2 March 2015 | Comments
A cross section of employees from both the public and private sector have recently undergone intense management training with visiting trainer, Bruce MacDonald, on behalf of the Graduate School of Business from the University of Cape Town.
Through a partnership training initiative between Enterprise St Helena and Lifelong Learning Services, Bruce delivered a series of workshops to junior and middle managers working on the Island. Organisations were invited to nominate staff for the training and, in total, 31 people from a range of organisations, including St Helena Government, Solomon & Company (St Helena) Plc, Bank of St Helena, the RMS and various other organisations participated in the training programme.
Training was intense and workshops ran from 9am to 4pm over four and half days.
Bruce explained:
“The training involved lots of discussion, debates and group work and focused on general management techniques. With the support of my colleague, Megan Hooper, who joined the sessions via video link, we were able to deliver to participants a programme on leadership, knowing oneself and knowing others, understanding behaviour, group dynamics, business simulation and an introduction to finance.
“In four days you can’t cover very much so what we decided to do was to take the basics of management and provide participants with models and frameworks that they can use over appropriate circumstances. It’s up to participants to use their mature judgement and apply what they use and when – it’s looking at the process of learning and not specifically what you learn.”
The training was well received by participants and some of their comments included:
“I am delighted with the outcomes of the training. I found it to be insightful and thought provoking and am excited to go back to work to understand how I can implement the various ideas that I learnt while working through the training. The course was very well designed and allowed managers at all levels to be able to engage with the facilitators and with other managers on the course who work across a diverse range of sectors. I would recommend this training to any manager as an opportunity to reflect on their current management style, identify where they want to be and begin to make the changes they need to get there.”
“I found the course educational and the visual aids were very informative. The stages of decision making learnt are easily adaptable when making decisions on a day-to-day basis. The course was very beneficial.”
“The course was a great refresher on management techniques and we were also introduced to some new concepts. The trainers were excellent and helped us to gain an insight on understanding and managing organisational behaviours, systems thinking and managing change. Thank you to the organisers.”
Bruce concluded:
“All participants engaged really well and have been very enthusiastic.
“The proof of the pudding will be what attendees do when they go back to work. What they’ve learnt will emerge over time and hopefully they will be able to apply what they’ve learnt in a real work situation.”
Bruce departed the Island on Thursday 26 February 2015.
A photo is attached to this release.
SHG
2 March 2015
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