8 minute read
Top five leadership skills part one
Dr. Wilbert R. Mutoko (PhD, FHEA) is a business doctor, researcher and senior lecturer for Leadership, Strategy, Change Management and Entrepreneurship at Botswana Accountancy College in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University (UK), University of Derby (UK), and University of Sunderland (UK).
He is a dynamic and entertaining International Inspirational Speaker, Keynote Speaker, Executive Coach, Certified eSpeaker & Online Facilitator, and Author for almost two decades.
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Dr. Mutoko has empowered over hundreds of CEOs, directors, and managers to discover their strengths, sharpen their presentation skills, build self-confidence and emotional intelligence, and harness capabilities to build winning teams; to become peak performance leaders with increased profitability.
His three books on financial freedom and relationships are available at Exclusive Books (Riverwalk) and Bala Books (Rail Park Mall). Dr. Mutoko writes in his personal capacity. For feedback, you can contact him on email: wilbert@ wilbertmutoko.com or wilbertmutoko@gmail. com. Visit Dr. Mutoko’s website: https:// wilbertmutoko.com/
By Dr. Wilbert R. Mutoko (PhD, FHEA)
Leadership can only be effective if you acquire skills and sharpen them over the years. The top leadership skills that we considered in part one included integrity, ability to mentor your juniors, and decisiveness. In this part two we look at ability to delegate, communication, and empathy.
Ability to delegate
No matter how hardworking, smart, or committed you are as a leader, there is no way you can do everything by yourself. You may be able to get by alone when the organization is small. However, as the organization grows and your time becomes strained, you need to learn to delegate duties to your juniors. If you do not believe me, ask the biblical Moses who was working from dusk till dawn judging people’s cases. One day his father-in-law Jethro advised him to set other judges to sit over smaller matters. After Moses set the ‘smaller’ judges, he suddenly had time for more important matters and time for himself. If you do not delegate, you will experience burnout and possibly fall sick. In some cases, lack of delegation limits your growth and that of the firm. However, delegation is easier said than done. Many leaders find it difficult to delegate duties because they do not believe that there is any other person who can do what they do. Imagine! If CEOs did not want to delegate, would we be having big enterprises such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, LinkedIn, Mascom, Orange, Botswana Telecommunications, and Botswana Post? The answer is NO. Research says that if you can find anyone who can do up to 85% of what you can do, feel free to delegate to them.
Now somebody’s challenge is that they want perfectionism. They would never delegate to anyone who cannot do 100% of what the leader can do. If you are one of such leaders, it might be time you learn to delegate. However, delegation does not mean that you give all your duties to juniors while you are sleeping. Do I need to emphasize that anymore? There must be a balance when delegating.
Communication
Any leader who does not communicate effectively is signed up for frustration and failure. Communication skills are crucial whether you are within a team, or you are communicating with the outside world. It is imminent for every leader to sharpen their presentation skills and listening skills which all form part of communication skills. On a scale of 0 to 10 (0 being the worst and 10 being the best), how good are you at communication?
Top five leadership skills part one
What steps are you taking to improve your communication skill? How good is your team in communication? What are you doing as a leader to improve the communication skills of your team? Remember that if your team is not good at communication, it will affect your own communication and organizational communication. Organizational communication failure will then spell a disaster in branding and marketing, which boils down to business failure. Consider examples of great communicators such as Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Oprah Winfrey, Sam Walton, and Jack Welch among others. Can we add your name to this list of great communicators? If not, why? If yes, why?
Empathy
A successful leader is one that has empathy. Empathy is one of the major components of emotional intelligence. Empathy entails ability to understand and share in other people’s feelings. It means being able to put self in other people’s shoes. Have you ever seen leaders who do not care about their team? There are people in leadership positions who show no empathy. That is quite sad. People who can not show others empathy tend to expect empathy from others. I wonder how that works! Empathy manifests itself in the leader’s choice of words, ability to listen, and ability apologize when the leader makes mistakes. Your team will respect you if you avoid cursing words, hurtful and inconsiderate words, whether verbally or via written media. Please show some empathy to people around you, they need it, and you need it too. Some of the outstanding leaders in history include Jesus Christ, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Hollywood Actress Hilary Swank, George Orwell, among others. Are you one of the examples of highly empathetic leaders today?
Conclusion
As a leader, you need to be consistently looking for ways to increase and polish skills and competencies. Lack of skills and competencies negatively affect leadership growth and eventually the culture of the whole organization. In this part two, we have looked at ability to delegate and communication skills, then I gave you a bonus skill – empathy, to make all the skills in the two articles six.
I wish you the best of every success as a leader. Together we will sail through this crisis.
Feel free to email me any feedback and/or suggestions for the future articles.
Welcome to this series where we share ways to financially survive difficult times. In part two we discussed how to increase income or cut costs through selling some properties and belongings, move in with parents or friends, share accommodation, move back to the village, and share transportation. In this part, we look at how individuals can increase income or cut down expenditure through carrying food from home, having a garden, and children home schooling.
By Coach Princess - Award in Financial Planning (CII, UK), COP (ZW), ToT (BW)
CArry food from homE
Have you ever calculated how much money you spend per month in buying food whether from restaurants, takeaways, or on the street? For example, in Gaborone, a plate of breakfast costs p15 to p20, while a plate of lunch costs p20 to p30. If you buy lunch daily for approximately twenty days per month, that means you spend p400 per month on lunch alone. If you choose to buy food from fast food restaurants you may pay p50 to p100 for lunch.
Therefore, if you spent p80 per day, in twenty days, you would have spent p1600 per month. Now, if you earn enough money and you have enough money in your savings, there is no problem with you spending this kind of money on lunch. However, if you are struggling to make ends meet, you will do yourself a favor to prepare your favourite meal and carry it to work. It is better to invest in buying a lunch container that keeps your food warm for some hours. Some people prefer to warm the food at work in the microwave oven. However, there are some questions around the safety of using the microwave. Nevertheless, some experts say that if you use the recommended microwave plates, you will be safe. I will leave that to you to decide. I have seen many people who have made drastic decisions concerning cutting costs by carrying food from home after they read Dr Wilbert Mutoko’s book – 15 Secrets for Financial Success. That book could work wonders for you as well if you read it. Avoid living for your belly.
hAvE A bACkyArd gArdEN
Having a home garden has always been a good idea which helps you to plant organic vegetables and fruits. Imagine just going to the back of your garden and you come back to the kitchen carrying carrots, spinach, tomatoes, onions, cucumber, and so on! Having a garden does not only help you to eat food that you know, but it helps you to save a lot of money and time in the process. What if you do not have space in your yard, or you do not own the premises? Well, do not worry. These days you can plant vegetables and fruits in buckets and tins the same way that some people plant flowers. So, do you see that there is no excuse. You can put a few vegetables and herbs in containers around your room or house, and you will enjoy organic food! What are you waiting for? I am waiting for your testimony.
ChIldrEN homE sChoolINg
Taking children to school can be very costly, especially private schools. If you afford to pay the fees, that is good. However, in tough times, you will be surprised that if you find competent and experienced teachers from either private or public schools, they can offer tuition to your children and your children will pass amazingly. On average, a private secondary school in Botswana will charge around P30 000 per year. Imagine how much you will cut in fees if you opt for home schooling! I have nothing against private schools. However, when pockets are bleeding why would you put yourself in financial troubles taking children to expensive schools then fail to pay for university fees?
Conclusion
Thank you for reading this article. I hope it inspires you to find ways to reduce expenses and to increase income during these tough times. Sometimes saving money looks more difficult that it really is possible. Stay safe and strong.
I hope to see you when I bring article part four.
Feel free to email me any feedback and/or suggestions for the future articles.
