Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Organization Culture - World of Work (WOW)

+throughMylens // Consultancy Today I want to highlight a few things around Human Resource also known as HR. I have had great working experiences with organizations within the youth sector in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zanzibar. One of the things that I noticed in almost all my experiences, is in how they handled the human resource. I can attest as per my vast experiences one of the strongest link of any organization is the human resource. If the chain is weak at the point of HR there is a good chance many things will definitely fall apart even if you have the funding, the asset, the vision, mission, slogan etc. 

 Notably, in some organizations Human Resource (HR) is handled as a department while in others it is a task within the CEO's or the Director's job description and in worst cases it is anyone's role (Ad-hoc) even though it is quite rare, but can also be seen when an organization is starting. 

My advice is for any organization to achieve the desired outcomes they should be deliberate in sourcing for the best talent, ensure continues training and provide a conducive environment for everyone to perform as per their job description and also allow employees to inject extra individual brilliance which is aligned to the organization's mission. 

One of my worst experiences with the HR department was when the person assigned the role could only put great emphasis on the time I reported to work. This isn't to say I was a late comer, but whenever I came in late for work I notified the supervisor and I could personally compensate the time either by coming early or leaving late. Anyway, the most important part was to make sure I deliver as per the required expectations. 

On the hand, my passion was to see the organization succeed than the time I reported to work that's why I could even go to work on the weekends and not ask for extra pay. In this example, I was later promoted to the management role and one of the issues I championed was having a flex time for everyone who I supervised because I understood that their performance wasn't necessarily based on coming to work at a specific a time. Even though in some situations the flex time policy could also be abused, but I made sure there was a guiding framework. 

Lastly, in summary of my 18+ years experience; 

  •  " Wrong hire means missed targets, and don't be surprised by the end of the year if you didn't perform as per your expectation." - Wilson Masaka, Youth Advocate and Social Entrepreneur.
  • "Treat people the way you would expect them to treat you. All these positions are temporary and one day you will need those that are down the ladder to reach the next step in life " - Wilson Masaka Youth Advocate and Social Entrepreneur. 
  •  " Create a culture where everyone will strive to do what is right, even when you're not around. Most importantly encourage personal review." Wilson Masaka Youth Advocate & Social Entrepreneur. I’m a big fan of Richard Branson quotes. Branson, the founder and CEO of Virgin, has some fabulous ways of looking at the workplace. 
 One of my favourite quotes is: “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” 

 Feel free to share your experiences about Human Resource and let us all advocate for better conducive environment to nurture top talent, train and attract the best. I'm an advocate of SDG4; Quality education and lifelong learning and SDG8 :- Decent work and economic growth. 

 My HR philosophy which is an acronym A.R.T 
  •  - Attract the best talent. 
  • - Retain the best. 
  • - Training continuously. 
In case you need more insights on how to develop a great team in 2022 around the topic of Human Resources (HR) get in touch with me. I would be glad to share many experiences while we discuss how to develop a working solution for your unique situation. 

I specifically target community based organizations, middle level organizations and youth lead initiatives at the grassroots which apparently have many challenges in terms of human resource, capacity building, resource mobilization, project management etc. 




 Picture from archive Maria Rossana Community Centre 2021 

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