PARADISE ISLAND – Recently, managers at Atlantis, Paradise Island got an interesting, practical lesson in decision making and achieving goals by empowering their staff members.
The managers were participating in Atlantis University’s (AU) newest course, “Leading an Empowered Workforce.”
Groups of managers were trained under the premise of being a company that produced strings of beads called “Techno bands.”
At each round of production, the groups learned how to incorporate each step of the decision making process to improve their results.
This course is the newest of a full-curriculum of courses Kerzner International has been offering at Atlantis University since early 2000.
AU is a the first corporate university of its kind in the region and was designed to incorporate good broad management and best practices in leadership amongst over 1,000 managers at Kerzner International Bahamas Limited.
Conducted by Training Officer Karen Sutherland, the one-day course seeks to change the organization into one that empowers people to accomplish their goals.
She explained, “If a goal is disseminated to someone, and they feel that their manager has enough confidence in them to allow them to operate within set parameters to get it done; employees will feel free to use more creativity and innovation in what they do because they know there is mutual trust.
Senior Director of Engineering and class participant Melanie Roach commented that the content of the class was quite relevant.
“The class was very informative and the exercises relevant to my work and life in general,” said Roach. “I will use the lessons learned to address a practical work issue within the week and expect to see positive results.”
On par with learning institutions operated by Fortune 500 companies like McDonald’s and General Electric, Atlantis University is a $1.4 million investment, which seeks to go the extra mile to cultivate an organization of excellent leaders.
It seeks to develop the whole person, and besides providing employees with workshops and seminars that will enhance their performance on the job, AU offers courses to further enhance the quality of life amongst Kerzner’s employees.
Director of Organizational Development Beverly Saunders said about the new addition, “This new course
brings together the key aspects of many of our leadership courses and creates a platform to incorporate all of them into an effective solution to many organizational communication issues.”
