Worrell calls for fresh business habits

GOVERNOR OF THE CENTRAL BANK of Barbados, Dr DeLisle Worrell believes the Caribbean will never attain world-beating levels of efficiency if current organisational practices continue.He was speaking last Thursday at the opening session of  the 11th Annual Conference Of Human Resource Managers Of Central Banks In The Caribbean Region, at Hilton Barbados.“If after decades of effort we have made no progress in the direction of happy and productive organisations, it should dawn on us that we need a change in direction,” Worrell said.“It is becoming increasingly clear that if we continue with our present management and organisational, culture, behaviours, tools and practices we will never, ever achieve happiness in the workplace.”He noted that “the reasons for failure will have nothing to do with our unquestioned talent, but will be a result of sticking to practices that amount to shooting ourselves in the foot”.The governor said organisations must abandon individualism in favour of systems which promote cooperation and collaborative behaviour. “We must abandon attempts to pay for the production of services in the same way that we can pay for the production of goods. “We must recognise that businesses and institutions are societies made up of emotional beings not mechanical artefacts,” the Central Bank boss said.He added that it did not matter how sensational the performance of one or two individuals might be, because if the team did not pull together, the organisation would fail.