NEW and seasoned business professionals were, yesterday, afforded the opportunity to learn of cutting-edge leadership skills and techniques at a one-day workshop organised by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA).

The GMSA Board of Directors recruited Ms. Sandra Ann Baptiste, an internationally known business development and communications consultant to facilitate the programme.
Titled ‘Leadership Excellence, inspiring and motivating your team for peak performance’, it was conducted at the Regency Suites Hotel on Hadfield Street, Georgetown.
The 40 participants included personnel from the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), Banks DIH Limited, legal functionaries in Georgetown,
human resource managers, engineers, manufacturers and branch managers from the banking sector.
The agenda included such topics as the characteristics of leadership, how leaders can motivate and inspire others and how to communicate effectively, among others.
The timely training comes in the year that GMSA will observe its 50th anniversary of service in the manufacturing sector, the President Mr. Mohindra Chand said.
“The highlight of our year’s activities will have to be a trade and investment forum that will seek to develop our ‘Made in Guyana’ goods and services potential,” he indicated.

FOLLOW UP
Chand said the GMSA intends to follow up with the same participants in three to six months time to find out how effective this programme has been for them.
He said he believes that leadership is definitely not about having power and authority over one’s followers or subordinates.
“Having power is not about trying to be super-human. What people always need are human beings– real, well-grounded, humane people who are able to motivate change and bring people together to work as teams,” Chand suggested.
Baptiste, Chief Executive Consultant of Carigold Associates, said she was delighted to be delivering training in leadership as her belief is that this is sorely lacking at all levels of society.
“I want to stress that there does not appear to be in Guyana a very good understanding of what constitutes leadership and, moreover, what is strong leadership. We have a far way to go in terms of political maturity. People in responsible positions have a mistaken notion of what leadership is and I am very happy today that we can spend some time to discuss what constitutes leadership,” she added.
According to her, good leaders behave with dignity, respect others’ points of view, put the good of the country above their personal ambitions, value other people’s time and communicate with respect.
Canada’s High Commissioner to Guyana, Ambassador to Suriname and Canadian Representative to Caricom, Mr. David Devine officially declared the session open and shared some of his personal experiences about the good effects that good leadership has had on him.

BEST LEADERS
He told the gathering that the best leaders are tried and tested by experience, patience and hard work and it is not about hierarchy, title, or position, but good leaders can be found at all levels of society.
“Leadership is about having the ability to empower people to buy into an idea to produce useful change. Leadership is the ability to understand that good leaders must, sometimes, be good followers,” he advised.
One of the most misleading perceptions about leaders is that they are lone wolves who do it all on their own but the truth is that great leaders are also great team players, Devine noted.
“They trust their teams and are not afraid to admit they won’t always have all of the answers. Leadership is also about learning from one’s mistakes and sharing the knowledge gained that will help mitigate pitfalls,” the diplomat said.