An edited address by Danny Roberts, head of the Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute, at the official opening of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation/Caribbean Union of Teachers John Thompson Young Leaders Workshop on Thursday, May 25, 2013 at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Hotel.

There is a generally held view that trade union organisations are run differently from other organisations when it comes to defining the core elements of a successful business model.

In the trade union movement, we sometimes speak of change but fight to keep what we are used to, rather than explore what is unfamiliar. There are some critical management missteps which we often overlook: poor communication skills and failure to listen; treating people only as instruments to be used; suppressing dissenting viewpoints; and the inability to build a management team characterised by mutual trust and respect.

When I entered the trade union movement some 20 years ago I was told, and soon discovered, that trade unions — in advocating for the rights of workers in other workplaces — do not necessarily practice what they preach in their own place of work.

An old paradigm mindset has led many to believe, including some of my colleagues in the trade union movement, that it is better to have stability rather than change, that we must control rather than empower, that competitive bargaining is better than co-operative bargaining, that you must be self-centred rather than strive for higher ethical purposes, and that we must be heroes rather than be humble.

Your organisational success, when you go back to your respective unions and teachers’ federations, will be based on what you would have learnt over the next two days. And what it means is that one of your first tasks after this is to spend sometime analysing the successes and failures of your respective organisations, and draw on the experiences of other companies as well.

You must apply that information to be able to anticipate, evaluate, and proactively respond to external shifts, while examining how to balance innovation with performance. And so you will be able to delve into the challenges of organisational change and renewal from the perspective of innovation, organisational structure and culture, leadership and risk management.

The aspect of this organisational renewal that I want to speak about tonight is leadership, and I am not going to confine my remarks simply to the trade unions, because if you understand the meaning of what I have been saying so far, you know we can no longer think outside of the box, we have to think that there is no box.

What has made the John Thompson Leadership Workshop a success, even before it has begun, is the mindset. What I glean from the mindset is that new paradigm, committed to cultivating a new set of norms, attitudes and understanding about the ways your organisations ought to be repositioned to be diverse, flexible and connected to your members.

The contents of your programme also suggest sharing of skills and knowledge that enable participants to analyse their respective organisations, identify challenges and lead in their strategic focus and development. This is indeed a good thing because leadership skills and qualities cannot be learnt from a textbook.

Leadership takes practice and hands-on experience, as well as intense personal exploration and development. That’s the art of leadership. But leadership is also about science, as there is a growing body of knowledge and objective facts which describe the leadership process and how to use leadership skills to attain organisational goals.

The organisational environment in which you operate will no doubt be influenced by a number of external factors: economic, political, socio-cultural, international and technological. In Jamaica, we are entering into a four-year agreement with the International Monetary Fund and this is bound to have further effects, beyond the current wage freeze on the JTA and the wider trade union movement, on the way we operate and engage in collective bargaining.

In The Bahamas, your organisation would need to explore the opportunities from the recently concluded Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour and the Honourable Shane Gibson’s commitment that the Bahamian Government will commit to the core values and fundamental principles of rights at work.

Or what are the most appropriate strategies to focus on if the Bermuda Public Service Union is to ensure that its collaboration with the Government adds value and mitigates harm for its members? Or, has the strike by thousands of teachers from the 10 BNTU branches in January of this year brought the Belizean Government and the trade unions any closer to making that paradigm shift which would eliminate the need for a confrontational approach in the collective bargaining process?

Should we be optimistic that the recently held meeting in Haiti with EI officials and the National Confederation of Educators, along with the four major labour organisations of Haitian teachers, will bring about the quality education that is absolutely essential to Haiti’s development?

I pose these questions because at the heart of what constitutes the kind of change that will make the JTA and the wider trade union membership in Jamaica overcome and prosper out of the present crisis; that will make the Bahamian workers live out the true meaning of the decent work agenda; that will make the Bermudian public sector workers and Government engage in the kind of interest-based bargaining that results in a win-win outcome for stakeholders; that will make the Belizean Gov’t and the trade unions work in harmony; and will see the Haitian labour force begin to enhance their productive capacity, is leadership.

Only this week in our two daily newspapers the issue of leadership occupied centre-stage. A child lost his life at one of our high schools because of poor leadership, which the editorial in one of the newspapers commented on, and on the same editorial page a letter from a citizen lamented the absence of leaders with new ideas and strong vision to lead the country out of its present state of despair.

Over the weekend, a former JTA president spoke about the need for leadership to promote a culture of responsibility among young persons. But despite leadership being a topic of interest, it is one of the least understood phenomena that still remains complex. We sometimes have unrealistic expectations of our leaders. Particularly when times are tough, people may look to a grand, heroic ‘larger than life’ leader to lead us to the promised land.

In the region, we have too many managers and too few leaders. Most of our politicians have failed us because they want to direct, control and organise our lives and expect that we remain passive recipients of their generosity for the next five years. The same thing applies to many of our organisations. We have ‘macho’ managers who direct and control by creating boundaries, who establish relationships based on position power, who are emotionally distant and want to create stability by creating a culture of efficiency.

If your organisations are to not only survive, but thrive, this workshop must direct you away from this notion. Boundaries will have to be eliminated, you will have to create shared cultures and values, inspire and motivate followers — be a coach, facilitator, and servant, create change and a culture of integrity. How many of you can truly say that within your organisation or within your own country that these conditions of leadership exist?

What we must understand most about leadership is that it’s a relationship of influence between leaders and followers, it’s a people activity in which leaders and followers reflect their shared purposes and create real change. You cannot, in this day and age, work towards maintaining the status quo.

I cannot truly say that when I look on the regional trade union movement I am satisfied that the kind of leadership credentials to effect the kind of change that reflect a shared vision among leadership and followership exist.

This is why your workshop is so important, because the constituency you represent has two vital roles to play in shaping the region’s future in a post-modern society and to eliminate the kind of superficiality and depthlessness that pervade.

Once you grasp the essence of leadership from this workshop, those two roles will be reflected in what is called ‘the leadership grid’. The first is that you will be concerned about results, about organisational renewal about sustainability and success. This is what you will be focusing on over the two days; but it will also lead to the second role, which is the concern for your constituents, the people you represent.

So you are moving on that leadership grid from impoverished management to team management, where your work will be accomplished because you have committed people, sharing in a common stake based on a relationship of trust and respect.

It is to our teachers that we have to rely, to educate the youth of society who will, in turn, become the leaders of the next generation. It is our teachers who are teaching our children and imparting the knowledge to them in their most impressionable years.

When a teacher gets a student at a young age to realise the value in learning and a solid education, that teacher is not only doing a service to the child, but the society in general.

Superior organisational performance is not, therefore, a matter of luck; it is determined largely by the choices leaders make. Leaders in business, as in politics and the trade union movement are responsible for knowing the environment. Consider what it might be like in five to 10 years, and set a direction for the future that everyone can believe in. The complexity of the environment and the uncertainty of the future can overwhelm a leader.

And so, that is why many of our leaders are inclined to focus on internal organisational issues rather than strategic activities. It is easier for leaders to deal with routine, operational issues where they can see instant results and feel a sense of control. As a leader, you cannot be so overwhelmed that you have difficulty finding quiet time for “big picture thinking”.

This is where your training must lead you, for if you are unable to create that vision that provides the link between today and tomorrow, serve to energise and motivate employees, and garner commitment towards the future, then your organisation would have nowhere going.

John Thompson was a leader who understood the disciplines of leadership. Remember, leaders are not always right, charming or brilliant; they just have to be clear, inspirational and reward success.