Aspects of Good Leadership

Ghana has many good universities, polytechnics and other higher institutes of learning. Ghana is also blessed with so many talented, gifted, brainy and intelligent men and women, so why are we suffering from poor leadership? We lament and criticize but no one is offering any meaningful solutions or suggestions as to how the leadership and management challenges can be overcome.

I strongly believe the reason for the poor leadership in Ghana is the attitude of those in leadership and management positions. It has been said that “your qualifications will get you the job, but your attitude will make you succeed. However, apart from a positive attitude, solid management principles are still fundamental to any manager/Leader’s success.

If you are manager or a leader, and in your efforts to refine your managerial skills, don’t aim for perfection or try to imitate someone else’s style. Instead, determine how you might become an even better version of the manager/leader you already are. Here are some strategies to try:

Lead by example, if you want your employees to work hard and push themselves to excel, you must be willing to do the same. Set high standards for performance and hold yourself to them. Be an example in terms of time management, client/customer service and creative approaches to problem-solving. Set a professional tone by treating everyone – your peers, staff members, customers and vendors – with equal respect and courtesy.

Establish clear expectations. Make sure your employees understand their individual responsibilities and how they contribute to achieving the company’s goals. Explain the criteria you will use for performance evaluations so your team knows what you expect.

Set up your employees for success. Professional growth, Take the time to find out each staff member’s career aspirations and motivations, then find ways to help them achieve their objectives. Share authority and responsibility to give individuals the chance to develop new skills and prepare for more-complex roles. Delegating tasks and involving your employees in decision-making and planning are other ways to enable them to build their professional skills. Mentor promising employees so they can eventually move into leadership roles,

Keep an open door. Ask your team to come to you with any problems, and work at becoming a better listener so you can readily identify employee’s concerns, even when they are not stated directly. When employees believe their voices will be heard, they are more likely to perform at their best. Also remember that communication goes both ways. Ask your staff to give you timely status report and feedback about difficulties or challenges they experience.

Give employees more autonomy. Your responsibility is to provide strategic vision, establish goals, clarify objectives and set expectations. Your main focus is results, not process, and so try not to become overly involved in how your employees perform their jobs. Give clear directions and guidance, then step back and allow team members to put their own talents to work.

Criticize with care. In a perfect would, your employees would do their jobs flawlessly. But the reality is that they will make mistakes, miss deadlines and forget to provide you with important information. When the time comes to criticize, make it your goal to preserve the individual’s dignity. Meet in private and allow him/her to explain what led to the error. Rather than assigning blame, reframe a mistake or failure as a lesson and focus on what the employee might do differently in the future. (Always remember, praise in public and rebuke in private)

Acknowledge both effort and achievement. No matter what their position or level of experience, all professionals appreciate recognition, particularly when they’ve put in extra time or effort. With a single sincere statement (You’re doing a great job, and I appreciate your hard work), you can help your staff sustain productivity and stay on schedule, even during times of peak activity. Sounds simple but it works. At staff meetings, congratulate individuals and project teams on their accomplishments. But don’t just wait for formal occasions. Spread the word whenever a member of the company achieves something import. For example, if one of your employees attains advance certification, publicize it in the employee newsletter or on your company website/page. Personal milestones are often inspirational and worth acknowledging, too. For example, offer congratulations if several of your employees participate in a community activity to raise funds for charity

One of the areas we desperately need competent leadership in Ghana is customer/client service/care. Great customer service is a must in today’s competitive climate. Smart companies know the importance of paying attention to the quality of service their employees provide to customers. However, they are missing a step in the process if they ignore the importance of internal customer satisfaction.

So, what is internal customer service? And who are the internal customers? Your company’s internal customers are the departments, divisions, sections, and teams within your organization that need to support each other in order to provide the best service to the external customer.

Great internal customer service requires all employees to be responsive, to communicate, and to work as a team to provide the highest quality of service. How can departments and groups within the company promote a united front to help meet the needs of the company’s customers? Here are a few questions for managers/Leaders to think about:

a) Who are my internal customers and what do they expect from me?

b) How well do I provide other departments and colleagues with service and information to help them do their jobs?

c) Do I listen to their concerns and seek to understand what they need?

d) How can I be flexible in meeting their demands?

e) Do I treat my internal customers like partners rather than adversaries?

f) How well do I participate in solving problems so that everyone wins and most of all, that the organization succeeds?

g) How can I make it easy for both my internal and external customers to do business with me?

So often, we look at our internal customers’ requests as time wasters or roadblocks to meeting the needs of the “real” customer. You know how it goes – your customer asks for his/her buying history and you want to respond promptly. However, when you request the information from the Purchasing Department, they tell you they can’t get you that information for at least a week because they are too busy. This kind of internal service leads to anger and frustration. For those departments that may not generally deal directly with the customer, the sense of urgency is not the same as the department who is talking to the customer now.

Consider these dos and don’ts that help strengthen internal customer service.

DON’T complain in front of customers. It gives them the impression that your organization isn’t run well, undermining their confidence in you.

DON’T place blame on a co-worker or another department when dealing with external customers. No one wants to patronize an organization whose employees give appearance of not getting along with each other.

DO build alliance between departments. Get to know each other on a friendly level.

DO use postmortems after completing projects so everyone can learn from the experience. Fences can be mended and new understandings built when everyone reviews what went right and what went wrong, and strong bonds can be developed while the experience is still fresh.

DO build sense of partnership with others in your organization. Ask internal customers how you might serve them better and let them know what would be helpful to you as well. No matter what department you work in, the goal should be the same – to serve the external customer to the best of your ability.

By improving internal customer service you can enhance the level of service your external customer. Believe it or not, it all counts. Now, how does this all add up? Business demands that managers/leaders do more than just manage work. They have to lead people by engaging, influencing, collaborating and guiding. Factor in these elements and the answer to aspects of leadership is clear. Embracing the expended role with a positive attitude brings success to leaders and Ghana for that matter.

God bless Ghana, and long live Ghana.

Komla – The Peace Broker.