Congratulations to the GGMC

Jun 14, 2012 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Congratulations to Commissioner Karen Livan and her management team who,with the support of Chairman Joe Singh, Maj. Gen. (rtd), and the Board of Directors, have once again demonstrated the effective leadership skills necessary to achieve a successful first surveillance audit of the Land Management Department’s ISO 9001:2008 quality management system (QMS).
It’s an achievement that should make us all proud as it supports President Ramotar’s vision of having accountability, efficient processes, and effective management for all government agencies.
In the months leading up to the surveillance audit in March 2012, Commissioner Livan adroitly aligned, motivated, and inspired her staff to embrace the necessary ISO 9001:2008 process effectiveness thinking and culture changes based on the application of Lean principles, Six Sigma concepts, and the Baldrige Core Values.
Recognition ought to be given to Deputy Commissioner Kampta Persaud; the Quality Manager, Mr. Wendell Alleyne;the Audit Manager, Mr. Arthur Gibbs; the Finance manager, Mr. George Scotland; the Management Representative, Ms. Faye Prescott; the Quality Coordinators Ms. Thandi Seaforth and Ms. Melissa George; and all of the Land Management Department staff who made significant contributions to the Effectiveness Review and Management Review reports in preparation for the surveillance audit.
The Quality Manager, Mr. Wendell Alleyne, must also be recognized for his critical contributions to the time sensitive responses to SGS’ findings.  His persistence and dedication to the processes leading to the identification of root causes ensured GGMC’s submission of corrective actions within the ninety days period specified by SGS.
SGS’ surveillance audit approval represents GGMC’s continued commitment to improvements in key processes designed to meet its customers’ expectations.
Almost from its inception, critics have challenged the need for ISO 9001 as a quality management tool for the Land Management Department processes.  The criticisms were aimed at the perceived disconnect between GGMC’s then ad-hoc record keeping under its traditional hierarchical, command and control structure and ISO 9001’s plethora of documentation requirements.
From the legal perspective, however, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Chairman Webster and Commissioner Woolford saw documentation as a major asset of ISO 9001, providing records and internal controls that would define a trail from customer request to delivery of permits, licenses and permissions, and all steps in between; with the trail assuming massive importance when customer disappointment goes to court.
The LSSRIM process recognized the importance of corporate values and philosophies within GGMC’s culture that defined its managerial style and work ethic. Since the most influential people at the GGMC were in top management the expectation was for them to make continuous business improvement part of the culture by setting the necessary rules and exemplary behavior for others to follow.
Leadership commitment from the top was an essential prerequisite for success.  Quality and performance metrics were used to identify and execute sixteen projects over a two-year period.
To satisfy the human resource requirement of the projects, over forty senior staff were trained on LSSRIM.  One stated goal of LSSRIM was to communicate, with great unction, the Vision, Mission, Core Values and strategic objectives at all levels of the organization.
The first ISO 9001 surveillance audit by SGS identified three minor non-conformances.  Top management determined the root cause of each finding, developed a training plan and executed the training in response to the root causes.  They also recognized the resistance –to-change challenges affecting quality and committed to use the weekly management review and reporting processes to manage both the culture changes and critical-to-success quality objectives needed to sustain the quality management system.
In short, all is not perfect at the GGMC.  However, its leadership is working assiduously to achieve a customer centric and effectiveness driven organization.
The Mines Division has frequently been the focus of complaints centered onthe performance of the Mines Division processes and the ethics of the Mines Officers.
Last March, with more than seventy percent of the work completed, the programme was put on hold pending a review by the Hon. Minister Persaud. The review process by the Hon. Min. Persaud is the right first step in his new position as Minister of Natural Recourses.  The key next step, however, is to support adynamic and engaged learning culture firmly rooted in his values and the core values of the organization.
Once again, congratulations to the Hon. Minister Robert Persaud, Chairman Joe Singh, Maj. Gen. (rtd), the GGMC Board of Directors, Commissioner Karen Livan and all of GGMC’s staff for successfully achieving the important first surveillance audit milestone.
Owen Ramsay

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