Hamda Al Shamali, chief people and intellectual capital officer at Mashreq: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Hamda Al Shamali (LinkedIn), group chief people and intellectual capital officer at Mashreq. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

I’m the group chief people and intellectual capital officer at Mashreq. I used to be an accountant, then I was a relationship manager for seven years. I worked both in the frontline and the back office as a credit analyst, and then I moved to project management, which was more of corporate sustainability responsibility (CSR) for a couple of years before I was picked for HR. Then I fell in love with HR and here I am.

We look at how we can embed the concept of people in everything that we do, from the time that we design a process to when we launch a product. Our focus at the bank is creating an exceptional customer experience, so how can we create an employee experience that’s no less exceptional? That’s from the time we pick up the phone and speak to a candidate, to the time that someone decides to leave the organization and how we exit that relationship. We look at the whole holistic journey.

We look at everything from talent acquisition to intellectual capital and organizational development, which takes care of the learning element. We look at the gaps in terms of where we want to be as a business and how we're going to invest in that. For example, everyone in the organization has to go through AI training now. It is part of us upskilling people for the future. We’re creating the pipeline for the future CEOs of the banking industry.

We have completely reshaped our employee engagement journey. We focus on physical, mental, and financial health of our employees as well — the full reward philosophy.

Digital transformation is another important vertical. We look at how to move everything under one umbrella and enhance the journey. We cannot talk about a seamless or positive employee experience if everything is manual and offline.

AI can add more value to people's careers and lives. Efficiency is the short-term vision, but in the long-term, how can AI add value? Things can become routine and very administrative, and some tasks do not necessarily add value to the employee. Younger generations get bored very easily, and they can't sit still in one job, so AI takes that load and allows people to create more meaningful journeys for themselves.

Before we shape our department and agree on our priorities and how we want to structure it, we spend a lot of time talking to people. For the first two or three months after I joined, all I did was talk to people. I spoke to random people at different levels so I can put the jigsaw pieces together and get the full picture. We don't sit on our ivory tower and design what we think is right; we go and have the conversations. I listened to you. I took it back home. I processed it. Now I have this product. Does it work for you or not? And then we work together on delivery.

I hear more positive feedback now, and our employee engagement levels are at 91%, with high participation rates of 86% as well. Some groups have achieved 100%.

The biggest misunderstanding about our job is that we’re against people, and that we are here to make their lives difficult. We have to always bear in mind the disciplinary culture that we need to bring as well. While I do take care of you as a person in the organization, and I definitely have your best interests at heart, there is also some discipline that we need to create in terms of managing the culture and expectations, and being consistent and fair to everyone.

I wake up at 5am. Six months ago, I used to go to the gym and spend an hour and a half there with a personal trainer. I used to do CrossFit. I would then get ready at the gym and go to the office by 8 or 8:30am at the latest. I’ve recently stopped going to the gym, but I still wake up at the same time.

What I’ve learned very recently is to do one thing at a time. As much as we say we will multitask, it exhausts you as a person. Sometimes you have to sit back and decide, “today, I’m not going to touch this because it's not the end of the world.”

When I’m back home at the end of the day, I spend the time with the family. I live with my mom, and every single night, the entire family comes — all the brothers and sisters — come over. By 10pm, I go to my room, and normally I would sleep, but I’ve recently realized that there are a lot of books on my shelf that I’ve abandoned, so I started spending an hour at night reading.

I read history, and I like fiction. I also read different religious books, because I love learning about new cultures, so when I connect with people, I find a common ground. I’m currently reading What the Day Owes the Night by Yasmine Khadra. It talks about Algeria and North African countries during the occupation of the Italians and French. It focuses on the story of two families who are parted — one goes with the French occupation and another that stays with the resistance. I've also enjoyed I Let You Go, which talks about a mother who lost a child in a car accident.

I only watch CSI movies [laughs]. Currently, I'm watching a channel on OSN that features real crimes. I feel like it makes my brain work and analyze, and keeps it active.

What’s next for me is I want to go back to CSR in a few years. Africa would be my first destination. I also want to go to North Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Egypt. I'll partner with a foundation focused on education, because I want to focus on education of underprivileged people.

My favorite piece of advice is don't take things to heart. Keep the smile on your face always. No matter what you see from people, give them the benefit of the doubt.

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