Twenty-five high-level public servants are now better equipped to lead the various departments they manage, following completion of training through the Caribbean Leadership Project.
A small presentation ceremony for the participants was held on Thursday at the Department of the Public Service on Waterloo Street, Georgetown. The programme, held under the theme ‘Leading for Results”, was geared towards training of level-three managers and focused on the improvement of leadership
Participants of the Caribbean Leadership Project
efficiency in the Public Service.
Public Service Department Permanent Secretary, Reginald Brotherson, said that “public servants attitude and the way the public service is viewed, must be changed”. According to Brotherson, the “nonsense” that occurs within the public service can no longer be tolerated if change is to happen.
“The whole issue of service, service delivery and people taking their own time to do things but not taking their time to get acquainted with public service rules, the FMA Act. They are not getting acquainted with the debates that are happening in Parliament, that are going to change our lives and the trajectory that Guyana is on for level-three managers…”, Brotherson said.
Public Service Ministerial Advisor, Vincent Alexander, noted that the public service is at a point where change is crucial and the training provided, indicates that the Government has signalled its commitment to ensuring this happens.
According to Alexander, “change has to be brought about based on new ideas, implementation of those ideas, so you are challenged not to be routine. Leaders cannot be routine. They cannot just go to work and do what has to be done. They have to be thinkers and doers.”
Introspection as a leader, Alexander pointed out, is a very critical element when dealing with others.
“One must see the work place and its human resource as a jigsaw puzzle. Every piece of that puzzle has its place… the challenge really is to find the correct place for each and every piece of that puzzle and if you do that then you would be able to complete the objective of putting that puzzle together and that is what the challenge is for the leaders of today,” Alexander was quoted as saying by the Department of Public Information.
Participants described the training as timely and said it forced them to make changes in the way they managed departments.
Chief Probation and Service Officer from the Social Protection Ministry, Oslyn Smith, stated, “The skills that I would have learnt from the training, has forced me to examine myself because as a leader it is necessary for me to be in order before I try to impose or make any special request or give any instruction. My way of thinking, the way I go about doing business, the Ministry’s work and so on, that has to be in order.”
Principal Regional Development Officer of the Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Ministry, Anil Roberts pointed out that “What our facilitators have taught us will last forever in our life as public servants and also help upkeep the standard of the public service as well.”
The seven-year Caribbean Leadership Project which is funded by Canada, focuses on the areas of service delivery, leadership, administration transitions and team building, in keeping with its policy to ensure efficient public service. The programme commenced on September 12, 2016.
