Leaders urged to be agents of change |12 July 2018

People in leading positions in government, parastatal and private organisations are gathering at the Guy Morel Institute at Ma Joie for a three-day executive development training.

Its aim is to empower them with invaluable skills and knowledge to discover and manage their personal leadership so as to be more innovative and discover new ways of doing things for the betterment of their organisations.

The training, which was officially launched yesterday, has been organised by the Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status in collaboration with the Institute. It also aims at broadening their leadership horizons to transform them into agents of change.

The training will look at personal leadership, the organisations’ theories, practices; understanding the concept of personal leadership and leadership attitudes.

It was the executive director of the Guy Morel Institute, Shella Mohideen, who officially launched the training in the presence of the different lecturers involved such as Timothy Sinon, Marie-Celine Zialor, Teddy Ernesta and Mary-Vonne Francis, a senior employment officer at the said ministry.

“You have three days and make it as a three-day retreat. Be open-minded. I want you to transform yourselves. And when you go back apply the transformation to your organisation,” Mrs Mohideen advised them.

“You are here today to learn the best practices, to transform you as leaders, to look at your roles as managers and leaders and then go back into your work place to make a difference,” said Ms Francis.

She remarked that bad management styles and poor leadership skills are issues affecting productivity.

Lecturer Timothy Sinon told the participants that leaders, managers or leadership management have different meanings which they will learn throughout the three days.

“A lot of our leaders whether in public or private sectors are managers. Why? Because lots of time we spend focusing on our work, our system, our objectives, our strategy, our policy thus we are managing a lot. In the process we are overlooking the people aspect. This is where leadership comes in. When you have a leader who understands management and leadership, you become more effective,” Mr Sinon said.

Emphasising on some topics the training entails, he said it will empower them to become more than a leader by enhancing both their professional and personal development so as to impact people better in their organisations.

He also said such a training is also for leadership innovation as things have changed drastically now in the Seychelles. Leaders should understand the climate and environment in which they are operating so as to come up with innovative ways of doing things to engage their people.

“Innovation does not mean you have to me modern or high-tech. It is about solving an old problem in a new way,” he said.

A former alumni of such a leadership training, Nathalie Didon, the deputy chief executive of the Fair Trading Commission, urged her colleagues to try new ways of doing things by putting people first and by making them feel they are valuable.

“We can all be leaders if we apply our minds to it. We can be or make the change we want to see,” she urged all.