Middle managers encouraged to become transformational leaders

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw is encouraging middle managers to become transformational leaders within their organizations by supporting their entities’ ultimate vision.

“You must find out where senior management or owners want to take the organization and how you, as an individual middle manager, can help in that process,” Minister Shaw said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony for the 10th annual Middle Managers’ Conference, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, on Tuesday, May 5, Minister Shaw said that the evolution of transformational leadership is predicated on a vision shared by all parties within any entity in terms of “how does your department fit in with the bigger picture of the organization’s goals and objectives”.

He argued that the sharing of good leadership knowledge across organizations encourages and facilitates a culture of continuous training and learning.

“In an increasingly competitive global economy, among the factors that will differentiate an excellent firm from one that is merely efficient is the quality of its leadership and workforce, and their ability to get things done in the best possible way,” stated Mr. Shaw.

He added that “a superior workforce, which is consistently being innovative and giving of its best to the organization, is a greater source of competitive advantage”.

The Minister said consequent on this, the Ministry is encouraging a paradigm shift in education and training, by increasing dialogue with sector stakeholders on the matter.

“We have to align training programmes with industry needs, thereby, offering more opportunities for occupational studies. We believe that education must be practical and relevant to the needs of the society. We have to develop our human capital through capacity building and training programmes,” Mr. Shaw said.

The Minister pointed out that employers are, to a great extent, no longer recruiting persons possessing only academic qualifications, but want prospective employees who are trained and ready to hit the ground running.

Mr. Shaw reiterated concerns about the low number of tertiary-trained persons in the workforce, which he noted was only 15 per cent, pointing out that only another 18 per cent had technical qualification, with the remaining 67 per cent having no training and certification.

Against this background, he urged middle managers to ensure that their team members have the requisite training and certification to be able to contribute meaningfully to the output of their organization. He added further that if middle managers are not on board operationally, as the nerve centre of the organization, then we are not going to achieve the incremental growth that the country needs.

The two-day annual Middle Managers’ Conference, under the theme ‘Building & Unleashing Breakthrough Leadership’, is being held May 7-8.