How hard is it to follow instructions?

If the question was 'how hard is it to follow directions?, I would have answered that it is difficult especially for me here in Cape Town. But the question is about instructions, well I can follow them well, sometimes I try too hard and end up burning myself. Take an example of an assignment where the instructions say hand in a 5 page document. I then do a lot of research, end up writing a lot, and there's consequences for that!!

The reason why there is so much controversy and corruption is because people do not follow instructions (tender process) and end up in trouble. I'm not talking about people who deliberately commit corruption.
This reminds of a time in our organisation when you had to comply with any instruction given to you, whether it was lawful or unlawful. During those times we really followed instructions blindly.

It is not hard to follow instructions, its just that people have a democratic rights or choices of whether to follow instructions or not, in most instances people choose not to follow instructions and they mostly know there will be no consequences for their actions or lack thereof.  

Follow instructions its a right thing to do!!!

A life lesson!

I was so amazed when, after Tuesday, 16th's Media Studies class, I noticed how people really base all they do on being compliant instead of striving for excellence. Yes, me too, I have started to think back and I have seen that many times I have been guilt as charged.

At the office I've started to scrutinise other people's outcomes and see whether a person is delivering on compliant or excellence. To be honest there are people who are compliant, not because they do not have resources to perform excellent, but because they are plain lazy to think OUT OF THE BOX!

There is a duo in my office a newly appointed Graphic Designer and an Intern Graphic Designer. These two members are the most innovative and creative people I have ever seen. The concepts they come up with are beyond expectation, as old stock, we have to keep up with them in terms of technology, I even think the organisation as employer will have tough time fullfilling their expectations in terms of providing resources.

This means if one or two people can deliver excellence, there is nothing stopping everyone to achieve that. We just have to think what really motivates us and keep reminding ourselves.

You can't choose the 15 minutes but why would I be world famous?

Yes of course in my world I will and can be famous even more that 15 minutes. Picture me being this not just educated PR guru, but a fountain of wisdom when it comes to PR.

I will be famous because of my contribution in the revolution of the industry. This will be the times when all companies small and big acknowledge that they will be nothing without a PR Manager and they will be coming to me begging for my expectise.

Can you believe that other people seek fame to such an extent they commit crimes just to get the attention and be famous even if its just for the few hours of the pandamonium. Think of a guy, who during an international match, runs naked into the field. What could be the motivation? besides his team losing, another reason is because the person wants to be on international TV, to get the international attention!!

I hope my fame will be the result of good deed!!

Being a Queen for 10 hours!

We all know that Uagust is a women's month. There are different ways of celebrating this day. At work we have a whole month's planned activities to celebrate this month. The irony of all this is that these events are planned and executed by mostly women and as organisers we seldom enjoy these events because to us it is part of our duties.

When my husband told me about an outing planned by women at his office, and that he asked them to include, I never in a million times thought this was to be my highlight in celebrating women's month! On Friday, 12 August was the day planned for the outing. I joined a group of eleven other women. I only knew that we were going to a spa place for the day, its called Mangwanani African Spa and is situated in a remote hill in Zevenwagcht pass Kuilsriver, yes, its here in Cape Town.

The place is beyond beautiful, staff is super friendly, the main attraction for me was a big fire inside the lounge which warmed the whole place. The pampering we received was over this world, from salt and rose oil to sugar and some other oil massage. We had hands and feet massage, later on head and facials. In between these treats we had breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack.

I noticed that the whole staff is composed of African people, from the front desk to the therapists, as the ladies are called. Curious me, I asked if they have qualifications for what they do (they are damn good) or are they just trained in house. The lady said that they are qualified, before employment, they are trained for 3 months, after that they get 3 weeks practicals, then they are awarded with certificates. I then asked where are other races, the lady said that is what is unique about their Spa it African, not only in name, all services are provided by African people.

My next question was who the owners are, she said in a sort of shy voice, they are White people. That was another interesting aspect of this place which needs a blog of its own. All in all, now I am ready to finish the planned events, I'm motivated and rejuvenated!!

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A skill set called leadership

I'm going to talk about leadership without refering to what literature says about leadership. This is what I think leadership should be all about:-
Leadership as a skill is about commanding respect towards others so that you can be respected you too. This respect issue is relevant in all spheres of life, e.g at work, school, Church, with peers and at home. Leadership is also about people doing what you want, not because they are afraid of you, but because they strive to be professional as you, their leader.

Leadership as a skill is being examplary at all times, not only when people are watching you. A skilled leader sees opportunities where others see problems and these opportunities need not only benefit him, but others too. Being fair at all times and being consistent is a skill I think should be entailed in leadership. When the leader is fair and consistent, the subordinates respect him.

Some people are luck to be refered as leaders though none of the skills needed for leadership are part of their characteristic.
At one point or another, we all assume the role of leadership, therefore we need to recognise the skills needed to be a successful leader.

Goodbyes are never easy

My former boss has taken a post in another province. We have worked together for the past six years, which is a long time and we have developed a very close bond which extended to our families.

Another colleague, boss to another group, left before him and his people decided to have a breakfast with him to say good bye. My department was not informed or invited, when we heard about the breakfast, we decided to ask to join them as we felt we also needed to say goodbye to him. We contributed some cash and they decided that people present must take a group photo, frame it and present it to him as a gift. This was a nice gesture and valuable gift.

A month down the line my boss permanently took up his post, and I felt that after working with him for so long I need to organise a proper farewell for him. I discussed with my group and we agreed on how it should be. I informed the other group about our plans, which was to invite all communicators including them, and that we all need to contribute towards a gift.

Iyho! the other group was so annoyed with me, asking why I'm asking them to contribute so much for my boss when theirs only got a framed photo? Mind you, there is not so much difference in contribution, except that more people will attend which meant a significant amount for a gift. After discussions with the Head of us all, we decided to invite both former bosses and have them share the gift.

I wish people could understand that it is not the size of a gift that matters, for me it is the thought that counts. People that attended were really appreciated by the guests of honour, they did not even mind that some were there without gifts. They appreciated everybody's presence at the function.

Some people tend to like making a big issue out of nothing, instead of learning the good things from others and say that 'next time I'll copy that good thing and do it better', instead they look for a fault where there is none.

The farewell went very well, we had good laughs going down memory lane. People said their proper goodbyes and well wishes.

I hope my next boss will have a good heart, sense of humour and above all, fairness to all his/her subordinates just like the boss I've lost!!

 

Straight talk breaks no friendship

'Straight talk breaks no friendship', I really don't know the correct term when this phrase refers to a colleague and not a friend. I believe when a person wants you to do something, for example, a supervisor at work, he/she needs to ASK you to do the task, and not just tell you in a demeaning manner, though it is your job to do the task.

For me I will tell my supervisor when I'm not going to do the task, and I will give my reasons so that there is no ill feelings. If he/she feels my reason for refusing is unreasonable, I would ask for explanation, so that I can understand his/her point of view. This is exactly what I expect from others. We need to be on the same page in order to work pleasantly and we can only be on the same page if we take each other to the same page.

It is extremely annoying when you ask a person to do something, which is not actually an official task, he says 'ok I'll do it'. Later on when he is expected to do the task, he gives lame excuses why he can not do it. To me, such a person has no backbone, he is not man enough to say 'no, sorry I can not do it or I don't feel like doing it'. For that matter for such a request you don't even have to give a reason, when asked a favour a real man/woman will say 'yes/no' and not say yes and behind corners have a lot of negative things to say.

Can you trust such a person with real work tasks if he has such bad tendency? I just have to watch and see!

Who said its easy to lead /manage people??

Tradition vs Cruelty to animal

Recently I had the most traumatic experience in my life, which is connected to tradition. Relatives had to do a traditional ceremony which involved slaughtering a cow (Kubuyiswa utata wekhaya). We all gathered outside to witness the process that took place inside the kraal. As the elders started officiating the ceremony, the cow became restless inside the kraal causing some chaos. The people started commenting that the person for whom the ceremony is for, was a strong minded person who sometimes did things his own way, he did not take nonsense from people. So the wildness of the cow in the kraal was justified by the family, it was alikened to their father's strong character.

During the cow's restlessness, it charged into the pole (ixhanti) inside the kraal and injured one of its horns. It immediately started bleeding, at the same time they were preparing to slaughter it, but it had to make certain sounds (ikhale) before being slaughtered. It did not respond as expected and family members were now starting to panic as the absence of sound has a bad meaning and the ceremony can not continue.

All the time the cow was bleeding badly. I sensed that the family was really worried about the silence of the cow and the women sitting next to me were on the verge of tears. To the family this is a disaster, they can not continue with the tradition, they think of what could be the reason for the silence of the cow, it is obvious the Ancetsers are cross, but what is it that is causing them to be cross. Also in the village, the family becomes the source of gossip. So there were so many things going through their minds.

For me I was so stressed by the whole situation, and I could not tell which was stressing me more, the cow that was bleeding badly or my family that was in verge of tears worried about the tradition gone wrong, the fact is I was also teary. The situation was solved when elders decided to go to a witchdoctor who told them what the cause of the problem is and it happened to be true. They later continued with the ceremony and despite the cow having lost so much blood and was supposed to be weak to give the require sound, the minute the spear touched it, it gave the strongest sound and verybody was ululating and cheering.

Yes, it a tradition and culutre to slaughter, I just wish the animals could be spared the gruesome torture and pain. I understand that its not intentional to make animals to suffer, its just that I wish something could be done, what could be done?, I really do not know.  

It is through these traditional ceremonies that we also get spiritual and physical healing, so we have to do them. All that is needed is for us believers to adhere to the tradition and not think that there are short cuts.

For me, the more I witness these incidents, the more I believe in tradition and culture!! I always wonder whether my kids will follow their family or not on this issue when they are grown ups.

Whatever they decide I still ask God to give them wisdom to make right decisions.

HAPPY READING!!

Influences within the family

I have always believed that my actions as a parent have an influence on my children's behaviour and attitude in life. This behaviour or attitude might not show while the child is still staying at home, but may do so later in his life and by that time I think it will be difficult to try to change the child. It is a different story whith children that go out of their way to defy parents and do the opposite of good they are taught and what they see at their homes.

I think that the way the eldest child is treated at home has direct influence to how the siblings will turn out to be. I take an example of an eldest son who whilst being a dependant to parents and still at school, he fathers a child to another youngster who is also at school!!, I know children are gifts from God, but really in this day and age is this a situation to be really rejoiced by the parents of either the boy or the girl?

The fact of the matter is that the parents end up taking the child's responsibilities as he/she is not working and is still at school. And now if as parents you do not talk to the child in such a way that he/she feels remorseful for putting the family and his /her future in such a difficult position, the child will see nothing wrong in his behaviour and will probably down the line again have another child because parents are there ready to cover for him.

To me if parents embrace the situation as a 'blessing' than a mistake, the likelyhood is that the siblings will follow suite and have their own babies before finishing school because they have seen from the eldest brother/sister how mom and dad had easily chipped in to embrace the situation.

In no way I mean that such child must be cast away from the family. He must be made to understand that what he/she has done is not the accepted way to start adulthood, and the situation must be used as a lesson to others in such a way that they dare to do the same mistake. We talk to our children all the time about these situations, they are taught at school on good and bad behaviour, they do listen when we talk to them, the big question is 'do they hear when we talk to them?'. Listening when someone talks and hearing what someone is saying are two different things. I always pray God to give our children the 'wisdom' he gave Solomon in the Bible.

God bless you and your family!!