Reclaiming of Our Work Ethics Now Inevitable for Improved National Safety

No words or passage of time can wish away the Westgate Mall massacres including maiming of our innocent brothers and sisters as well as other members of the global community. Notably, the affected were innocently going about their usual lives, without the slightest expectation of any sort of aggression.

But alas, those charged with offering the protection were equally caught off guard.  Let’s assume that nobody had any idea of what was likely to happen. All the same, we need to welcome the immediate re-action of the security forces, which saved further escalation of damage and loss of lives. More particularly, let’s appreciate the mildly armed civilian heroes whose contribution was beyond expectations.

And since what has happened is irreversible, blame games will not help much. Instead, we need to focus our energies towards averting similar future aggressions.  For that to happen effectively, we may need to consider some pertinent questions about our work ethics, all beckoning convincing answers.

One of the two most glaring is; what could have happened to our work ethics, especially with regard to leadership and teamwork of the various security arms? Secondly, can we still continue relying on re-active leadership with championing the protection of this great nation, particularly in a fast changing world?   Naturally, we can only ignore these questions at the risk of continued humiliation by the same forces that have demonstrated and taken full advantage of our weak links.

Nevertheless, clearer understanding of the trends could somehow be explained by some cultural attributes.  Irrespective of our different roles in the society, we need to realize that long before the advent of modernity; societal protection structures as well as governance systems were existent and working well by the standards of those days.

The economic interests too were in check. Everybody had a role to play one way or the other, in the interests of the welfare of society. Therefore, pursuing the activities that one was good at was the existing order. There were farmers, traditional dancers, medicine men/women, birth attendants, potters, brewers, carpenters, traditional worriers and indeed specialists in all spheres of the society. What is happening today?

Courtesy of modernity, our value systems including work ethics continue being eroded by the day. Everybody seems to be good at everything. Why? Our motivation seems to be prominently guided by a largely elusive commodity. Thus, we find ourselves ending up in mad rushes of one form or the other. We do what is seemingly most convenient as we seek this all important commodity – call it money.

Sometimes, we feel like the world is coming to an end hence finding ourselves grabbing every opportunity that presents itself along our path. Further, we pursue careers that we associate with great monetary rewards, even when they are beyond our capabilities.

We for instance seek to become doctors, engineers and others only because we have acquired the entry grades, in total disregard of whether we can find passion there or not.  Eventually, all work becomes punishment rather than fun.  Conceivably, nobody enjoys being punished. Thus, the motivation becomes the results from the punishment – monetary rewards.

That explains what is commonly known as scarcity mentality. The focus becomes money whatever it takes. We become and refer to ourselves in cool terms such as hustlers, when in fact we could be grabbers and wheel dealers of sorts and all other not so palatable occupations that impact negatively on the society.

The alternative is abundance mentality which needs to selectively lead us into what we could be good and passionate about. The guiding principle here is that there are enough opportunities of prosperity for everybody. That is as long as we are guided by our natural abilities.  Could putting in the necessary efforts not eventually lead into the desired rewards? In the absence of this abundance mentality, the struggle to rise to the top in our careers becomes tall orders if not pipe dreams.

So, upon getting up there, chances of relaxing largely to enjoy the fruits of the efforts cannot be ruled out. More still, this may be followed by incidences of working towards personal enrichment through whatever means. During all this, it becomes difficult to be effective team leaders in the workplace. This is so because behavior breeds behavior.

The same behaviors cascade downwards and eventually evolve into entrenched cultures. The same do not favor effective work performance, but rather more about pursuance of personalized interests. The danger arises when the cultures creep into all spheres of our society, including sensitive national security organs. People become re-active rather than proactive. They only respond to dangerous situations, as was the case at the Westgate Mall and many others that we have witnessed in the past.

Seemingly, everything needs to be done to reverse the re-active leadership/management trends in our national setup and everywhere else. Alongside, our work ethics need to be seriously re-assessed. Only deserving and proven professionals who are passionate about their work, need to be in the lead, particularly in sensitive national offices. Furthermore, they need to be visionary and adaptable to change in a dynamic global environment. Better still, they need to be technologically savvy in line with demands of today’s information age.

That probably curtails the incidence of what is known as the “Peter Principle” in the discipline of human resources management. The same recognizes that there is always the risk of top performing employees being promoted to their levels of incompetence. More than ever before, absence or erosion of passion no doubt reflects on the prevailing Kenyan situation.

Nonetheless, the need for re-assurance of ability to foresee and neutralize impending threats in our lives, without allowing them to become dangerous realities can’t be gainsaid. It is not asking too much to demand observance of key prerequisites of forward looking leadership, especially in our national organs. Embracing the same may also lead to reclaiming of our work ethics. Or, is this not what the digital era needs to be all about?