Development Bank staff attend Productivity Basics and Work Ethics workshop

Mr John Pilgrim (right) conducting the workshop held at NEMA headquarters

Basseterre St. Kitts (May 23, 2012) — Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis members of staff spent the entire afternoon Thursday May 17 at NEMA headquarters in Basseterre where they participated in a Productivity Basics and Work Ethics workshop conducted by Mr. John Pilgrim of the Barbados National Productivity Council.

“I believe that our organisation is going to benefit from what we have done today, and I am looking forward to each one of us moving into the future,” said Mr David Fox, the bank’s Loans Management Unit Manager. “We are not just hanging on to the past but we are looking towards the future.”

Mr. Fox, who was speaking on behalf of the participating members of staff drawn from the head office in Basseterre and branch office in Charlestown, said that there were a number of things that came to their discussions that afternoon and which he hoped they all could take and use as they move into the future.

“We want to give thanks to Mr. Pilgrim for the wealth of information that he was able to leave with us,” commented Mr. Fox. He talked of the seven steps that they had learned and reminded the staff that “we have to establish goals, we have to make sure that we understand our roles, which is very important, and that we play by the rules.

Mr David Fox of the Development Bank (right) thanking Mr. John Pilgrim

“That is why we have audit. Audit is there to make sure that we play by the rules. We are supposed to build trusts: We must trust each other and make sure that once we build that trust we are going to be able to have that synergy that is required so that we could move forward. Teamwork is so important. Individually, we are not going to make it. Collectively we will make it.”

Mr. Fox thanked the staff in attendance that included the General Manager Mr. Lenworth Harris, and singled out MIS Officer Mr. Eldean Huggins for availing and setting up the audiovisual equipment used by Mr. Pilgrim and Business Support Officer Ms. Jasmine Primus for preparing the hall.

Mr. John Pilgrim, who was introduced by Ms. Coralee Benjamin, Development Bank’s Human Resource Officer, said that he had organised a similar workshop in 2008 for managers and senior staff. He noted that the workshop served as a continuation for those who had not attended it and a refresher for those who would have attended it before.

He said that the workshop focused on “more motivation, teamwork and time management, setting goals and objectives, keeping workers focused on ensuring that their performance is consistently high to the benefit of themselves and the institution and in general ensuring that productivity is kept alive and well in the organisation and in the country as a whole.”