Captain Colin Fergus of the Royal Montserrat Defence Force (RMDF) recently completed the Strategic Leadership Programme (Export) training course held in Barbados from 2 –6 September 2019. The course was run by the UK Defence Academy, co-hosted by the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) and delivered by the Defence Academy of the UK and Cranfield University’s Centre for Defence Management and Leadership. The Course itself was geared towards providing opportunities for senior officers and officials, drawn from the Defence and Security sectors, to acquire further knowledge that enable the enhancement of their strategic leadership skills.
The course used a blended approach of lectures, discussions, case-studies and exercises. Participants were encouraged to exchange ideas and views, share their leadership journeys, and draw on personal insights, challenges and solutions. The course, is an export version to one run in the UK, and is premised on the fact that leadership is a critical factor in all forms of organisations and is a rapidly changing and diverse discipline. Leadership challenges in the strategic environment are marked by a larger scale of input and effect making decisions at the strategic level critical and rarely straight forward.
Captain Fergus’ participation was made possible through assistance from the Office of the UK Defence Attaché for the Caribbean based in Jamaica. The training course had 28 participants which included senior officers from other regional defence forces, various law enforcement agencies and the civil service of several Caribbean countries ranging from the Dominican Republic in the north to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in the south.
Captain Fergus found the training to be very beneficial and timely and was happy for the opportunity to reinforce the principles of Strategic Leadership as well as build professional relationships with the other personnel.
Commanding Officer Major Alvin Ryan is very happy at the training opportunity that has been afforded to the Force and the chance to work alongside other security forces within the region.
