Africa has for a long time been seen as the continent where democracy is a mere dream and far much beyond reality. I must admit that this mentality greatly affects the path of politics in this wealthy continent. Believe it or not, there are great similarities between campus and national politics in Africa. If you ever want to predict what will be the outcome of the elections in any Africa country, just spend quality time studying the politics in the local African universities. It is sad to note that this happens mostly because of the deep rooted tribalism in these countries. African politics is a dangerous affair where ethnicity is the order of the day. They say that politics is a dirty game; you will not know how dirty it is until you know what happens at the back of most African politics.
The most frightening thing is the reality that ethnicity greatly affects campus politics, the place where most of the African leaders are molded and trained to take responsibilities in the national leadership. I would not expect leaders who survived on tribal lines during their years in campus to change when they climb the leader. We have known students leaders to be people who promise heaven, pretending to be reformists and delivering hell during their term in leadership. I have found this characteristic in most African leaders. They are only seen in their constituencies during campaigns with a packet of maize flour and sugar, after which they disappear till the last year towards the end of their term. What Africa needs to learn is that the rat and cat game that most leaders are fond of playing should be brought to a stop.
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION
Everyone is a leader in his own ability and capacity. The success behind any kind of organization is effective leadership and administration. However, there are people who are born as leaders but it's important to note that leadership and administration is an art and every art can be learnt. I have met many people who never thought of being leaders but have effectively learnt the art of leadership and emerged as leaders to be admired.
In any kind of leadership, the first area of effective administration is the administration of funds. Be it in business, government departments, church or any other kind of organization, you will have the most effective leadership if you learn to use the funds properly. If any of your employees wants to paralysis your operations and bring down decades your leadership, the first place to target is your finance or/and accounting department. Your employees in this area should therefore be people of integrity and who have internalized the vision of your organization.
The second area that determines how effective you will be in your leadership is managing people. The human resource directly affects the operations of your organization. You must begin by placing every employee in the department where he/she will work best. You therefore begin by identifying where to place your staff. This means that an effective leader is close his or her staff and spends time them. After placing them in their rightful places, you need to monitor their performance. Performance of your staff is closely tied to motivation. Every employee needs to be motivated. This entails different strategies. Know which kind of motivation to use. It is not necessary to promise your staff a reward for good performance. This may bring in unhealthy competition, hatred and lack of cooperation between staff who want to out-do each other. Therefore reward unexpectedly.
Motivation may be as cheap to the organization as recognition, but make sure you recognize a staff in the midst of others. Do not do it in a closed office. It may not serve the purpose. Other strategies may include promotions, gifts, added responsibilities and increase in salary. You must also ensure that your staffs are working as a team. Working together ensures the staffs are focused towards the goals of the organization.
Effective leaders give an ear to every stakeholder of the organization. Know that the whole organization is looking on you to give direction. Begin by listening to every stakeholder then give a direction. Sometimes it's necessary to give directions basing on what you believe is best for the organization regardless of other peoples views. But this should not be always because it does not mean that you are always right. Conflict resolution strategies are important. Know that there will always arise conflicts. The win/win strategy works best for most organizations. Therefore make sure that each of the conflicting parties does not feel offended.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
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