Dr. Earl Harewood currently lectures for Edinburgh’s Herriot-Watt University/Australian Institute of Business/School of Higher Education. He performs the same role for the Australian Institute of Business/School of Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association Liaisons to Trinidad. He teaches corporate ethics and corporate social responsibility and has taught social and organizational change and organizational culture. Harewood earned his MBA in Organizational Change and Development from Regent University in 2003. He earned an MS in Organizational Counselling in 2008 from The Johns Hopkins University and his PhD in Human Resource Development from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Presentation Summary - Leading Performance Improvement in T&T: Global Strategies for Sustainability Whether performance is where it needs to be or not in Trinidad and Tobago, one will never know as forecasting, planning, benchmark, international practice accreditation and pointed industry research is seldom practiced. What this means is that there is more reacting because when situations surface there is no clear plan to address them. Added to this, investment in targeted training and development activities are few so many persons’ exposure to new systems, practices, processes and techniques are almost non-existent so innovation never happens and new products, services and ideas never emerge. Subsequently, if there is to be improved performance, there is greater need to understand the socio-historical barriers to encouraging creative problem solving, idea sharing and promotion of innovative practices that will lead to new and improved products, services, standards and people practices suitable for launching the nation into the 22nd century competitively placed for global competition. This will take more intentional approaches to leading innovative performance improvement initiatives which will require human resources and other leaders to fully develop the eight competencies we will discuss during the presentation.

1. ACase of Performance Improvement in
Trinidad and Tobago
Global Strategies for Sustainability
Presenter’s Earl A. Harewood, MBA, PhD
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference
Hilton Trinidad & Conference Center
Monday, May 13, 2013

2. Planned agenda
Performance for what.
Thinking for performance.
Assessing capacity.
What are the 10 most important challenges.
Performance for what?
Pre-evaluation requirements.
Evaluation skill requirements.
Six most important solution for change in
performance.
3 things you can start doing tomorrow.
Summary.
Wrap-up, Q & A and extras.
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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3. Performance improvement for
what?Best-in-class status.
Maintain certification, accreditation or license.
Maintain or increase production capacity.
Bring activities into alignment with organization’s
goals and objectives for both the short and long-
run periods.
Innovation for future positioning in a global
borderless economy.
Change (from what to what?).
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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4. Thinking of performance improvement ….
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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How
much is
really
needed?
What’s
needed
True
False

5. Capacity Assessment
What is the relatedness of productivity and
performance?
What is performance potentiality?
To what do you link performance?
What role does learning play in performance
improvement?
How do you know performance needs to be
improved?
How board should you be thinking about
performance?
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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6. What are the challenges?

7. Organizational and national challenges
World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness
Report 2011-2012 identified:
Lack sophistication in business.
Inefficiencies of our labour and goods market.
Lack of innovation.
Inefficient bureaucratic government procedures.
Poor work ethic of the labour force in past 5
years.
Crime is at a runaway high with solutions that
doesn’t appear to be working.HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013 7

8. Labour productivity (averages,annualgrowthrate)
1992-2000 2000-2008 2009 2010
GDP per person engaged 3% 5% 0% 1%
GDP per hour worked 2% 6% 0% 1%
-1%
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
7%
Percentages
Labor Productivity
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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9. Operational context
Interconnected-boarder-less-global operational
environment.
Long periods of dealing with sluggish
interconnected economies.
Actual and projected food and land shortages.
Specialty labor shortages, especially in the
medical field.
Climate change, disasters and displacement.
Blending of cultures as foreign workers join the
workforce.
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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10. Generational differences
0
5
10
15
20
25
15-19 20-24 30-34 35-39
Population %
2010 unemployment
2011 unemployment
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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11. Colonial practices and challenges
New policies, practices, behaviors and
infrastructure do not reflect the unique attributes
of T & T nor the competition it faces.
The current infrastructure, attitudes and
behaviors are inadequate to meet the demands
of an interconnected global economy.
The lack of foresight in governance suggests
that the old behaviors and ways of managing will
continue to be viable.
New career opportunities and new industries are
too few, so many able men and women are left
out of the labour market.HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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12. Intellectual capital challenges
The nation is stalled by the information
procession model of teaching and learning.
Less than 20% male enrollment in UWI. The
question should be why?
Too much emphasis on credential than on
learning for development, innovation and
futuristic alignment.
Many people are pursuing careers for which they
have no basis for doing so. Greater emphasis on
careers development is needed at K-16 and in
the workplace.
Socioeconomic is an important factor inHRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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13. Workforce challenge
Highly skilled workers are in short supply.
Available workers lack the
credentials, attitudes, work habits and social
skills sought and suited to build a equipped 21st.
Century workforce.
Workplace violence and incivility run rampant.
The workplace is full of under motivated and
apathetic workers.
Persistent fighting among workers, management
and Union.
Education policies do not adequately reflect the
needed knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities
needs.
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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14. Innovation and creativity
challengeTechnology drives everything fast – many of
today's tools will become tomorrow trash.
Without a strategy that encourage creativity and
innovation the best companies and the best
governments are left behind.
Today’s best answers and solutions becomes
tomorrows worse.
The technology divide refuses to go away with
each change and the middleclass and the poor
are at a standstill socioeconomically.
Need to identify and harness worker creative
capacity to create new products, services and
plan alternative futures.
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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15. Sociopolitical challenge
Political fights that create us against them
persist long after the last elections.
Police-citizens relationship is severely strained.
Unethical behavior is at an all-time high in
many important areas of society.
Gap between rich and poor widens; there is a
numbness about this phenomenon.
Futurist infrastructure planning and upkeep is
marginally practiced.
Planning for blending people, education and
human capital needs are not discussed or
instituted.HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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16. Leadership challenge
Sharing and delegating decision-making tasks
and authority is not well practiced.
Accountability systems are inadequate to
ensure that people are held accountable for
what they are suppose to do.
Leaders are not futuristic thinkers.
Leaders lead their organizations and their
people absent of a global mind-set and with a
more individualistic attitude.
Leaders are unaware of their own leadership
philosophy and where it originated.
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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17. Workplace dysfunctions
Workers bring everything about them to the
workplace.
Leaders must know themselves and those they
interact with in the social context .
Workers have differing needs, personality and
life content, therefore, they will present
differently should be responded to in the
respective context.
Sometimes the behavior that is perceived as
dysfunctional in one context is in totally
acceptable in another context and consideration
has to be given to this disparity.HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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18. Performance improvement Global positioning
Winning strategy
Startwith
Resultsleadsto
Goals setting
Which must be
Monitored
revisit
Performance
improvement
for what?
Performance for what?

19. Pre-evaluation requirements
Leaders have a responsibility for blending
plant, people and strategy to enhance
organizational life and profitability.
Leaders must know how to measure their own
performance and the performance of those they
lead by looking at projected vs. actual
performance results and using the variance to
plan for future performance.
Look at the entire cost of
hiring, developing, retaining and terminating a
worker because this has broader implications for
the organization.
Benchmarking with other companies to see what
it cost to hire the best and brightest, developingHRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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20. Evaluation skill requirements (B)
Perform timely evaluation of workers’
performance and develop an individualized
plan for each worker with clear markers for
measuring success and areas for
improvement.
Compare the performance of ones owe unit
with other units with in the organization and
well as with similar units in other organizations
where appropriate.
Learn about the latest evaluation
tools, measures and benchmarks within and
outside the organization.
Seek opportunities to showcase performance
improvement milestones.HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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21. HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013 21
It’s
a
Balancing act
What are the trade offs?

22. Leadership solution
Bold leadership is needed by leaders must be
aware of their own leadership philosophy and
where it originated because that philosophy will
dictate how they lead others.
Providing an environment for followers to
develop, grow and become full contributing
members of a team. Controls with others vs. over
others.
Respond with the whole system in mind and
share the vision through communication of values
and expected outcomes.
Leading in a way that encourages knowledge
sharing and skill building.
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013 22

23. Collective practices
Research has shown that organizational
knowledge creation is key to improving
organizational performance (Kang &
Song, 2012).
When employees are part of the decision-making
process, they are willing to trust and commit
themselves to the organization (Kang &
Song, 2012).
Employee-centered supervisors tend to get better
production, motivation and job satisfaction and
these were more friendly, supportive, helpful and
sensitive.
Highly effective supervisors tend to be more
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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VS.

24. Feedback for what?
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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Do you
really mean
that?

25. Human relation skill requirements
Self-assess, be self-aware, be able to self-
regulate ones own behaviour and engage in
reflective practices.
Develop a capacity to work with people and for
fostering effective relationships.
Ability to function in a multidisciplinary system.
Leaders must show respect for self and others
and be respectful of individual and cultural
diversity.
Leaders must manage with emotional
intelligence and foster a work environment that
espouses working with emotional sensitivity.HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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26. Ethic and performance
improvementCommitting to ethical, legal and operational
standards of the respective industry and
professional affiliates.
Leaders like those following their lead must
be intentional in charting the course forward
equitably, futuristically and with ethical
foresight.
Leaders must recognize their responsibility
to communities they serve as what happens
in them will affect their ability to continue to
serve those communities.
Benchmark performance with external
leadership and performance metrics.
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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27. Managing workers’ dysfunctions
Although workers’ behavior vary, sometimes
some bahaviours can seriously affect the Esprit
de Corp of any organization as they reflects acts
of violence.
Workplace policies should articulate a no
tolerance position on workplace violence at every
level.
Leaders must have some baseline clinical skills
so they can identity potential acts of dysfunction
that can escalate into acts of workplace violence.
There are the proper measures in place to assist
workers in resolving personal challenges that will
hinder their relationship, performance and to allay
potential violence in the workplace.
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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28. 3 Things you can start doing
tomorrow
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1. Uptake of knowledge-sharing technologies is
still primarily by innovators and early
adopters.
2. Leaders adopt new behaviors at varying
speeds and have a range of abilities to foster
an environment that is psychologically safe
and stimulates inquiry.
3. A learning organization has the capability to
improve, and it develops structures and
processes that facilitate the acquisition and
sharing of knowledge
(Schilling, Dearing, Paul, Harvey, Fahey &
Kuruppu, 2011, p. 532).

29. Summary (A)
Leaders must seriously invest in their own
personal and professional development and
that of those who report to them.
Leaders must develop self-
management, world-knowledge, cross-cultural
competencies and become life-long learners if
they are to keep their organizations competitive
in a global economy.
Leader have a responsibility to be consistent in
the way they manage and represent their
organizations regardless of who they are
dealing with or who might be watching.
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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30. Summary (B)
Leaders today will need to be more involved in
looking at the performance, not only of their
efforts or that of their unit, but the whole
organization and those connected and
interconnected with the organization.
Leaders will need to become more involved in
shaping workplace and national human capital
policies through advocacy, scholarship and
commitment to community involvement.
Leaders must become involve in innovative
activities by tapping creative energies within
their organization to improve
processes, practices and systems and the craft
an alterative reality than today’s.HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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31. Wrap-up
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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32. Contact Info for Earl A.
Harewood
HRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013 32
Phone: (868) 779-3535
E-mail: eaharewood@gmail.com
Website (if any): N/A
LinkedIn: eaharewood@gmail.com
Twitter: eaharewood@gmail.com
Facebook: eaharewood@gmail.com

34. Leading ethically
Strive for excellence and expect the same from
those they manage.
Do the right thing regardless of who is watching or
who they think is watching and the listener before
them.
Make decisions that reflect the issues at hand and
not so much the differences presented or “the flavor
of the day.”
Know thy self, know thy business, know thy
people, know thy tasks and do them all well.
Be intentional in investing in their own personal and
professional development and the development of
those who they supervise.
Practice what they preach because others are
watching (role model effect).
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35. Managing generational
differencesEach generation group has its own unique ways
of looking and responding to the world around
them given the era of their birth and their life
content.
Leaders and managers must, not only, understand the
characteristics of these groups, but learn how to
leverage what these groups bring to the workplace to
strength and grow their businesses.
Leaders and managers must also include in their
recruitment, development and succession planning
provisions for the various groups represented.
Leaders and managers must not intentionally alienate
members of these groups for meaningful work and toHRMATT’s 9th Biennial Conference – May 13th & 14th, 2013
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36. References
Schilling, L., Dearing, J. W., Staley, P., Harvey, P., Fahey, L., & Kuruppu, F. (2011). Kaiser
Permanente's performance improvement system, Part 4: Creating a learning
organization. Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 37(12), 532.
Kang, I., Song, J. H. & Kim, W. (2012). The mediating effect of team‐level knowledge creation
on organizational procedural justice and team performance improvement. Performance
Improvement.
Trinidad Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commence. Trinidad and Tobago’s
Competitiveness. Retrieved April 23, 2013 from http://chamber.org.tt/articles/trinidad-
and-tobago%E2%80%99s-competitiveness/.
Vhoom, V. H (1995). Work and motivation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass