EFFECTIVE SUBORDINATE EMPOWERMENT

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A leader is the most essential person in an organization; he/she is ultimately responsible for successes or failures of unit/department/organization-wide efforts. However, anyone who has been in charge of a group understands that subordinates have some control over the group’s activities. Leadership is influenced and it is a process of social influences in which one person is able to leverage on the support of others to achieve tasks or set goals. For leadership to be effective, leaders need to delegate effectively to achieve results. The act of delegating is a little shady in the world of work today as most leaders tend to shy away from it while others out rightly delegate even their own responsibilities.

Superiors tend to delegate for the sake of delegating as stated in the qualities of a good leader, but the ability to delegate to empower subordinate is very important. How do I mean? Simply put, it is not all about delegation…..it is delegating to empower, to teach, to authorize, to breathe life into subordinates, to make them “find their voices1” and make them have this feeling of yes! I can do it, yes! I will do it. It is the ability to have someone help drive a vision even in one’s absence. It is all about being considerate and setting direction for subordinates.

Empowerment of subordinates to contribute to organizational goals is the prerequisite to making subordinates effective because it gives employees control of decision-making process and allows them to be independent of the leader. Furthermore, it teaches them how to solve problems as well as allowing them to act without approval for every assignment. In essence, empowerment enables subordinates to exert leadership over their specific area of work.

Empowerment is important as it is another sure way of having successors. An admirable testimony below:

My first year as a management trainee under a project in my organization was full of tasks. I was always over loaded and my mistakes were corrected by my superior without any ink of blame. He involved me in every meetings and tasks that ordinarily he knew I would have difficulties executing answered my questions, criticized and scolded me when need be. He also gave me opportunities to meet top management and make decisions

At the initial stage, I was furious until towards the end of the management trainee program when he started delegating, and this time, I always do these tasks with ease based on my own judgment and once a while get advice from him.

Lest I forget, he was not just my superior; he was my teacher and mentor. He shaped my corporate knowledge, attitude, and held several classes with me where he taught me what I needed to know to excel on my job/role. He looked at me one day and said “a day will come when all these activities will be handled by you, do I have confidence that you will perform? Yes…why? Because I can feel it and I am confident you know it”.

I reaped immensely from this superior of mine and the organization did too because today, I handle most of his tasks while he face other tasks that will benefit the organization.

This shows that empowerment within organizations encourages subordinates and enabled them to act in manners consistent with leadership qualities (competence, responsibility, honesty, shared vision, etc.) which in turn improves the prospect of organizational feat and the swiftness with which objectives are accomplished.

‘dayo Adetokun

 

18th habit: From effectiveness to greatness by Stephen covey

MY FIRST FORAY INTO CHANGE MANAGEMENT

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Two years of previous work experience and I felt like a pro. I felt it was time for me to change job because I was becoming bored and yes you guessed right…the pay wasn’t worth it anymore, but above all I saw myself as having “arrived”. I started applying massively and yes, finally the interview invitation came but to my amazement, not the experienced positions, but a management trainee program….again? My body rejected the offer, but my soul did not. Like most experienced applicants, full of life and the know-all attitude, I went through the profile of the company and the international project the company was to hire for and was able to gather some information.

Then came  the big day, I was not my usual bubbly self just because it is a management trainee position, but then I tried my best in the interview and got a call to come for my appointment letter some weeks after. I decided to resign to take up new challenge not minding the designation and even the pay as it was in the same range with my former place of work.

First day at work, the induction was good, but then you could see fear, skepticism and resignation in the eyes of all staff yet the trainees could not fathom what the problem really was. The project manager of the international project rolled out the plan/strategy and aims of the project after the induction which was mainly about the transformation of the organization to world standard in all facets. How do we achieve these was what came out of the mouth of one of us. The project manager smiled and asked why such question?

The man answered, I do not think I can survive in this environment; the staff is unfriendly and not welcoming. Then, the project managers said “truly the staffers are afraid because you all are brought in for a change”, this change will come only if you understand that:

–          Change does not come in handy, it is a process

–          The process is not always readily available, you have to create it to suit each situation

–          To change people or organizational culture, you have to be unyielding no matter who’s ox is gored

–          You have to respect the system and practice what you preach

–          Patience! Patience! Patience!

That was the beginning of my journey into change management. Change management may be for a certain part of the organization or for the organization as a whole. It is a process that requires a lot of patience and determination as the result is “fulfillment” if every identified loophole gets touched and necessary solutions proffered.

My story continues….

Some months later, a colleague (one of the new intakes), met a staff attending rudely to a client. He called the staff aside and told him to take it easy with the client. The staff replied by saying, if you do not treat them that way, then you will waste so much time trying to please them. My colleague could not understand, hence he reminded the staff of one of the organization’s core values – Simplicity (in operation and character) and left. He narrated the story to us at the next meeting. The project manager after hearing our reactions to the story told us the following:

Change could come in any form, but the scenario depicted in the narrative showed that it was not the problem of the staff only, but the organization. So in this case, being an organization-wide problem, the following options or the combination of all will help address the issue

–          Organizational development: This is a change tool that sees to change of attitude to organization’s culture and implementation of values.

–          Core Values take-in: Yes, this is what have been thought or mostly learnt every day in the organization, but its usage and living by it in our daily organizational life matters a lot. Continuous reminder of this to all staff is key to changing so many flops in the daily operations of any organization

–          Involvement and buy-in: All staff should be involved and buy-in should be solicited

–          Lastly, build a guiding team

The end

The project dealt with the identified changes using the above methods…how?

a.       All identified problems that needed to be changed to meet global standard were penciled down

b.      The organization bought the staff in and got them involved by enlightening them about the importance of the organization to change certain things

c.       The mission and vision of the organization was well interpreted to fit the change

d.      Organizational development workshop was done in a departmental manner to generate ideas and strike out challenges to implementing solutions to identified changes. This also brought about buy-in

e.       A guiding team which comprises of existing staff and new staff chosen from all the departments of the organization was formed to monitor and give progress reports

As I write, the first answer of the project manager still lingers in my brain. Change process is sweet if one is patient to go gradual in implementing solutions. His first answer also gives me insight into what I will be sharing next on this blog. Isn’t my project manager a radical thinker?

CREATING THE CULTURE OF “WE” AT WORK

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I welcome you all to 2014. I had fun all through January 1 and English premiership capped it with a lot of scintillating displays. I look forward to more innovations – strategically and technologically in 2014 that will aid the continuous progression of human resources and capacity building globally.

After the matches on Saturday, my brain has been ruminating on an evolutionary concept that will lead organizations to greater heights this year and beyond. The quote of Michael Jordan came to my mind “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships” yet I was not sure of the word but this morning another event strengthened my thought. What was it? The “driver” and the “conductor”  (bus coordinator) a bus I boarded to work, they collaborated well and it became apparent on me that the world of work is gradually moving towards this direction hence, stamping my thought and my long desire for this topic.

The evolutionary concept is teamwork but for more understanding, I opted tagging it “culture of we” at work.

All businesses are now actively force-fitting team work in workplaces so as to build a culture that values collaboration as it is believed that in a work environment, though a little wrong to force people together , “fitting” it to work for the benefit of all concerned is fair enough. People are now getting to realize that thinking, planning, judgments and actions are better when done agreeably. People recognize, and even assimilate the credence that “none of us is as good as all of us”.

Although hard to find a company that does not epitomize teamwork seeing that team work in today’s organizations is now a “mixed presence”– i.e., workers in one location interact with each other via technology-enabled collaboration. Some companies, especially in Nigeria hardly value this culture as some see it as a waste of time while others see it as a culture that may never last or boost productivity because of the ethic nature, backgrounds, experiences and tribal ideology of her citizenry.

The three main benefits of team work in the workplace are – focusing, team work helps staff to think and study situations around her in other to contribute meaningfully to the organization; learning, team work aids learning, sharing and also help staff build on what they already know via peer review and peer consultation; socializing, teamwork helps in the internalization of knowledge gained from collaborating.

You will agree with me that the benefits aforementioned if properly utilized will lead to a formidable workforce hard to crack.

How to build team work culture

–          Survey: Here, anonymous survey is advised to be conducted to understand how staff could work better together. When staff feel like they are part of the decision making process, the planning, the goal setting, and the execution of a really smart goal, it helps them feel like they’re part of the team. A few additional ways to gain buy-in from your staff are through focus groups or one-on-one confidential meetings, held with a human resources head, a high level manager, or even the owner of a company.

–          Make goals clear to staff: Create a goal that everyone is committed to achieving instead of just focusing on departmental goals. Pick one goal that everyone can strive to work for. This helps to build amity and a sense of teamwork, because everyone is working together as an alternative of their own personal goals.

–          Do not force team work: As said in the article, forcing people together to work as a group, project, assignment may be a big mistake as it is difficult to get buy-in from the people involved.

Teamwork as a concept has grown over the years helping organizations transform the workplaces. Nonetheless, teamwork success is not automatic. Organizations need to fully key into the notion and I am confident that the adoption of this concept in organizations will boost productivity and aid the drive of workplaces into the future with ease.

Add the ‘adoption of teamwork’ in your New Year resolutions and I bet you will experience positivity in all facet of your organization.

Happy New Year!!!

Management Development: A unique capacity building concept

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Such a long time my good people. I have been busy with work and other tasks, please forgive me. I have just gotten a new role in an organization to perform dual role of human resources and management development and I must say, I am happy as it is another unique challenge. Yes, I know much about management development which is a strategic movement of human capital into the future. Confused? Don’t be. Management development is a relatively new concept in human capital that helps an organization in driving innovation and strategy implementation but it is a relatively new concept been looked into by organizations for sustainability of their businesses as well as build the capacity of their staff for the future.

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This concept though have been around but its sudden reception shows that organizations are now moving from the traditional ways of doing things to a more strategic way.

This article will hint on this concept that seems to be the reigning tool for capacity building and broaden it in subsequent articles.

Management development is a powerful, transformational and personalized effort consciously introduced by organizations to build the capacity of potential and existing managers in order to drive innovation and planned strategy. It is a concept that helps an organization to build the needed skills now and for the future. It has so many ingredients and I urge you to stay glued to this blog as my subsequent writings on this topic will blow your mind and widen your scope of knowledge and also take you off your seat.

Till I come your way again……not running away this time, be prepared to hit the HR world in a new dimension with me.

Oops, did I say management development is strategic in nature? ……yes it is.

– Adetokun

CONTRACT JOBS IN NIGERIA: HOOK, LINE AND SINKER

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For survival and holding on, job seekers accept jobs that terms are nothing short of blood draining. Although a global phenomenon, contract job has it is generally called is highly incessant in Nigeria. It is a canker worm eating deep into the organizations. I keep wondering why people do slavery jobs but then do I need to ask? Have I not done same before? Nigeria situation called for it. A country where larger percentage of her population is jobless, corrupt and I-do not-care attitude is the orders of the day, what more do I expect?

Contract job has eaten so deep into our employment system to the extent that hardly would you find a permanent employee in an organization (this applies to all sector). It is a menace that needs be addressed.

Before jumping into details, I want to say a big thank you to Adewunmi Adeolu for bringing up this topic; Edith Afieroho and Atilola ‘seyi for editing.

What is contract staffing?

It is a term widely used by employers to employees who get paid like other third-party suppliers i.e. freelancers. It is a type of employment where an employee unlike full-time employee, is not entitled to so many benefits like pension contribution, medical, income tax sharing etc. For full-time staff, these are being before paychecks are given but for contract staffers, nothing of such. The worst part of it is, when laid off, a contract staff has no right to a statutory amount in lieu of notice unlike the full/permanent employee.

Contract employees are usually compensated based on hours worked or completed project. Some even work full-time, have pension plans and tax deducted from their wages and yet still being called contract staff. Isn’t this ridiculous and baffling?

Contract employee to most organization means non-beneficial because by expression or implication, one could be unemployed by the next morning with no-notice. The construe meaning of contract job is misunderstood by Nigeria employers because I wouldn’t see a situation where someone who has spent 10 years or even more on a job is still being referred to as a contract employee. Most organizations even renew the terms of contract of a contract staff periodically with stiffer terms which leaves them with no choice than to accept as failure means starting from square one.

Initially, contract jobs were to execute projects or jobs that have a certain timeline (deadline) but these days most organization see it as a tool for cutting cost and run from responsibilities. Going by the reward system, extrinsic reward ‘only’ cannot motivate an employee, intrinsic reward go a long way to complement their wants and needs but a contract staff does not get this. What they get in addition to the extrinsic reward which is also terrible is stigma, smear, disdain, maltreatment etc.

Little wonders why human resource experts are silent about the failure of this system. Do I sound surprised? No because this is where most independent Human resource practitioners make their money from. This write-up isn’t to castigate or step on the toes of Human Resource practitioners as I am one but to let us develop a framework/system to fight or mitigate this canker worm that negates the moral justification of our dear profession. Sincerely, there is little the government can do. The Human resource professional bodies should rise up and challenge this monster head on.

IMPLICATION

Most companies using contract staffing methods need to take a pause and check the impact of the system, as such companies are not only affecting contract staff psychologically, but also an ineffective management style is given birth to.

Giving utmost attention to an employee welfare and condition of service can easily win their loyalty and therefore improve production capacity.

Companies using this staffing method totally neglect their employee welfare.

Moreover, you don’t buy trust, you earn it. Contract staffing completely neglect the welfare of the employee, and this will in turn cut the productive efficiency of the employee.

RECOMMENDATION

Development of frameworks and a comprehensive policy to back the issue of contract jobs in Nigeria

Employers of labor need to change their common perceptions of contract job as somehow less important, less skilled or less committed and that it is just an economic play

Development of policy and guide to implore employers to compulsorily give the names of contract staff to a proper body for record purpose and to check the terms and conditions being stipulated on their agreement letters.

Put in place effective Human resources systems to make the best use contract staff by creating a good impetus technique to encourage the workers to give their best.

Job security: An employee will do their best to keep a job with good job security; therefore companies should dump the idea of firing a contract staff anytime they feel like.

– ‘dayo Adetokun

Continuous human capacity building: The Life-wire of any organization

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Organizations worldwide are set-up for pre-determined goals and objectives, the attainment of which is to satisfy pre-identified needs and aspirations of the society. No matter how small or big an organization is, its function is basically on factors of production-Materials, capital, people and owner(s). Of all the aforementioned factors of production, human resources (people) have been identified as the most important. Therefore building these individuals for task at hand and future to meet the goals and objectives as set out in the vision of the organization is paramount.

In view of this, it is no doubt that human resource is the life-wire of any organization because it is the element that moves the organization in the direction of meeting the needs of the society. With the direction in which the world is moving…technologically, incompetent/ ill-equipped employees may be a big clog in the wheel of an organization if not handle with care. What then is human capacity building?

Human capacity building is the process of equipping human resources (employees) with the skills and knowledge that will enable them identify opportunities, threats, problems etc, analyze them, formulate solutions and implementation actions.

Building capacity may take one or all the following approach:

Ø   Sustainability capacity building

Ø   Customer focused capacity building

Ø   Profit-focused capacity building

Ø   Succession capacity building

Ø   Career development

Methods of building human capacity

v  Training and re-training (on/off the job) with the help of experts/ internal capacities

v  Attending workshops/ seminars

v  A formidable library and internet facilities for research and continuous improvement

v  Refresher courses on/offline

Advantages of building human capacity

ü  Keep organization on the right track

ü  To reduce risk

ü  To meet current market trend and knowledge

ü  Ease of operation

For maximum productivity to meet goals/ objectives, it is imperative for organizations to continue building human capacity.

–    Adetokun

WORKPLACE POLICY: A BIG ISSUE

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As advancement is being experienced in the world of business, it is imperative for organizations to know more on what workplace policy really is, what different aspects of workplace privacy are, how to determine which aspects are right for organizations and how to develop a policy that is ethical and transparent that won’t affect the trust of employees.

As defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary of law: “Privacy is freedom from unauthorized intrusion of the state of being left alone to keep certain personal matters to one self. It may also be defined as the right of the individual to control the dissemination of information about oneself (Rich 1995; 4)”. Defining what privacy policy really is seems difficult but be that as it may, it is the first step towards exploring privacy issues. This short note summarizes two workplace privacy areas:

  • Pre-employment screening
  • Monitoring employees on/off the job

PRE-EMPLOYMENT SCREENING: This is the most regulated of all workplace privacy policy. It goes beyond interview and reference checks to obtain as much information about potential hire as possible. It is an in-depth touch on the individuals themselves. Few of the common ways are:

  • Check on criminal records
  • Checking medical records of employees
  • Drug testing
  • School records

MONITORING EMPLOYEES ON/OFF THE JOB: Many employers watch, listen, and record employees’ activities while they are at work or off work. Such activities can range from hardly invasive to those that are shocking. Few of these are:

  • Computer monitoring
  • Email monitoring
  • Video surveillance

DEVELOPING SUCCESSFUL WORKPLACE PRIVACY POLICY To develop a successful workplace privacy policy in:

  1. An organization need begin with the analysis of the legitimate need of the business and individual job requirements to monitor or obtain data and then make sure that any data collection or monitoring are within reason for which they are obtained.
  2. Draft workplace policy with transparency in mind by involving the human resource department, Legal department and Upper level management to know which aspects of workplace monitoring are legal to implement in the organization.
  3. Clarity of policies is paramount to potential and current employees.
  4. Employers should liaise with employees on the disclosure of personal data.

In conclusion, privacy policies are used to protect the company from legal liability, security concerns, legal compliance and are methods to evaluate employee performance. This policy should cover employee/employer rights, security issues as well as consequences for failing to comply. While drafting, it is important an employer remain sensitive to employees’ private interest. Also, copies of the policy should be redistributed to all parties involved. Individuals have the right to be protected by organizations and organizations should have it in mind that in as much as they are doing their job, someone is also watching “the law”. – Adetokun