Career Development, Entrepreneurship, My DN Travel News, My Ideas for Making Nigeria Better, Parenting

Don’t Let Age Stop You From Becoming A Positive Change Agent!

February 6, 2015 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

I learnt a long time ago that one will only be as old as one thinks s/he is. That knowledge makes me very comfortable relating with people of all ages and across social strata, without bothering about their age, color, income class or educational level.

What I look for is a desire for self-improvement, evidence of commitment to a worthy cause (or willingness to do so), and authentic honesty/integrity. I am also a believer is seeing the world through the eyes of a child. I love to wonder openly, and without pretence, at the miracle of new knowledge/insight that I encounter daily.

But I think where I push my luck is that I also expect (STUPIDLY of course!) that other people will behave/think in the same way.

Why do I say this?

Well it’s because I continue to find that much younger people who I choose to engage on an “equal level” (the way people like Sola Olokode – a senior manager & HR departmental head – did for me during my “formative” years in Guinness ‘Nigeria) in order to help them gain insight beyond their years, tend to miss the point.

What Mr. Olokode did for me, gave me the self-confidence to fearlessly pursue the ideas I had, by applying my creative instincts to influence major changes in the Guinness Benin workplace in spite of my relative youth. By the time I was 2 years old in the company (and 26 years old), I was already developing (in my spare time) custom automated spreadsheet solutions adopted by the brewery for official use.

Read my the story in my article titled “Achieve Recognition and Attract Career Advancement Opportunities By Being A Change Agent”.

You do not prove you are older by standing aloof from younger people!

I’ll admit (from painful experience) that there is the danger of abuse – some younger persons may feel they can “disrespect” you because you’ve made yourself familiar to them. But that should only help you “weed” them out of your inner circle of influence, till you find those who value the opportunity for access to wisdom and insight beyond their years, that you offer them as an older person, through your friendship.

So, in spite of this strategy blowing up in my face many times, the successes I have recorded with it continue to encourage me to do it.

I do this because a few have benefitted from my method(I call it Spontaneous Coaching), and expressed appreciation to me, for it.

In essence, I am saying that the reader should (if s/he does not already do so):

1. Forget about being a very young man/woman/girl or younger than another person s/he relates with.

It does not matter – at least it will NOT matter to people who have decent levels of self-esteem. And such people are the ones YOU should aim to relate with, otherwise you will have many frustrating experiences!

2. Never limit yourself because you think you are younger than others who do not know what you know.

Sometimes YOUR awareness is the reason why you have been placed amongst such people – and keeping quiet or looking for audiences comprising people mainly YOUR age would actually be the wrong thing to do!

Imagine if the founder of Facebook had allowed himself to worry that he was too young to initiate the Facebook idea, when older gurus like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs etc were not looking in that direction…

“…You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you…” – Marianne Williamson.

3. Begin to look beyond pushing your thinking about religion or spirituality to people.

Begin to LIVE what you know and believe. And let those who see you/your work, or who read/hear you gradually seek you out, or open up to discovering what makes you tick.

I LIVE this stuff I’m telling you. And it is the smartest way to influence people i.e. using subtlety.

FINAL WORDS:

If you still do not get it, I’ll share this. I recently got a phone SMS from a young man I’ve been trying to “influence” on Facebook, (by making periodic suggestions on posts he made). In the SMS, he asked “So, how do I find paid speaking opportunities here in Lagos?”

THAT unsolicited enquiry from him did not come as a surprise, because I’d periodically referred him to related online resources in

making my “suggestions”. But it is instructive to note that before then, we had never communicated outside the Facebook medium. Note also, that he must have gone out of his way to find my phone number himself (possibly from my profile or website) – because I did not give it to him.

So you see ( and I am sure you will agree) that I have made reasonable progress towards my goal of “influencing him using subtlety”. YOU can do the same, regardless of your age.

NB: This article was first published on 8th November 2011.

Career Development, Entrepreneurship, General, My DN Travel News, Self-Development

How To Turn A Major Blunder At Work Into A Career Advancement Opportunity [Hint: The W x R(to the power of 3) formula]

February 5, 2015 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

This article describes a simple but highly effective self improvement formula I developed over a decade ago, that can be applied in any situation towards using setbacks as stepping stones to achieve authentic success.

It works for both self-employed persons and employees, who want to know how they can turn a blunder they make, into an opportunity for personal or career advancement/success.

In life, there will be times when things do not happen in the way we plan for them to. Sometimes, it may be our fault, and other times, it might be difficult to even determine the cause.

What is most important however, is that we carefully analyse what happened and decide on a solution that will enable us prevent a re-occurrence in the future.

Too Many People Are Afraid Of Failing Or Making Mistakes

They think it is better to play safe by not taking any risks. What they fail to realize is that they deprive themselves of the opportunity to “grow” by their unwillingness to venture beyond the realms of what they already know, or are comfortable with. They remain in their “comfort zones”, and by so doing miss out on valuable learning opportunities.

“I have made mistakes, but I have never made the mistake of claiming I never made one”
– James Gordon Bennett (1841 – 1918) Journalist

There is a saying that “you have not failed until you give up trying to succeed”. When you try to achieve a goal and things fail to work out, you can try using this formula: W x R(to the power of 3) i.e. Withdraw, Reflect, Refocus and Return.

Let’s take them one at a time:

Withdraw
– Step away. Take a break – maybe a stroll to a quiet place where you can free your mind from the potential worries about the problem. Alternatively, relax your mind by reading a book or doing something else that has little to do with the problem that occurred.

Reflect – Analyse what happened and try to establish what went wrong to cause your failure. You will need to be honest with yourself here. (Maybe a close associate or confidant might come in useful to help inject some objectivity into the analysis. Note that I said “Maybe”). At the end of this process you should have identified (possibly written out) specific aspects of your failed plan most likely to have caused the problem.

Re-focus
– Here you will take the findings from the Reflect stage and use them to decide on modifications that will be needed to make your plan work when next you try to achieve your goal.

Again, here the benefit of input from other “trusted” persons(close associates who share your vision, and sincerely empathise with you) could be explored. Just make sure that those you invite (as Napoleon Hill warned) are people who DO NOT take defeat or failure seriously.

You should end this stage with a clear idea of what you need to do differently or better when next you try out your plan.

Return
– You take your modified plan back to the real world and try again to use it to achieve your cherished goal!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Now, in all likelihood, as has been my personal experience, this entire process can happen within a very short period(hours, minutes or seconds even) depending on what the problem is and how much experience you’ve had with it previously – or the nature of circumstances under which it has happened.

As such, I expect that if at all you decide to, you will adapt the above elements to suit your needs in planning how you may deal with setbacks that come your way when they do occur.

I will now share with you an actual experience I had in which I applied an adaptation of the WR3 formula to turn a major blunder I made on my first night shift duty into a career advancement opportunity two(2) months later.

A True Career Story

As a Trainee Brewer in Guinness Benin Brewery, I went through a harrowing experience on my first night shift as Brewer On Duty. Before then I had been attached to senior, more experienced brewers who had put me through on how to supervise the workforce, and do the various calculations for managing the brewing process.

1. Some Background

During my training I had been particularly uncomfortable with the use by the older brewers of calculators in computing weighted averages for as many as nine(9) beer parameters for each bottling tank to be blended. It was not uncommon to see a duty brewer punching furiously at a calculator while the operator waited for him to finish and pronounce the quantities of beer and other additives to be used for filling the next bottling tank.

There were times when to correct some poor beer parameters, we had to blend mature beer from up to four different storage vessels into one bottling tank to produce beer with the right parameters for bottling. Can you just think about what it must have been like using a calculator to compute weighted averages for parameters of four (4) different volumes of beer to get one set of nine(9) parameters for a bottling tank? Pure drudgery I tell you!

What I found most difficult to accept was the fact that despite the presence on the brewers’ desk of a desktop PC with Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet on it, the brewers all kept using the calculator for this very complex task. To be fair to them however, very rarely did any of them make the kind of error I eventually did in their calculations. I guess that was because they had become very good at it over time.

For rookies like me however, the learning curve was simply too(needlessly I thought) steep, and the entire routine too prone to avoidable errors. I did not like that one bit, and felt I could never get used to working that way especially when a spreadsheet offering better value was in the PC on my desk! So, I made a mental note to explore using the spreadsheet to compute beer blending and make up volumes whenever I was on duty. But for that first night shift, since I was just starting, I settled for the calculator – a decision I would later seriously regret.

2. The Fateful Day/Event

Here’s what happened. That day, after reading the handover notes, I knew it was going to be a long night. My department(Brewing) had been struggling to keep up with the bottling lines which had been enjoying smooth operations since the start of the day. We had only one full tank of beer left, which was already being blended to two bottling lines at the same time. I checked the combined speeds of the lines, and estimated that it would take them another hour and a half to empty it. If I was to avoid a beer outage, I would have to ensure I got another full tank into the bottling hall before that time.

Unfortunately we did not have comfortable stocks of matured beer – with good parameters – ready for blending. This was mainly because the centrifuges had been acting up, failing to stop yeast from getting into the filtered beer. To cut the long story short, I managed to send two half tanks of beer to packaging. That should have bought us enough time to send another full tank in within 2 hours.

But alas, it was not to be! By the time the laboratory analysis came out, the beer color turned out excessively high for both half-tanks – way beyond what the company specifications permitted for bottling. I was devastated, but nothing could be done at this stage, other than to watch the two bottling lines run out the remaining beer from the last tank!

The beer outage lasted over four hours. It was painful – and embarrassing – to see the idle men and machines waiting all night for me to get a new stock of beer for them to continue the work they were paid to do! Just before my shift ended the next morning, I was able to send one full tank to packaging so bottling resumed as the morning duty brewer took over. By then however, the damage had been done. My inability to keep the lines going had meant the brewery’s chances of meeting the bottling volume target for the week had been severely jeopardized. I shuddered at the thought of what my boss would say. He had specifically told me to ensure we did not run out of beer. I felt very bad for having let him down.

3. Applying An Adaptation Of The Formula

Downcast but still puzzled as to what could have led to such gross miscalculation on my part, I went back to the brewers’ office and checked the paper I had used for my calculations again(this was the “Withdraw/Reflect” stage ). That was when I noticed the error I made in computing the amount of Guinness extract to be added to the beer. In my rush to supply the needed figures to the operator, I had inadvertently punched in a wrong volume of mature beer to be added resulting in the calculator returning a much larger volume of Stout flavouring extract than required.

As soon as I realized this, I could not help instantly thinking that if I had been looking at a computer screen with all the tank volumes and parameters typed in, and formulas returning the estimated volumes to be added, I would have had a better chance of discovering my error earlier!

There and then I made up my mind to develop a spreadsheet that would enable me accurately and reliably calculate needed make-up volumes for beer, and additives blending whenever I was on duty(this was the “Re-focus” stage).

Over the next two night shifts, I began building a Lotus spreadsheet(this was the “Return” stage) for my calculations, gradually modifying it to accommodate every possible scenario I could anticipate – including documented occurrences I had been told about by my senior colleagues.

4. Testing The Solution Developed

Eventually, after about a month, my spreadsheet had become a close companion that helped me safely plan for accurate beer blending for bottling whenever I was on duty. I never bothered to tell anyone about it because as I said earlier, my senior colleagues were mostly quite comfortable using the calculator. Also, a few had scoffed at the idea of totally converting all the calculator dependent computations for process management and report generation to PC spreadsheet format as I had proposed when I first joined them. So I thought it would be easier and better to simply use it for myself.

5. Solution Is Adopted By Entire Department(Success!)

As fate would have it however, my boss – Greg Udeh – one day walked into the office and saw me using the spreadsheet, which I had named “Beer Racking Projection Table”(“Racking” being a term describing beer make-up and transfer from the storage/maturation area into bottling tanks).

He asked me what I was doing with the spreadsheet. I demonstrated how it worked – including how close(to +/- 2 units) the computed final results it gave often were to those the laboratory returned by their analysis of the blended tank. I had actually been carefully collating the results from the lab and comparing them with the spreadsheet’s computed parameters for each bottling tank that was filled. The high degree of positive correlation between the computer and lab results was glaring.

That benefit, in addition to over 90% reduction in time taken to do weighted average calculations for beer blended to packaging, and increased flexibility in choice and number of storage vessels used for blending instantly appealed to Greg.

Suddenly, it became obvious that brewers could safely dispense with the exclusive use of calculators for this task, as all nine(9) parameters for blending of up to 4 mature beer tanks could be seen at once in a printable on-screen (projection results table) format. Necessary adjustments in volumes of beer, additives etc could also be easily made to achieve the desired final beer parameter specifications.

At the next departmental meeting, Greg announced the existence of the spreadsheet and asked me to put all other brewers through on how to use it. From then on, the entire department formally adopted the Racking Projection Table. As you can imagine, I got noticed for this and other similar solutions I would later develop for use by the department.

Summary

But if you recall how I began this story, it was a very unpleasant first attempt at doing my job the way it had always been done by those who taught me to do it, that led me to find a better way of doing it myself.

If I had simply given up and not challenged myself as I did, in order to better equip myself to do a better job next time(and so avoid making the same mistake again), it is unlikely that I would have developed the spreadsheet that eventually became useful to many others. The moral here is:

“It’s not what happens to you that’s important. It’s how you deal with it” – Can’t recall who said this!

People may say “I told you so” or laugh at you etc. Yes, you may have made a mistake. Maybe you were overconfident. The important thing is not that you have now fallen.

No. What should matter to you is what you get out of the experience. Do you know more to be able to do better next time? If your answer is “Yes”, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

No matter how sensational your failure or mistake is, you can pick yourself back up, and try again and again, more intelligently each time, till you succeed.

Let them laugh if they want – it would not be the first time people who eventually achieve phenomenal success get laughed at before they succeed!

There is a part of the lyrics of England’s Manchester United Football club’s marching song(“Stand Up For The Champion”) that I love so much. It goes thus: “When I fall down, I have to pick myself back up(2ce)”.

It does not say “If I fall down”. It says “When”. Periodic setbacks are inevitable, but when a true champion falls, she picks herself up and tries again, and again UNTIL she succeeds.

In or out of paid employment, the principles described in this article can be successfully applied to turn a bad situation around for the better. No special skill or talent is required. You only need to be willing to try.

NB: This article was first published online on 21st June 2006.

Career Development, General, My DN Travel News, Self-Development

Achieve Recognition and Attract Career Advancement Opportunities By Being A Change Agent

February 4, 2015 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

Becoming A Change Agent At Work – Key Actions You Can Take

Make sure you have at least as many “years of experience”, as the “number of years you have been with your company, or on your job”.

Remember that your having spent 20 years in a place will not really mean you have acquired 20 years experience – unless you choose to actively seek out, analyse and ultimately learn from your experiences all through that period of time. In items a. and b. below, I elaborate.

a. Constantly strive to discover better ways to do what you do. Never get passive -or think you’ve done all there is to be done!

b. Oh, and by the way, don’t wait for “others” to initiate the changes either. Sometimes those “up there”(or “others”) may not have the kind of insight you do into a particular issue. If you don’t assert yourself and “show them” what YOU believe needs to be done, you will be denying both them and yourself the opportunity for significant progress or improvement.

2. Develop and diligently implement SPECIFIC PLANS to make your performance and learning each year different from – and an improvement on – last year.

NEVER allow yourself to have a REPEAT performance of the last year.

In other words, make sure you are continuously improving in your knowledge, skills and general abilities as it relates to doing your job. Then use your improved competencies to develop new and/or better ways of doing what you do.

Do this diligently, and you will ultimately begin to achieve recognition and career progress on a consistent basis(that is of course assuming your employer thinks like the ones described in the quote below!).

“All successful employers are stalking people who will do the unusual, people who think, people who attract attention by performing more than is expected of them.” — Charles M. Schwab

3. Rock the boat – IF you have to! Sometimes you may (have to) upset some people, bruise a few egos, or even step on some toes to successfully influence positive change.

If you learn to introduce your changes with tact, the damage done should not be irreparable. Dale Carnegie’s inexpensive book “How to win friends and influence people” offers timeless wisdom(you may NOT get in an expensive Interpersonal Effectiveness management course) on how to do this.

I was listening to Sports Radio 88.9 Brila FM sometime ago, and a lady presenter credited the following quote to Bill Gates:

“I don’t know the keys to success. But I know that the key to failure is to try and please everybody” – Bill Gates

Then there is Robert Schuller’s assertion that:

“If you want to be a pacesetting thinker, you can expect problems with those who are trapped by tradition”- Robert Schuller

As a green-horned brewer in Guinness between 1996/97, my keen interest in computers initially attracted plenty of criticism from some of my peers and senior colleagues. Some pointedly told me my efforts to use automated spreadsheet applications to replace manual reporting systems being used could not work.

They also readily attributed any mistakes I made on the job to the time I spent working on the computer (something not at that time in widespread use) which in their opinion prevented me from mastering the essential practical requirements to successfully function as a brewer.

In time, I was of course able to demonstrate beyond any shred of doubt that their assumptions were wrong. Not only did I mature into a competent brewer/shift manager (one who got repeated secondments to other departments to fill sudden vacancies while replacements were sought), but I also went on to use my computer skills to develop over five customised spreadsheet applications.

These applications were formally adopted in place of the manual reporting systems being used at that time in the various departments I worked. In the rest of this article, I narrate some of my experiences a Change Agent in Guinness Nigeria Plc – in the hope that you will pick up some useful learning towards achieving achieving similar – if not better – successes in your workplace.

“Some people join the crowd in order to become “hidden” or “protected” from criticism or scrutiny. Since they also take care never to voice contrary (and at times ANY) opinion, they are rewarded with the anonymity they seek – and the insignificance that results from it.” – Tayo Solagbade

Initiating Change As A Shift Brewer/Manager(My Story)

I joined Guinness Nigeria as a Graduate Trainee in October 1994, and voluntarily resigned my appointment as Technical Training and Development Manager in December 2001 – having given 2 months mandatory notice.

I actually read a Yahoo! Newsgroup announcement of some management changes in Guinness in 2000, including mine at groups.yahoo.com/group/Naija-news/message/1290.(See entries under the heading titled “Restructuring, appointments, promotions at Guinness” towards the bottom of the page)

On numerous occasions while I worked in that company, I chose to assert myself and dare to be different by expressing my ideas, and challenging existing ways of doing things. (Since becoming an entrepreneur, I have been “guilty” of acting the same way. Read my article titled How To Be A Jack Of Many Trades – And Why It Can Make You Succeed More Often? to learn about how I am playing the change agent role outside paid employment).

Between 1997 and 2000 I automated – in my spare time – the entire process of brewing data recording, analysis and report generation by developing custom automated spreadsheet applications using my self-taught skills in Lotus macros spreadsheet programming.

Incidentally, I had learnt about Lotus macros programming by working closely with a young expatriate Training Coordinator – Richard Chambers – (who was extremely good at it) in my days as a Management Trainee in 1994/95. So you see, it had cost me NO money and just some time/effort to acquire a skill, which was to later open numerous doors of opportunities for me!

I also had some ideas about how to improve the tools being used to measure the performance of the brewing process. And I felt so convinced about them that I just could not stop calling the attention of my superiors. Some examples follow.

A Barrage Of Proposals

In January 1998, I wrote the first of a series of three papers that would generate considerable debate in my department, to my boss. In it I faulted what was then our current method of calculating the Brewhouse Turn Round Time (BHTRT) parameter being used to asses our brewhouse performance, and proposed a modification to the formula.

My colleagues- some of whom had been brewers many years before I joined the company – tested the modified formula and ultimately recommended its adoption.

Two months later, the second paper questioned the reliability of the BHTRT parameter itself as a measure of performance. My argument was that BHTRT by its computation failed to capture other essential aspects of our brewing performance thereby sometimes understating out performance even when we had done well. As could be expected, not everyone readily accepted this line of reasoning. However, it did stimulate lively discussions and plenty of re-thinking.

In June 1998, the third paper proposed (to senior management) for adoption, a formula for computing a new brewery performance measure which I called “Brewhouse % Efficiency” to complement existing performance measures like the BHTRT. This formula had components which took account of all key variables in the brewing process thereby giving – what I considered – a more reliable representation of the overall performance of the brewhouse.

Not only did my boss – Greg Udeh – buy into the idea, he engaged me in extensive discussions about how I derived it, and then sent it to the brewery’s Operations Manager(OM) – Alistair Reid. Few weeks later, following the approval from the OM, I made abridged copies of the original proposal, which my boss then circulated to senior managers in the technical function across the company.

The response was instantaneous. For 6 consecutive months subsequently, the formula was discussed at the monthly Technical Review Meetings by senior managers in the Technical function. In addition, the Production department in Lagos brewery also “tested” the formula for use. I still recall vividly the many phone calls and emails(hard copies of which are in my files even now) that I exchanged with Chizzy Uduanochie who was then based in Lagos brewery, trying to explain how he could adapt the formula for use in their Lager brewing process.

Best of all, I got a formal acknowledgment for my efforts when Brian Carson(who was then) – head of the Technical Function – commended me during one of the brewery management meetings I attended. Another Senior Manager – Raymond Ugboh – commented not long after, that the work I had done in developing that formula was like something for a PhD thesis! (What better way to discover how much of a positive impression you’ve made in people’s minds!)

Little wonder then that I subsequently got repeated exposure to significant career advancement opportunities (especially as I never stopped doing those things for which I had been acknowledged – being innovative, creative, dedicated, dependable, a team worker etc).

Career Opportunities: Acting As Training Manager Twice In The Same Year

At different times in 1998 (when I made my many proposals), various opportunities would come my way.

First Secondment: In March 1998, I was nominated to relieve the substantive Technical Training and Development Manger(TTDM) – Austin Isikhuemen – while he observed his annual leave(The TTDM’s position was on a management grade one step above middle level management which I belonged to as a brewer).

The job involved supervising a team of 3 managers(Training Instructors), 5 Engineering Trainees and a Secretary, while reporting to the Brewery Technical Manager. Only 3 years earlier, the instructors had put me through as a 24 year old trainee. I realised this and made sure to let them see that I still valued and respected their experience. However, when necessary, I did not hesitate to assert myself especially when a possibility of set targets or deadlines not being met became apparent.

I also had to ensure planned training courses were run on schedule for all employees. In certain cases this required liasing with external training consultants. Effective interfacing with sectional and departmental heads within the brewery or from other breweries, as well as periodic evaluation of training courses – especially those run by external facilitators were crucial roles I had to play.

As usual, I looked for ways to make my job easier. For example, I introduced a spreadsheet macro program on the brewery’s intranet which enabled printing of blank Internal Technical Audit record forms. This reduced delays previously encountered by intending auditors whenever provided blank copies ran out.

Repeat Secondment: Mid-August 1998, I received official notification of my nomination by the brewery’s Technical Manager, Chris Biss, to act, again, as TTDM.

This time, it was for an even longer period of over 3 months!

The incumbent TTDM – Austin – had commenced a 3 month overseas training tour before this time, and the Technical Manager himself was scheduled to go away for over one month on his annual leave during the period I was to act!

I must add here that before then, one question that had tugged at my mind since completing my first secondment/acting assignment had been whether or not my performance had been to the satisfaction of the Technical Manager, and the brewery management in general.

This subsequent recall to the position, and the circumstances under which I was asked to assume duties – where by no “hand-holding” was employed to “ease me in” (suggestive of the “Trial By Fire” method sometimes deliberately used by management to “test” the mettle of individual employees) – gave me the answer I needed.

On this second run, I went on to formally propose data entry of training records for individual employees into the existing human resources database package(PS 2000) then being exclusively used by the HR department. Following discussions with the brewery IT department and the HR manager, the proposal was accepted and implemented.

The Lagos brewery would later be advised to adopt the same solution following a Technical Review Meeting(TRM – brewery level meeting attended by senior mangers from the company’s Lagos Headquarters) at which I announced that records of over 350 (out of 430) staff in Benin Brewery had already been entered into the database.

This made it possible to generate reports about individual staff containing details of employment history, courses attended, performance etc for use in decision making by departmental heads.

Important Note: You might want to take note of the point made here.

I got nominated – TWICE in the same year – to hold a high-profile position while less than 4 years old in the company. This trend actually continued right into the last years I spent in the company as I continued to use my self-taught skills to deliver EXTRA value every time I was at work.

Other Examples From The Time I Spent In Guinness

I make these additions NOT to blow my horn or make myself look good, but to provide the reader a variety of scenarios in which opportunities for influencing positive changes in the work place can be found and utilised. Incidentally, most times, if you are alert, they simply become obvious to you. The only thing left would then be to take action.

The examples described here provide further evidence that I actively challenged existing ways of thinking and doing things with a view to discovering easier and better methods. They also show a trend that suggested I had an uncanny instinct that guided me to think along the lines that my superiors were likely to develop interest in later on. I strongly believe anyone can develop this instinct by adopting a similar mental attitude to the one described towards the end of this article.

1. Introducing A Process Control Tool:

In June 1997, about four(4) months after returning from temporary redeployment to the Packaging department*, I proposed and implemented the use of CUSUM(Cumulative Sum Deviation) charts to monitor trends of some key brewing parameters to complement conventional Schewart charts then being used in the brewing department. *(I was officially a brewer, but had received training to work in the Packaging department, resulting in my periodic secondments to that department).

I had come across the CUSUM concept while studying a paper on energy usage and monitoring. It offers among others, the benefit of indicating points at which changes occur in a process due to non-accidental causes thereby making it easy to evaluate the effect of modifications deliberately or inadvertently effected in the brewing process.

To make it easy for the charts to be updated, I designed a spreadsheet for the purpose and championed its use. CUSUM charts were subsequently used to monitor and depict sustained progress in controlling beer foam retention and percentage brewing wort boil off rates. Read my article titled Simple Performance Measurement/Control Techniques to learn more about the CUSUM concept.

In November 1997, I wrote and presented a paper titled “Statistical Process Control(SPC) And Target Setting” based on the work I had done in Guinness, at the 1997 edition of the Nigerian Institute of Management(NIM) Young Manager’s Competition.

I was runner up in the zonal finals of the competition held at Ibadan, and placed 5th overall(out of 8 finalists) at the subsequent National Finals held in Lagos – in December 1997 – mainly due to a botched presentation caused by my inexperience. You can read the very useful learning I gained from that experience in my article titled I Flopped Badly At The National Finals!(A True Story About How NOT To Prepare For/Deliver An Important Presentation).

Coincidence? In July 1998(about 6 months after I delivered my paper on Statistical Process Control at the NIM competition), Guinness Nigeria sent brewers and bottling line managers – myself included – to attend a Continuous Process Improvement course at the Lagos Business School.

The potential applications of SPC to achieve process consistency featured prominently in the course.

2. Proposing A New Process Performance Measure:

Earlier on in this article, I described the events leading up to my proposal in July 1998, of a new measure called Percentage Brewhouse Efficiency. I had derived the formula for computing this parameter by conducting elaborate spreadsheet based data analysis(based on an adaptation of the Packaging Line Efficiency formula) over a 2 month period – in my spare time – using more than 2 years worth of brewing data. The proposal was given consideration at the highest levels in the company’s technical function.

Coincidence? In March 1999, a comprehensive list of performance measures (some new) to be used for comparative assessments of brewing sites across the Guinness Africa group were circulated from the London office. One of them – though not based on my formula – was a new parameter called Brewhouse Factory Efficiency.

3. Developing Best Operating Practice(BOP) Assessment Formats:

Between February and March 1999, I lead-facilitated the implementation of the BOP assessment exercise for Velo filter operations in the brewing department. The assessment format I designed specifically for this exercise( based on the competencies indicated as requisite in the Operator Works Instructions) would later be requested from me by the Training Instructor responsible for BOP Operations – Ben Ogansuyi – and formally adopted for use.

The Mental Attitude That Helped Me Succeed As A Change Agent

In order to help you identify other factors that enabled me achieve recognition and career progress, I offer details about the kind of thinking I employed in doing my work.

I had an unwavering interest in continually acquiring new knowledge, skills and experiences even if considerable personal expenses would be incurred. For instance, I recall having to spend almost my entire leave allowance on materials, and in preparation for the Nigerian Institute of Management’s(NIM) Young Manager’s Competition I entered for in 1997. The same thing happened when I chose to learn how to speak, read and write the French language two years later.

Adopting a similar mental attitude is likely to boost your chances of work place success significantly.

This positive attitude and work ethic made me get noticed easily, as I was often thrust into the spotlight for having introduced new ideas/ways of doing things – often times using my ability to influence people’s ways of thinking and doing things to get the buy-in of others.The many instances during which I was able to identify defects in existing settings and successfully propose acceptable modifications to them within a short period of joining a new or different work area are cases in point.

The following narrative describes one of such cases.

Staying Relevant To The Company’s Needs As A Change Agent

After the company’s switch from Lotus Smart Suite to MS office platform during the roll over to year 2000, I made out time to develop self-taught proficiency in the use of Microsoft’s equivalent to Lotus 1-2-3’s macros i.e. MS Excel Visual Basic. I did this out of a well formed habit of doing whatever was necessary to keep myself relevant to the needs of the company.

This pro-active step paid off in late 2001, few months before I left the company, when I successfully developed a Visual Basic for Excel Custom Automated Training Records database application for Benin brewery(which would later be sent to Lagos brewery at the request of the latter’s TTDM) – in order to meet requirements of the then impending ISO 9002 certification audits, pending delivery of the application to be sourced by the IT department.

It might interest you to know that today, I deliver Custom Spreadsheet Automation Services to clients for a fee – so my efforts at developing spreadsheet solutions in my workplace were not wasted. You can work towards having the same experience too – since you will one day have to retire.

Summary

You must be constantly critical of yourself, and the environment in which you find yourself at any point in time. Always ask yourself questions when things happen differently or you notice something unusual. Many times, it is by keeping yourself in such a state of mental alertness that you are able to pick up valuable learnings from your experiences – and sometimes come up with innovative solutions to problems faced by you and others you work with!

Also, while learning from experiences, you need to be patient since sometimes the experiences can be slow and even painful. You must fix your mind on the ultimate purpose of your having the experience(s), and draw strength from the knowledge that you will come away much better off than if you never had the experience(s).

Finally, I ask you: What are the conditions or circumstances you accept to live and work with daily? Are there some that you dislike but feel you cannot do anything about? If yes, you must change your attitude and begin to think of HOW to turn those circumstances around to your advantage. If you give enough thought to it, you will find a way. So, don’t rationalise your circumstances away – analyse them!

NB: This article was first published online by Tayo K. Solagbade in 2006.

Career Development, Entrepreneurship, General, My DN Travel News

When I Quit My Job, They Called Me “Mad” – And I Felt So, So Sorry, For Them!

February 3, 2015 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

“, many people still think you must have been mad to do what you did.”

That’s what a former senior colleague told me when we met 3 years after I resigned from Guinness to start my business.

In this article, I reveal the TRUE fear-fueled motives that some salary earners (and their employers) have for readily casting aspersion on a member who chooses to switch from paid to self-employment despite offers of career advancement.

Some of the assertions I make in this article WILL upset persons in paid employment, but that will not change the fact that they are ACCURATE representations of what happens in our society today!

My purpose here is to help the interested reader understand that – notwithstanding startup pains – self-employment can be a prestigious and fulfilling alternative to the daily rat race in paid employment.

Background

Even though I have focussed on salary earners, some of the “habits” I describe in this article are also favored by certain persons in business who have vested interests.

Maybe I’ll find the patience to elaborate on their “contributions” in a separate article sometime in the future. For the purpose of this article however, please indulge me by keeping in mind the fact that I am referring mainly to persons in paid employment.

As I explained in another article titled “Should You Quit Your Job or Start Your Business Part-time?”, while later reflecting on what some of my wonderful colleagues were supposed to have said about me, I could not help feeling sorry for them.

It was sad confirmation that they were still oblivious to the fact, that I had only done earlier, with my youth still on my side, what they would have NO choice but to do in the future.

There is a saying that madness is continuing to do something the same way every time, even when you know the results will still be the same unsatisfactory ones you have always gotten!

For seven years I did the 9 to 5 job routine that made feel unfulfilled, saying yes-sir, getting periodically caught in corporate politics, till I could take no more. I wanted out – and I eventually quit.

They said I was mad to do this. But I KNEW I was curing myself of madness by doing it. Today, I know I am very sane. For those who think I should have started my business on the side, instead of quitting outright, please read my article titled “Should You Quit Your Job or Start Your Business Part-time?” and understand that our purposes will differ, and therefore we cannot all successfully follow the same path.

Below, I explain how some people in paid employment think, which makes them regard a person who takes the kind of decision that I took as “mad” – and also prevents them taking ACTION to live their lives doing what they truly desire – UNTIL it becomes too late.

A. (Some) Salary Earners Keep Trying To Wish Away The Inevitable

By this I mean that they will one day have to seek income outside paid employment, and therefore need to LEARN HOW to do so – especially since no textbook or educational certification will prepare them better than EXPERIENCE.

Failing to see their self-employed former colleague as one through whom they can learn how to survive in the real world, they deprive themselves of cost-saving and pain-relieving access to experience based wisdom, that could increase their chances of succeeding when the inevitable becomes their reality.

Know this: No matter how long you hang on to that job, you WILL one day have to let go. Some who NEVER thought they could lose their jobs because they knew they were “good”, did so, due to the mistakes of others!

And guess what? Their companies did not fold up after they left. In most cases, the companies did not even pause briefly as a result of their being let go. I think the following quote says it best:

The graveyards are full of indispensable men. — Charles de Gaulle

Please get over your “It can’t happen to me mentality”, and begin to actively think of ways you can prepare for the inevitable. If it’s not already too late, find a way to contact a former colleague who is in business(or any other competent person) to help you with your “re-education”.

If s/he happens to be like me i.e. one who knows the true worth of his/her hard earned knowledge, experience and billable time, then you can be sure you will NOT be getting that education FREE.

As a young manager in the company I quit from, I could not help noticing how defeated some retired ex-managers looked after some years.

In many cases, some of these individuals had spent 2 or more decades of their lives working for the company they eventually left as Directors, Senior Managers etc.

That was not bad in itself. The problem was they knew NO other life, and had acquired little or no other socially relevant and marketable skills to guarantee their successful re-entry into the real -world.

Many would have gone through all those years telling everyone “Look, I’m busy”, “I don’t have time for that now!” etc. Then suddenly, they find they have more time than they can use – and very little energy(or ideas) – to utilise it in the way they need to!!

Pre-Retirement Programs Seldom Help!

Please note that most pre-retirement programs seldom achieve any significant/useful preparation that a prospective retiree can successfully apply in the real world.

Apart from the fact that they are hurriedly put together and last only short periods, little real-world education can be imparted in the classroom environment that is typically used by organisers.

The real learning and re-education will have to be done out “on the streets”. And so, the inevitable becomes unavoidable!

Fela Anikulapo Kuti Sang About It!

From his single-track album titled “Perambulator”, released back in the ’80’s, I excerpted the following lines delivered in his usual pidgin English(The song centered on the lack of direction or purpose in the way African societies were run/organised) :

For the benefit of the reader who is not (yet) initiated into reading “our” pidgin English, I have translated excerpts as follows:

Fela: “He would have gone to school earlier on in life” (Chorus = “No solution”: meaning BUT IT will do him little or no good)

Fela: “They will teach him how to speak good English” (Chorus = “No solution”: meaning BUT IT will do him little or no good)

Fela: “He will be taught nothing that will benefit him personally” (Chorus = No solution = meaning BUT IT will do him little or no good)

Fela: “They will give him a certificate, to work as an employee” (Chorus = “No solution”: meaning BUt IT will do him little or no good)

Fela: “They will give him a certificate, to make him a civil servant” (Chorus = “No solution”: meaning BUt IT will do him little or no good)

Fela: “They will give him a certificate, to make him a certified slave” (Chorus = “No solution”: meaning BUt IT will do him little or no good)

From reading through the late Afro Beat musician’s lyrics, the reader will – I hope – have seen the point I am making here that blindly pursuing a career without consciously planning for your future AFTER that career, can be the same thing as moving round in circles and achieving NO PERSONAL progress(Fela called it “Perambulating”)

.

The choice is yours to make! The morale drawn from Fela’s lyrics is even more relevant to the my next point(see B. below).

Now before you ask for my head, I am NOT saying it is bad to be an employee, or to pursue a long and fruitful career in a good company(though this can be hard to find these days!).

What I AM saying is that while doing that, one should also prepare for the inevitable return to life out of paid employment, where, very often, the skills successfully used for survival in a salaried job can be found totally obsolete in the real-world!

B. Some(Salary Earners) Acquire Qualifications That Make Them Too Specialised To Do Anything Else

Some corporate multinationals require employees in various cadres of management to take, and pass, certain certification examinations in highly specialised fields, which they are told will increase their career advancement potentials within THAT company.

The sometimes un-stated fact however is that most of these exams and qualifications DO NOT in any way make the holder more usefully skilled and therefore employable elsewhere. In a way that’s good for the employer – BUT certainly not for the employee with lofty career ambitions!

The shocking reality of how limiting a specialist qualification can be, hit me in a bad way when I got a refusal letter sent to me regarding my application(in mid 2005) to enter the UK as a self-employed person to explore opportunities for business in that country under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme(HSMP).

Let me state here that the overall score awarded me or the fact that I was judged to be inadequately qualified are NOT the issue.

Instead, I wish to point out how holding what was supposed to be an INTERNATIONALLY recognised professional brewing qualification(i.e Associate Membership Certification) awarded – following success in the qualifying examinations – by the UK based Institute & Guild Of Brewing which has membership spanning organisations across many continents DID NOT help my case in any way.

I Provide These Not So Pleasant Details To :

1. OPEN the eyes of any persons in paid employment who may wrongly assume they know all they think they know about their job status, entitlements etc. I urge you to find out and be sure what you find out is correct, so your future personal/career advancement plans don’t blow up in your face.

2. Show that taking examinations which make you more equipped to do specialised jobs, potentially limiting choices you may have in future when the need for a career change arises(and it will!) is not in your best interest. You would be VERY wise to begin learning to be a generalist FIRST (as advised by Robert Kiyosaki) before becoming a specialist.

a. Request to work in other departments/functions of your company, so as to increase your skills and knowledge.

b. Attend seminars that will make you proficient in areas you think may in future hold opportunities for personal advancement for you. THIS MAY NOT EVEN be in your present company or on your current job!

c. Look out for opportunities for different job openings that will allow you acquire new, different and more varied knowledge and experiences which will come in useful later in your personal/work life.

C. (Some) Salary Earners Deliberately Publicise The Self-Employed Person’s Setbacks

In order to dissuade others still in the company’s employ from following his/her footsteps, some individuals or decision makers in a company, and/or sole proprietorship employers, make a point of publicising any setbacks a member who resigned to venture into self-employment suffers while s/he struggles to get the business off the ground.

When s/he records a significant advancement, they conveniently fail to “take note” or play it down.

BUT as soon as news of a setback comes their way, they tell others – especially the impressionable young one

“See, why it never pays to think you know…see how he is suffering now..? And s/he was warned, but just would not listen. You better think well before you do anything stupid and start regretting it!”

A point to note. Some of those who speak/act this way do so out of a need to eliminate their feeling of inadequacy.

A feeling arising from seeing the former member demonstrate great courage(probably applauded by others at the time), to do something they had been unable to find the guts to do for years – despite being unhappy with their own jobs too!

I say to you who read this article at this moment. Do NOT let anyone deceive you into thinking the prolonged bouts of suffering a self-employed person may have to endure during his/her business startup is bad.

Those experiences are meant to build up the willing person to become ultimately capable of running his/her venture profitably – for the long term.

Take the wisdom offered by your advisers in paid employment(who very often have little or NO experience in self-employment), and compare with what YOU SEE when you closely study an authentic entrepreneur whose actions/activities catch your attention and interest.

Then pick up books written by those who have succeeded the honorable way and read(and I do mean READ!). You will eventually find the TRUE answer.

But take this from me now: Without the suffering, rejection, bitter disappointments, setbacks etc, a person is unlikely to fully mature into a competent entrepreneur, capable of achieving the tall ambitions s/he has.

D. (Some) Salary Earners Act This Way Because They Are Terrified

If there is one group of people who seem to be obsessed with self-delusion when it comes to serious matters like achieving one’s life purpose, I have to say it’s salary earners – AGAIN.
Not all of them of course – but a considerable majority. If they made reasonable effort to keep their unfounded fears to themselves, it probably would not have been worth talking about.

Sadly, they hide behind the false sense of security provided by their jobs(and attendant benefits) to propagate all kinds of unfounded myths about the wisdom of venturing into self-employment.

But Why Are These Salary Earners So Terrified? I Offer Three Possible Reasons:

i]. They Are Terrified Of Giving Up A Steady Income Source. They simply cannot bear the thought of not being able to say, “I’m off to work this morning”, knowing they might not have access to steady inflow of cash to carry on with their established lifestyles .

It gets even worse. When confronted with the reality of no pay(or if self-employed and unable to get clients to pay up), they will readily drop all pretences at being “honest” and accept to do illegal and/immoral things to avoid being seen “to be incapable of meeting their obligations”.

In a particular case, the person concerned argued that if one was to be a “man”, and support his family, one could not afford to insist on doing things right every time. What warped logic! The lack of social security/welfare systems in some underdeveloped countries like mine, make this problem even more relevant.

ii]. They Are Terrified Because They ALWAYS Put Money First. Many salary earners simply cannot imagine life without money to spend. They absolutely dread the thought of going through any period of time without the assurance of an inflow of steady income.

Since going into self-employment carries with it the heavy risk of enduring often prolonged periods of cash shortages, they therefore fail to see why anyone in his right mind would decide to take a decision to do such a thing.

My argument is that it would however be wrong for anyone who feels that way, to justify his/her position by deliberately publicising – or even seeking ways to ensure – the failures of another who goes ahead to be self-employed. And this happens quite a bit. Maybe that’s why the chinese have this entertaining proverb:

“Man who says it cannot be done, should not get in the way of man who wants to do it” – Chinese Proverb

What this group of fickle-minded individuals fail to understand is that the creatures called “entrepreneurs” – the authentic ones – many times do not put the desire for money ahead of their desire to create, and pioneer new ways of doing things, so as to improve the lives of others.

The authentic entrepreneur enjoys the thrill, the excitement and the challenge of doing something new, probably not done before or not done THAT way before.

Evidence even exists that proves many entrepreneurs enjoy the journey more than they do, the actual attainment of their valued goal, which probably explains why they keep setting new heights to conquer, by launching other projects.

This love for what they do, is also why most authentic entrepreneurs will readily continue their work, even when monetary rewards are yet to materialise.

But in addition to the “enjoyment” of their work, entrepreneurs also eventually “see” the money. As I said in my article titled “Should You Quit Your Job or Start Your Business Part-time?”, doing what you love WILL also eventually bring the ONE benefit(money!) that many people always seem to want to get first. That’s why Marsha Sinetar said:

“Do what you love, and the money will follow” – Marsha Sinetar

iii]. They Are Terrified Because They Lack Vision/The Capacity To Visualise. Considering that most of the ideas they come up with tend to be what the larger society(which includes the terrified salary earners) cannot even comprehend, have never even thought of, and do not consider attainable, it is quite understandable that entrepreneurs get called “crazy”, “mad”, “unreasonable”, “dreamers” etc.

When Marconi First Proposed The Concept That Made Tv/Radio Possible, His Friends Thought He Was Not “OK” Upstairs!

Today, we all take for granted the “reality” of being able to receive messages/transmissions through thin air, without physical wire connections from broadcast stations to TV and Radio sets in our homes. But it was Marconi, who came up with a principle which he claimed could be used to make this possible, at a time when nothing of the sort had ever been seen or done.

Guess what Marconi’s “friends” did to him after he made this claim? They so “loved” him, and worried for his “sanity” that they forcefully took him to a mental hospital for examination!

I am sure they must have been convinced he had gone off the deep end! Today, it would be ridiculous for anyone to even question the principles on which the TV and Radio work in our various homes and offices.

We really should thank entrepreneurs for refusing to be “reasonable”, and instead being “dreamers” or simply “mad”!

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” — George Bernard Shaw

PLEASE Take My Warning In This Article Seriously

I urge you to give serious thought to all that I have said here. Endeavour to serve your employer well. But always remember that her obligation to you ends the day you are officially listed as retired, retrenched, redundant, rationalised – or if you’re lucky to find the courage…”voluntarily resigned”.

Begin today to think what you will do AFTER you leave that nice comfy job with the FREE medical benefits, pretty cars, free accommodation, scholarship for your kids, free meals at work, sponsored holidays etc. Don’t let those numerous nice things of life turn you into an invalid who does not know left from right by the time you get back into the UHK – University of Hard Knocks(aka the real-world). And YOU WILL one day have to return to the real-world.

Here’s another reason to take me seriously. For two years(prior to quitting my job) I tried very hard to highlight in my resume the wonderful specialised international qualification I had, in many applications for different jobs in other companies, and found NOT one interested in it. When I spoke with others at courses I attended, a blank look always came into their eyes whenever I told them I possessed this qualification.

Then it hit me! What useful value could I really offer any employer – especially in my country, where the brewing profession is not as established as in the UK – aside from the one I currently worked for with that specialised qualification ?

Almost nothing – except an employer who happened to be in the same/similar industry. I could only think of ONE other company that fit the bill, and I certainly did not want to go there!

It was then that I realised what it felt like to be “trapped”. And I became even more determined to do something about my situation. This led me eventually to quit my job, and start my own business in order to fulfill my own long standing personal ambitions. You are reading all this now, because I found my true purpose – and followed it.

If doing so is what it means to be “MAD” as some of my former colleagues are supposed to have said, then I hope to be diagnosed with the most extreme form of MADNESS possible by the time I breathe my last breath!

NB: This article was first published onile by Tayo K. Solagbade on November 02, 2006

Career Development, Entrepreneurship, General, My DN Travel News, Public Speaking

No. 179: To Achieve Lasting Success, Even a Star Studded Team Needs the Right “Trainer”

February 2, 2015 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

Nothing compares to a passion-driven team of people, committed to giving their best at what they do. Whether in paid employment, sports or elsewhere, the results they get will often record spectacular results.

Very often, the success of a team of people will depend on the leadership they have. Typically, that would be a central figure, or personality who will make team members buy into, and actively work together, to achieve the team’s purpose.

SCROLL DOWN TO READ FULL ISSUE

Publication: Weekly Public Speaking IDEAS Newsletter

Date: Monday 2nd February 2015

No:179

Title: To Achieve Lasting Success, Even a Star Studded Team Needs the Right “Trainer“

Author & Publisher: Tayo K. Solagbade [Tel: +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic) ]

Blog URL: http://www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets

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NB: This newsletter is published every Monday. Point your browser to www.tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets to read at least ONE new post added to my SD Nuggets blog on a different category from Tuesday till Saturday (sometimes even Sundays) in line with this publishing schedule

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IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS newsletter is published online on the “reincarnated” version of my Self-Development (SD) Nuggets blog. I continue to put finishing touches to the content. If you encounter ANY bad/dead links, and you can spare the time, email them to me via tayo at tksola dot com. Thanks in advance

No. 179: To Achieve Lasting Success, Even a Star Studded Team Needs the Right “Trainer“

Nothing compares to a passion-driven team of people, committed to giving their best at what they do. Whether in paid employment, sports or elsewhere, the results they get will often record spectacular results.

Very often, the success of a team of people will depend on the leadership they have. Typically, that would be a central figure, or personality who will make team members buy into, and actively work together, to achieve the team’s purpose.

Take Professional Club Soccer for instance…

José Mourinho commands great respect for being able to work in the world’s toughest leagues, managing teams comprising players from different cultures to win laurels.

The irony is that quite often, before Mourinho arrives his predecessor would often have suffered a string of bad losses, and the team’s owners would have concluded a change was needed.

It goes without saying however, that Mourinho does not have a 100% record.

But, he does have a very intimidating track record of success with VERY different teams in VERY different leagues!

I believe that makes him truly SPECIAL – as he has already described himself

So how come one team manager can get results using mostly the same players, and another cannot?

My personal experiences provide me a sound basis to offer useful insights on this subject.

For one thing, I played competitive state level handball from the age of 12 (in secondary school) till I graduated from the University at the age of 22. Along the way, I belonged to a few winning teams as well.

For instance, in secondary school, our school team won the state competition, and in my final undergraduate year I captained the Independence Hall team to win the Annual Inter Halls competition after MANY years of coming second.

In between all of that, I travelled with teams in Kwara State, Oyo State, and Kaduna state, to play some tough competitions.

Those experiences, in which different team coaches handled us, helped me understand the crucial role such individuals play in bringing out the best in their people.

Now, I know I do not have World Championship playing experience. However, if you’ve played competitively, you’ll find know that the levels may vary, but the psychology involved remains basically the same.

Human beings, properly INSPIRED and guided, can produce results that surprise even themselves.

Great coaches or team managers are those who KNOW how to get players to deliver superlative performances on a more frequent basis than their counterparts.

But what exactly do they do such coaches do, to get people to perform like that?

What does Mourinho do to players that gets them to go on the pitch and fight like warriors for the ball, till they win?

I believe it’s the way he TALKS to them and how he makes them FEEL.

Most pro soccer players are highly skilled and very competent at what they do. But individual skills do not always help a team get as far as it can go (Not all teams enjoy the luxury of having a Messi or Ronaldo in their ranks)!

This is why getting team members to achieve SYNERGY in working together, towards a TEAM goal is therefore what occupies the mind of a great manager or leader.

What I say here, using a soccer team as a reference, applies just as well to members of a company’s sales team or indeed any other organisation.

Mourinho is reportedly a no nonsense kind of manager.

He knows what he wants and he COMMINICATES it clearly to his players. Even when he knows a player has certain unique strengths, if his intended match strategy requires using that player in an unusual position or manner, he does NOT hesitate to do so.

If the player gets on the pitch and fails to do as he’s been instructed, Mourinho sends a clear message by benching him. With each team, he asserts himself, verbally in addressing the team and individuals, as well as through actions he takes to get them to do things his way.

Over time, the results he’s achieved have spoken loudly for the effectiveness of his methods – even though some critics feel he sometimes employs “negative” tactics that remove from the beauty of the game.

The truth, however, is that club owners LOVE a manager who brings in the laurels – and as a result, Mourinho does not lack offers!

As an expert-who-speaks, you may have to train or coach members/employees of (for instance) departmental teams in a client organization.

It could be a small business or large corporation – but that would not really matter.

How you handle yourself to provide the requested service is what would matter!

That’s why I believe useful lessons can be taken from the approach employed by José Mourinho – as outlined above.

For instance, trying to be a nice guy so your “learners” all say good things about you in the feedback forms is rarely a wise strategy.

Instead, find out from and/or agree with the client what specific outcomes s/he wants you to deliver through the training, coaching or speaking session.

Once you get that, proceed to prepare your message and/or action plan.

Most importantly, when you begin, think and act along the lines mentioned above, for Mourinho.

It will make those your trainees, “coachees” or “mentees” pay solid attention, and apply themselves diligently.

Interestingly, since this approach achieves the outcome of making people achieve exceptional results that surprise even themselves, they end up feeling good!

What’s more, they are likely to go away raving about your program to others.

In the end, you would have given a good account of yourself…and your reputation boosted!

If you need help putting the ideas shared above to use, let me know HERE.

Click here to tell me which of Burt’s speaker mentoring products or services you are interested in.

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Have a great week :-))

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New posts from last week that may interest you! *

Public Speaking[Monday]:
No. 178: To Achieve Marketing Success at Low Cost, You Need a List of Potential Buyers

Entrepreneurship[Tuesday]:

Experience Sharing Is The World’s Most Powerful Coaching Strategy (FREE PDF Preview Download of a Best Practice Book That Can Help You)

Self-Development/Parenting [Wednesday]:
To Achieve Her True Potential, Nigeria MUST Reject “Government Magic”!

Career Development [Thursday]:

Understanding How Ruminant Livestock (Like Cattle) Digest High Fibre Feeds

Parenting [Friday]:
To Borrow Other People’s Money, You Need to Answer Their “WIIFM?” Question

Writing/Blogging/[Saturday]:

To Achieve Authentic Success You Need More Self Belief Than Looks!

Want me to write for you? Click here to send me a message

Tayo K. Solagbade*

Self-Development/Performance Improvement Specialist

*Sole Agent For Burt Dubin’s Speaker Mentoring Service In Africa

Mobile: +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic)

http://www.tayosolagbade.com

Tayo K. Solagbade is a Location Independent Performance Improvement Specialist and Multipreneur (i.e. a highly versatile/multi-skilled entrepreneur), with a bias for delivering Best Practice solutions to

Farm Businesses and others.

Since 2002, he has earned multiple streams of income providing individuals and organisations with personal development training and coaching, custom MS Excel-VB solutions, web marketing systems/web hosting,

freelance writing services, and best practice extension support services (for farm business owners).

Tayo is the author of the Self-Development (SD) Bible™ and the popular Livestock Feed Formulation Handbook. He is also the developer of its accompanying Excel-VB driven Ration Formulator™ and the Poultry Farm Manager™ software.

He has delivered talks/papers to audiences in various groups and organisations, including the Centre for Management Development, University of Lagos, Christ Baptist Church, Volunteer Corps, Tantalisers Fast Foods

and others.

In May 2012 he was the Guest Speaker at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development’s Annual Semester Entrepreneurial Lecture at Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.

On 1st April 2013, Tayo (who reads, write and speaks the French language) relocated to Cotonou, Benin Republic to begin slowly traveling across the West African region.

His key purpose is to deliver talks, seminars

and workshops on his key areas of focus and interest to interested audiences (Email tayo at tksola dot com for details).

In a previous life, before leaving to become self-employed, Tayo served for seven years as a high performing manager in Guinness Nigeria. He rose from Shift Brewer, to Training & Technical Development Manager, and then later acted in senior management roles as Production Manager and Technical Manager.

He is an Associate Member of the UK Institute & Guild of Brewing, a 1997 National Finalist of the Nigerian Institute of Management’s(NIM) Young Managers’ competition, a Certified Psychometric Test Administrator for Psytech UK, innovator of Spontaneous Coaching for Self-Development™ (SCfS-D™), and Founder of the Self-Development Academy Limited.

When he’s not amazing clients with his superhuman skills (wink), Tayo works as the creative force behind his Daily Self-Development Nuggets blog – on which he also publishes his Weekly Public Speaking IDEAS

newsletter(which he uses to promote Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring service to experts working across the African continent).

You can connect with him on Twitter @tksola.com and Facebook.

Visit Tayo Solagbade Dot Com, to download over over 10 performance improvement resources to boost your personal and work related productivity.

====
[IMPORTANT NOTE:====

On 4th May 2014, Tayo’s 9 year old domain (Spontaneousdevelopment dot com), which hosted his website, was taken over by Aplus.net.

Within a few days however, Tayo used his advanced self-taught web development skills to build a SUPERIOR “reincarnation” of it the website http://www.tayosolagbade.com.

But updates are still ongoing to URLs bearing the old domain name in most of the over 1,000 web pages, and blog posts

he’s published.

If you experience any difficulties finding a page or document, email Tayo at tksola dot com.

Click “Tayo, What Happened to SpontaneousDevelopmentDotCom ?” to read a detailed narrative about how the above event occurred :-))

Here’s an article Tayo wrote, to inspire others to defy adversity, and bounce back to even greater reckoning at what they do EVERY time:

Succeed by Emerging from Adversity Like a Phoenix (TayoSolagbade.com launches extra Hosting plan with FREE Web Marketing!)

And he wrote the one below, to explain why losing a domain name, no matter how old NO LONGER determines your online success or otherwise:

A Proven Strategy to Find Profitable Buyers Regardless of Your Domain Name

==================

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Showmanship Stratagems

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With its Money back if not delighted Guarantee hardly any are returned.

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A live example, including a complete audio recording of a program Burt created from scratch–on a topic he knew nothing about and never, ever presented before! See how you, guided by your personal Learning Guide, (Presentation Magic), can do this too and thrill audiences as often as you want.

Presentation Magic Manual with new pages added plus 3 audio CDs.

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Discover how you can produce a precious memento of you and your program. Capture over 44 model pages you can easily adapt for your use. Engage proven principles that add value to the experience of sitting at your feet and learning from you.

This is a reprise of the historic presentation that launched the Speaking Success System.

No copy of this 2 CD program and 50 page Learning Guide has ever been returned.

more information

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NEW: Speaking Ideas: 25 Articles and True Stories for Experts Who Speak and Those Aspiring (Volume 1)

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******

NEW: Get 2 Real Life Poultry Layer Farm Start-up Business Plans (PLUS Customization)!

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New Ebook (55 pages): Best Practice Farm Management (& Performance Measurement) for Profits – No. 1 of 4

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New Ebook (57 pages): Farm Business Start-up (Information, Education & Inspiration) – No. 2 of 4

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New Ebook (55 pages): Best Practice Livestock Farm Business Feed Formulation – No. 3 of 4

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New Ebook (58 pages): Best Practice Farm Business Marketing – No. 3 of 4

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NEW: KUKURU DANGER™: 5 True Stories About the Adventures – & Misadventures! – of a School Age Child Trying to Find Purpose in Life

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NEW: EXCEL-VB DRIVEN POULTRY LAYER FARM MANAGER SOFTWARE

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NEW: Your Practical Feed Formulation (& Compounding) Home Study Video Series Is Now Available

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NEW: Coaching Program for Farm Products Marketing Success

THEY WROTE…

“(Tayo Solagbade) is amazing and I think he is going to produce some impressive results online…” – click here to read full comment by Patrick Meninga (US based 6 figure income blogger who gained fame for building a $2,000 per month adsense website and selling it for $200,000).

—————————–

“Tayo, I honestly believe you are one of those who will succeed at anything he does. Your commitment and effort has been outstanding….Thanks for all your hard work since I’ve been here – you will be sorely missed. I don’t need to wish you good luck, you have the ability to make your own luck. – Andy”(R. Jones)*

*Operations Manager, Guinness Nigeria Plc Benin Brewery, December 2001 (Handwritten comments in farewell/xmas cards sent to Tayo Solagbade following his resignation to start his own business).

———————–

Click here to contact Tayo…

Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring

for Africa Based Experts(PDF…Click!)

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This CSI series is a public service to give CEOs, & those aspiring, ready-to-use experience-based information & education. The purpose is to promote experience-sharing amongst CEOs, about Indigenous Knowledge Systems.

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Latests Comments
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | TayoSolagbade.com on Why You Need a Web Marketing System (WMS) – Part 2 of 3
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | TayoSolagbade.com on No. 119: How to Achieve Success in Any Field (True Story)
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | SD Nuggets™ on Why You Need a Web Marketing System (WMS) – Part 3 of 3
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | SD Nuggets™ on Why I Relocated from Nigeria to Benin Republic (Hint: A “Poor” Country Where Even Poor People Live Well!)
Used Correctly, the Internet Can Help You Defeat Failure Repeatedly | SD Nuggets™ on No. 119: How to Achieve Success in Any Field (True Story)
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Why You Need a Web Marketing System (WMS) – Part 2 of 3
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Succeed by Emerging from Adversity Like a Phoenix (TayoSolagbade.com launches extra Hosting plan with FREE Web Marketing!)
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Why I Relocated from Nigeria to Benin Republic (Hint: A “Poor” Country Where Even Poor People Live Well!)
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on How to Sell ANYTHING to ANYONE – ANYWHERE!
PII 116: Why Poultry Farming May be Too Risky For Most Nigerians Today | TayoSolagbade.com on Real Life Ration Formulation Demonstration Using Tayo’s Solagbade’s Excel-VB Ration Formulator (Based on data supplied by an Algerian PhD Student Enquirer)

Tweets by @tksola

Why do I say this?

FINAL WORDS:

Too Many People Are Afraid Of Failing Or Making Mistakes

IMPORTANT NOTE:

A True Career Story

Summary

No matter how sensational your failure or mistake is, you can pick yourself back up, and try again and again, more intelligently each time, till you succeed.

Make sure you have at least as many “years of experience”, as the “number of years you have been with your company, or on your job”.

2. Develop and diligently implement SPECIFIC PLANS to make your performance and learning each year different from – and an improvement on – last year.

3. Rock the boat – IF you have to! Sometimes you may (have to) upset some people, bruise a few egos, or even step on some toes to successfully influence positive change.

Initiating Change As A Shift Brewer/Manager(My Story)

A Barrage Of Proposals

Career Opportunities: Acting As Training Manager Twice In The Same Year

Repeat Secondment: Mid-August 1998, I received official notification of my nomination by the brewery’s Technical Manager, Chris Biss, to act, again, as TTDM.

Other Examples From The Time I Spent In Guinness

1. Introducing A Process Control Tool:

2. Proposing A New Process Performance Measure:

3. Developing Best Operating Practice(BOP) Assessment Formats:

The Mental Attitude That Helped Me Succeed As A Change Agent

Adopting a similar mental attitude is likely to boost your chances of work place success significantly.

Staying Relevant To The Company’s Needs As A Change Agent

Summary

Background

There is a saying that madness is continuing to do something the same way every time, even when you know the results will still be the same unsatisfactory ones you have always gotten!

A. (Some) Salary Earners Keep Trying To Wish Away The Inevitable

As a young manager in the company I quit from, I could not help noticing how defeated some retired ex-managers looked after some years.

Pre-Retirement Programs Seldom Help!

Fela Anikulapo Kuti Sang About It!

B. Some(Salary Earners) Acquire Qualifications That Make Them Too Specialised To Do Anything Else

Let me state here that the overall score awarded me or the fact that I was judged to be inadequately qualified are NOT the issue.

I Provide These Not So Pleasant Details To :

C. (Some) Salary Earners Deliberately Publicise The Self-Employed Person’s Setbacks

A point to note. Some of those who speak/act this way do so out of a need to eliminate their feeling of inadequacy.

D. (Some) Salary Earners Act This Way Because They Are Terrified

But Why Are These Salary Earners So Terrified? I Offer Three Possible Reasons:

When Marconi First Proposed The Concept That Made Tv/Radio Possible, His Friends Thought He Was Not “OK” Upstairs!

PLEASE Take My Warning In This Article Seriously

No. 179: To Achieve Lasting Success, Even a Star Studded Team Needs the Right “Trainer“

Take Professional Club Soccer for instance…

So how come one team manager can get results using mostly the same players, and another cannot?

Now, I know I do not have World Championship playing experience. However, if you’ve played competitively, you’ll find know that the levels may vary, but the psychology involved remains basically the same.

What does Mourinho do to players that gets them to go on the pitch and fight like warriors for the ball, till they win?

What I say here, using a soccer team as a reference, applies just as well to members of a company’s sales team or indeed any other organisation.

As an expert-who-speaks, you may have to train or coach members/employees of (for instance) departmental teams in a client organization.

That’s why I believe useful lessons can be taken from the approach employed by José Mourinho – as outlined above.

Interestingly, since this approach achieves the outcome of making people achieve exceptional results that surprise even themselves, they end up feeling good!

*************

Learn about Burt Dubin’s speaker mentoring products (books, audios etc) below…

*************

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Get Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring for Africa Based Experts(PDF…Click!)

==== [IMPORTANT NOTE:====

Here’s an article Tayo wrote, to inspire others to defy adversity, and bounce back to even greater reckoning at what they do EVERY time:

And he wrote the one below, to explain why losing a domain name, no matter how old NO LONGER determines your online success or otherwise:

Useful Resources for Speakers

Get Burt’s mentoring at any of the 3 levels below:

Publications

THEY WROTE…

…a multi-disciplinary blog for people passionate about reaching their goals!

Get Burt Dubin’s Public Speaking Mentoring
for Africa Based Experts(PDF…Click!)

====
[IMPORTANT NOTE:====