Border and customs officials discuss leadership styles for effective management at OSCE Border Management Staff College

Pedro Nogueira, Deputy for the Strategic Planning and International Affairs Division at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Portugal provides feedback on a practical exercise conducted during the Leadership and Management Course in Dushanbe, 18 March 2016. (OSCE/Ilona Kazaryan)

DUSHANBE, 18 March 2016 – Effective leadership and management techniques were the focus of a week-long training course, which concluded today at the OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

The course aimed at advancing leadership, management, communication, skills as well as at defining and promoting the role of leadership in the modernization of an organization.

Twenty-one mid- to senior-ranking border security managers from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Germany, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Portugal, Romania, Tajikistan and Ukraine as well as four national programme officers of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan participated in the training course.

Participants learned about the role of a manager in sustainable organizational development, instruments for effective communication and enhancing employees’ motivation, as well as conflict management techniques.

“The Border Management Staff College attaches great importance to effective planning and implementation of border operations which is greatly influenced by the management skills of senior leaders,” said Dita Nowicka, Director of the OSCE Border Management Staff College.

“The course led by instructors from Austria and Romania was delivered through an interactive approach involving role plays, group discussions as well as practical exercises focusing on refugee crises along the border and effective management of human and technical resources for efficient border guarding.”

Participants gave presentations on specific subjects, showcasing their skills as leaders, while experts Robert Glöckl, Expert/ Deputy Head of the National Frontex point of contact in Austria and Petru-Iulian Valianu, rainer at School for Basic and for Further Training for Border Police Personnel in Iasi, Romania, evaluated their performance and provided feedbacks.

“The main achievement of the training course is that at the end of the week, the trainees formed a strong team capable to work together, despite the fact that they come from countries which are thousands of kilometres away from each another,” said Valianu.