Time For Better Planning

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Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing a cadre of talented people to fill critical leadership positions both in government and in the corporate world. Effective succession planning ensures and involves developing the knowledge base, skills and abilities of middle managers in preparation for promotion into more challenging roles.
While it can be argued that the Jamaican private sector takes succession planning seriously, the same cannot be said for governance and government in Jamaica.
Over the years successive governments in Jamaica have relied solely on their faithful party loyalists and supports to serve on the boards of state entities while ignoring the talents and expertise of ordinary Jamaicans. As a society we need to move away from this myopic view of politics and governance and shift our focus to a broader more inclusive approach.
What benefits is there to be gained to the country by the continued recycling of the same individuals to serve on the boards of state corporations?   What message are we sending to our youth population and the wider international community when we continue to play politics by excluding various segments of the population to serve in such a capacity? 
If we are not careful the long term effect of failing to have an inclusive approach to succession planning will result in a deficient leadership of government agencies. A society which fails to learn from the mistakes of others is bound to repeat the same mistakes and certainly make some of their own. 
We need to adapt a more mature approach to succession planning and look at the big picture for Jamaica as we move Jamaica forward.

Wayne Campbell
waykam@yahoo.com

 

 

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