Transformational leadership: A woman from the people
“If you want something to be said, ask a man, but if you want something to be done, ask a woman.” These words are attributed to the “Iron Lady”, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, but which could easily define the approach taken by the late Cabinet member of Jamaica’s Government 20162020 Shahine Robinson.
Robinson served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for St Ann North Eastern and later minister of labour and social security.
In a sit-down interview in early 2019 she noted that her commitment as a political representative of the people was unwavering and, despite the rigours associated with the job, she remained steadfast in the execution of her duties.
Though not being as visible and outgoing as Thatcher, Robinson was no less effective, and noted that she did not like the tag of being a “high profile” person and preferred to conduct her work away from the limelight. She disclosed that she took honesty very seriously, and that personal, individual contact is crucial for her, as it helped to build solid relationships with her constituents. This perhaps accounts for her long, unbroken tenure lasting nearly two decades.
Robinson also shared that her initial affinity was for social work, which made the transition into politics much easier as they both involve serving people. While she admitted to not being afforded many opportunities to engage in personal time away from work, she insisted that she was doing what she loved and hoped that her organisation would continue to remain a vehicle of choice for carrying out the mandate of the people who have reposed their trust and faith in it.
Given the world’s tense political climate, especially in the era of a global pandemic, where political leadership has been drawn even more into focus, we can see even more the value in Robinson’s approach. Countries with female leaders, such as New Zealand and Barbados, have done extremely well in the management of COVID-19, and the prime ministers have been praised for their forthrightness and bold decision-making, as they dare to do things differently, and have set a covenant with the people they lead. They have been unafraid to make the unpopular decisions, eschewing expediency and, in the process, keeping economic activity afloat, while ensuring the preservation of lives. In both instances, they enjoy immense popularity and goodwill and hold a significant majority in Parliament, with Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand recently being returned to power in a landslide victory.
Robinson’s attitude to leadership can be described in similar terms to these two women — selfless and wholehearted. Indeed, she cited examples of having to spend time attending to emergencies concerning her constituents on special holidays — which would have been otherwise spent with her own family and loved ones. Moreover, she understood that no individual is bigger than the organisation they collectively serve, and had indicated her willingness to step aside to facilitate the entrance of a possibly more preferred candidate for her party to contest the election which eventually elevated her to the position as the people’s representative. Her loyalty was unquestionable as she indicated she retained the same campaign manager since her first election and largely the same team which helped to propel her to victory.
In fact, she noted that, because of her unique approach, no one from the original team had departed and it had only grown. Robinson knew what it was to rise through the ranks and be a woman of the people, since she revealed that prior to her ascension as the party’s standard-bearer for the area she was always one who would help the selected candidate on the campaign trail instead. Furthermore, she hailed from a neighbouring constituency and was close enough to the people she represented. Thus, it can be said that since she was drawn from the people who she served, this made it much easier to know their needs and wants and enabled her to attend to them more efficiently.
I opine that leaders generally, and Robinson in particular, are more effective when they know their followers more intimately like this.
Robinson also saw integrity as paramount, so she refused to make promises that she couldn’t fulfil, and even if her response to a request was not in the affirmative, she still managed to put her constituents at ease to the point that they do not feel undeterred from approaching her in the future.
She was recently posthumously conferred with Jamaica’s fifth highest national honour – the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander for her lengthy political service. A truly fitting accolade for a stalwart and model representative for many women seeking to enter politics.
Jacqueline Coke Lloyd is founder and managing director of Make Your Mark Consultants. She is a transformational leader, coach, organisation and people development specialist, and national productivity ambassador. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or jackiecokelloyd@gmail.com.
1789: American inventor Benjamin Franklin writes a letter to a friend in which he says, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
OTHER EVENTS
1511: Britain’s King Henry VIII joins Holy League and enters European politics.
1553: Lady Jane Grey goes on trial for treason in England. She had been queen of England for nine days.
1832: The first streetcar — a horse-drawn vehicle called the John Mason — goes into operation in New York City.
1881: Charles J Guiteau goes on trial for assassinating US President James A Garfield.
1913: Greece and Turkey sign peace treaty.
1918: Republic of Austria is proclaimed; Pro-independence Wafd party is formed in Egypt.
1935: US President Franklin Roosevelt proclaims the Philippine Islands a free commonwealth.
1940: German planes destroy most of the English town of Coventry during World War II.
1941: Britain’s finest aircraft carrier, the Ark Royal, is torpedoed by a German submarine and sinks off Strait of Gibraltar the next day.
1942: British forces retake Tobruk, Libya, in World War II.
1945: Sukarno becomes president of Indonesia.
1950: Tibet appeals to the United Nations against Chinese aggression.
1961: Congo Government asks United Nations to assist in restoring law and order in Katanga Province.
1968: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Zulkifar Ali Bhutto is arrested on charges of inciting student demonstrations against the Government of President Mohammed Ayub Khan.
1969: Vietnam War Moratorium demonstrations occur across the US; Vicepresident Spiro T Agnew accuses network television news departments of bias and distortion for broadcasts of protests.
1970: Hafez Assad seizes power in a bloodless coup in Syria.
1974: Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, tells United Nations General Assembly that the organisation’s goal is a Palestinian State that would include Muslims, Christians and Jews.
1975: World Health Organization announces that Asia is free of smallpox for first time in history.
1985: The Nevado de Ruiz volcano in Colombia erupts, sending an avalanche of mud and rock slamming into the town of Armero. About 25,000 people die.
1991: Scottish authorities issue arrest warrants for two Libyan men in connection with 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
1994: Swedish voters approve European Union membership in a referendum.
1995: A bomb rips through a building filled with American and Saudi military personnel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing six.
1996: The pope opens the World Food Summit in Rome, seeking to direct attention to refugees’ agony in Zaire.
1997: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein expels members of the UN weapons inspection teams. A week later, they are allowed back, but the Iraqis restrict their access.
1999: Peru signs an agreement with Chile to end a 120-year territorial dispute.
2001: A German court convicts four defendants in the 1986 bombing of a West Berlin discotheque that killed two US soldiers and a Turkish woman. The Libyan secret service was accused of planning the attack.
2002: A judge upholds 36year prison sentences for 18 paramilitary fighters convicted of gunning down Zapatista rebel sympathisers in Mexico in 1997.
2004: The death toll from a devastating fire in Siberia stands at 26 after emergency workers finish clearing up the ruins of a wooden apartment building that burned to the ground.
2006: Voters in South Ossetia overwhelmingly approve a referendum calling for independence from Georgia.
2009: Europe may send 5,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan, Britain’s prime minister says — affirming support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization mission as the Barack Obama Administration nears a decision on increasing American troop levels.
2010: Pro-democracy hero Aung San Suu Kyi walks free after more than seven years under house arrest in Myanmar, and is welcomed by thousands of cheering supporters outside the decaying lakefront villa that had been her prison.
2011: More than 3,000 police and soldiers backed by armoured personnel carriers race into Brazil’s biggest slum before dawn, quickly gaining control of a Rio shanty town ruled for decades by a heavily armed drug gang.
2012: France becomes the first Western country to formally recognise Syria’s newly formed opposition coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
2013: Ultra-traditionalist Roman Catholics in Argentina openly challenge Pope Francis by disrupting one of his favourite events, an interfaith ceremony in the Metropolitan Cathedral meant to promote religious harmony on the anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust.
2014: Details emerge of an agreement between militant leaders from the Islamic
State group and al-qaeda at a meeting in northern Syria to stop fighting each other and work together against common opponents.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (1850-1894); Oskar Werner, Austrian actordirector (1922-1984); Whoopi Goldberg, US actress (1955- ); Garry Marshall, US director/ producer (1934- 2016); Joe Mantegna, US actor (1947- )