Another in the series of workshops for Senior Officers of the Anguilla Public Service commenced at Masara Resort, Katouche Bay, on Wednesday this week, facilitated by Public Administration and sponsored by the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat. This time it is a Management and Leadership Skills Workshop.

Governor's Office and Public Administration Officials and workshop facilitators

Deputy Director, Human Resource Management, Public Administration, Charmaine Rogers, chaired the opening ceremony. She expressed a warm welcome to the Resource Speaker from the United Kingdom, Dr. Julia Hockey, Training Consultant, and Mr. Adeyemi Ogunmefu, Acting Adviser, Caribbean/Mediterranean Regions, Commonwealth Secretariat.

She observed that some two months ago many of the civil servants had successfully participated in a Public Policy and Administrative Law Workshop also with the involvement of the Commonwealth Secretariat. “I have no doubt that this Management and Leadership exercise will prove just as successful,” she stated. “Research has shown that training can lead to improved performance and enhanced productivity. Additionally, training is seen as the pulse of most competitive learning and dynamic organisations.

Senior Public Service Officers

“Cognisant of this, Public Administration is committed to the continuous investment in the human capital, and embracing the ultimate challenge of taking the Anguilla Public Service to a higher level of growth and development.”

Governor Alistair Harrison stressed that Management and Leadership were part of any organisation and the Anguilla Public Service was no exception. He said there was distinction between the two skills of management and leadership although they were closely inter-related. “Management perhaps can be defined as a series of techniques which can be learnt gradually particularly by people as they move up in an organisation,” he went on. “But leadership I think is the added value…Leadership is the next level after management and it is absolutely crucial to make that distinction. I think what makes a good leader above all is a sense of vision and a sense of purpose.”

Governor Harrison further explained that the importance of leadership was that it involved everybody working in an organisation.

The workshop was declared open by Deputy Governor, Stanley Reid, who has responsibility for the Pubic Service. “An individual can be required to manage or to lead depending on the occasion and the goal to be achieved,” he noted. “It has been opined that leaders drive necessary change, while managers ensure the efficient and effective running of an organisation’s ongoing operations. Therefore, in the Anguilla Public Service, when future change has been agreed to by those in authority leaders, as distinct from managers, should be included in any change management team. Such leaders should have a vision of the organisation’s future and the capacity to communicate that vision effectively. The ideas and actions of the leaders would then be able to influence the transformation of established processes so as to achieve the desired change.”

Acting AG Ivor Greene, Gov. Harrison, DG Stanley Reid and others

The Deputy Governor continued: “Senior Public Officers in the Anguilla Public Service must be equipped to serve as either managers or leaders as the situation requires. On a day to day basis, they are expected to function primarily as managers where we seek to ensure established processes are functioning in an effective and efficient manner. Invariably, there are changes in our internal and external environment which demand that changes be made within the organisation – in our case – the Anguilla Public Service. In those instances persons who previously functioned as managers must, in relation to that proposed change, function as a leader. This workshop is designed to equip us with the knowledge and skills to carry out both management and leadership functions effectively.”

In his remarks, Mr. Adeyemi lauded the Department of Public Administration, under the leadership of Aurjul Wilson, for its vision, energy and commitment for working with the Commonwealth Secretariat on improving public services in Anguilla. As he did at a previous workshop, he emphasised the commitment of the Commonwealth Secretariat to working with the Government of Anguilla, in a consistent and sustainable manner, to ensure it had the right tools required by a modern public sector to provide services to citizens and to improve their quality of life. The Senior Public Officers in attendance at the opening ceremony were divided into two groups: one to attend this week’s workshop sessions, and the other group those sessions for next week.

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