Skip to main content

My Ten Year Journey in the Nigerian Labour market 4



Last week I talked about my appointment as principal and the challenges I faced.

Today let me talk about how I handled them.

For the gross indiscpline and late coming, I made sure there was some punishment for late coming. It wasn't there before.

Wasn't something harsh, no flogging but strong enough to send the message across. And it stopped.

I now also decided to make the assembly time an interesting one. I had some outlines from my church Bible studies then that had stories of people in history who made some mark like Abraham Lincoln and the rest.

So each day after the regular assembly i read those stories to them and insipired them. That also helped reduce the late coming as they were always eager to always listen to those stories.

Then school fees owed.

It was tough. I worked hand in hand with the headmaster on this. We sent them home and also met with some of the parents who told us why they had challenges paying. We designed a system for those of them who were small scale business people and low income earners to be able to pay installmentally till the debts were cleared. Long story short, debt recovery for the first term was around 80%  and for the second term about 70%.

Then the difficult teacher I had. 😀. Well we never had any avenue for tempers to fly.  I didn't allow it
I was patient with her even when she tried to provoke me because I already  knew the reason she was like that.

It keep on till during the close of term where we had meetings with parents. At that point she tried to discredit me publicly but I handled her. Envy is terrible. I addressed the matter she tried to use to blackmail me there and then. And that ended it.

She never did that again.

I spent just two terms there and resigned. I had this feeling that my time was up and so I left.

Lessons.

1. Life always has a starting point. And sometimes it will be small. Don't despise days of small beginnings.

2. When the opportunity to serve comes, accept it and use it to grow.

3. Remember that leadership is a call to responsibility. You're to provide solutions not just occupy a seat.

4. You will face oppositions. Especially when you're promoted. Expect it and make allowances for how to handle it when it comes.

5.Never be apologetic over your promotion. You earned it. Don't feel guilty. Be nice to people but don't let anyone bully you especially where you're younger. That was part of my issue. I was the youngest staff. And it didn't go down well with some people.

6. Leadership is not a function of age, it's a function of capacity.

7. Learn to collaborate. When you don't know what to do reach out and learn from those who know better. That's what I did with the headmaster. He was more experienced and I leveraged on that. It made my work easier.

8. Do your best. Don't leave a place same way you met it. Leave your footprint there. Let them miss you when you leave. I didn't stay long but I left a mark.

9.As a business owner or head of an organization, learn to spot the stars among your staff. And give them the opportunity to give what they have.
 
Never choose leaders based on sentiments. My boss didn't do it and he reaped the benefits.

He got his monies recovered at least. 😁

So this ends this part of my career journey.

I'll talk about another phase in my next post.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tips on Nose bleeding.

Hello friends how's been your week so far This week we'll be looking at Nose Bleeding. This is something a lot of us are familiar with, so we'll just throw some more insight into what it is and how to handle it. Things to know about Nose Bleeding. As the name implies, nose bleeding simply means bleeding through the nose. Nose bleeds are common. They maybe scary but rarely indicate a serious medical problem. The nose is abundantly supplied by blood vessels hence its vulnerability to easily bleed. Nose blessing can be categorized based on where it originates and so based on that we have basically two types of nose bleeding. 1. Anterior nose bleed. - Usually originates from the front part of the nose. - The bleeding usually originates from a blood vessel on the nasal septum where a network of blood vessels converge. - They are easy to control either by measures that can be performed at home or by a health care giver. 2. Posterior nose bleed. - Originat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Useful facts about ECG.

Today we'll be educating ourselves on the ECG. we will be seeing what it is and its usefulness to our overall health. -------------------- --------------------- -------------------- -------------- What is an ECG? An ECG or EKG is simply a non-invasive, painless procedure used to diagnose a variety of heart conditions. It is also a record of the electrical activity of the heart. Electrodes are placed on the skin of the chest and limbs in a particular order and connected to a machine which measures the electrical activity of the heart and records the output on a sheet for the medical officer to evaluate. Uses of ECG. 1. To check the heart rate. 2. To check for any evidence of increased thickness in heart muscles. 3. To detect areas of impaired blood flow to the heart muscle. 4. To detect warning signs of abnormal heart rhythm and disturbed cardiac activity.  5. To help detect signs of an impending heart attack. 6. It is also used as a guide in giving ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Juvenile Diabetes.

Juvenile Diabetes seems like a strange word because that disease is usually associated with adults. But in this article we will look at what that really means.  Sometime last month i was chatting with a friend on issues of diet and she went on to tell me about her observation on how a lot of modern parents in a bid to make their kids feel good or pampered stuff them with all kinds of unhealthy snacks coated with so much sugar and unhealthy preservatives. I remember also reading an article few years back about how exercises were forcefully added to school curriculums in one of these advanced countries in the middle east as they observed lots of their children coming down with obesity and diabetes. These two scenarios prompted me to write this post especially for parents, to mind what their children eat. --------- ------------- ------------ ---------- ------------- What is Juvenile Diabetes? This is a chronic condition in children in which their pancreas produces little o...
Post a Comment
Read more