In the wake of the economic crisis, the recent negative sentiment about Dubai has surprised its residents. The observant will have undoubtedly noticed a blossoming of activity on the streets, malls, roads and airports.

The cranes have slowly but surely started operating again and airports have witnessed an exponential growth in traffic.

Emerging organisations have started thinking again about how to take full advantage of these positive signs. Our experience says the competitive advantage companies can create now will only be realised through their people.

The key question is "How do emerging organisations manage talent in the Middle East moving forward?" During the last 18 months, many emerging organisations have experienced an immense amount of turmoil and change.

This has meant restructuring, restaffing, re-skilling of current employees, or laying-off a redundant workforce.

While businesses have had to make these difficult decisions, surviving employees have witnessed how their employers have handled the situation.

As we exit the downturn, decisions about the value of core businesses must be re-evaluated. As companies make these decisions, one way to capitalise upon them is through people.

Hence HR strategy development and integration, and role in the organisational strategy is paramount.

Challenges

The emergence of an organisation from a downturn presents many perceived issues. We would prefer these are viewed as challenges.

The key to mitigating these challenges is to understand underlying organisational values. This is important when working in a small business because your organisational culture will define just about everything that you do and how you do it.

For any organisation to be ahead of the game, it first needs to recognise and appreciate its cultural appetite for risk taking. If risk averse, this presents a different opportunity than if it has a high tolerance for risk and entrepreneurial spirit.

HR plans

Small businesses need to take heed because they can often hide behind the guise of "entrepreneurial spirit" as an excuse to not put structured HR plans in place.

Organisations need to realise an important aspect of capitalising on their business strategy is through its people. Given that many have let go of staff, survivors have to adapt and overcome these challenges.

This means they have to acquire new skills, learn new methods of working, or simply go without certain functionality for a while. If you are working in an emerging business, you should assess how much of this has occurred and begin to take appropriate measures to mitigate the risk of discontinuity.

Although a tough message for many leaders to digest, we know that the good may go. Strong talent will have plenty of employment options due to "holes" left after layoffs and re-structuring. Organisations may choose to "staff up" with new talent or bring in new skills to help realise the new strategy.

The layoffs that have occurred may create opportunities for emerging businesses to acquire the talent now in the job market. Job seekers may be attracted to an emerging business after going through the pain of a corporate layoff.

Current employees will be watching as their employers bring in new talent. They will ask themselves questions about how the organisation is handling the recruitment process, how the new employees are integrated, how the interactions between the veterans and the rookies are facilitated.

The survivor population cannot be overlooked. They must be maintained — and retained — to ensure business continuity. Organisations need to assess their total rewards structure and processes to ensure appropriate behaviours are rewarded and help to drive business strategy.

The writer is a senior associate in Mercer's human capital business.