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Creating a Feminine Culture in your Organization

Wed, 22 Jul 2015 Source: Brako-Powers, Kwabena

Consulting groups are increasingly inundated by organizations facing challenges in areas such as leadership, team work, motivation, attitudes, timing, quality assurance, input and production. It has become necessary because unlike the 18th to early 20th Centuries, management of organizations have come to terms with the dictum that ‘nothing is built to last’. More so when companies deemed to be in good health in terms of accounting purposes folded up and evaporated into the annals of ‘it was here some’ representing a history of businesses that have foundered either by non-performance or a result of dishonest accounts kept by management or both. High profits margin or nothing was their motive.

However, Fortune 500 companies’ desirable of outlasting their competitors should consider creating a feminine culture as an antibiotic for leadership malaise. Competitiveness in the world industries has heightened for good and the least mistake from an organization will send it crushing down the feet of others dismembered. The fear of avoiding some of these unavoidable incidents has sent institutions advocating for a more resolute and immovable leadership which will stand opposed to the monsoon. They have created a masculine leadership oriented towards assertiveness, monetary-focus, command and obey, and the end results. They have ignited the antiquated ‘master-servant’ relationship which has no end benefit but the dis-appropriation of the employees sending them further into misery and unnecessary infightings with the organization thereby wasting production hours on baseless conflict management meetings. Meetings to prevent the chin (organization) from burning.

We were recruited to research on a school in Ghana that was performing well but was later sinking down below its competitors. In the middle of the work the main causative agent of the non-performance of the school presented itself to us. Leadership. The school’s non-performance was largely due to poor leadership or put it this way, poor mental attitude of the leaders. Leaders upon leaders have resulted to ‘divide and rule’ theory which died with the passing of the 16th Century and caused frequent infightings in the school leaving the founders of the school worried, frightened, sordid and unnecessarily in a thinking mood. We disclosed to the new leader that if he were to succeed in areas his predecessors failed he’d to be feminine. He needed to create a ‘FemCult’ in his organization.

The future of corporations in this world is feminine. Every organization motivated to last, outperform its competitors and unsettle the market anytime it introduces new products and services should create a feminine culture. The partners of production the 2Es (Employers and Employees) always have to be on the same side. Now there may be disagreements between employers and employees but the long aim should not be to displease the other. Creating a feminine culture entails concern for others, emotional intelligence, attention to details, well organized processes, and environmental consciousness. It is the explanation to highly productive companies. We need to orient members of the 2Es to show concern for not only the performance health of their organizations but also the welfare of one another. We so need one another. Coming down to the level of employees as the owner of any organization doesn’t make you one. It only makes you a superior leader and a thoughtful one. Covering yourself with leaves doesn’t make you one. Like soldiers in an enemy’s terrain, it only helps to conceal your presence from attack. And yes often times we need to think like employees to sympathize with them. Occasionally, we need to dine, and dance with them but also indulge them. They need to feel, hear, and see us in them. Sometimes persons who have been employees before make bad leaders as they tend to vent their past spleen on their new subordinates. This calls for the nobler of characters inside of you. We need to aim for quality of relationships in our organizations.

We need to focus our leaders’ attention to developing some of the characters and attitudes that are feminine in quality. We need persons to be assertive, and monetary focus to help achieve the profit margin objective of the organization but we also need quality relationships and attention to details to achieve all that. Remember that at the end of everything, it falls back on our people however mean our attitudes towards them. We have to create the balance which is so important in the competitive market. Nature is balanced and beckons us to follow in her lead. Let each man be feminine. And let each woman be masculine.

Columnist: Brako-Powers, Kwabena