???A manager manages processes, while a leader empowers people, so you have to see yourself as a leader.???
This was the advice from Pastor Eliseus Joseph to the inductees at the Swearing in Ceremony of Members of the Constituency Councils on Saturday, November 28, at the Warrens Office Complex, Warrens, St. Michael.
According to the Pastor, people are demanding a new type of leader because the old types of leadership, which he described as ???command and control???, ???the boss and the ignorant??? and ???the hero and the crowd???, are now ineffective.
He pointed out: ???You can no longer ???command??? people because you are dealing with a knowledge worker, who in some instances has more knowledge than you. And, if he or she doesn???t have the knowledge at the time, they can access it and Google it to see if you are accurate or fabricating.???
Pastor Joseph also listed several definitions of leadership, suggesting that it is ???the art of influencing others to achieve their maximum performance to accomplish any task??? while emphasising the importance of servitude.
???If you want to be a leader you have to learn how to serve???Leaders who don???t understand serving, they stay on the apex and they command people. If you lead by serving, you go under people so that you can lift them up,??? he declared.
Following Pastor Joseph???s address, Minister of Social Care, Community Development and Constituency Empowerment, Steve Blackett, spoke about the importance of the councils to society.
???The Constituency Empowerment Programme remains one of the pivotal programmes in Barbados for effecting change within our communities and this undertaking is critical, especially in the current climate of rapid and social economic and technological change.
He noted several issues which are high on the Ministry???s agenda, including intergenerational poverty, the rights of women and children, the scourge of violence and crime and the need for social inclusion of the youth.
Taking the time to remind each of the councilors being sworn-in of their responsibilities, the Minister stressed that their decision to join the programme ???requires the highest level of commitment to the improvement of conditions to fellow citizens???.
The twelve constituencies which now have new councilors are: St. Peter, St. Joseph, St. Andrew, St. James Central, St. Michael West, St. Michael West Central, St. Michael North East, St. Michael South Central, St. Michael East, St Michael Central, St. Thomas and Christ Church West.
jamal.hall@barbados.gov.bb