Senior Public Sector Managers Urged to Make Leadership Development a Priority

Participants attending the two-day Management Institute for National Development (MIND) conference have been urged to make leadership development a priority.

The charge was issued by Acting Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Everton McFarlane, at the opening of the Regional Public Sector Leadership Development conference, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, on January 19.

The conference is being held under the theme: ‘Adaptive Public Sector Leadership – Changing MINDsets, Challenging Assumptions, Creating Transformation’.

Mr. McFarlane said the theme is a rallying call to action, because transformation is the defining feature for small, open island economies like Jamaica, which are confronted with transformational challenges every day.

“Transformation requires that as leaders, we change our mindset. We will have to challenge bold assumptions and we will have to engage in constructive disruptions,”Mr. McFarlane said.

Over the two days, participants will engage in workshops, panel discussions and plenary sessions depicting the theme.

Some objectives of the conference are: to provide a platform from which regional public sector institutions can begin to respond to the mechanics of modernisation and transformation and the complex challenges posed by these issues; introduce leaders to essential tools and strategies which they can apply to harnessing the collective knowledge, passion and innovation that is invested within the sector’s people; and support the development of an adaptive leadership environment for accelerated, coordinated and sustained economic development and convergence within the Caribbean.

Presenters will include Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid; Advocate of Adaptive Leadership, Social Policy Specialist and Leadership and Development Professional, Kirk Humphries; and Executive Director, Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD) and former Financial Secretary, Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Devon Rowe.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, will give the keynote address at the closing ceremony on July 20.

Approximately 185 public sector senior managers from Jamaica, Dominica, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados are participating in the conference.