Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle
New Thinking from Framework Consulting
From Wikipedia:
A Chamber of Commerce (also referred to in some circles as a Board of Trade, though this phrase is not commonly used in the United States) is a form of business network. The primary goal of a chamber is to improve the business climate in a locality, typically through business networking, lobbying, and common projects and a selection of business services.
Q: What is a Business Club?
A: Pretty much whatever it wants to be, I guess!
What would a Trinidadian-Jamaican Chamber of Commerce, or a TriniJam BizClub actually accomplish?
After the doubles and jerk-chicken are over, and the reggae and soca music has stopped, and the wining and dubbing is finished… what else would happen?
I originally thought of the idea when I did a couple of research projects in Jamaica that included multiple interviews with Trinidadians. A former Managing Director first put the idea in my head, saying that he would love to be able to learn from the other Trinis that were coming to lead companies in Jamaica for the first time. He said that there was much that they could learn from each other, and that had me think that there was not only a lot they could learn from each other, but also a lot they could teach Jamaicans about doing business in Trinidad.
Since then, and recently, the public row over the LNG issues and the trade gap between the two countries has resulted in a war of words, in which Dawn Rich’s column in the Sunday Gleaner represents perhaps the most extreme opinion.
Maybe the Chamber/Club, with a chapter in Kingston and another in Port of Spain, could be a place where:
A Chamber/Club with these goals is obviously not for everyone.
For one, it will take a certain willingness and awareness of the big picture — that we are all bound to each other, and are all one.
While it may be interesting to, at one level, to compete with each other in business, a short-term focus on my company’s success over yours is ridiculous for this small a region. It is much better for us to cooperate in expanding the pie, than it is for us to fight over the crumbs.
While I wouldn’t recommend that in the Chamber/Club each company gives away its trade secrets to its competitors, such an organization would benefit those members that have an interest in putting cooperation first.
So, that Trini-Jam “whatever it is” would be a place for Trinidadian and Jamaican businesspeople to cooperate for the greater good of our countries, companies, employees and people.
P.S. If you want to join the mailing list for the most recent information on this topic, add your name by sending email to fwc-triniexec@aweber.com. You will automatically receive a copy of our report “The Trinidadian Executive in Jamaica,” plus be added to a mailing list of those are interested in business-people with an interest in Trinidad and Jamaica.
I promised to update anyone who might be interested in the response received to the idea of a Trinidadian-Jamaican Chamber of Commerce.
It has been good, by my estimation, given that I asked for people who would be interested in putting some of their own time and effort into the formation of such a body. In short, there are enough people responding both in Jamaica and Trinidad to have at least a meeting in each country.
I am thinking of an initial meeting here in Kingston in the May time-frame (well after Jamaican carnival,) and at the moment am wondering what an agenda might look like.
Also, I am wondering if the word “Chamber” is just too heavy a word for what I have in mind. Here in the Caribbean, words like “Chamber” and, say, “Legislative” have a rather musty, old-man feel to them.
Instead, should it something more informal and energetic like a “Trini-Jam BizClub?” Here is an example of the New Zealand Business Club.
Hmmm — send me your comments, or add them to this post below.
Dawn Rich started off her column in the Sunday Gleaner with the following:
Any reader will know that I think the country’s domestic financial sector was handed to Trinidad and Barbados on a platter. By any measure this is a strategic industry.
Also by any measure there is nothing more bombastic than a Trinidadian. The Barbadians are still conscious of the fact that they occupy a little atoll, even if its real estate prices now beat those of the Bahamas, which were high to begin with. Their sea-front villas are being snapped up by rich people from the industrialised world. As a direct consequence, the Barbadian prime minister has had to defend himself against charges of selling out the country to rich foreigners. In effect, he’s replied that he doesn’t regret it.
This is a heck of a diatribe, and is worth reading in its entirety, by clicking here.
This, from an Editorial in the Trinidad Guardian:
The perception that is being spread in Kingston is that T&T businessmen are privateers or marauders just waiting to pounce on any available “meat.”
On a Jamaican radio station on Monday, one of the hosts asked me what I thought about the trade war that some elements in the north Caribbean country (including the editorial writers of a major newspaper) are pushing their government to declare on T&T.
Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
The Jamaica Manufacturers Association (JMA) has levelled harsh criticism at the actions of CARICOM partner Trinidad and Tobago who reneged on an agreement to supply Jamaica with liquefied natural gas (LNG).
President of the JMA, Doreen Frankson, yesterday described the action by the oil-rich twin-island republic as a betrayal of trust.
“Jamaica would never have given a commitment for something and then not deliver it. We have never done that,” she told The Gleaner minutes after delivering greetings at a Mass held at the Stella Maris (Roman Catholic) Church in St. Andrew to mark the JMA’s 60th anniversary.
Ms. Frankson argued that over the years, Jamaica has been extending itself “beyond the call of duty” to make the partnership work, but that other CARICOM partners such as Trinidad and Tobago had not been doing so.
“Not all our CARICOM partners will extend similar courtesies to us,” she said. “We have resolved not to repeat history but to change its course by ensuring that we are not shackled by these agreements.”
She pointed out that the time has come for Jamaica to benefit from these agreements.
“Isn’t that why wenegotiate trade agreements – to make our people better?” she asked. “Not for one-way trade.”
In 2004, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the supply of 1.1 million tonnes of LNG for use by the Jamaican Aluminium Company Jamalco and the Jamaica Public Service Company power plants.
But recently, the agreement fell through after Trinidad and Tobago said they had none to spare. Just last week, the Government signed an agreement with Venezuela to establish an LNG plant to supply more than two million tonnes of LNG to Jamaica.
Reservations were raised, however, by president of the Natural Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago, Frank Look Kim, about the Venezuelans’ ability to meet the 2009 date.
Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce, Phillip Paulwell, dismissed this, and insisted that the Venezuelans would honour the agreement in the time specified.
Yesterday, Frankson expressed confidence that the Venezuelans would also deliver as promised.
“Venezuela has always been a good friend of Jamaica and yes, they will deliver,” she said with confidence.
Emptying is the activity that logically follows Capturing (which was described in my prior post.)
This entry has been posted in my new 2Time Management blog.
In an earlier post, I talked about the fact that there are certain key components that need to be included in an effective time management system.
Component 1 — Capturing
This post has been moved to my new blog.
In one of the prior blogs on Time Management, I made the point that within every time management system there lies a structure that is always present.
I compare it the bone structure that makes up the human hand.
Although hands might be different, a fully functional hand must have all the component parts. They each serve a distinct purpose. While it is possible to function without all the parts, there are a few essential bones that must be either present, or replaced, in order for the appendage to work.
In the same way, a time management system must have certain basic components, without which it does not function. These basics are Capturing, Emptying, Tossing, Storing, Scheduling, Acting now, Listing, Reviewing, Switching, Warning and Interrupting.
While no two hands are the same, functioning hands share certain basics. The same applies to time management systems.
In fact, an effective time management system in 2007 must be able to do things that a time management system in 1970 just was not designed to do. Here is why:
The sheer volume of information has increased rapidly, and is increasing more rapidly. A time management system created today will probably be a hindrance five years from now for those professionals that do not understand the basic components and how they need to work together.
The great thing about understanding the basics is that it reduces the temptation we might have to go out and buy the newest system that is advertised. Instead, we can make an intelligent choice about whether or not to include the new gizmo in our system — does it enhance the basics, or not? Does it fit my habits or not? Will it work with my basic components?
This is not to encourage professionals from upgrading–in fact, new technology is a must if we are to continuously upgrade our time management systems. There is a simple fact behind this need for constant upgrading.
The better a professional is, the better able he is to manage his time. The better able he is to manage his time, the more that others with whom he works are willing to give him to do.
There is an old saying: “If you really want something to be done, give it to someone who is busy.”
Clearly, there are a range of practices that a professional can use, some of which are more effective than others. For example, when given a task to perform in a meeting you may have noticed the following practices for Capturing:
Practice 1 — I’ll remember it without writing it down
Practice 2 — I’ll write it on a Post It note
Practice 3 — I’ll record it in a reliable place (e.g. a notebook) for later processing
These are all approaches that might work, in faithfully translating the given task into action. However, Practice 3 is clearly superior to Practice 1. Professionals who use more of Practice 1 than Practice 3 are likely to be less reliable.
It’s not too different from the way in which a Black belt is different from a 
White belt in the Tae Kwon Do. To the unpracticed eye, they might all look like they are doing the same moves, but to those experienced in the martial arts, there is a world of difference.
Professionals that are expert in time management know the different practices that are available in each of the basic components or disciplines.
In the system that we are developing, professionals will also have a chance to use a system of belts to understand where they are in the development of their own time management system.
One major difference from Tae Kwon Do is that every professional has some system that they are using to manage their time, so the starting point need not be at the bottom of the ladder, as if they know nothing.
Instead, once they understand the basic components, they will be able to decide what level they currently are at in each of the components. Our experience tells us that very few are complete Black Belts, and almost no-one is a complete White Belt. Instead, professionals tend to be a complex mix of capabilities in each component.
Therefore, the plan for each person will be different as they integrate, and learn new practices. we plan to encourage people to plot their own path, and to phase the introduction of new techniques over time, essentially giving themselves an opportunity to adapt and change to incorporate new habits that, for most people, change slowly.
The biggest mistake that we have seen professionals make in learning new time management habits is to try to learn too many new habits too quickly. The result is frustration, stress and ultimately failure as they build too steep a learning curve for themselves, innocently underestimating what it takes to change entrenched habits.
Instead, our new system will encourage them to move themselves from one level to another slowly and comfortably, adjusting their knowledge and habits as they go along. From the little that I know of Tae Kwon Do, it takes years of practice to progress all the way up the ranks.
Professionals in the workplace would do well to think of their time management practice as their own martial art.
P.S. The follow-on posts to this discussion on Time Management have been moved to an entirely new blog: The 2Time Management Blog at http://2time.wordpress.com/
First step: send me an email to francis@fwconsulting.com letting me know that you are interested in participating (i.e. with some of your personal time) in the formation of a Trinidadian-Jamaican Chamber. I will schedule a face-to-face meeting once we have 5-8 who are interested here in Kingston.