As part of ongoing efforts to increase awareness and cultivate a greater sensitivity towards productivity and competitiveness among Saint Lucians, the National Productivity and Competitiveness Council (NCPC) of Saint Lucia is getting set to host its fourth annual Productivity Awareness Week (PAW) from October 16 to 20 under the theme: ‘Empowering Human Resources for Greater Productivity.’
According to Executive Director of the NCPC, Mrs. Fiona Hinkson, this year’s activities will focus on reinforcing the importance of investing in the human resource as means of enhancing productivity as this ultimately impacts Saint Lucia’s competitiveness and economic growth.
“Human capital is a firm’s greatest asset. By investing in the capacity and ability of employees, companies are able to drastically improve employee performance and productivity. A critical component in addressing the productivity and competitiveness challenges that we continue face, is ensuring that we are able to adapt to the ever-changing environment by equipping our employees with the necessary skillset to face these challenges. Training and development is the first step towards developing employees who are competent, productive and solution-oriented. We are happy to start this process by working with the Public Sector this year for Productivity Awareness Week.”
The highlight of Productivity Awareness Week will be three days of workshops drawing employees at all levels across the various Ministries and Departments within the public sector. This training will run from Monday, October 16 to Wednesday, October 18 at the Finance Administrative Centre at Pointe Seraphine.
Participants will tackle the theme of Emotional Intelligence on Days 1 and 2 in a workshop entitled, “Enhancing Productivity Using Emotional Intelligence.” These sessions will be co-ordinated by Trainer and Psychologist, Ms. Constance-Ann Akuffo-Paul of Employee Assistance Solutions.
Day 3 will be facilitated by local Human Resource and Business Consultancy and licensed facilitator of the FranklinCovey franchise in the Eastern Caribbean, Celestial Self Development Centre. The areas of Delegation, Employee Engagement and Motivation will be covered in a workshop coined “Building a Highly Empowered Workforce through Effective Delegation.”
The training exercises for the week will develop and build on some of the core skills which are critical to job performance. The attitudes and current practices among participants will be assessed with a view towards improving the employee efficiency.
The NCPC recognises the importance of productivity as an issue of national importance and has issued a wider call to the private sector and individuals to use Productivity Awareness Week as an opportunity to reflect on ways in which they can empower themselves for greater productivity.
About the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC)
Established in October 2013, The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) is responsible for the identification of key issues related to competitiveness and productivity in Saint Lucia.
The NCPC and its Technical Secretariat is committed to providing the necessary advocacy and research to produce timely and effective recommendations to policymakers on issues that affect both competitiveness and productivity on island. For more information about productivity or on the NCPC, visit www.stluciancpc.org; www.facebook.com/stluciancpc, call 468-2592/2591/1587 or send an e-mail to stluciancpc@gmail.com