The Future Is Now for Aligning and Achieving the Best Out of Work Effort

By Mwangi  Wanjumbi – Newtimes B.S. CEO & Chief Consultant/Trainer

Soon after the recent release of the last KCSE results, we coincidentally spent some leisurely moments with my Professor friend, whom we went to school same years. We could not help discussing very interesting issues especially with regard to career guides for the university bound students. Alongside, we were joined by Manuel, an hotelier turned book publisher. Out of curiosity, I sought to know exactly how Prof became an engineer, whereas Manuel became a latter day book publisher. The revelations seemed very interesting and thought provoking as well.

Prof as mostly referred to is not even sure how he ended up pursuing engineering studies. He felt that some of his science teachers who took him through the early years were so inspiring that he just adored listening to them. He liked the way some explained difficult concepts that we observe in our every day lives.

An example is the physics teacher who could throw up objects only to come down tumbling. This led to easy understanding of the concept of the earth’s force of gravity including how it affects our daily lives. Later, Prof learnt how Neil Armstrong and his team landed in the moon in 1968, during the early days of space exploration.

Indeed, it was and still is a very interesting scenario watching space explorer walking with difficulty in the absence of the usual gravitational force, which does not exist in the moon.  Over time, Prof continued developing the urge of discovering more and more in the scientific world. That is what finally led him into a career of dispensing knowledge in the area of engineering.

Manuel’s early life experiences are still fresh in his mind. “During upper primary school, there was this very rough teacher who taught Kiswahili long before it became an examinable subject. In fact, I could choose to venture out of class for naughty errands during these lessons. That marked my dislike for the subject right from primary level,” Says Manuel. He also has some unforgettable experiences occasioned by his father, who could sometimes become a self made teacher.

In fact, he had the habit of giving mathematics assignments aimed at keeping Manuel busy, especially during school holidays. Sadly, failure to get the answers right meant receiving a few strokes on his behind. Manuel is still not sure whether the punishment helped or contributed to some seemingly inherent weakness in mathematics.

Further, Manuel encountered a great European lady during his early English classes in secondary school. She was so motherly and encouraging. In fact, he acquired a good foundation of English concepts from this lady. “Coincidentally, the English teacher’s spouse was also a very nice and gentlemanly teacher. Though he was a favorite mathematics teacher for some of my classmates, I still could not come to terms with his subject, just like most of the other sciences,” Manuel intones.

Apparently, many students follow the same patterns. They like this subject or the other particularly depending on who teaches or how it is taught. They pass or fail examinations at the different levels. In other words they find their way in life largely by default. The outcome determines who they become in life. Some achieve great success in careers or occupations. Many others end up working just to put food on the table. These perspectives may have been alright in the past.

But now, things have changed and are still changing radically. The world has become a global village. Anybody can do business anywhere. One does not even need to physically cross borders. There is a lot of virtual business going on in this 21^st century.

Moreover, organizations are responding to technological advancements as well. It is no wonder then that outsourcing of cheap services ranging from record keeping, data entry, customer service and more have become big business in the Silicon and Bangalore Valley of India and USA respectively. The competition is also leading to lean work teams and efficient services as well. This means less formal employment opportunities in the different global economic sectors.

People must therefore get back to the drawing board.  Referring to the scenarios presented earlier, it is clear that Prof had a scientific orientation. On the other hand, Manuel had an artistic orientation right from the early days. Somehow Prof ended up achieving a respectable career even if by default.  In the case of Manuel, he has seemingly relied on his good English foundation to make a career in publishing, ostensibly after having ventured elsewhere.   But,  are achievements through default likely to work similarly?

Today, it may be necessary for people to understand their personal orientations at an early age. The same determine whether one is artistic or scientific oriented. Moreover, they are related to our inborn abilities. Ideally, those orientations establish the ability of achieving personal performance potentials whatever we choose to do in life. But, according to Prof, these considerations may only be prevalent in the developed west. “Our status in development is such that we are still not prepared for those lines of thinking as yet,” says he. Really? And coming from one entrusted with providing guidance to the younger members of the society?

Incidentally, the education system of 2-6-3-3 that is likely to succeed the 8-4-4-4 system is said to be keen in addressing these gaps of inborn abilities. Students will be specializing in their last 3 years of secondary education. Therefore, students may in the future, not venture into careers or vocations by default as has mostly been the case. Rather, they will be guided through a refined school system, which will largely be geared towards effective alignment of the entire human resource.

However, that may only benefit those who are yet to start school or future generations. What of those in their 20,s, 30s, 40s and so on, thus endowed with long working lives and are already established in organizations?

In their case, their future is now. Apparently, inborn abilities and attitude considerations are already entrenched requirements in multinational organizations. Even upcoming global investors are more interested in talented rather than just educated and skilled employees.  All is not lost though. Our organizational culture change/employee re-branding and business leadership training solutions, are helping in making the best out of work effort, as client organizations are continually experiencing.