As governments and businesses plot the path to recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Victoria Mutual Group (VM) President & CEO Courtney Campbell, has called for transformational thinking and bold moves to ensure that the nation and region will emerge stronger than before.
Addressing the University of the West Indies (UWI) School of Education and Operation Save Jamaica’s Transformational Research Conference last Thursday (March 25), Campbell said that businesses should critically assess how they can incorporate digital technologies and agile approaches to future-proof their operations in the post-COVID era.
This, he said, will require greater urgency from business leaders, worker representatives, and legislators in ensuring a seamless transition “to the new normal”.
“Organisations should also be prepared to partner with local universities and open their doors for research as this may provide vital information in the preparation of the emerging workforce,” he said.
Campbell said there needs to be active collaboration with the education sector in updating curricula and expanding investment in the skills needed for the job market of the future. He further called on stakeholders to look into how labour laws can be updated to better serve a more inclusive and sustainable Jamaican economy.
Meanwhile, Campbell used the opportunity to highlight VM’s approach to culture transformation, noting that the organisation places great emphasis on nurturing a robust culture that prioritizes accountability and inspires audacious ambitions.
“We are managing the organisational culture so that all leaders and Team Members think and act in the manner necessary to achieve the desired results reflected in our bold vision. We know as the leaders of VM that we have the responsibility of shifting the culture,” Campbell said.
He added: “In many important ways, VM is being successfully transformed, and a big driver of that change is the transformation of our culture into one that is characterised by greater ambition, urgency, collaboration and ownership.”
Campbell said that cultural transformation was also possible at the national level and encouraged the Conference attendees to spend some time interrogating the idea and the steps that would be required to achieve this. He pointed to education and governance as two potential areas of focus in a national cultural transformation programme.
The Transformational Research Conference was hosted under the theme ‘Making Community Transformation a Reality’.
