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| Prime Minister Freundel Stuart (centre) in conversation with Chief Executive Officer of NISE, Kim Tudor and NISE Chairman, Sir Keith Hunte. (A. Miller/BGIS) |
The extent to which Barbadians are "bowled over" by their jobs will be made public as the National Initiative for Service Excellence (NISE) gets set to launch a national study to determine their commitment to their respective workplaces.
Prime Minister Freundel Stuart made this disclosure recently, while addressing the 5th Annual General Meeting of NISE.?? It was held in the Solutions Centre, University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus.
Noting that the methodology adopted by NISE which focused on cultural change both at the institutional and organisational levels had borne fruit, the Prime Minister proffered the view that cultural change would take place when people operated in an environment that structurally and consistently reinforced these values.
"Ideally, the culture of excellence should be built into an institution from the beginning.?? I would, therefore, make a special appeal to NISE to target all new entrepreneurs.?? I believe that the accredited NISE training course should become an essential part of entrepreneurship training in Barbados," Mr. Stuart suggested.
In lauding the organisation for its work in establishing a culture of excellence and a culture of measurement over the last few years, he was quick to point out that a recent cut in funding to NISE was not meant to undervalue its work.
"I am acutely aware of the challenges facing NISE in these times of austerity.?? NISE, like all other government-funded institutions, has been subjected to budgetary constraints.?? This is not because we do not value the work of this organisation, but simply, because one of the agreed policies for reducing our fiscal deficit is to curtail expenditure.?? I am delighted to see that while the level of government funding to NISE has fallen from $1, 812,772 to $1, 545,000 in 2010, the revenue from programmes has risen from $433,421 to $626, 335," Mr. Stuart noted.
The Prime Minister threw his support for NISE’s efforts by "helping to create a better Barbados based on respect for each other, the willingness to listen calmly to each other, and to recognise the God-given talents that each Barbadian brings to the table at home, at school, work, in the community and in the public domain".