No Pressure, No Diamonds.

Have you ever argued about a sitting position in your workplace? In an open sitting plan office, you may encounter that awkward moment when the newbie takes your favorite spot. Lily just joined this new company whose cultural set-up is very different from her previous employers. She joined in a senior position and was expecting a corner office with a personal assistant waiting on her. Her expectations were dashed when she was introduced to the new employer’s clean desk policy - Just sit anywhere that is free and clean up the desk when you leave!

As social beings, the incumbents had informally marked their favourite sitting spots and they knew where everyone 'usually' sits. Lily was not aware of this arrangement. She went by the book rules and placed her bag on an empty spot one early morning before dashing off for a meeting. This was a spot marked out for Henry. About half an hour later, Henry walks into the office with this big smile on his face and makes a bee line to his favourite spot. He is surprised to see a bag on ‘his’ table. He checks the desk phone to see if anyone had logged into the spot. Nobody. Henry assumed his usual sitting position, checked into the slot and dived into his day's tasks.

Lily was still getting her way around the office and did not know so many people. She was surprised to find this strange guy occupying her seat after her meeting. Her bag had been moved and she just couldn't find it. What to do? By this time, Lily was getting upset because she was expected to attend a series of meetings that morning and couldn't find her bag! She met one of the floor administrators explaining her predicament and sought her assistance.

Henry eventually got an awkward note from the administrator who was now trying to arbitrate the situation. Henry knew the silent rules - if you want to take a seat in the office you have to log into that spot. He was justified to take up the seat even if Lily had placed her bag there. She did not log into the spot. Rules are rules! However, Henry opted to take a different approach. Lily is new in the office and must be overwhelmed by the new culture and exhaustive orientation. He figured Lily must be really angry at this whole setup and may form a negative perspective of him and the new workplace. He had two options - to ignore Lily or to approach her and teach her the rules.

Workplace conflicts can breed from the most trivial issues. Why would people argue about a seat? There are many places you can sit in the office! The issue is not the seat - the problem is what that situation does to the office working relationship. People treat you based on the perception they hold of you. If they perceive you as mean, they will never let you have anything you ask for without a fight. If they perceive you the enemy to beat, your relationship will always be competitive even when you are in the same team.

Many of us avoid conflict at all cost. We do not want to rub people the wrong way - at least not the first time we meet them. We just want to keep the peace. We want to maintain a calm and likeable image. The fact remains you will always be at a risk of getting into conflict with those around you. You do not necessarily have to be the cause. It may be fueled by power struggles, jealousy, competitive tensions or just someone having a really bad day.

Conflict is not a bad thing - it's actually an odd opportunity to forge better working relationships. As weird as it sounds, think about it. In our story, Henry has this great chance to make Lily his ally - a golden chance for a great start with the new team member. If Henry masters his emotional intelligence, he will apologize to Lily for the misunderstanding, explain the reason for his actions and offer to give up his seat to her as a sign of good will. Lily would feel respected and in exchange subconsciously note Henry as a friendly ally. A lifelong antagonistic relationship avoided!

The key to resolving conflict is to control our emotions and to communicate. You need to deal with the issue promptly before it grows into a monster, but you cannot successfully do so when your emotions are running high. Unresolved conflict culminates into resentment, stifles creativity, reduces productivity and hampers collaboration. Withstanding the pressure that comes with conflicts gives us the chance to create a more productive workforce around us. The smart leader uses these conflict situations to borrow better ideas or use them as learning points for the team. You deny yourself the opportunity to refine and enforce closer working relationships as a leader every time you steer clear of uncomfortable positions.

Mahatma Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye will only make the world blind." We do not always agree on what we should do, but we should never lose sight of the damage we would suffer should we choose not to find a middle ground. When making radical moves, we will most likely rub people the wrong way - especially the incumbents whose boat you are rocking. It doesn't mean that we write-off the non-conformers immediately. You may be surprised that with a little selling, this resistant lot will be your greatest crusaders.

Diamonds are made from coal. Coal has to undergo much pressure before emerging as beautiful diamonds in their purest form and worth millions! If you want to get the diamonds out of your workplace, you have to withstand the sweat of conflict. Confront your disagreements and have that difficult conversation. Communicate with clarity while keeping your emotions in check. You may just achieve better results than you anticipated.  Stick it out and keep your eye on the ball!

Empowered!

Have you encountered a person of influence with the commensurate authority that goes with their title or position? One who is endowed with knowledge and tools to direct and make decisions? They are never without a solution at their fingertips regardless of the circumstances at hand. They are liberated to unleash the potential they carry. That is not just a leader but an empowered leader! An empowered leader understands their potential and influences others to fulfill their mandate.

The family cell is the basic unit of our society, of our nation. Women play a critical role in the family. Every time mother is at home, everyone in the family has a deep sense of peace and security. When the virtues that make the women play such a role in the homestead are transferred to the society, the society prospers. This is why it is important for women to take leadership positions in the marketplace. A woman’s intuitive nature compliments man's abilities & vice versa. Men are more inclined to think things through. Women add intuition to the process. They FEEL what they think about.

We need to nurture and encourage women leaders in our society and tap the gift inside them. Women make passionate leaders. When they give themselves to a task, they are totally sold out! They are excited by growth. As nurturing beings, they take an unrefined idea and patiently work on it to completion. They add flesh to the idea until it becomes a tangible reality.

When a woman commits, there is no turning back! An empowered woman is so tenacious that nothing deters them from pursuing a goal. They pour out every ounce of energy in them. They will give sacrificially. A mother would rather go hungry, if that will ensure her household is well fed. They care about everyone's welfare and their decisions are made with everyone in mind. A woman’s mind is designed to see the big picture. They easily relate two seemingly unrelated items. Their interconnected world-view predisposes them to making informed decisions.

Isn’t the woman then a potentially powerful leader? Yet, women still hold back from taking positions of leadership. Where is the disconnect?

If you want to understand the potential in you, you must embark on a journey of self-discovery. Who are you? If we remove the societal titles of wife, mother, sister or just plainly woman, who is the real person inside? What strengths do you naturally possess? Forget what people say you can or cannot do, remove all the smoke screens and understand the real you inside. Until you get to this awareness, you can never lead with confidence.

The second critical thing is a choice to be courageous. Have the courage to accept the strengths you possess and use them to your advantage. Do not accept the intimidation that comes with a magnified task. If you can single-handedly organize a family get-together, then you can organize a state function. You will definitely need many helping hands, but the ability to organize is already wired in you. You just need to increase your capacity.

You need to identify your knowledge and resource gaps. You know your strengths and have mastered the courage to face the task. What do you need to complete the task? What is the missing link? Knowing what you need to do but lacking the requisite resources paralyses your advancement. You need to identify where you can find what you need and get it.

Finally, get rid of faulty thought patterns. As a man thinks so he is (or woman for this matter!). How many times have you thought, “I am not good enough…I cannot make it… this is too big for me to handle… I am a failure…”? All battles are first won in the mind. Do not lose your battle on account of negative self-talk.

Woman, YOU are a gift! The world is waiting for the solutions hidden in you to be manifest. Choose today to be an empowered leader and deliver this gift. It will change the world!

Inner Circle

The people closest to you highly determine our level of influence and how well you realise your potential. They extend or inhibit the effectiveness of your influence on others.  Leadership is about influence and as your vision begins to take shape, you need others to help drive it to higher heights. It is inevitable that you will have to build various levels of leadership to manage your organisation’s growth. A chain is as strong as its weakest link. Those closest to you in your leadership circle will make or break you.

My friend runs a rapidly growing organisation with a diverse leadership team. I desired to know what keeps her going even (and especially) when everything seems to work against their efforts. She proudly spoke of her advisory team. It was clear that she valued their support in driving the daily activities of the organisation. This inner circle multiplied her potential and most importantly covered her in the areas of her weakness. 

Mother Teresa said, "You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do. Together we can do great things." These words summarise the strength of an inner circle as I came to learn from my friend. Her organization had successfully delivered the largest project in their history. She shared with me the importance of building a strong leadership team around you which she calls her inner circle.

The founders had set a great vision and proper structures to drive the vision. As she took over the reigns, she was confident that the structures were sufficient to take the company’s success to the next level. She developed a transformational strategy. Going by the company’s past achievements, this was an extremely ambitious plan. The strategy required an equally ambitious and tenacious team to execute successfully.

The first thing she did was to share her strategy with a group of three influential individuals in the company. She was testing the waters before taking a leap.  The team quickly bought into her ideas and started thinking of how they can execute the new strategy. They had such positivity that they grew and solidified her strategy. They came up with brilliant concepts and gave her a plan that would get the staff members’ to buy into the vision. These three formed her first inner circle members.

Your inner circle must have individuals that add and multiply your efforts. Identify and surround yourself with people that lift you up. You will come across people who make it their business to perpetually frustrate your efforts. Avoid them like plague.

The next thing was to identify leaders in the organisation with certain strengths that she did not possess. She needed legal counsel, a strong marketer, fund raisers and a strategic advisor. She knew her strength was in driving the project, but more importantly she recognised that the success of the project was dependent on partnering with others. She could not do it alone. The second thing in forming your inner circle is selecting a team that will give you leverage in areas of your weakness. Work on your strengths and partner with your weaknesses.

In order to re-organise your inner circle, you must have the courage to let go of the incumbents. The quest to realise your potential is determined by those closest to you. Beyond determining the skills you need around you, you need to assess their willingness to play the role you need them to fit into.  She had some painful experiences having to reassess each of the members in her previous inner circle. While they were crucial in the earlier stages of forming the organization, she needed a different skill set for the new dispensation.

As the project took shape, she was very intentional in the relationships she built around her. The fundraiser was a key component for the success of the project. She reached out beyond her current inner circle to draw in a competent fundraiser. If she did not know better, she would have surrounded herself with people she was comfortable with, even if they had no skills in fundraising. You have to get off your comfort zone to get the right people into your inner circle.

The most challenging bit was to get the team to work together in harmony. She knew that a house divided would not stand the test of time. A productive team must cultivate positive impact relationships. Bringing them together was one thing, getting them to work harmoniously was the harder part. Have the patience to encourage members of your inner circle to work together.

People are highly resistant to change. We are creatures of habit and these habits are cultivated over time. Her vision demanded a migration from the company’s norm. Great ideas are often driven by radical changes. As soon as she brought together her inner circle, she got them to see the benefit and possibility of changing things in the organisation. It was a tall order. She had to break their view and introduce a new picture, the new vision. You must get your inner circle to buy into your vision or else the team's efforts will be pulling in opposite directions.

Extraordinary success is not the work of a lone ranger. Who are the members of your inner circle? What strengths do they bring to the table? Are there strength gaps that need to be filled in your inner circle? Recognise the crucial role played by your inner circle and be intentional in building the right relationships around you.

Tent Mindset

"The only permanent thing in life is change. " ~ Heraclitus.

What was state-of-the-art yesterday, today it is obsolete. In today's technologically advanced society, old solutions are being overtaken by new inventions in quick succession. If you want to enjoy life and get the best out of it, you must be change receptive. You have to constantly renew yourself to embrace new and different ways of doing things.

An easy way to adapt to changing times is to have what I call a “tent mindset”. Grow an attitude that easily shuts down what has become your norm in interpreting and responding to situations and adapt new methods. Such a mindset can be described by looking at a nomad's lifestyle. A nomad moves from place to place in order to make a living. They live in areas where food availability is seasonal and keep moving as seasons change in search of greener pastures.

Nomads live in temporary shelters. They are wary of getting too comfortable in their current circumstances of affluence and abundance. They quickly discern when the season is changing as supplies dwindle and begin preparing to move. Their tent shelters make it easy to break up camp and shift to another place when the season changes. There is no such thing as a permanent comfort zone in the life of a nomad. They know when to move, when to stay and what to do in different situations.

Everything that has a capacity for growth goes through different stages in its life cycle. A butterfly is first an egg, then larvae, pupa before it turns into an adult. A human being first grows in the mother's womb and even when birthed, they are babies, toddlers, children, teenagers, young adults, adults and so forth. In business, an organisation goes through an inception stage then a growth stage, reaches maturity and then the decline phase.

In all stages of growth there is a need to change. Teenagers are expected to be more independent than babies. They change their way of thinking. The size of their clothes is larger. They no longer survive on milk only and their capacity to learn is exponentially higher. They have to embrace change in order to grow into the adults they long to become. In the same way, leaders who have a big vision for their organisation, must embrace change whole-heartedly. If they desire to grow, then they must be ready to change and that change will be constant.  

The first step towards change is to have a vision. A vision that is bigger than your present status. Where do you see the organization you leade in 10, 15 years? Draw the picture. Everything we see in the physical today was once a mental picture. Make certain that the end goal is vivid.

The next thing you need to do while in your current state is to start building your capacity for the anticipated growth. Imagine you run an airline with a fleet of 25-seater aircraft. Your airlinebrand becomes so popular that you have bookings and enquiries that could fill a 70-seater aircrafts. It would be foolish and extremely dangerous to attempt fitting 70 passengers in the current 25-seater aircraft in a single flight. As a matter of fact the aircraft may never take off! You must build the capacity to accommodate growth.

Does your current organisation structure have the capacity to take up more? If your growth plan entails going international, have you considered changing your working currency to an internationally recognised currency? Have you invested in learning the culture of your target markets in other countries? If your vision is to expand your small restaurant into a five-star hotel, does your chef know how to make a continental breakfast, French cuisine, Indian cuisine or Thai cuisine to cater for your foreign guests or is his skill limited to local tastes? You now have 15 people in your staff, but your vision will require at least 100 staff members, will they fit in your current office space? Are your systems capable of accommodating the growth?

If you have a tent mentality, it will be easy for you to lead your staff into adapting an international currency to accommodate foreign customers. You will have the courage to release your favorite chef and recruit one with international exposure that is suited to a five-star hotel. You will even move your office from the back side of the city to a larger office with state of the art equipment. You will build systems and structures commensurate to what you have envisioned as your next phase of growth.

A tent mindset allows you to wave goodbye to the current status which you have grown fond of and take a risk into the next phase. You have to be agile enough to destroy your current structures and beliefs and build new structures that accommodate the envisioned status. You may have to let go of those you have grown with unapologetically as long as they make it their business to block the change. You have to be ruthless in choosing change enablers to move with you to the next phase.  Count the cost of change; are you ready to incur this cost?

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. If you want to steer successful change, you must have a solid focus. A solid focus means that you should never lose sight of your target - you may change your methods or the route you take, but you should never be derailed off your focus. Change is painful and you will have a tendency to wish back the "good ol' days", but you must stay steadfast on your target. You have to keep reminding those around you the importance of reaching the target so that you do not lose momentum. Have a spirit of excellence that refuses to settle for anything but the best that you have chosen to pursue.

The day you stop growing, you will start dying. Growth demands building your capacity and being agile enough to embrace change – sometimes even drastic changes. Do not hold onto the old. Fold up the old structures and ways of thinking. Be open to new ideas and embrace change. If you want to grow, change is inevitable. Don’t fight it – embrace it.

Multiply

In our last article we looked at the concept of the seed and the need to nurture to be fruitful. We all have resources surrounding us with untapped potential and as leaders we must nurture this potential to produce fruit. Today we look at how to multiply that fruit.

Multiplying is the art of reproducing, making a copy or equivalent of the original. It is to increase, to expand, or to exceed in number, size or depth. It is one thing to get fruit out of a seed, but in order to make a living out of it, you must make it available to others. You make a living by solving other people's problems and you must figure out how to make it available to them.

There are four stages to achieving successful multiplication as described by Mensa Otabil:

·         Complexity;

·         Simplicity;

·         Affordability; and,

·         Availability.

I take a look at the evolution of the messaging system in the life of human kind to elaborate these stages. In the early days, when you wanted to send a message to a neighbouring village several hills away, a messenger would clip the note on a stick and run to the next village to deliver the message. Anything could have happened to the messenger on the way. He could be attacked by wild animals or fall in a river and get the note wet.

Several years later, the postal mailing system was adopted. You acquired a postal address and there was a central system for receiving and distributing mail to several destinations. All you needed to do was to write a letter, put it in an envelope and put postage stamps of the appropriate value depending on the weight and destination. If you sent mail overseas it could take weeks (even months) to reach the destination.

The next generation birthed electronic mail as we know it today. You just need to register an email address and share it with your friends. At first, cyber cafés were the talk of the town. You had to queue at the nearest cyber café waiting for your turn to check mail. Instead of postage stamps, you paid for internet usage by the minute. At the click of a button you could read your messages and reply to them. You did not need to wait days or months to receive a message.

Today we have web enabled hand-held devices with capabilities to access your emails on the go. We do not use a running messenger, postage stamps or pay for internet access by the minute. We just purchase data bundles!

Complexity and Simplicity

When you look at the progression of the messaging system, the earlier methods were quite complex and tedious to the person that needed to send or receive the message. I imagine the sender had to select a trusted running messenger that knew the route to the destination and could traverse the terrain. The sender then prayed that the messenger did not encounter a hungry lion on the way. It was a simple message-sending process, yet quite tedious.

Sending a letter through the postal mailing system became simpler - just put a note in the envelope, lick the stamps and drop it at the nearest postal collection point. You did not need to worry about how the message will reach the recipient 1,000 miles away. The post office will do all the sorting and delivering for you.  What the sender did not know is that the postal office had thousands and thousands of mail to sort and ship. The back end process became more complex in order to simplify the sender’s & receiver’s mailing experience.

The electronic mail today only requires you to have internet connectivity and you can mail messages instantly. The back end process of sending electronic mail is coded in ones and zeros - a much more complex process compared to the postal mail sorting system, but it can deliver billions of emails in a second across continents.

How did we move from delivering one message at a time over days using a running messenger, to delivering billions of messages in a second across continents? In order to make sending and receiving messages easy, inventors had to find ways to make it simpler to send a message. The back end process had to be made more complex so that the end user experience would become simpler. 

If you want to multiply your fruit, you have to find ways to make it simpler to use your solution which will require you to make the processing behind the solution more complex. It sounds like a paradox, but when you think about motor vehicle, telephone system or manufacturing evolution they use the same concept. As the systems became more complex on the inside, they were easier to use on the outside.

Affordability and Availability

Your aim for multiplying your fruit is so that more people can get a hold of the solution you are providing. Complexity and simplicity will make your solution quite attractive to your target user, but if it is not available to them and they cannot afford it, then you are suck with your inventions.

When you reproduce a product in large scale, the cost of producing an item is reduced drastically. In our analogy, if the messenger had the capacity to carry a ton of letters on his back it would reduce the cost of having him run back and forth to deliver one letter at a time. As the mailing system provided a platform to deliver bulk letters by postal office and now by email, it is now affordable for many to freely send and receive messages at a fraction of a dollar per message.

People will not use a product that they cannot reach. You must work on your distribution channel to make your product available to your target market. Postal boxes had to be fixed in every town to connect them to the rest of the world. At the entry of the email system, cyber cafés were established in many towns for the mass market to gain access. Now we have web-enabled handheld devices that and you can access your mail on the go. The devices are becoming more and more affordable and reachable by all.

Now you know what to do to multiply your fruit. You have to get it into the hands of every one in need of your solution. Simplify its use by refining how it works, find ways to make it affordable and expand your distribution channel. How will you multiply your own seed?

Are you Productive?

Leadership is about providing solutions to society's challenges. It takes creativity and innovation to find these solutions. Today we are seeing a burst of creative ideas and innovations to solve Africa's challenges by our very own.  It is not without hurdles, but we are churning the solutions nevertheless. There are young people that have broken the barrier of limited resources, by thinking differently and collaborating with those endowed with the resources they need to live out their purpose. They have chosen to be productive. 

If you want to know the purpose of an iron box, you ask its manufacturer. When God created mankind, he commanded us to "… be fruitful and multiply, replenishing the earth and subdue it…" (Gen 1:26). Let's look more closely at being fruitful and multiplying (and no, I am not referring to child reproduction). You and I were created for a purpose - there is a talent or gift inside each one of us designed to enrich our lives by living our purpose. Productivity in our designed purpose requires us to be fruitful and multiply. 

When you plant an orange seed, you have an expectation that in a few months you will enjoy its fruits. The seed has everything it needs to grow to maturity and produce fruit when nurtured within the right environment. Imagine if the orange tree from this seed grew to produce only one orange fruit in its lifetime and in that fruit was only one seed. It would be meaningless to go through the process of nurturing the tree to maturity if our expected harvest was only one orange fruit with one seed in it! When planting the seed, you have an expectation that it shall not only be fruitful, but the fruits shall be enough for many to enjoy. The fruit from the planted orange seed will not be consumed by the orange seed itself - it is for others to consume and enjoy its fruit. 

Each of us has a seed inside us:  a talent, a gift, an idea. The seed will only realize its full potential of bearing fruit if its nurtured. An idea has to be nurtured and refined to a status of providing a solution to humanity. A leader identifies this potential when still in its raw form and nurtures it to blossom. He has the ability to see the end product from the raw material. Nurturing will involve mentoring, correcting, supporting and challenging the seed bearer, while remaining focused on the desired end product.  

Your talent, when nurtured to productivity, is meant for those around you to enjoy. You can profit from it, but only if you share it. If you are a musician, your talent is designed for others to enjoy your music. I am yet to meet a musician who goes through the grueling process of producing an album, just to be listening to the music alone. I am not ruling out that there could be such musician - this is the very reason we still haven't heard their music and I bet you they have made no profit out of it! 

The first step to productivity is to identify the seed inside you. What is inside you that is designed to provide a solution to humanity? What's that idea you've been pushing aside? Do you have a talent or gift that you have allowed to remain dormant? The second step is to nurture and grow your seed. If you have an idea, at least try it out. Forget the critics, just try. If you fail, you'll just discover another way that the idea won't work. Working on your idea refines it to become better.  

In the next article we'll look at the concept of multiplying - why it is important and how do you multiply?

Get it Done!

There is a task, a goal and a timeline to get it done. You and several others have been asked to leave everything else and get this done.  You look around and you only know two or three people in the group. You look again at the task at hand. Can it be done within the given timeline? Why is it so important that I have to leave everything else I am doing? How will achieving this task in the company of strangers and within an overly ambitious timeline bring value to me?

I have been drawn into several taskforces like this one. We had more questions than the project sponsor could answer. Nevertheless, I gathered invaluable lessons working in these teams. I learnt there are three categories of people in a team:

1.      Those who wonder how so much got done;

2.      Those who would rather watch things done than be part of the action; and

3.      The group that get things done.  

Let's have a closer look at the three groups.

How did you get so much done?

There is nothing as energy sapping as working on a difficult task with a bunch of “prophets of doom”. Before they even hear the strategy to get the task done, they are already convinced that it is humanly impossible to achieve such a thing. They will punch holes in your strategy, whisper doubts into the minds of the other team members and never make a suggestion to improve your strategy. They literally drain life out of the team. You can be sure they will taunt you with endless "I told you so!" mockery if you don't achieve the goal in the first few trials. But when you finally achieve victory, it is such an ego booster to see them baffled at your achievement. They even doubt that it has actually been achieved even when the results are tangible. 

Check out what they are doing!

Just like the spectators in a football match, this group makes the most noise and delivers no results. They diligently attend team meetings, but that's all they do! They are very vocal in the team, but hardly lift their finger to action. They take the form of super delegators - suggesting complex ways to get the task achieved and quickly volunteer the quieter team members to carry out the task. This is the lazy lot that wants to get all the credit from other people's sweat.

Let's get it done!

There is however a different breed of team players. A breed that is more concerned with acting rather than talking. They work in a highly coordinated fashion, consider the group’s ideas and agree a strategy. When they get into action, each one knows their role and plays their part. They know how important their small input contributes to the end result. They take pride in their workmanship and give their full focus on the project. It's not a competition, it’s a collaboration. When you work in such a team, you draw energy from the members because they will never let you give up. Their enthusiasm and positive attitude is infectious. You just want to keep going. In such teams, they get things done effectively and efficiently. 

It is in working with this third group that I have drawn some critical success factors for high performance teams:

a.       The Team Leader

A team's leader is not a task master. The leader has to effectively influence team members into action without coercing them. The effective leader has to sell the project vision to team members to own it. His communication skills are critical especially at the start of the project to set the right pace. Technical ability is not sufficient, they must possess soft skills of motivating others, planning, decision making and conflict resolution. The team leader will make or break the team.

b.        Buy Into the Vision

If you do not believe in something, you will save the team a lot of pain by removing yourself from it. When members buy into the project’s vision then chances of working effectively are higher. At the onset of the project, members must seek to understand the aim of the project. They have to be fully convinced of the need to accomplish the given task to be self-driven.

c.        Know your strength

A chain is as strong as its weakest link and so is the team. Each member must know what they are good at and stick to it. You performance will be as strong as the weakest member of the team. If you position them in the task that they are good at, you convert them into a strength for the team.

d.       See the BIG picture

It is possible to get so engrossed on details that you forget what you were trying to achieve. You have to be cautious with the perfectionists in your team. They can get carried away redoing their bit and forget the delay they are causing for the whole project. Everything must be done in the context of the bigger picture - the end goal. Are you delaying a process that is dependent on your output? Are you still within the budget in terms of time and resources? Are the modifications you are making compatible with other parts of the project? 

e.       Appreciate each team member

The painter standing on a ladder leaning on a high wall cannot despise the fellow holding the ladder on the ground. The display of the painter’s skill is made possible by the person at the bottom of the ladder holding it firmly. Even though they may not be skillful in painting, if they walk away, the painter will inevitably fall off the ladder. In a team there is no task too small that it should be despised. Everyone's role should be appreciated and respected. 

When you are part of the team, remember that you are not there to watch things get done or to wonder how they got done. You are there to get things done. Choose the right team leader, have a common vision, work in your area of strength, see the big picture and appreciate the roles played by others. Next time you are in a team, focus on getting the task completed. Just get it done!

Making the Deal

Every day you are faced with options to choose from. Which outfit to wear to an important meeting? Which route to take to the nearest petrol station? Which school to enroll your child? Gone are the days when there was only one option. I recall in my childhood days, there was only one television broadcaster. The station opened at 5 o'clock and shut down at midnight. Flipping channels was a foreign concept. You only watched what the national broadcaster scheduled. Today the story is different.

Who you are today is a sum total of the decisions you have made in life. Some people often resign to the fallacy that life just happens to them. They believe it is already decided who they become. I call it a fallacy because we have the power to decide what we want. The challenge lies in negotiating to get it. Someone has what you need to achieve your goal. You need to figure out how to get it from them. We often make the mistake of assuming the desperate position when in need. We fail to see the value we posses that we can trade for what we want.

Negotiations are an important part of our lives. As a leader, even with a grand vision, you are faced with scarce resources. You may not have everything you need to achieve your vision, but someone else has it. You sell yourself short when you are unprepared to negotiate for the resources you need. How can you negotiate effectively?

The first thing you ought to be clear about is what exactly you want. If you need a certain professional to carry out a task, you don't just walk into the street and pick out the first person you meet. Preparation, whether formally on paper or a mental note, is the first step. You decide what skills you want in this professional. How you want the task done and determine the range of compensation you are willing to offer in exchange of their services. You determine the value of each attribute you are looking for and set them in order of priority. You separate the non-negotiable from the good-to-have attributes. 

You then begin your search and narrow down to that one candidate. The candidate has the credentials and a commensurate track record. You are certain they can do the job. It is likely that the candidate has also prepared for this moment. You have something they need - they have something you need! You listen to what he wants in the deal and you also disclose what you want without necessarily indicating the terms on which you might settle.

As you get to know the person better, you discover he has his set of priorities for this opportunity. He prefers to work with his fellow professionals. He also asks for autonomy in decision making and full access to management at critical points of the task. The icing on the cake is the price at which he is willing to offer the services. You now have two choices, you either get all sweaty and desperate for this great deal, or you make a good proposition. You should never agree to give in to the other party's wants without requiring them to meet some of your own. You must use the "If…then" condition language. "If you include some of our staff in this task for capacity building, then we can consider a level of autonomy for this task". Always ensure you get something for what you are offering to concede.

You will get into a bargaining phase from this point. This is where you exchange wants with the other party until you reach an agreement. The key is to be certain about your limits for conceding to his wants while ensuring you still obtain your wants.  The final step is when you have an agreement and all aspects of the deal are agreed. Make sure the agreement is recorded. It could be in the form of a contract.

So next time you are negotiating a deal, remember these four simple steps:

1.      Prepare before hand. Define what you want, prioritise and set your limits;

2.      Debate. Listening to what the other party wants and disclose what you want.

3.      Make your proposition. Use the "If…then" language.

4.      Bargain by trading wants until you agree a specific solution

Make the deal, but DO NOT sell yourself short! 

Taking Responsibility for Change

The only permanent thing in life is change. Change is inevitable and we must be ready to embrace it.  When you observe changes in weather patterns, they move from Spring to Summer, then Autumn and Winter and the cycle repeats. What you wear in summer when the sun is all out is not appropriate for winter. In the same way, to grow your organisation, change is inevitable. What worked yesterday now becomes obsolete. A better and efficient solution has to be employed.

Change is never easy. Human beings would rather maintain status quo than take the risk to change. You must be cautious of the status quo pitfall because the moment you stop growing, you start dying! When a banana fruit reaches it mature size, it stops growing. The process of death begins. It turns yellow as it ripens and shortly changes to brown as it begins to rot. What are some things that you can do to embrace change?

Count the cost

If you want to go on holiday, you first choose a destination. Is it to an Island, a mountain, a beach or a big city? You then determine the most efficient means to get there - by road, air or water. But, you do not stop there. You decide how many days you will spend at your chosen destination and select a hotel. You go a step further to find out the hotel's boarding rates. Finally you compute how much it will cost you for the trip. You consider all these factors and determine whether you can afford it before making the bookings.

A leader must count the cost of change in his organisation. Would you need a bigger office? Do you need to hire experts? Do you need a different business model? What is the cost? The cost for change could mean severing certain business relationships. You may have to let go of some workers. Can you afford the cost of this change?

Communicate the Picture

A leader must prepare his team for change. You must sell your vision to your followers. They must see the need for change and embrace it. How you communicate the vision will determine the success of the change process. You need to articulate the role that each person will play in the new business model. The leader sees the big picture, but the harder task is interpreting the picture to his followers. They must understand it and believe in it for a successful changeover.

Delegate authority

You began your business playing multiple roles. You were the CEO, marketing director, sales director, finance director, procurement manager and even the company driver! As your growth vision begins to take shape, you realise the need for devolution of power. You have to change the business model. You reorganise your company's structure and hire competent individuals to lead the departments and take over your multiple roles. The change starts with you. Can you give up control to experts? Change in the leader’s mindset must take shape to pave way for change in the entire organisation.

Take action

Everything rises and falls with leadership. When all the plans are laid down and all systems are set for the change, it is time to act. It's time for you to lead your people into the unknown and your greatest enemy is fear. It may have looked easy on paper, but the proof of your desire for change is your pursuit. How passionate are you to change into your new form? Do you believe in the change? Your passion will drive your pursuit especially when things don't go as you had planned. Is your team agile and persevering enough to get you out of the murky waters of change?

Today, I give you the challenge of viewing the bigger picture of the future of our nation Kenya. You have a part to play in the new dispensation of a devolved government - a season of change in the country's leadership model. The political climate in our nation affects your organisation's future. In the same way you would take responsibility over change in your organisation, take responsibility over the future of your nation.

“Tumeijenga hii nchi yetu kwa miaka mingi. Kwanini tuiharibu in one day?” (We've built this country for many years. Why should we destroy it in one day?). These were words of a General Service Unit (GSU) officer to youth, following the 2007 elections. He took responsibility over his nation and had the courage to use his position to influence the youth not to resort to violence.  You are a leader in your space - your family, your community, your team, department or even company. You must take responsibility over your country and choose to positively influence the actions of those around you. Be a Kenyan for PEACE in Kenya.

Make the Connection

There is a reason you were not created to live in an island all by yourself. It's the same reason why barter trade emerged - John from the East Clan had something that Mary of the West Clan needed. John was willing to exchange it for something Mary had that he needed. We are designed to exist in interdependent relationships. My question to you, are you building relationship bridges as you prosper in your leadership position or are you burning the bridges?

Leadership is all about influence. It is the capacity to have an effect on someone's behaviour. It is much easier to do as your leader says if you believe in him to lead you. The African proverb, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together" exemplifies the importance of building relationships. A leader who connects with his followers and wins over their trust builds a more sustainable business than one who goes it alone. You can accomplish a task fast by saving the time it takes to explain it. You can accomplish more if you spend the time to explain it once and allow the team to replicate the task as a team.

Connecting with people requires you to cultivate a genuine interest in them. Besides their academic credentials and work experience what else can you say about them? Which is their favorite dining joint? What did they find interesting in their holiday trip? What sport do they like? Are they movie fans or avid readers? You have to invest time to know more than just their post in your organisation. You also must be authentic about your interest in them. If your followers think that you are secretly interested in getting them to do something for you, then you will not connect with them. You cannot build a trust relationship on the foundation of suspicion. Be authentic!

People do not care how much you know unless they know how much you care. This could be as simple as saying hello in the morning and pausing at their desk for a moment to find out how their weekend was. Some bosses thrive on fear and intimidation. They walk into the office with their faces looking like they showered in lemon juice and make a beeline to their corner office. Even before they sit down, they bark their first orders of the day. "Where is the report? What time will it be ready? Where is my coffee?" They are constantly angry at something or someone. Everyone in the office scatters at their presence. You attract your kind - and very few people (if any at all) are attracted to self absorbed leaders who only care about themselves. You will be surprised at how efficiently the reports and your coffee will be on your desk if you invest time to connect with your people.

You and your human resources team have spent time and money to hire the right people for your organisation. You most likely offered them their positions because they were the right candidate for the job. If you want to get the best service out of their expertise, you have to treat them as valued connections. Listen to what they have to say, don't just dismiss them. Let them know that you value their input by taking their opinion into consideration. When you treat them as valued followers, you get more value out of their tenure.

Influencing people is not about coercion. It is not threatening people. It is not reasoning with facts. Influence is about connecting with people. If you are interested in leading yourself, use your head. But if you are interested in leading others, use your heart. Connect with people and influencing them will be walk in the park.

When the Sun Rises

Every day in Africa a gazelle wakes up.

It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up.

It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.

When the sun comes up, you better be running!

~ Abe Gubegna

There is nothing refreshing like beginning a new year. It comes with the energy to start things afresh, to make positive changes in our lives. It gives the proverbial "turning over a new leaf" a concrete meaning. We all have a chance to determine how our history will read.  What better time to determine the end of a matter than at the very beginning? As a leader, you have the ideal chance to craft the legacy you will leave behind in this year. You must be intentional about it. It is not about making resolutions for the New Year - it is about shaping the future.

I give you the challenge to shape your 2013. Leaders do not wait for life to happen, they make it happen. So what do you need to do?

Cast the Vision

Vision is seeing the end from the beginning - it is a function of your imagination. Your vision should be bigger than you and your organisation. It ought to be big enough to kick you out of your comfort zone. A vision that does not give you discomfort, that doesn't challenge and stretch you, places you at a vantage position to be toppled off. Everything you see around you today was once an idea in someone's mind. What is in your mind right now that the world is yet to see in the physical? If there is nothing, you better get to bed and dream again! Dream BIG! Build your capacity to take risk. Step out into the deep waters and pursue your vision. If you are not certain of your destination this year, any road will get you there.

Share the Vision

If you want to move fast, you go it alone. If you want to go far, you go with a team. There is nothing more unproductive than an unsynchronized team effort with everyone doing what they deem fit and nothing seems to integrate with efforts of the rest of the team. If you are not good at clear communication, this year you must make it a priority to communicate with clarity (and possibly repeatedly until the team members catch your vision). You need your team to achieve your vision efficiently and effectively. They cannot help you get there if they have no idea what the destination looks like. What do you want to achieve this year? Why is it important to achieve it? What will be required of each department or individual? Encourage your team to ask questions. Allow them to own the vision by inviting their input on how best to pursue the vision.

Execute the Vision

The test of the vision is in its execution. It is good to have a great vision and to share it with your team. They may even get an emotional high at how brilliant the vision is. But if you do not lay down the plan to achieve the vision and execute it, you will remain in that state of utopia. You cannot rewrite history by remaining business as usual. A challenging vision requires energy and commitment to execute it. You will need to choose your team carefully and unapologetically drop those that hold you back. It is nothing personal, it’s just business! You must hit the ground running to give it the right momentum. It may need making a few changes along the way as the circumstances in the business environment change. In executing the vision, you must do so intentionally and with precision.

As a leader in your organisation, you are aware that you have competitors in your market. I can bet you that they have a silver bullet with your organisation's name inscribed on it. They have a plan to topple you off your position in the market place. They too have a vision and they have a plan to execute it. They are not playing games. They are stepping into the New Year, not just to do business as usual, but to take home the trophy. And so, when the sun rises in each day of 2013, you better be running to execute your vision!