Training Public Servants in Leadership

One of the amazing things I have witnessed in the past year is the way projects and plans have grown beyond any one person's power. When I first arrived in Cuenca, I was consulted whenever anything new started. That meant I had a lot of input, but it also meant a heavy responsibility to ensure everything came together. The leadership team of Cuenca Partners, our Partners Worldwide affiliate, has since taken the lead and given the impetus to start new projects and bring in the people necessary to make sure everything runs smoothly. I get to take a back seat and watch with a smile as responsibility is delegated into the hands of volunteers and new people step up into leadership. The training with ETAPA, detailed below, was one of those situations in which we saw that no single person could cover everything. However, through teamwork we were able to have a broad impact, and now the municipal government is asking us to bring the same training to their work force.

Since December 2013, Cuenca Partners has been collaborating with the public enterprise for telecommunication, water works, and sewers in its city, ETAPA EP, to offer training in leadership and topics of family unity to the public servants who work in the company. Although ETAPA can give employment and a dignified salary to over a thousand people who work in the various divisions of the company, it is the responsibility of each employee to use wisely the money they bring home each month. For that reason, the training seeks to motivate the employees to be responsible leaders in their daily work and also wise leaders in their homes.

Translated Report from ETAPA EP News:

The Family, Fundamental Pillar in Job Performance

ETAPA EP in coordination with the Submanagement of Human Resources is hosting a series of lectures focused on seeking the wellbeing of our coworkers and generating a stronger sense of ownership in the Company. For this reason, the Department of Social Wellness, Industrial Safety, and Occupational Health is executing motivational workshops for the personnel of the company as well as their families.

In topics relating to the company and its workers, the workshops seek to integrate the workers so that they value the importance of team work and meting one of the primary strategic objectives of ETAPA EP, “Improve Customer Satisfaction.”

[Photo: Boris Ordóñez of “Cuenca Partners” during a leadership seminar in the SIAPA building]