The MENA Talent Paradox: Why Our Best People Are Quietly Quitting on Growth

True story: I spent a lifetime in banking. No, this isn’t a story about banking.Every time the bank did something wrong (and yes, it happened), I got more training.We’d always say: “Stop training me. Train the guys who did something wrong.”

The single biggest threat to performance in MENA isn’t the market. It’s happening inside our own teams.

We see it every day: highly capable, dedicated employees who were promoted or placed into roles they were never trained for.They adapt. They learn on the fly. They deliver.

For a while.

But adaptability has a ceiling.Without a real system for growth, their confidence stalls, their career path vanishes, and they quietly disengage.They haven’t quit the company—but they’ve quit trying to grow.

And here lies the paradox:

We pour significant investment into training programs that, by their very design, can’t solve this problem.

The Systemic Mindset Gap

Traditional training models often miss the mark because of two widespread assumptions about talent development in the region:

1. We treat it as a motivation problem.We assume underperformance is a matter of willpower, so we invest in programs designed to inspire.But inspiration without application fades in days.The real issue isn’t motivation—it’s a lack of meaningful preparation for the job at hand.

2. We treat content as the solution.We assume that more information—more models, more theory—will unlock performance.But generic content, disconnected from an employee’s role or cultural context, is just noise.The real need isn’t more content. It’s contextual upskilling that sticks.

This isn’t a small gap. It’s a fundamental reason why high-potential employees plateau, promising teams underdeliver, and strategic goals quietly stall.

From Potential to Performance: A New Mindset

Closing this gap requires a shift in how we think about growth—moving from one-off training events to a continuous, contextual system of development.

The goal is no longer to simply inform. It’s to empower people to perform in their current roles—and build readiness for the next.

That starts with three non-negotiables:

• Learning must be contextual.

  
  

  Upskilling only works when it’s built around the realities of your workforce, the goals of your institution, and the actual demands of the role.

• Learning must be continuous.

  
  

  Change doesn’t happen in a two-day workshop. It requires a journey—diagnostics, coaching, mentoring, and follow-up that makes learning stick.

• Learning must be measurable.

  
  

  The outcome of training isn’t just knowledge—it’s performance. And that performance should be visible and actionable.

When we stop trying to fix motivation and start closing the preparation gap, we stop running training.We start building performance.

What strategies are you using in your organization to improve upskilling and internal growth?

#Upskilling #MENAworkforce #TalentDevelopment #LND #LearningCulture 

#InternalMobility #HRLeadership #PerformanceMatters #WorkforceReadiness