On Wednesday, March 3rd, at the Sonesta Great Bay Hotel and Casino, Sector Directors and Department Heads from the Island Government took part in a Change Management Workshop, which was sponsored by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in cooperation with the Development Cooperation Fund of the Netherlands Antilles (DEVCO). Participants came also from Saba and St. Eustatius.
The workshop was realized on the 23rd of June 2009, when the Government of the Netherlands Antilles and UNDP signed an agreement to implement the project: "Capacity Development for Nation Building in the Netherlands Antilles."
The project consists of three major components,
1. The creation of capacity and institutional strengthening in order to guide the process of the development of the Netherlands Antilles by means of the so-called "Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to monitor the progress in the realization of the objectives of the MDGs in the N.A.
2. The strengthening of capacity in the change of policies on the level of the central and island government for civil servants in Curacao and St. Maarten as these islands will obtain their new status in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
3. Training courses for civil servants on the central and island level so they will be able to negotiate with multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union in order to benefit much more from the ties with the multilateral organizations.
Jamila Romero representing the office of DEVCO welcomed all to the workshop and introduced Commissioner Xavier Blackman, who said a few words on the need and importance of the workshop.
The main objective of the workshop is to help the Sector Directors and Department Heads get a better observation of the change process in the framework of the future constitutional structure of the NA; of the possible impact of these changes on their sectors and departments; and of the necessary methods to fulfill the role of the facilitators in the process of change to realize new entities.
For these two days, directors and heads will gather information on how to guide personnel under their responsibility in the process of change. Attention was also given to the management style that concentrates on the persons and emphasis was laid to aspects such as emotion, intuition, inner peace, relationship, discipline, integrity, and culture, according to the handout.
The workshop centered on 4 modules with emphasis on the person in the process of change. By means of these modules, the participants developed certain skills to change their traditional way of thinking and acting in order to redirect the way of thinking and acting to a more inspirational one.
The presenter was Drs. Soeresh Gobardham of the Mahatt Institute, based in Florida.
The course was focused mainly from the psychedelic, dealing with the mind and the internal thinking aspect. The holistic way of leadership and management is based on an effective balance in implementation of things and people.
Discussion points, the presenter introduced were, the decision making process, planning-control structure, work processes, communication pattern, leadership management dynamics, knowledge, technology, time, money, rules, strategies, profit, reports, rewards-punishments, and infrastructure.
And from the perspective of the individual, points discussed were: attitude, respect, commitment, integrity, teamwork, and passion.
The workshop will continue on Thursday, March 4th.
