By Philip Tengzu
Wa, Jan. 16, GNA – The College for Community and Organizational Development (CCOD) has held a seminar to help equip participants with the needed leadership skills to enable them adopt leadership strategies to transform their communities and organisations in the 2023 fiscal year.
The seminar dubbed: “New Year Resolution School (NYRS),” is the first of its kind in the region and was organised by the CCOD in partnership with the Shabutop Foundation (SF) and brought together actors in academia, politics, Civil Society Organisations, the media, and youth groups, among others.
Speaking at the event, Dr Gabriel G. Benarkuu, the Founder and President of the CCOD, said the initiative was being organised in other parts of the country for the past years and stressed the need for it to be replicated in the Upper West Region.
The participants were taken through appreciative leadership skills, organizational effectiveness, and communicating differently as well as presented with leadership tools that encouraged the involvement of the people they led.
He said the annual event implemented in other parts of the country over a decade was to help build a cohort of good-quality leaders that would spearhead the development needs of the country.
Dr Benarkuu said it provided the people with practical interventions – psychological, physiological, and philosophical interventions – that help transform people to influence positively the performance of those people in their organisations.
“Every leader who appreciates him or herself and others, bonds the people together and gives much more effects in terms of leading and managing.
We have created an instrument that helps people communicate effectively, practically using certain principles so that they are able to help communicate well with their families, teams, institutions, communities, and political organisations,” Dr Benarkuu explained.
He encouraged the public to take advantage of the programmes offered at the CCOD to better improve their leadership qualities and cited effective communication skills as a very important asset for politicians seeking the mandate of the electorates.
The CCOD is an Organisational Development centered school that offers Diploma in Community and Organisational Development, Bachelor of Science in Organisational Development, Post Graduate Diploma in Organisational Development, and Master of Science in Organisational Development, with affiliation to the University for Development Studies (UDS).
Mr Jeremiah Seidu, the Executive Director of the Jaksally Development Organosation, a Non-Governmental Organisation, indicated that the NYRS is an orientation retreat to support individuals to plan for the year.
“For us, we want to have appreciative leaders who will be able to mobilise and empower their people to do their best for the nation and themselves and their communities.
For a leader to be an appreciative leader, to be able to mobilise people and his followers and influence them positively then you need these types of New Year retreats,” Mr Seidu said.
He also encouraged the public to take advantage of an Executive Mastery in Appreciative Leadership scheduled to take place in Tamale in February 2023 to gain new leadership and organizational development skills suitable for transforming their organisations and communities.
Some of the participants who spoke to the GNA appreciated the CCOD and its partners for the skills imparted to them at no cost and appealed for an Easter edition to help consolidate those gains.
GNA