A smile and ‘stick-to-itiveness’ net EOM for Nadira

Freedom of Information (FOI) Analyst Nadira Lord is the Cayman Islands Government Employee of the Month for July 2019.

Ms Lord, who works in the FOI Unit of the Cabinet Office, collected the EOM award for Delivering an Outstanding Customer Experience by being an exceptional team player.

In addition to her onerous duties as the sole FOI Analyst for the CIG, Ms Lord exhibits commitment to teamwork by assisting the Protocol Office with the planning and execution of major public events. These include the National Heroes Day and Queen’s Birthday celebrations, Remembrance Sunday Ceremony, and facilitating major official visits such as the CPA Regional Conference, the Royal Visit by HRH the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and the recent visit of the Prime Minister of Jamaica.

This often means long extended hours on the go, facilitating, delivering, problem solving, trouble shooting and representing the CIG. On Ms Lord’s nomination form it was noted that there is no job too great or small that she does not tackle and she does so with a smile on her face, epitomising professionalism, care and passion for her work. Ms Lord has taken on this extra work without any compensation.

In handing the award to Ms Lord before Cabinet Office staff last Friday, 16 August, Deputy Governor Franz Manderson reflected on her efforts:

“Recently the Cabinet Office was short of two critical staff members and charged with delivering a major event. I am advised that Ms Lord literally worked 18 hour days with little to no rest for the entire week.

“In one instance when she was finally getting some rest, she was called out of bed in order to create a moment of magic. A VIP Visitor decided at the last moment to extend his stay while at the airport. She left her family to rush to the hotel to secure rooms for the VIP. This resulted in the VIP walking out of his car into the hotel, where he was greeted by Ms Lord who was displaying a bright smile at almost 1:00AM. The VIP was taken straight to his room without a second of hesitation or delay. What is even more miraculous is that she achieved this moment of magic while her car literally broke down on the road, forcing her to borrow a car to complete the task.

“Two words which describe her performance are World Class!” Mr Manderson concluded.

Cabinet Secretary Samuel Rose also presented Ms Lord with a Chief Officer’s Choice certificate. He thanked her for being an essential team member and delivering top-notch customer service, evidenced by glowing feedback from both international and local beneficiaries of such services.

Director of the Policy Coordination Unit Jason Webster, who nominated Ms Lord, described her as “maintaining both a very high level of professionalism and an engaging, positive and winning attitude while carrying out her duties for the Protocol Office. She problem solves, pinches pennies, is creative and solution-driven. She accepts impossible tasks with a smile and sees them through to the end.”