After over 30 years of absence from the Jamaican market, courses under the Dale Carnegie training programme are once again being offered to corporate companies locally, where courses will explore how to improve on key areas of corporate development such as professional leadership, skills and performance, among other areas.

“Dale Carnegie was here in Jamaica from like the 40s to the 80s, and after the 80s the two franchisee operators who used to deliver the programme passed away and the programme died…I am thankful I have been able to successfully negotiate to bring back a programme of this value and of this quality to Jamaica that has the ability to transform lives,” managing director and franchisee, Marlon Creary told the Jamaica Observer at a recent information and award presentation session held at the Jamaica Observer‘s Beechwood Office headquarters in St Andrew.

The ‘Dale Carnegie Course’ was born in 1912 in New York by self-starter and entrepreneur Dale Carnegie, after he had staged several successful sessions on coaching persons about public speaking and other communication matters at the local YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association). The now famous self-titled course, which is a communication training course targeted at elements such as the mastery of human relations skills and interpersonal relationships, was the foundation for the extensive programme offerings that have now evolved to include many other communication courses, seminars and workshops centred on business development.

Creary explained that while the fundamentals of the Dale Carnegie Course have remained the same, the way in which it is delivered is formatted to the needs of the participants and so the course can be delivered in many different ways. The training programme operates in 92 countries across the world, including Jamaica, is delivered in 40 different languages, and gives university credits for some courses overseas.

The international training programme has been operating in the island again since January under the command of Creary at the Carnegie Conference Centre, which was previously the New Kingston Conference Centre in Kingston.

“The essence of the Dale Carnegie programme is simply, real transformation begins within and that is where it happens. We deliver our programmes, and this is the biggest differentiation between Dale Carnegie and other programmes. We deliver our programmes through an experiential approach,” Creary explained.

“The Dale Carnegie absolute is based on a model which states that emotional change plus behavioural change, drives performance change and so we facilitate the individual experiencing and making that breakthrough to be able to have that transformation that they need to perform,” he continued.

Currently, the Jamaican locale has been offering two main training programmes, the Dale Carnegie Course and the Winning with Relationships Selling course, in addition to hosting other workshops and seminars.

The second staging of the three-day Dale Carnegie Course concluded recently. The

Jamaica Observer‘s Human Resource, Training and Development Officer Jason Brown received the Dale Carnegie highest award for achievement for his performance during the course. He was formally presented with the award following the conclusion of the information session.

Brown said that he was introduced to the course by a colleague and was motivated to try it as it was the first time he had heard about it. After further encouragement from Creary, he said he decided to go ahead with the programme.

“Mr Creary said to me, ‘We want you to have the experience, because I can tell you all about this training but until you have the experience, that’s when you really know the value of it,’ so I said ok I’ll take the opportunity to participate. And I was a little bit hesitant, because you know, you go to many training programmes and you think maybe it is the same thing over, but I said let me just try it,” Brown recounted.

He described his first day of training as a “wow experience” having learned about aspects such as the principles of investing, how to connect with others, and developing interpersonal skills. Brown added that, upon reflection, he has grown significantly, despite the programme being only three days long.

“I am much more aware of how it is to relate to people, how it is to communicate to people, and how it is to build strong relationships, and I’m not afraid to say that the Dale Carnegie course has completely transformed my life,” Brown shared.

“When I think about our own chairman, the Honourable Gordon “Butch” Stewart, and how he invests in the lives of other people, he believes in training and development and that’s the way we are going to grow our business. And so I think it is a great opportunity I was given in order to develop my own skills in order to be a better person and employee,” he added.

The upcoming courses and workshops include a ‘two-day, four workshop’ expo to take place in April with emphasis on areas such as leadership and people-handling skills. The third staging of the Dale Carnegie Course will follow later in May and after, a special Dale Carnegie Course in the form of a CEO retreat for heads of corporate companies in June. All courses and workshops will take place at the Carnegie Conference Centre in New Kingston, with the exception of the CEO retreat, which will take place at a venue to be decided.