The Tribune

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC)chief executive, Leon Williams, was one of two headline speakers selected to address the eighth CANTO annual Human Resource Forum at Atlantis.

CANTO, the Caribbean regional association for information and communications technology (ICT) operators and regulators, invited Mr. Williams, along with the chief executive of TeleSur, the national telecommunications company of Suriname, to speak to the international human resources executives about a chief executive’s perspective on this area and ways the department can support the corporate objectives.

In his address, Mr Williams stressed that in a fast-paced sector that is seeing constant transformation within the Caribbean due to many companies facing upgrades to broadband data, privatisation and liberalisation, a chief executive looks to his human resources to be, more than ever, industry cognisant.

“Operators in the Caribbean are rapidly changing. CEOs rely on HR to align human capital with business goals and establish corporate culture. Thus we look to HR executives as key catalysts of change,” said Mr Williams.

“They must not only identify and promote key talent and facilitators of change, but they must know the business and anticipate its needs.

“Recent research questions whether HR professionals understand enough about their businesses to be effective. It is my opinion that, as CEOs’ change agents and strategic partners, HR executives must spend more time with line managers learning the core business in order to direct change effectively.”

Mr Williams left the human resources executives with four general takeaways: Think outside of the boxmake quick, effective decisions; take risks; and break the rules if necessary.