several photos on my walk this morning so you can see what I see - including one of me in the elevator as I return to my hotel room soaking wet. It was 36 C here this morning, which is 97 Fahrenheit. Why go out when it is this hot? Well, the "fitness center" is a metal shed on the roof of the hotel which has been closed since I got here. It sits next to the pool which is also closed and drained. Saying that you have things to attract customers is apparently not considered inappropriate here if they are no longer functional. It seems that in this part of the world, regulations for business practices are not enforced like they are in less wealthier nations like the United States. Don't misunderstand me - I really like my hotel for my room and their service they have provided me - but let's just say there is room for improvement.

Working and back to routine in Doha

I have been so busy working the last few weeks I haven't added much material to the site. I got a chance the last few days to relax a little and take a few more photos that explore my journey here.

I have a routine of going out for dinner in the evening in the nearby shopping area. I found a restaurant that will add vegetables as a side for me rather than french fries and rice, so I am a regular customer there now. Once I have finished dinner I usually walk to the mall that is on my way home and do a little window shopping before I head home. Dinner here is usually 7 - 7:30 and it takes about an hour to eat with all the good salads and bread they provide. Most of my photos reflect this regular evening experience.

I am here one more week before heading back to Bahrain to continue my work with Martin Hedley to help the colleges in Saudi Arabia assess their level of performance using the Baldrige Criteria for Excellence.

A few more days in Bahrain before my return to Qatar

In the last few days I was in Bahrain I worked with Martin Hedley to explore a hotel where we might do public seminars. When we attended the local Rotary meeting, we met a hotel manager who offered to show us his hotel. When we visited the K Hotel, we instantly saw the potential to use this facility as a site where we could present public seminars - a program that has been immensely successful for our company in the US. We provide seminars in major cities across the country, and this hotel would extend that capability to our emerging capabilities in the Middle East. The facility would be perfect for it, and the rates offered to us were very reasonable, too.

Martin and I also visited an excellent French restaurant in Bahrain that we both enjoyed before we made our way from Bahrain to Qatar so that I could begin the second phase of the program with the hospital staff. Martin came to Qatar the day after I arrived to meet the group and do some other business in Qatar. He is staying the Sheraton Doha, which was the first major hotel built in Doha - it has a very unique shape and really stands out in the Doha skyline.

Back in the Middle East in Bahrain

I am back in the Middle East for the second time, and this time I have arrived and will stay for 2 weeks in Bahrain. I am working with the company's Chief Operating Officer Martin Hedley while here before I return to Qatar for the second round of training at the hospital.

Martin and I are working together to serve a second client in the region, and I am also helping him create several new service offerings as part of our overall effort to increase our sales and marketing effort in this region. Martin moved to Bahrain because it is a more favorable environment for families since it has a large number of British and Europeans settled there. We are in the northern region in the area of the island shown on the map as Sar. There is a British club with pools, riding stables, and several restaurants not far from his apartment where we ate dinner last night and watched cricket and rugby matches on the television in the pub.

We visited the World Trade Center in downtown Manama where we have offices near the top of the tower. The view of development in the downtown area was very visible. We are hoping to do some consulting work with the Kingdom of Bahrain and met with officials in our offices to discuss the possibilities.

I will provide more pictures of the area as we have time to get out and view more of the country.

Safe trip home

I finished my last project and boarded a British Air flight late Thursday night that landed in London early Friday morning. After a 4 hour layover at Heathrow I was on my way to Chicago. With 2 flights coming west I marveled at British Air's service and timeliness (both flights were early), and the odd feeling that you get passing through the same times several times during a day. For instance, I left London at 11:45 London time and landed in Chicago at 2 pm after 8 hours of flying. It makes for very long days.

I sleep fairly easily on planes, so I did not experience much jetlag on the trip home. I was greeted at O'Hare by Sandy, Hilary and grandson Brannic who wanted to 'surprise' me. Hilary got our picture in the back seat as we left O'Hare to head for Madison and home.

Attachments:

Home from Qatar

Last weekend in Doha on this first trip

This is my last weekend in Doha, so I took advantage of it to get some photos of one of the landmarks near the Corniche - the road that follows the Gulf shoreline. It is called Al Bidda Park, and I read that it was very photogenic. I braved the heat (temp was 44 but the heat index registered 49 or 120 F) and sandstorm to capture it as part of my memories from this first trip. The photo folder is aptly named Last weekend in Doha. Sandstorms develop when the wind increases on hot days. The last picture will probably not surprise you - it indicates where all the people in Doha go on days like this.

I may not have said before that there is a difference in the Arab workweek compared to ours. The workweek here is Sunday to Thursday, with Friday being their holy day and Saturday their fun day. That is the case throughout the Arab countries with the exception of Saudi Arabia, which still follows the really old traditional workweek of Saturday to Wednesday. Their weekend starts on Thursday and ends on Friday as their holy day.

Second project completed

This week closed the second project which involved working with a team to make improvements to the outpatient pharmacy, where they have had long waiting times. It has even got to the point where many people come in, drop off their prescriptions, and leave to come back the next day.

We encountered many cultural issues as we worked with this project, and I must admit these created some of the biggest difficulties we had to overcome. Service for males and females is separate, and there is another separation for Qatari and non-Qatari patients. This pharmacy serves 1700 patients per day through an uncountable number of separate windows. The obvious lean solution of creating one system was, by the way, off the table. Our solution was the next closest thing - we recommended one system for filling prescriptions in the backroom so that we could make the pharmacists' workload manageable. We relied on clerks and pharmacy techs to receive and deliver the prescriptions from patients.

You probably get the separation for males and females given the conservative nature of the culture here, but you may not get the reason for the split for Qatari and non-Qatari patients. It is because Qatari people do not pay for healthcare, but non-Qatari people do. Since 60% of the patients are ex-patriots (heavily from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and other Asian countries to provide the workforce for construction companies), the healthcare system still handles a high volume of health insurance claims.

This project did not have the huge savings that the first project did, but the team felt really good about our work. Many of them commented on how they would benefit personally, and many of their co-workers have thanked them, because a large percentage of the hospital workforce are ex-patriots themselves.

Weekend in Dubai

I just returned from a weekend in Dubai that was a little work and a lot of pleasure. My colleague and I met with a client about developing a public lean Six Sigma course using his factory as a workshop for the manufacturing students in the Gulf.

After a day of work on that we spent a day exploring the area and only a small part of what is has to offer. I took many photos and share many of them in the Weekend in Dubai album. This is a truly remarkable area where they have spent money to develop a truly innovative and artistic environment that is well worth a visit.

First project completed

I don't have photos to share from this week, although several were taken of our meetings and I may receive copies of them. We completed our first project, which is an effort to reduce the transmission of infections that patients receive when they have hospital visits. This is an international problem, and a problem for my client here in Qatar.

We discovered that we could employ a new lab assessment approach that would provide a clear indication of an infection in a much shorter time than their present method, and the result will be a reduction in the number of days patients will have to wait before their treatment can begin. They can be on their way to recovery from their infections faster, and return to their lives. We made other recommendations to improve education and cleaning techniques, too. Better education for staff, patients, and their families will be developed so they help prevent the spread of infection. Really good material is actually available on internet sources in video forms, and this will help with language barriers that are sometimes present here. Newer forms of cleaning are available to improve the cleaning that must be done after an infected patient is released to prevent the spread of their infection to the next patient that will be using the room where they stayed.

Organization management was delighted with the recommendations, and surprised at the level of benefit from the effort. The savings will be in the millions when all improvements are implemented. I told them not to expect that level of benefit from all the projects, but this is a great start for the improvement program.

A Day at the Souq Wakif

There is an old market still standing where the Bedouins came to Doha to trade their goods called the Souq Wakif (Standing Market). I went there on a day I had free while my client had other work they had to do. I wandered around and took several photos, and returned to my hotel when the temperature reached 46 C (115 F). It was filled with jewelry, spices, yard goods, pets, and some excellent restaurants that mostly open at night. I will be back here Sunday night for dinner with my CEO from New York who comes over here regularly now that we have an office in the Middle East. Travel guides list this as the #2 thing to do in the Middle East. I plan to return often now that I found it.

First visit to Saudi Arabia

I spent several days working in Saudi Arabia this week, where Oriel STAT A MATRIX has established a Middle East office. The office is in Al Khobar, on the eastern coast near the island of Bahrain. We spent much of our time there, but we did take a trip up the eastern coast to visit the planned city of Jubail. They are a client, and I will end up doing some work for them later this year. There is an industrial city there, and nearby are the huge desalination plants and power plants that supply much of Saudi Arabia with water and power. This may be the largest power complex in the region, and my photos grasp some of the infrastructure that is built up here in the desert. I saw camels along the side of the highway, but they were too far away to photograph easily.

First project work

We started work on our first improvement project this week. The effort is around reducing the number of infections that are created for patients while they are in the hospital. This is an increasing problem worldwide, and I applaud this hospital's initiative to reduce its impact. We were busy this week compiling data, visiting areas of the facility, and discussing our approach.

I will take a break from here while they are busy with another activity next week and resume our efforts with this project the following week. This is the first of 3 of these that I will do with a team of 6 of the students from the overall class of 18.

During my week this week I am travelling to Saudi Arabia to meet with our Office Manager in the Middle East. We will work on several administrative issues and help him prepare for an upcoming client project where I have some expertise. I leave Doha this evening and go to Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. I will take some photos there and add that to the blog site next week.

It is beginning to heat up - today it is 39 here which is 100 on the Fahrenheit scale. I went for a walk this morning and could feel the difference from when I arrived. It is surprisingly still tolerable with low humidity.

Completed first week of training with my team of experts

I just completed my first week of training with the team that I will be training as experts to help their hospital make improvements. The first class was for the group of 18 to learn the lean healthcare methodology. This is the methodology that was originally a manufacturing approach with a focus on reducing waste and creating a higher focus on making all work effort meet customer expectations.

This class of 18 students is so diverse they come from 10 different countries, and they are all very educated and bright. The hospital took photos of the group, and I will receive copies of them that I can post at a later date. I get daily feedback and also receive a more detailed review at the course conclusion - we use a 7 point scale and scores for the material and my instruction were both above 6.5. I could tell throughout the week we were connecting, but I had no idea they were that satisfied with the week.

First week of work in Doha

I completed the first week of training with the executives from my client who will help me with project selection and serve as the Steering Committee for the effort. We had a great week, and got acquainted with each other very quickly. These are all professionals that have been trained as physicians, nurses, or medical technicians. As a result, I felt no cultural barriers and approval ratings for the course were similar to what I receive from other audiences.

We added a twist to the classes because each day I learned a new word in the Arabic language while they were learning new concepts from my world of Lean Six Sigma. We closed the week by selecting the projects that the Lean teams will work on after they complete their week of training that starts on Easter day. Their work week here in Qatar is Sunday through Thursday, and Easter is not a holiday for them.

Here are some of the photos from the day I spent in London

It was a quick day but I did manage to meet with Maureen Ellsworth's sister Terese and her husband Richard Alpert who live in the Notting Hill area in London. I had a wonderful lunch in a pub near their place and set off via the Tube to see London. What a great transportation system with trains and undergrounds all connected.

I took the Tube to Westminster and then walked along the banks of the Thames. I took a few photos of the journey that are included in the London Photos album. I slept very well on the plane that night after walking all that time along the Thames.

London is absolutely beautiful, and I would love to go back there and spend some more time. I would like to spend several days to really take much more in.

Good Luck!

Sounds like you had a great time in the UK. How did you like your first swing through Doha? I guess the weekend in Qatar is Friday and Saturday? Best wishes for your first day.(By the time you read this it will be over, I guess.)

I have arrived and finishing preparations for my first day tomorrow

I have spent a few days getting settled in, cruising around Doha with an associate, and doing last minute work to get ready for the first day with my clients tomorrow. My hotel is right across the street from my hotel, but it is so hot that few people walk around here. I was out for an early walk this morning, but the temperature hit 27 Celsius here today.

It took all of 2 days to get internet access in my hotel room, and they finally switched me to another room where there was a good connection so that I would stop bugging them.

Jim's Qatar Assignment - jimsqatarassignment

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Back in Doha for the Wrap-up and Certification of first assignment

Last Weekend in Doha on March trip

March Weekend in Doha

Back in Doha for the Fifth Week of work with Hamad Medical

Spending a weekend in Doha at the Museum

Fourth visit to Qatar

Awards Ceremony for one of the Lean projects

Good Training Exercise

I am back in Qatar and What I did while home

Consulting for the Royal Commission in Jubail this week

Bahrain and Martin's registration adventures

Walks - Another return to routine on this trip to Doha

Working and back to routine in Doha

A few more days in Bahrain before my return to Qatar

Back in the Middle East in Bahrain

Safe trip home

Last weekend in Doha on this first trip

Second project completed

Weekend in Dubai

First project completed

A Day at the Souq Wakif

First visit to Saudi Arabia

First project work

Completed first week of training with my team of experts

First week of work in Doha

Here are some of the photos from the day I spent in London

Good Luck!

I have arrived and finishing preparations for my first day tomorrow

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March Weekend in Doha

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