DISCIPLINEplus

Within three weeks Bassey the project manager of the Seplat contract, received three public commendations from the Chief Operating Officer (COO).

This was unusual, the COO rarely commended, how much so - thrice publicly.

The operations manager - Bayo, reached out to Bassey a day after the third commendation. He wanted to know how Bassey was able to make such good impression on the COO.

”It is my team. They do most of the operational daily lifting, so I owe it all to them.” Bassey replied.

Bayo wasn’t satisfied, so he asked, “One on one, the individuals in your team aren’t smarter compared to those in mine.

"In fact, I remember you had to take on two individuals from other team, who were a pain in the neck of their team leads. And for the transformation of these two persons, after just five months working with you, the COO commended you.

"In the COO's own words, ‘Two employees penned down by HR to exit five months ago, have made significant contributions within four months. Bassey, I don’t know how you did it but whatever it is, continue bringing out the best from your team.’

"So what’s it that you do, I want to know, I need some help in bringing out the best from my own team"

Bassey printed out a one-page document, and placed it before Bayo. “ These are nine key competencies I rate myself with at the end of a work day, to enable me become a better manager the next day. You can see that three of these directly deal with how I manage team members.

"One of which is: Developing others - Ability to acknowledge and reward people’s achievements. Offer constructive feedback, mentor, coach, and offer tasks that improve key skillsets.

"I will suggest you go through these nine competencies, after which we can have a conversation on how you can comeup with competencies that you need most at this stage of your managerial role. Also, how to measure yourself on each of them each work day, till these competencies become automatic, like the air you breathe."

Do have a Productive Week.

Victor Nwaoseh

$1, 440 investment fund to a five years old means nothing. Left alone he won't invest.

$1,440 investment fund to a thirty years old means something, he will invest it. How well he invests, depends on his investment expertise.

Same way with 1,440 minutes to a five years old. He needs a guardian to dictate nearly every minute.

As an adult, how well are you investing your 1,440 minutes 'unrollable', time cheque, offered to you 12:00am every day?

Like a child?

Like an average adult?

Or like a Productivity Expert?

Do have a Productive Week.

Victor Nwaoseh

The Employee Engagement (E.E.) lead attentively listened to Ifeanyi’s grievance.

Next, the Employee Engagement (E.E.) lead replied, “From my understanding of all you said, your line manager first used the words, ‘I don’t trust you,’ when he spotted some errors on the PPE request you submitted to him for review and approval?”

Ifeanyi nodded, with the words: “And that was just two weeks of joining the organization, I was yet to find my feet.”

The E.E. lead continued, “The recent occasion, was when you submitted an updated procurement procedure?”

Ifeanyi nodded again, with the words: “I was so embarrassed, because other colleagues reporting to him received feedback within 24 hours. Mine, I was told, ‘I don’t trust you, so I have to take my time and go through this line by line.’ Been more than 72 hours, yet to receive any feedback. It’s becoming unbearably here. I am honest, I have integrity, I have never stolen anything from anyone.”

The E.E. lead looked at Ifeanyi empathically, and explained, “Honesty is just one aspect of trust. Another aspect of trust is capacity. From the scenarios you shared, your line manager has issues with your capacity to efficiently deliver tasks, with little or no corrections from him.”

The E.E. lead paused, then continued, “How many times do you check your work, before submitting it to your line manager? Ifeanyi replied, “Review? Everything is needed now, everything is top priority, where would I have time to check?

The E.E. lead adviced, “You have two choices: First, continue not to pay attention to details and don’t review your work. The result - errors will mar your work, and your line manager will have more reasons not to trust you.

"Second, pay attention to details and review your work. The result - preventable errors will drastically reduce, and overtime you will regain the trust of your line manager.”

Do have a Productive Week.

Victor Nwaoseh

Intuitive Selection.

Three candidates remained. From these three, the HR Director will pick the next employee to join Hilcom Limited.

On the day of the final interview with the HR Director, each of the three candidates had a one on one session with him and three members of the company.

Each session was between thirty to sixty minutes. Finally all three candidates had lunch with the HR Director. The following day, he made his pick.

Stella, the HR manager, approached him the next day to explain the rationale behind his selection.

Sometimes he selects the candidate with the highest paper qualifications or relevant Corporate experience Other times the second. This time around he selected the candidate with the least paper qualification and experience.

“Sir, I don’t get it? We were certain you will pick candidate A. We just included the other two for righteousness sake.

Even at that, candidate B would have been understandable, yet you went for candidate C.”

Smiling the HR Director replied, “Did Candidate C meet the minimum certification and experience?”

“Yes he did”

"So when they come to me, I don’t bother looking at their CVs. I look at salient features. During the one on one and group interaction with them, I engage their personalities. I determine how they fit into the group, our organizational culture. I seek for what drives them in life, in work."

Sandra replied, “How do you know all these? People can put up a front.”

“Very true. During my early years using this approach, picking the ideal candidate had a 40% probability. Now as the company can attest, it has risen to 85%.”

Sandra nodded in agreement.

“That’s where intuition comes in. And one’s intuitive ability in a field becomes better with distilled experience.”

Do have a Productive Week

Victor Nwaoseh