The seminar is to enable the selected staff to be change champions who would spearhead change in their various departments of the organization.
During the opening ceremony, Mrs. Vivian Adusei, the Deputy Commissioner for Small Tax Officer (DC STO), observed that there has been changes in various shapes and forms at GRA including “our logos, processes, procedures and even our deliveries”. She added that “True change starts from all of us and trickles down to empower our change agents in their operational activities”.
Mrs. Adusei challenged the participants with a famous Barbra Pletcher quote that says, “The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better.”
Edwin B. Gbekor, a change management consultant who was the lead facilitator, delivered an in-depth presentation on leading self-care skills and competences within the change management sector during the first session. He laid emphasis on the fact that the change management champions must be equipped with “back to basics skills” such as reading, listening, presentation and writing skills to make them more versatile and efficient in handling their day to day activities of the organisation.
The subsequent sessions touched on delegation skills and management processes, team leading and stakeholder management, leadership techniques and attitude change. All these, if executed strategically by the change champions, are effective ways of leading the change agents to embrace change fully.
An integral part of the seminar was a presentation on the Ghana National Single Window (GNSW) program which has change management as a key component. The presentation was delivered by the General Manager of West Blue consulting, Mr. Uthman O. Aminu. He highlighted on the paramount objective of the GNSW Program which is to improve national trade competitiveness within the West African sub region and on the international stage.
He also added that, the program is customer centric and therefore the core motive is to facilitate trade by ensuring 50% better, faster and less cost trading across border environment within 3 years for the port communities.
In addition, he spoke about E-zones at key location sites to provide client support services to achieve the goals and objectives of the Ghana National Single Window program.
The lead facilitator engaged the participants in many interactive activities to sharpen their leadership skills, trust abilities and employee engagement. He also laid emphasis on the revolution of the mind thus trying to impact knowledge to others and associating one’s self with only happy people.
The Customs Liaison Manager for West Blue consulting, Mr. Adedapo Adegoke delivered a presentation on The Pre Arrival Reporting System (PAARS), a component under the Ghana National Single Window (GNSW) program. He sensitised the participants on the benefits of PAARS to members of the port community. As the name implies, PAARS simply means declaring an intention to import goods into Ghana.
Mr. Ade mentioned the enhancement of trade facilitation, effectiveness of service delivery, revenue protection, security and competition as some benefits of PAARS.
He also explained risk management as another aspect of the GNSW program that will result in a significant reduction in the number of consignments inspected by customs.
The two-day seminar ended with experience sharing and brainstorming on new ideas to make the change management processes a meaningful system rather than an abstract one.
