Archives 2022

This November – December 2022, we have been treated to the usual United Africa scenes that come into play on rare occasions every four years occasioned by the fanaticism of the world cup and sometimes the Olympics. This season is one of those rare seasons where we can truly see the spirit of a United Africa, which has eluded the political players and continues to be a dream of the future. When we see Africa rallying behind Senegal, Cameroon, and Ghana, sticking with Morocco all the way and praying that they become the first African country to win the world cup is one of the most remarkable unity that needs to be embraced fully and learnings picked by our political players to actualize and encourage political and economic integration in the African continent. The “sportsmanship” in Africa has achieved the elusive goal that the “politicalship” in Africa has been searching for for years.

• To promote the unity and solidarity of the African States – we see this every time in Olympics, where Africa unites and cheer-up the Africans. We see this in World Cups, where we lay down our singular countries’ agenda and support African countries to solder on and on.

• To coordinate and intensify their cooperation and efforts to achieve a better life for the peoples of Africa – we see many African Athletes individually and collectively coming back home and supporting their communities and fellow countrymen, women and children in various ways in community development and empowerment.

The dream of a United Africa stems from colonialism in the 1900s to post-colonialism. Africa’s founding fathers and Presidents were among the early advocates of Pan-Africanism through the Organization of African Unity. That dream of pan-Africanism remains “a dream”. Yes, there has been considerable development in the steps towards its achievement, but the actualization has been hampered by a lack of political trust and goodwill based on self-fish ambitions. Several issues, as a result, remain unactualized. In the review below, I only pick 5 concerns that can transform Africa if a united front is enhanced as an agenda.

It is our business as Africa to help the many vulnerable communities in our continent adapt to climate change through concrete solutions with us and within us. A United Africa can address its food security concerns, support its vulnerable communities, and chart a path to overcome climate challenges by providing climate change financing, resources and tools that will effectively actualize climate change actions in Africa.

Africa has the capability to resolve its internal conflicts experienced in various countries. The consequences of long-term conflict in many parts of the African continent pose serious security threats to the peace efforts in the continent and the actualization of the elusive Pan-Africanism agenda. Africa has the potential to avert its internal refugee crisis. Sustainable peace and stability in Africa are imperative for a united Africa.

Africa is not underrepresented in global trade, as alluded to in many circles. Africa is either undercutting itself or being undercut in the global trade arena. There have been considerable efforts to improve this position through the effective formation and implementation of The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) mandate. However, the actualization of the mandate to fully realize the intended benefits are still hampered by ongoing negotiations on various protocols, majorly due to political trust and goodwill issues. A united Africa can significantly boost regional trade and economic development through various goodwill vehicles, including the new Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) developed by Afreximbank and the AfCFTA Secretariat.

This remains the biggest threat to the actualization of a United Africa agenda. Over the last two years alone, Africa has experienced military takeover coups that have fueled increased instability in the continent. There has been a considerable push for resolution and commitment to transition the affected states back to civilian leadership by holding democratic elections, but the efforts are still slow. Over ten African countries held elections of one sort or another this year, and most have transitioned well against all odds, demonstrating maturity and commitment to democratic governance in Africa.  A united Africa can continue to hold each other’s hand, and with such vehicles like “The African Peer Review Mechanism”, which is the continent’s arm on good governance monitoring and promotion, the continent can make strides in its application of good governance moving into the future.

Covid-19 pandemic was a bitter-sweet crisis in Africa with immense learnings and opportunities to take advantage of. Strengthening the continent’s digital economies is no longer an option but a priority. A united Africa must address the growing inequalities and help reduce divides within and across African digital economies. A united Africa must prioritize the risks of increased reliance on global digital economies by supporting expanding its African telecoms infrastructure connecting Africa’s unconnected while addressing the costs of access concerns. A united Africa must prioritize new and relevant digital economic policy efforts moving into the future.

However relevant, the above concerns and trends are pulled back from the full realization by two critical issues affecting our United Approach as a continent – The scarcity of Credible and Collaborative leaders. Moreover, the few there are either not raising their voice loud enough for sense to be understood within relevant circles, or have been compromised and resorted to letting go.

Watch for my new opinion blog in early 2023 as I delve more into Credible and Collaborative leadership in Africa. How can African countries’ presidents rise to the occasion and spearhead the United Africa Front to propel Africa to its deserved position? Finally, on the need for African Presidents to invest more in non-political advisors and professional coaches to enable them to navigate effectively past the political dilemmas.

Gilbert Ang’ana; CEO at Accent Leadership Group (ALG), a Multi-Award Winning Global Change Leadership Practitioner, PhD Scholar in Leadership, and Author of “Engaged & Productive” Book. www.stepafrique.com

I attended a leadership talk recently organized by BCA leadership where the guest speaker, Dr Mongezi from Africa Board for coaching consulting and coaching psychology (ABCCCP), posed this question, and the leaders in the forum, who were majorly senior leaders and executives across Africa, shared “Fear” and related sisters of “fear” as a significant obstacle. The next question that followed was, “What would you want to see as the future of Africa – one word?”. Most leaders again mentioned “Prosperous” and other related words.

These two inquiries caught me thinking a lot, and I am still at that point where I feel I need to dig deeper into conducting an empirical inquiry to understand this further. However, the two answers show the dilemma in leadership. Many of us leaders wish for the best outcome in our leadership, teams, organizations, nations and other fields. However, we are blocked from taking those steps immediately in our face by the aspect of our “Fear”. Fear is the Enemy!

Many leaders’ obvious counter-question is, “why should I push myself yet other leaders are not and are doing well?”

Our comfort zone is comfortable!

The reality is that this is also a known fact to leaders. They know that their comfort zone will not foster their growth. Many also know when they have reached their comfort zone but cannot move beyond it because of “Fear” and the related sisters of “Fear”, which are their disbelief, esteem, and self-confidence, among others. When leaders do the same things every day for a very long time, their comfort zone starts to shrink and somehow, the things that seemed comfortable to them start being uncomfortable. That is why we see that when leaders are stuck in the same position for a very long time, they start feeling uneasy, routine-like, and have this inner desire to move to a new role, either horizontal or upward, to move past that discomfort.

I later got hold of the below diagram from the internet (not my own), which helps to explain the concept of this article, “The Bumpy Road to Better”. When we challenge ourselves to undertake assignments, do uncomfortable things, and consistently stay on that path, we move from the comfort zone into the zone of fear but still soldering on consistently. The fear zone is where you are not clear of the outcome of your actions yet, but at least you are clear that if you consistently manage to pass through the fear, there is a likelihood of tremendous success ahead. At some point, the fear zone comprises failures, but when you fail forward and pick out the learnings and re-engineer yourself and your self-leadership, you will in no time push yourself to the learning zone.

I remember it took me much time due to fear to step out and start my full-time Coaching and Consulting practice in Change Leadership due to fear. I had a lot going on in my mind. How will I take care of my family? How will I manage to cover my so addicted hgh monthly salary when I leave formal employment? Is there a market for me, among other fear-related queries? However, I still soldiered on, with my laid-out plans, having faith and belief in my vision – “Building a movement of leaders whose power of influence will far exceed the authority of their positions” and here I am, a few years down the line, having touched many lives, impacted many leaders across Africa and the Worl and provoking many emerging leaders to live and lead their purpose and blessed to have both global and regional recognitions in the process.

Imagine, if I had not taken the Bumpy Road…what would have happened to all leaders and emerging leaders we have bumped across along the journey? What would have happened to all those young leaders I have interacted and have enjoyed a piece of my journey? What will happen to those organizations I have supported to redesign their structure, strategy, culture and are doing well now?

As individuals and leaders, we must always understand that the Bumpy Road we go through is for the Better. If the road were smooth and there would be no fear, then there would not be any revolution today. There would be no inventions and innovations that have been there and are still to come. All great things come with sacrifice, sacrificing to soldier on even with fear. The consequence is to cry during failure and pick up the pieces and still push ahead – fail forward. The consequence of engraving your purpose and vision deep inside you is still dynamic enough to walk the journey in cognizance of the dynamism presented.

Anything worthwhile is uphill – John Maxwell.

There is no improvement without challenge. To keep the focus and grow past your comfort zone, to fear zone to learning to growth zone;

1. Do what needs to be done more consistently. The more focused you are on the purpose and vision, the more likely you will release your fear and pick the learnings in the process.
2. Do it more intensely. Once you find your rhythm, keep intense, and have an open mind for learning and picking out what needs to be resolved along the journey. However, keep the intense higher. This is what pushes you beyond the learning zone.
3. Do it for a longer period. The learning zone is not a run-quick zone. It is a cyclic zone of persistent learning and unlearning untill you become the expert – The Power of Focus!

In the whole process, as you walk through this journey – The Bumpy Road to Better, always ask yourself the following questions that I borrowed from Marshall Goldsmiths: Are you doing your best to:

1. Be happy along the bumpy road to better?
2. Find and sustain your purpose and meaning as you move towards better.
3. Be fully committed and engaged in walking the bumpy road to better.
4. Build valuable relationships with others who might be critical enablers to push you beyond your fear zone to your growth zone.

These ingredients can enable you to move beyond the fear zone to the growth zone in any situation. These are the enables to help you understand that your Bumpy Road is for the Better if you keep the focus, consistency and valuable relationships along the journey.

About the Author

Gilbert Ang’ana is a Global award-winning Change Leadership Coach & Consultant and the CEO of Accent Leadership Group, a Leadership Consulting and Advisory firm championing Leadership Advocacy in Africa and Beyond through Coaching, Training, Speaking and Research. He has authored four books, including an upcoming “Engaged and Productive”. He is also an adjunct lecturer of leadership at ACTs University in Rwanda. Interact with him through LinkedIn and learn more about his organization at www.stepafrique.com

I have had most of my early leadership leading employees contracted to undertake specific roles, achieve specific shared objectives, and are paid for that. This, as much as there are definite teething issues in such leaders, is possibly a much fair leadership role. The employees and you as a leader have something to lose for non-performance and not achieving the intended goals. The repercussions could range from poor performance rating, lack of remuneration increment, lack of commissions and worse termination of employment contract due to persistent non-performance. These repercussions also drive employees and their leaders to strive for something and attempt to achieve their shared goals.

However, this is different when leading volunteers. It takes a lot of effort and influence for the leader to implant in the volunteers’ hearts and minds the value of the shared goals and the importance of striving to attain the intended outcome. Ideally, the volunteers may have no tied motivation towards the outcome. The volunteers are not on contractual terms. The leader has no power to hold anything against them. The leader cannot punish the volunteers. The volunteers are not obligated in any way to put in their optimal efforts and resources towards the attainment of the intended goals. This makes the dynamics of leading volunteers different and therefore requires some enhanced leadership capabilities and competencies to align and achieve an exceptional outcome with volunteers.

In the last three years, I have successfully run various programs with volunteers and am currently involved in various leadership avenues with a majority of my constituents as volunteers. Over the last 5 years, I have been heavily involved in various leadership platforms where my primary constituents are volunteers and this has enabled me to Unlearn and re-learn how to effectively lead volunteers to successfully achieve the desired goals. My unlearning and re-learning journey was definitely bumpy and the reason is sharing some of my practical takeouts that can enable a leader somewhere looking at leading volunteers, or currently leading volunteers and those who have had some experience and struggling to find their path and even those experienced leaders leading volunteers, there is always something new to learn. Below are five essentials traits for understanding when leading volunteers.

Be Catalytic and Humble

A catalytic leader takes charge of tasks without bearing down on the constituents. To lead volunteers, you must develop catalytic behaviour. Lead without emphasizing your authority or acting superior. A catalytic leader leads through coaching and mentorship. Your role should partner and provoke your constituents into finding their intrinsic motivation and link to the shared or intended goal. Without enabling your volunteers to unpack their intrinsic motivation and support them in linking their motives to the shared outcome, chances are that they will not be of value as volunteers. To achieve success in leading volunteers, being catalytic in a humble way is your path to success. This will enable connecting with your constituents, reduce fear or disdain for authority, and your constituents will feel more comfortable and confident interacting with you as their leader and motivated enough to match together in delivering the success of the shared goals.

Love and Appreciate your Constituents

Many leaders that I have encountered and even coached find it difficult dealing with “loving” their teams. They feel that loving their teams will weaken their focus and authority. They feel that loving their teams exposes them to a high level of vulnerability risk than they are willing to take. The reality is that if you do not love the team you are leading, you are barely influencing them. If you do not love your team, you are not connecting with them to levels where they can give their optimal efforts in delivering intended success. You are barely utilizing their optimal intelligence and, in this case, collective intelligence. You cannot lead volunteers if you do not love them. If you do not truly love your constituents, you cannot genuinely appreciate them and the efforts they put towards delivering a shared goal. There is no other remuneration to give volunteers than to genuinely love and appreciate every effort they put towards achieving the shared outcome. The more authentic you love and appreciate your constituents, the higher the effort and risk they will take in delivering the shared goal.    

Crystalize a Purpose in your Constituents

Volunteers, in most cases, are with you because of the shared alignment on the course you are taking. They believe the course is aligned with their values. Therefore, cementing and crystalizing that shared understanding and values in their hearts will enable them to see the worthy purpose in walking with you towards achieving the shared values. When you take the lead in crystalizing the purpose in enabling them to understand that the course they are taking is worth dying for and living for, there is a high likelihood that they will be fully engaged and productive as you match together. However, some courses are not dying and living for, and if, as a leader, you do not crystalize the course as a purpose worth pursuing together with your constituents, they will temporarily walk with you and drop you off. They may feel that the initial attachment was just one of their curiosity sparks and realize it is not worth pursuing, dying and living for. To lead your constituents who are volunteers for a sustained, extended period, enable them to crystalize their purpose in understanding that the shared course is worth dying and living for.   

Be both a Courageous Leader and a Follower  

A courageous leader builds courageous followers. In my youtube channel – Accent Leadership Group, I have extensively addressed this discussion of courageous followership through various brief episodes. Kindly find time and check it out. However, in brief, Courageous leaders “ are individuals who are capable of making themselves better and stronger when the stakes are high, and circumstances turn against them,” says Harvard Business School Professor Nancy Koehn. Leading volunteers require you to develop courageous leadership. Courageous leaders create a culture of trust and respect. This is what will enable your volunteer constituents to follow you. Courageous leaders foster the development and evolution of their constituents. This, in turn, leads to an accelerated push towards attaining the shared goals. However, courageous leaders are also courageous followers of their constituents. They acknowledge that they may not entirely know everything and believe their constituents are experts in various fields and have much greater insights than them. As a courageous follower, you understand when to take responsibility and delegate responsibility, when to serve your constituents, when to challenge them and allow them to challenge your authority; and when to allow your constituents to take charge in facilitating change fully. These attributes will enable a successful relationship with your constituents and lead to greater success in achieving shared goals.

Create Simple and Reproducible Structures

Leading volunteers is a collaborative leadership effort. Ideally, there should be no hierarchical structure. Empower all your volunteers to be both leaders and followers simultaneously. Enable a culture of shared understanding, mutual respect and accommodating behaviours among your constituents. Have a mechanism for open sharing of information, encourage constructive conflicts and allow your constituents to develop the attitude of disagreeing to agree. This will enable them to apply their intelligence and creatively develop collective intelligence. Your role is unlike the traditional top-down approach to leadership in which management controls the flow of information and determines the course of action the team must take. Your role is to allow collective intelligence to determine the course and challenge or provoke deeper engagements where you feel the outcome is still not well thought-out. As a result, your constituents will be more engaged, feel trusted and are more likely to take ownership of the shared course and goals. Creating a simple and reproducible structure creates an inclusive environment that energizes your constituents, releases creativity, and cultivates a productive and joyful culture.

I believe these five traits can enable you to lead volunteers effectively. I have practised them over the last five years. I have engaged with the volunteers I have led and am still leading through feedback and in most cases, these five areas keep coming more often. Sharing with you will challenge you to practice them if you are leading volunteers. I want to challenge you as a leader, not leading volunteers but employees, to practice these traits and see how that will transform the engagement and productivity of your team. I have incorporated most of these traits in my upcoming book “Engaged and Productive”, coming out this August 2022. Watch out for the book. It is a very thought-provoking book that will challenge your current outlook on leadership and equip you with values that will enable you to build highly engaged and productive teams.

If the above thoughts have been valuable, do not hesitate to like or share with your friends and other leaders in your circle and share feedback on how your outcome has been as a result of practising these traits consistently in your leadership.

About the Author

Gilbert Ang’ana is the CEO of Accent Leadership Group, a Leadership Consulting and Advisory firm championing Leadership Advocacy in Africa and Beyond through Coaching, Training, Speaking and Research. He is a member of various nonprofit organization boards, including Chairing Rotary Club of Athi River Board as the current President 2022/23. He has authored three books, including an upcoming “Engaged and Productive”. He is also an adjunct lecturer of leadership at ACTs University in Rwanda. Interact with him through LinkedIn and learn more about his organization at www.stepafrique.com

Building courageous followership is an intentional organisational process. Courageous followers are creative and innovative, propelling their organisation’s success higher than average organisational followers.

Sadly, many organisations today, despite the knowledge on the advantages of building an inclusive leadership culture, still exercise an “All powerful leader” culture in their organisation. This is a drive right from the top leadership. The way they engage their employees and the culture they build around their employees. Most organisations, including top global organisations, have built this culture consciously over time and some unconsciously due to divergence between what the organisation propagates in their written core values and what the top leadership practice. The organisations have created submissive followers, not taking advantage of their resources for optimal performance.

Collaborative leadership enables organisational leaders to understand their influence and use it to compel their teams towards the shared goals/values positively. Additionally, collaborative leaders build collaborative followership. Collaborative followership entails courageous followers who work with the leader to deliver the shared values and goals of the organisation.

In a collaborative relationship, we have influential leaders and Courageous followers working together to drive the shared organisational values. Three key focuses must be in place for success.

1. The Influential leader must understand their authority and turn it into a positive influence in building courageous followers.
2. The influential leader and the followers must be glued and have a common interest, driving the achievement of shared values or goals for the organisation. Divergence from this means each party is driving their values and goals and, therefore, a source of conflicts in the relationship.
3. The Courageous followers must understand the dilemmas facing the leader and all the pressure it comes with and support the leader in driving the achievement of the shared values and goals.

When the leader views followers’ relationship as a parent-child relationship. This can result in rebellion from the followers and a lack of inclusivity and appreciation of the value of the followers from the leader.

Parents-child relationships are more dependent and kill followers’ creativity and innovations, resulting in below optimal productivity.

Regardless of age, your followers are not your children in an organisational setting in whatever orientation. To take Responsibility and drive optimal productivity, they must be appreciated for their strengths and weaknesses.

I have talked more about how to develop into an influential leader in my upcoming book “Engage and Productive” – 5 mind shifts in building highly engaged and productive teams—coming out in August 2022. Watch out for it.

Let us briefly discuss the charsteristics or dimesions of courageous folowers for understanding. Many scholars and leaders have extensively discussed courageous followership. I borrow the same philosophy from Ira Challeff, who wrote the book “Couragoeus followership. Below are seven critical dimensions of courageous followers for your note as a follower, but also for your understanding as a leader of how you can build courageous followers and not submissive followers. This is the only way to ensure you achieve optimal productivity on the shared goals and values as an organisation.

Courageous followers:

1. Take Responsibility  – they assume their Responsibility without push and are essential players in playing their part in the achievement of shared goals.
2. Serve their Leaders – by going over and beyond their assigned tasks, supporting their leaders in decision-making, and unburdenning the challenges their leaders encounter along the journey to achieving shared goals by standing up for their leaders in tough times.
3. Challenge Status Quo – share their contrary options respectfully when they engage. Challenge extreme and outdated policies and procedures that are hurting the achievement of shared goals.
4. Stand for Morality – Value harmony but not at the expense of integrity. Know when to stand for contrary moral action respectfully. Know when to disobey, including to the extent of resignation respectfully.
5. Speak to Leadership – Know when to sensitively and strategically speak up to the leadership.
6. Listen to other Followers – Collaborate, and develop mutual trust, respect and understanding. Disagree with agreeing.
7. Transform – understand when to change the status quo for the better. Take the initiative to change the status quo and jump-start a transformation.

These are but some of the characteristics or dimensions of courageous followership. Practice them as a follower, encourage such as an influential leader and see your team’s productivity change.

All the best, let us get in touch for more discussions on how we can help your teams and leaders understand how to utilise their power of influence beyond the authority of their positions to better their teams and organisation.

About the Author

Gilbert Ang’ana (PhD Cand.) || CEO at Accent Leadership Group

• Certified Leadership Coach and Teacher by Maxwell Leadership Team (MLT)
• Certified Engagement & Productivity Coach by International Coaching Federation (ICF)
• African Leader of the Year 2022 by abcccp.com
• Coach Consultant of the Year 2022 by abcccp.com
• Top 50 thought leaders and influencers by Thinkers360.com
• Top 40 Global Change management Gurus 2022 by leadersHum.com

Many professional coaches across the world use the TGROW model of coaching. This is because many coach training institutions find it simple and easy to teach coaching with that model.

Do not be a boring coach who only uses one coaching approach for all your clients. The model becomes monotonous, and your clients can even know what questions or steps you will ask them before the sessions. This then creates an inauthentic coach-client process.

Coaching is dynamic. Try to learn many other approaches to make your coach-client engagement fun, engaging and authentic for maximum success and impact. I give a brief review of the ARROW coaching model with the hope that it will give you a different outlook and additional tools for your coaching practice.

ARROW MODEL was developed by Matt Somers and is a five-step coaching model. It is also known as the Coaching ARROW. The five steps of the ARROW model, together with possible questions, are highlighted in the table below:

There you go, try it out. I have tried this simple Coaching ARROW many times, alternating different coaching models based on my clients, and it has been a fantastic experience. All coaching models have some resemblance. Only the aesthetics is what also brings out more engagement with your clients and builds your authenticity than the rigidity of the coaching process.

Follow me. I will be sharing more coaching models and tools that I have used that may be of help to you.

About the Author

Gilbert Ang’ana (PhD Cand.)

CEO at Accent Leadership Group

• Certified Leadership Coach and Teacher by Maxwell Leadership Team (MLT)
• Certified Engagement & Productivity Coach by International Coaching Federation (ICF)

Global Accolades for Gilbert Ang’ana

• African Leader of the Year 2022 by abcccp.com
• Coach Consultant of the Year 2022 by abcccp.com
• Top 50 thought leaders and influencers by Thinkers360.com
• Top 40 Global Change management Gurus 2022 by leadersHum.com

Watch out for this book coming soon – highly engine with real-life case studies that will help leaders understand contemporary tactics in building highly engaged and productive teams.

The Customer Experience & Satisfaction index in many organizations today is either in a steep decline or fluctuating year on year. Why so?…. If you look at those organizations carefully, you will realize that their Employee Satisfaction is also on a steep decline. Their employees aren’t content at their jobs. Why?… Because their employees’ experience is poor.

Many organizations in the current era are so focused on customer experience and they do whatever they can including “pushing”, threatening, and challenging their staff to exceed their customers’ expectations.

There is only one thing that most who don’t achieve the level of customer experience score they anticipate achieving don’t do……

Model the aspect of EXCEEDING EXPECTATION.

Many organizations expect their staff to do what they are not modeling and the reason many employees are not aware of what it means to really exceed expectations. They are not hitting the right nail in the right position because they do not know-how.

Their Organizations have not and are not Modeling the same in them. Their organizations are not EXCEEDING their EXPECTATIONS, yet they are required to somehow theoretically know what it means to Exceed expectations.

I wish to challenge organization leaders out here, whatever the orientation of the organization, whether a tech, public, private, religious institution, or others. You all have some form of customers you serve. For you to be at a level where you are EXCEEDING your customers’ expectations consistently with ease, MODEL that to your employees.

EXCEED their expectation. This is not about financial expectations, although that too matters, but in areas that touch on your employees well being, culture, and environment among other factors that would ensure your staff’s workplace is conducive for them.

This is not about TRAINING your employees on customer experience matters, though that is important too. If you are to consistently year-on-year perform exceptionally well in the metrics of EXCEEDING your customers’ expectations; you have to consistently EXCEED your employees’ expectations.

Just like many organizations, I am pretty sure you are very clear on what is required to improve your customers’ experience. This is what you train your employees on, you have taken the time to do customer surveys and understand what your customers need, and that is why you are championing efforts to ensure your employees exceed their expectations.

However, if you would equally invest the same level of focus in understanding your employees’ needs, and invest similar resources in meeting and exceeding their expectations, your organization’s performance metrics across all lines will be over the roof. you will be consistently meeting your revenue or whatever goals you have set year-on-year. your employees’ engagement and productivity index will be consistently exceptional. The challenge is many organizations do not invest this effort in their employees but expect their employees to invest efforts in going out of their way to consistently exceed their customers’ expectations.

It can’t happen, if it happens, it’s not consistent, and that is why probably your organization is operating at non-optimal levels in other metrics besides customer experience.

So…if you wish to improve your Customer Experience consistently if you wish your employees to exceed your Customers’ Expectations, start by understanding how you can improve your employees’ experience, and how you can exceed their expectations.

We can help…

This article has also been featured in a few headline change management platforms.

Author

Gilbert Ang’ana

CEO at Accent Leadership Group

Top 40 Global Change Management Gurus, 2022 by leadersHum

http://www.stepafrique.com

4 Most Important Elements in any Change Initiative

This past weekend had taken a trip with a group of friends as part of our group retreat to unwind and have fun with our wives. Was privileged to ride along with my good friend Desmond (Dez as we call him) who is a change catalyst and an expert in management information systems. For the better part of the journey, we talked about change management, change leadership, and catalyzing change and had some concurrence in many areas but also divulgence in a few areas. Typical of two Ph.D. scholars defending their schools of thought.

At least one of the obvious alignments we had was the fact that CHANGE is constant. Successful leaders and organizations are continually in a change mode. This is so because they want to be efficient in their spaces, they are always setting new horizons, goals, or objectives, and many organizations are continually finding ways to improve their processes, operations, and experience in the eyes of their customers.

In today’s world, it doesn’t matter really whether we are the ones who initiated the change because somehow we are affected even if we were not the originators. This, therefore, means that change is inevitable for anyone or any organization. This brings a critical angle that the heart of change is in the people. Whether managing or leading change, its success is dependent on the people and how they are supported throughout the change period. This means that the role of the Change Managers or Change Leaders is to guide their people through the transition – this means championing people to think or act differently by promoting the benefits of the change.

People approach change in many ways: Some are always:

• Reluctant to adopt change
• Neither accepting nor rejecting change
• Early adopters

Therefore as a Change leader, you must expect some pushback from your people especially those who are reluctant and those who have not yet accepted nor rejected the change. Second, listen to each one of these groups for their views and reasons for their current status in change adoption. These views will enable you to identify the barriers to the change process which would be a good learning point as a change leader to work on improving or cause correcting to allow room for more people in the change bus.

1. CLARIFY the why in the change VISION. Change leaders must not only see the result of the change and work backward by clarifying the why of the change to challenge, and champion others. They must be able to communicate the vision in a way that compels others to follow.
2. CONNECT with their constituents. It is one thing to have clarity of vision, it’s another thing to Compel others to follow. The result of compelling is momentum in the intended direction and momentum can only occur if the constituents are connected with the leaders and the organization. Connecting is a skill that change leaders must build.
3. INSPIRE their constituents to focus on the process that leads to success. Change is never easy. Change is always uphill. People will not find the motivation to move uphill regardless of the challenges if they are not inspired or feel inspired. Change leaders, therefore, have a critical role to instill rhythms of self-discipline that will inspire constituents to follow through beyond just being motivated to succeed. John Maxwell said, motivation keeps you going but, self-discipline keeps you growing. Therefore inspiration builds self-discipline which enables higher chances of success.    
4. EMPATHETIC with the people and the process. Change is uphill, sometimes people feel exhausted along the way, and others feel hurt in the process. Therefore change leaders must be able to understand what their team members are feeling or experiencing, which helps them make better decisions for the group. An empathetic leader can implement change effectively and still make sure their constituents are heard and included.

Are you ready to lead a change?

A change leader’s mandate is to reorient the attitudes and behaviors of people (mindset). The mindset can only be tapped successfully if the leaders connect with their constituents at personal and emotional levels so that they can adapt to new ways of thinking and acting. 

It’s worth noting that there will always be resistance. Not everyone will be committed to the change process. However, by implementing the four key elements of change — Clarify the why of the change vision, connect with constituents, inspire constituents, and be empathetic — you’ll position yourself for likely success. 

Most important, As a Change Leader, start by thinking about the heart of change – the people that you’ll be supporting. Always engage those who will be affected by the change and keep them at the center of the change plans — this is how you’ll build a stronger team during the change process.

Author

Gilbert Ang’ana

CEO at Accent Leadership Group

Top 40 Global Change Management Gurus, 2022 by leadersHum

http://www.stepafrique.com

As a leadership consultant and change management professional, I have the realization that the line between the professional and personal lives of team members in a workplace environment is very blurred. This blurredness has been a subject of many leadership concerns and challenges. Leaders today have still not found a better solution of balancing the professional and personal lives of their lives and leadership let alone that of their team members. Today we still have leaders who show up in the office and their team members have to check and understand how they have shown up today. To check if the leader is in good moods to engage or otherwise.

The reality is that if our family life is tense that will affect how we show up in office regardless of our positions. If our personal lives are a mess, it will affect how we show up and more so how we interact in our professional space. The vice versa is also true, if our work or professional space is intense and things not working out, definitely it will affect how we show up at home and also how our personal lives will be occupied. This is what Friedman alluded to as Total Leadership and added a community dimension as a critical factor that forms how people and more so leaders show up as a whole.

However, the awareness of how you show up as a whole and how your team members show up as a whole may not necessarily make you an effective leader. Without consideration of care, leaders’ appreciation of total wholeness may not make team members more productive. This, therefore, means a combination of both total appreciation of team members and caring for them would be a powerful approach for effective leadership that may translate to improved productivity of both the leader and their team members. Here are 4 tips organization leaders can employ to be effective and caring leaders which will have a profound impact not only on their productivity but also their team productivity. I call this the 4 Bs of total caring leadership.

Be Mindful

Mindfulness is generally a practice that helps in improving the emotional and physical well-being of people. We are all living in a busy world. More specifically as leaders, our days are full of activities and decisions we have to make every day, every minute, we have a responsibility that cuts across our various spheres of life – personal, family, community besides our work or professional space. Many times as leaders in the rush to accomplish various activities and tasks, we may find ourselves not in touch with the current realities in our various spaces. Missing out on critical areas that we should be undertaking in any of the four domains alluded by Friedman – Self – Family – Work – Community. As a result, we tend to push the same burden either consciously or unconsciously to our team members as we push them to operate like ourselves. Being mindful entails leaders being consciously aware of how they show up, practicing some self-love, and extending the same kindness to their team members.

To improve team productivity, the leader must be kind to their team members and other colleagues in all organizational engagements. Practicing kindly helps in developing the leader’s values at the same time creates some vulnerability trust in the team that has a ripple effect on the leader’s influence on the team members. Team members will slowly move to a level where their productivity is consistently higher since they do not wish to let you down as their leader and they drive consistency in performance due to the respect they have for your kindness and trust as their leader. Above all, be consciously aware of whatever arises in your total domains each moment for both yourself and your team members; practice forgiveness of self and others and propagate and model a learning mindset instead of losing mindset. The practice of mindfulness for leaders which is also a critical value of the Watson Caring Model integrates the 4 domains in the Friedman model to enable the leader to always lead with mindfulness and compassion. So to be effective and trigger the high productivity of your team, cultivate mindfulness in your leadership daily.

Be Intentional

Intentionality involves sustained focus and an approach toward a common goal. To be intentional entails having faith and hope in yourself first as a leader and instilling the faith and hope in your team members. It entails staying positive and sustaining hope amidst any situation in your organization. It entails being a courageous but vulnerable leader, making decisions with your team members at heart. Being intentional means raising your capacity as a leader through intentionally learning and at the same time developing the capacity of your team members. Being intentional as a leader entails being respectful of your team members and leading with the understanding of the wholeness each team member brings to the table based on Friedman’s domains.

To be intentional you need to demonstrate objective judgment as a leader; you need to cultivate, have clarity and communicate your organization’s vision with determination. Team members will do what they see you doing as the leader and not necessarily what you ask them to do, so model clarity in your intentionality. Leaders who are not intentional can create an environment where team members lose the momentum of the vision and mission for the organization and eventually become discouraged which may result in inefficiencies and poor management of time, and resources in the organization. Promote an environment where your team members can express both negative and positive feelings without judgment or victimization. Be intentional in generating hope and faith in your team and your team members will reciprocate through their improved productivity.   

Be Authentic

Being authentic as a leader entails presenting yourself as genuine in all 4 domains of the Friedman model. Being authentic as a leader starts with demonstrating a sense of purpose. Having a sense of purpose entails having clarity in the shared goals for the organization and passionately challenging team members’ focus and drive towards the shared goals. This comes with the responsibility of caring about the work your team is undertaking. This sense of care is built through an intentional focus on nurturing others to care about their work and their colleagues.

When you demonstrate authentic care to your team as a leader in what they do and how they present themselves as a whole, you connect with them and they, in turn, will demonstrate the same caring focus for you and their work too. Authenticity builds relationships with team members while credibility sustains the relationships. By being authentic, a leader fosters an environment where team members become open to sharing things. This fosters the leader’s total leadership balance across Friedman’s domains. This also entails the leader providing an environment of caring-helping-trusting for self and others based on Watson’s values of caring leadership model. Being authentic is about showing compassion and sensitivity to the team members’ needs willingness to help them get what they need. Establish that caring presence, be authentic.

Be Inspirational

To be an inspiring leader means leading from a deep sense of purpose and responsibility with a view of creating positive change. To be inspirational means having clarity of shared values and championing the team to drive focus towards achievement of the shared values. Being inspiring entails having a personal balance of Friedman’s domains and modeling the same to team members. It entails fostering Watson’s caring leadership value of innovating with insight, reflection, and wisdom. When you are inspirational it means you can drive people to reach great heights of their performance and success. It means to model qualities like passion, purpose and helping team members find meaning in their roles.

When you are an inspiring leader, your team members will not only have a higher level of engagement, but they will have higher productivity as well. Simon Sinek in one of his books alludes that, inspiring leaders give people a sense of purpose or belonging that has little to do with any external incentive or benefit to be gained. Inspiring leaders create a following of team members who drive improved consistent performance because they are inspired. Being inspirational enables your team members to have not only the ability but a dedicated will to champion higher performance in the organization.

The role of a leader is to challenge their team members to maximize their potential in delivering shared goals. John Maxwell shared that everything rises and falls on leadership. With the understanding of total caring leadership, leaders can integrate both total leadership values and domains with caring leadership values and be Mindful, be Intentional, be Authentic and be Inspirational in their everyday leadership journey and experience. By actively engaging in total caring through mindfulness, intentionality, authenticity, and inspiration, leaders can optimize their teams’ ability to have higher engagement and productivity.

About the Author

Gilbert Ang’ana is a Strategic and Innovative Executive who translates business vision into initiatives that improve performance, profitability, growth, and leadership engagement & productivity. Empowering leaders with unique perspectives and appreciation that their teams are their greatest asset. An authentic influencer who thrives on team collaborations, tough challenges, and translating vision and strategy into actionable, value-added objectives. The CEO/Founder at Accent Leadership Group, a leadership and change management consultancy with a focus on creating a movement of leaders whose power of influence will far exceed the authority of their position. He also was recognized as one of The Top 40 Global Change Management Gurus – 2022 by leadersHum for his immense contribution and practice. He can be reached through info@stepafrique.com

“What makes credible leaders?”

While there is extant information on credible leadership, there is insufficient information that addresses the holistic exploration on the making of credible leaders to understand how everyday perceived effective credible leaders engage, interact and act to sustain their credibility.

Our CEO Gilbert Ang’ana conducted a research study aimed at exploring the experiences of perceived credible leaders to holistically understand their perceptions and experiences.

This research has provided in-depth and holistic insight into the making of credible leaders, highlighting perspectives that are perceived and appreciated by leaders and also elements that are understood as borderline credibility challenges

The findings of this study have revealed the key dimensions of what makes credible leaders and especially its centrality on the moral self. Credible leaders are believed to have aware of the moral self which is a critical antecedent to credibility and enables the development of resilience, competence and are caring and building others to be better versions of themselves.

Check out and read the full research study and findings through the link below:

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Gilbert Ang’ana (CEO at Accent Leadership Group Ltd), info@stepafrique.com