ENTREPRENEURSHIP WITH MUIDEEN ADEBAYO IBRAHIM, ACIS: PEOPLE MAKE IT HAPPEN

MUIDEEN ADEBAYO IBRAHIM

 “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”
-          Michael Jordan

Frankly speaking, employees make it happen, though you may be loaded with ideas, facts and what have you but in the long run, your employees will eventually carry out most of the tasks in order to achieve the desired goals and/or objectives.

Employees are just like computer (garbage in, garbage out), the way and manner you treat them will determine the results you will get in the long run. Since you cannot do it alone, you definitely need quality people around you who will key into your vision and make it happen for you.

How well do you understand the needs of your employees? What motivates them and contribute to their morale? How can we be sure as entrepreneurs that we secure that discretionary effort from people at work?

Getting the most from people means seeking to understand those factors that have an impact on employees’ performance and satisfaction as well as looking at concepts such as motivation and morale amongst others.

It is an established fact that if your labour turnover is high, that is a signal that something is wrong in your system and you must correct it promptly before it snowballs into another thing because as an entrepreneur, you need to continually gauge and check if your labour turnover is high or not and if indeed it is very high you may need to invite an expert to look into it.

Fredrick Herzberg’s research in 1959 asked people what they wanted from a job. The responses suggested that the replies that people gave when they felt good about their jobs were significantly different from the replies they gave when they felt bad. In the light of the foregoing, Herzberg proposed that people have two separate “needs systems”. That is; a need to avoid unpleasantness (hygiene factors) and a need for personal growth which is satisfied by motivation (motivator factors) and not by hygiene factors.

According to Herzberg hygiene factors or maintenance factors are; company policy and administration, salary, the quality of supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions and job security.

Hygiene factors must be continually reviewed in order to get the best from your employees or else there will be dissatisfaction amongst the employees.

On the other hand, Herzberg posited further that personal growth or motivator factors actively create job satisfaction and motivate an individual to superior performance and effort. These factors include; status, advancement, gaining recognition, being given responsibility, challenging/interesting work, achievement and growth in the job.

It should be noted that failure of an entrepreneur to take cognizance of the factors enumerated above will make the labour turnover to be continually very high and that is a red alert or an indication that all is not definitely well with your organization or business since people make it happen. Satisfying the motivators should, according to Herzberg, raise output and motivate an individual to superior performance

Without people skills, you are dead in the water. You are just like an artist in control of a business that is made up of people. Do not see yourself as a ‘Tin god’ because “it is not easy to get to the top and it is not equally easy to remain there permanently”, hence you must treat all your employees with optimum respect and courtesy.

You must create a successful business environment that will allow everyone to work together towards a common goal. That goal is the success of your business. Hence avail your employees your Vision, Mission, Core Values, Goals and Objectives so as to work in tandem with them and in order to avoid working at cross roads or purposes.

I have a staff that has been with me since 2007 (thirteen years ago), as we speak, he is a Director in the Pencil company I founded in 2016. I shared my vision with him and he keyed into it since he joined my organization and he is self motivated and doing fantastically well. He manages the Pencil Company very well with or without my presence in the Company. He has actually turned himself into a very good leader as well.

The law of cause and effect tells us that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is an established fact that we get back what we put in. The same rule applies to managing people. Though managing people can be a real challenge, because some people will be happy whilst some people will be sad, some people will be co-operative, whilst some people will work against you. Some people will be hard workers whilst some will hardly work.

It is your job as a good entrepreneur to determine what makes those people tick and do everything in your power to help them do their job the way they are supposed to. It takes serious courage and psychological effort to learn how to manage people. Infact you must imbibe the 3 Fs that is; you must be; Firm, Frank and Friendly.

According to Streetwise Business Management, a good manager needs to have the following; understanding, listening skills, leadership, a sense of humour, common sense, a sense of fairness, honesty, communication skills, a sense of encouragement, ability to delegate, organizational skills, creativity and positive attitude. To me, your emotional intelligence must be at work at all times as an entrepreneur.

You must be a friend and also a pragmatic leader because if you think an employee is behaving badly as a result of personal problem or challenge, it is better to let the employee know you do sympathize with his or her problem, but you also must stress that, he or she has a job to accomplish. Be supportive, but be a leader at the same time. Offer creative solution that you think can be of help to the employee. This will make the employee to do his or her job very well because you sympathize with him or her.

However, you must be wary of some behavioural traits of your employees and such traits include; jealousy, low self esteem, feeling guilty, anger, depression and health issues amongst others.

So keep the dream alive! Success shall be yours!

See You at the TOP!!

It is well!!!

Muideen Adebayo Ibrahim is an entrepreneur: the Founder, LIBRA CONSULTING; a Management Consultancy Firm and BAMIB RESOURCES (a Premium Pencil Company) based in Lagos and can be reached via muideenibrahim2004@yahoo.com or 08037221517 (sms) only please!