Paying It Forward

eodera
October 13, 2022
#lifecoach, #pmp #lizodera1, #sadilioval, #strategic, #tennis, leadership

“I just want to learn“
Meet Adongo – a young Sadili Changemaker

I first met Adongo, then only just 18 years old, during a Girl PowerCubs Camp which was held at our facility in Nairobi, Kenya. Adongo, an extremely talented footballer, who was unable to complete school, and had been sneaked into the program by the football coach from the village her village in Uholo Location, to the west of Kenya (more than 7 hours from Nairobi City). We found out from her coach that Adongo was an orphan. When the teams returned, Adongo never left with them, and instead was hosted by one of our project staff in what I believed was a short break.

As a community sports club, we often had most of our clients coming during the weekends. A large majority of our clients are people who work, and their children attend school, during the week. We therefore had our largest groups on weekends. Sadili Oval, as a social enterprise, thrives through the weekend patrons who pay to train, attend tournaments or use the facilities for events. Some funds would then be used to run life skills and sports training for children in nearby Kibra. Adongo would come in to provide support during these activities, and sometimes join in as an excited learner. Adongo adopted us and never left!

Recognising Value

Adongo at a life skills training session in Kibra

After about 4 months, Adongo started to show real interest in the other daily activities at the club, and she would volunteer where help was required. We began to realise that we had a “happy helper’ amongst us! She supported the training of gym members coming during evening classes, cleaning and mopping up where necessary. She also showed a lot of interest in the swimming pool, and persuaded one of our instructors to teach her to swim and learn to maintain the pool during the less busy hours, in exchange for her help when the pool was busy. I included her during my tennis lessons, and she was mentored in basketball by Sadili’s Kenyan national player, Zack Okong’o Basil. Everyone found her a very likeable and useful young person.

One time I asked “ Adongo, I’m curious, why is it that you are always here?” And she answered, “I only want to learn, and I’ve found an opportunity to do it here.” I found that a really interesting answer.

Our background checks showed that Adongo came from an extremely poor background, and if it wasn’t for the opportunity she had to come and work with us, she would suffer greatly. We arranged to give her some work on part time basis during the week, whenever possible, and provided her with a small allowance. Within two years, Adongo was able to improve her writing and English language skills, get herself certified as a gym and tennis instructor, through our training programs, and she grew into a very confident young lady. Today she manages the swimming pool and runs beginner tennis lessons. She continues to mentor children in Kibra, where she is very popular. She is also sending money back home to care for her siblings and ensure that they get an education.

Adongo’s willingness to learn, combined with her commitment to duty, has made her successful. Learning sometimes is not about going into a college or classroom setting. A lot of times, it is just about being aware of what is happening around you, learning from it, and using that to improve yourself. Adongo is ready to pay it forward…

No Comments

Leadership, Management

D For DISCIPLINE

eodera
November 8, 2017
#coach, #development #sporteanddev, #lifecoach, #lizodera1, #pmp #lizodera1, #strategic, leadership, responsibility

When I got my first major leadership position, I was excited about making an impact. I was put in charge of a staff of 27 members, many who had more on the job experience than my own age. I tried my best to build teamwork, prepare schedules that would suit individual strengths and programmed in individual and group training. Our performance shot up steadily and by the end of the second year, other competing units began to sit up and take notice. But even then something else was happening that would ultimately show me how much success can be dangerous to the leader.

In an effort to keep up the steady improvement in performance, I attended various seminars, where I learnt how important it was to “know your staff individually”. I took it very seriously, and deliberately assigned time to meet each member of staff regularly. I felt pleased when, after some time, I would be invited to special family activities: kids’ graduations, christenings, and birthday parties. A couple of the senior staff members, Samuel and Jonah, and I often met as members of the same club, and played football together. However, after a while, I began to notice that Samuel was coming to work increasingly late, sometimes by as much as 2 hours, while Jonah kept rarely submitted his weekly report by the Friday deadline, instead shifting it to late Mondays or Tuesdays. I requested for change verbally and eventually through a memo. They came to my office, apologized, and soon went make to their bad habits. It was beginning to affect the behavior of the rest of the staff.

Then three weeks later, for reasons that no one could gather, Samuel and Jonah could never agree on anything. I tried to bring them together, mistakenly thinking that I could broker a truce and, eventually hold the already fractured staff together. That was the biggest mistake I ever made. If I mentioned that one person was right, the other would take it that l was taking unfair sides and this would lead to resentment. There was no peace.

Eventually, both Jonah and Samuel quit their jobs in a huff and taking some of their supporters with them. I was distraught. Our results plunged for the first two quarters of the year, and it looked like the rest of the year was going to be disastrous.

I learned on valuable lesson: I may have self-discipline, but I had failed to instill discipline amongst my staff consistently, in an effort to be accepted. The fact that staff was now more familiar with me should not have meant that they could act in the disrespectful manner that they had adopted. I had lost the ability to control them.

During the next three months, I engaged new senior staff, and helped them engage the lower cadre officers for their respective sections. I also set new conditions and trained all staff on their doe of conduct. By the end of the year, we succeeded in beating our targets, and once again our unit topped the performance charts.

Here are some of lessons about discipline and leadership:

Set up golden rules of behavior and stick to them. These rules will often stem from your organizations Code of Conduct or similar documents.
Do not operate under two separate rules where you have discipline, yet your staff can get away with breaking expected code of behavior. Make it a practice to train your staff and then ensure that they know that you will act to discipline poor behavior. Take action immediately a staff member fails to follow the required ethic of behavior. This ensures consistent acceptable behavior modification.
As a leader, you always have the option to drop undisciplined staff, and seek support to recruit and train new members. Even when you do not have direct responsibility, seek the necessary support from those in charge to support your section to act immediately.

If you wish to learn more about becoming a stronger leader, or exchange views, please write a comment below

No Comments

Coach, Leadership, Management

C for COMMUNICATION

eodera
November 1, 2017
#communication, #development #sporteanddev, #lifecoach, #pmp #lizodera1, #strategic, leadership

I sighed deeply. It was going to be yet another difficult morning, with endless complaints about the manner in which Flo treated the students and colleagues. I stepped out into the hallway and gasped at the long line of people trailing around the building and all the way to my door. “Anyone who does not have any story about Flo can come to the front of the line,” I said loudly. “For the rest of you, just know that I am meeting with her now, so just go back to your work or study. You will be contacted.”

I walked stepped back into my office, shut the door firmly, and turned to face an angry Flo. “You are too soft on them. They think that they can get past me with excuses, which they never will!” I looked at Flo calmly, and after a long stare into each other’s eyes, she glanced down. “Flo, help me understand this,” I asked quietly. ”Were you following the normal schedule while allocating work last week?”

“Of course!” exclaimed Flo defensively, “No more, no less!”.

“Flo, just hold on. You know that I left you in charge because I trust you to get work done well. Would you care to explain, then, why the complaints?” I asked quietly.

Flo looked down at her hands and said fretfully, “They don’t listen”.

“Don’t worry Flo,” I smiled, “Its just about communication, lets try and make it work.”

That morning, I gave Flo some important but very simple points to note, which I am sharing with you.

What is the information that you wish to communicate. Be clear about what the information is. Is it generalized, or could it be broken down into specifics that are easily taken up by individual members? Often team members may already know the basics, but need to understand clearly what their role is. This therefor means that you are able to see where the team is, and where you wish them to be. Now just stay on topic!
Why do you wish to communicate it: Its important that both you and the person you are communicating with understand the reason behind a desired action. This is when the overall picture should come into focus, and then each team member get more detailed information about why his or her input is required. An answer like. “because Madam said so” or “Because its your job” is often met with resistance.
To whom do you wish to communicate the information: When speaking to individuals, try to remember that people are not all the same. Much depends on their character and attitude. Since they are people you work with daily, you sometimes make assumptions about them that may not be true. Put on imaginary spectacles and really try to study and understand where each person is coming from, what are his/her outlook and culture, and therefore how he/she react to the information that you wish to share. Be an active listener, take time to understand the issues that your team member brings up, it will help you gauge how far he/she actually understood what you were communicating.
How do you wish to communicate it: try to stay on even ground, and ensure that what you are passing on is being understood clearly. Talk in a manner and language that can be understood, and be sure that you have put the steps together correctly, and not mixed up. If an argument ensues, try not to have the last word. Perhaps it’s not the right moment: give it a little time or simple change the focus to something of interest to the person and then get back to the subject again. And remember to thank each person!

It’s important at all times, that you speak in a calm manner. Flo is a fast speaker with a high voice that quickly shakes under pressure. I got her to practice speaking in an even tone, calmly and quietly. Then we worked on how to animate her voice, to encourage and energize. And most of all, to show staff that she appreciates their input.

Working with Flo was a joy, mainly because she loved her job, and all she needed to do is to focus on sharing her enthusiasm, rather that argue with other staff. I’m confident that Flo will make a great leader, as she builds her skills for communication.

If you wish to learn more about becoming a stronger leader, or exchange views, please write a comment below

3 Comments

Leadership, Management

R for Risk Assessment

eodera
October 26, 2017
#development, #lifecoach, #lizodera1, #pmp, #risk, #sportanddev, #strategic, leadership, responsibility

“Pato is coming!” shouted Grace as she burst into the staff break room, where her colleagues were busy having lunch and chatting quietly. Everyone turned and stared at her mutely, then John asked idly, “Is this one of you jokes? April Fool Day was 4 months ago”, John remarked doubtfully.

“No, really, I’m serious this time.” Grace looked around and sighed. Just then Peter, the Project Manager, stepped into the room smiling, “It is true, we have been asked to host a special event, to honor Patrick’s return to our community.” The atmosphere in the room lightened visibly, and everyone was jubilating with a lot of fist pumping and hand slapping. Everyone knew Patrick Masimba: he was a local hero since he got signed up for a major team in the Premier League. Now every football player want to be “Pato” as he was affectionately called. Rumors had been flying around that he was coming into the country to visit his mother, whose home was in a town about 2 miles away.

“We are lucky we have been chosen to welcome him home,” Moses piped in, and everyone nodded. “He arrives in two days” said Peter, “How much can we do within that time?” John looked at his watch quickly and said. “If Peter can agree to extend our break for another half hour, we may be able to come up with a plan.” Peter nodded and stepped back and watched as someone pulled out a paper and pen and everyone settled down quickly to thinking. John said, “I will go to the Accountant and find out how much we are able to spend on this activity.”

Ten minutes later, John stepped back and watched sadly the animated voices that filled the room. They turn in unison and he cleared is throat. “I’m sorry guys, here is all that is available to budget for this.” And the placed a sheet of paper in the center of the table. “Oh no” cried Grace, as they all leaned in, “how are we expected to make this happen? The amount you are mentioning is not nearly enough’.

Well, said Amos, the M & E Officer pushing away the notes he had been taking, and reaching out for a plain sheet of paper. Why don’t we look at the pros and cons of hosting Pato, and the best possible solution? There is always a risk to actions; we just need to work out if it’s beneficial or not. Lets do a risk assessment!”

“What does that even mean?”, Grace impatiently asked. Is it one of your M & E tests?” and everyone laughed. “Actually”, John said, taking a seat at the table, “Amos is right, its just a simple way to ensure that we are not exposing ourselves and our organization to bad surprises. Do we all agree that this is a good surprise?” Everyone nodded. Okay, then here is a list of questions that you could ask yourselves before we decide if we can go ahead and host this homecoming event”, as he quickly jotted down some points.

Here is his list:

Outline your organizations vision and goals
Make a list of what your organization does.
Is the proposed event in line with your organization’s goals?
Figure out what could go wrong if you carried out this event. Is that likely or unlikely to happen?
How bad would that be for your organization?
If likely or costly, how can you make it less likely or less costly? Is that likely or unlikely to happen?
How good would the event be for your organization?
How can you make it more likely or more helpful for your organization?

Almost one hour later, everyone agreed that it made for sense to have another local organization whose mandate was a better fit, take over the main event, only providing a small portion of the program to lend focus to their organization’s activities.

If you wish to learn more about becoming a stronger leader, or exchange views, please write a comment below

No Comments

Tag : #strategic