Leadership training is an investment not an expense, and more organisations will benefit if they view it in this way, says Caribbean Catalyst Inc.’s (CCI) founder and managing director Rosalind Jackson.
She also stressed the importance of implementing the benefits of such training “because training for the sake of training does not make any sense”.
Jackson was speaking recently at Hilton Barbados Resort as the latest edition of CCI’s The Leadership Challenge Workshop neared conclusion.
Based on proven research by best-selling authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner, the Leadership Challenge focuses on the five practices of exemplary leadership – Model The Way, Inspire A Shared Vision, Challenge The Process, Enable Others To Act, and Encourage The Heart.
“Leadership training, like all training, is an investment, not an expense. Treating with people properly is not soft-soaping them; it is making sure that they know what they are supposed to do and they are doing it, and they are equipped to do it,” said Jackson, who facilitated the three-day workshop with CCI senior consultant Althea Browne.
Implement training
“The participants are learning a lot from each other as well and I am making sure that everything we do always focuses on ‘how are you going to apply this well in your shop?’ Training just for the sake of training doesn’t make any sense,” Jackson said.
She said it was important for participants – on this occasion there were 18 – to be able to implement whatever they learned from the training and to use their talents.
“We often talk about leaders or people needing to be coached to increase their competence, but unless people have opportunities to put their talents to use, they will end up bored and frustrated,” she explained.
Several of The Leadership Challenge Workshop participants spoke about the benefits of the initiative and how keen they were to implement what they learned to help make their organisations better.
Crystal Cox, revenue manager at Hilton Barbados Resort, said: “I was selected to participate in the leadership challenge by my HR department and I found the course very inspiring, thought provoking, and it put me in a situation where I had to really do a lot of introspection.
“As leaders, sometimes we take for granted that we have the opportunity to impact persons both negatively and positively, and what Ros and her team has done really gave me more of a focus as to what I’m doing incorrectly in terms of empowering my team and motivating my team to be better.
“So, as opposed to just fully celebrating the positive, I also have to look at the areas where I have to develop my team.
“Another thing that Ros has pointed out is that when I inspire and I develop, I motivate my team and the organisation is better for it. So it really has been an eye-opening experience.”
Valerie Hope, marketing manager at AffinityPlus Credit Union Ltd, called the workshop “excellent”.
“In some cases, it really affirmed the things you know you are doing well and in some cases it challenged your thinking,” she said.
“There are things that you thought you may have been doing pretty okay on but when you look at your self-analysis, and then you compare that to the 360-degree review of your direct reports, your peers, your managers, it definitely gives you food for thought.” Hope added: “You know that idea of perception versus reality, and
sometimes as leaders, you get very caught up in your perception.” “So I think coming to sessions like this is really a good opportunity to do self-checks. “The interaction and the sharing among the different leaders in the room also was very useful in terms of just giving you ideas and thoughts of things that you could amend or really bring to your own organisation as well. And so I found that it was a very valuable three days.”
Ashley Christophe, member and student services lead at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados, recognised from the outset that “leadership is something that you have to be trained in” and overall she found the workshop “liberating”.
“It equips you with the tools that are necessary for you to walk on the correct path because you’re leading people. So it’s like you are bringing the whole you into that process of leading as opposed to saying ‘as a leader I am supposed to do this, I am supposed to do that’,” she explained.
“Every individual has a set of values and your organisation also has a set of values. So as opposed to you leading based on the values of your organisation only, you see where the two values align so that there is more buy-in and then you are able to lead even better.
“It is enriching, it is liberating and that is what I am enjoying about the process, that it is not step one, two, three. It is not theory, but it is practical. We are doing a lot of hands-on, so it is easier for you to understand, and easier for you to apply,” Christophe added.
Interactive
Rubis Eastern Caribbean had several team members at the workshop, including accountants Anne Brathwaite and Justin Clarke, who both eager to put what they learnt into practice.
“This course has been really interactive and it had really practical ways on how to implement and improve your leadership. Nothing was long-winded, everything was very practical and even with the books and materials that we got, they encouraged me to go back and read more and see how I really can be a good leader,” Brathwaite said.
“They were things that stuck in your head that you can implement. I am going to become a supervisor. I do not supervise anybody right now, so this helps me and gives me some important tools to help in my new post.”
Clarke said he was sent to the workshop “to learn more about leadership” and in this regard he had benefited.
“My goal is to improve my soft skills and my empathy. The survey that was done, the lessons and the questions and team building sessions we did, I learnt from them all. All in all, this seminar was great. I enjoyed it and will become a better leader as a result. Would I tell others to come as well? Yes.” (SC)
