Sheikh Mohammed's leadership style keeps govt staff on their toes

The UAE Mystery Shopper app that was announced on Monday is the latest in a string of measures adopted by the leadership to boost the quality of services offered by government centres.

Mystery shopping is a method commonly used to gather information about and measure the quality of services offered. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has previously referred to his own personal team of mystery shoppers who are sent to evaluate government services.

In April last year, he took to Twitter to share a photo of long queues at the Karama branch of Emirates Post that was clicked by a mystery shopper. He reprimanded the government agency and publicly shared its performance report, all in the spirit of transparency and the need for stronger customer service.

In his tweet, Sheikh Mohammed disapproved of the poor service. "This is not our level. These are not our services. Whoever provides such level of services will not be in my team," he had warned.

By September, he announced the UAE's best five and worst five government service centres after a comprehensive performance evaluation of 600 service centres of 29 federal government entities.

All teams that fared well in the assessment received a two-month salary bonus, while the managers of the poor performing centres were replaced.

Experts have often hailed Sheikh Mohammed's corporate style of governance.

In 2016, he visited various government departments, including the Dubai Municipality, the Dubai Land Department, the Economic Development Department (DED) and Dubai International Airport. He was surprised to find directors and senior officials of some departments absent during his visit. He shared photos of himself at the empty offices and social media was flooded with messages of praise for the Dubai Ruler's transparent approach and ensuring accountability at the highest level.