By Kimani Wiseman
The private and public sectors are two sectors that are imperative to the economy of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. These sectors contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), hence the reason why good leadership skills are required from bosses and supervisors in these sectors.
Some bosses and supervisors have academic qualifications. However, they do not have leadership qualities to lead effectively to motivate workers to boost productivity. Their leader ship skills are extremely poor, they cannot manage a “mauby shop”. Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common objective. To be a successful leader, you must first love yourself and people. If you don’t love yourself and people, the workplace would always be “toxic”. A good leader should be a good listener and have excellent communication skills. How can you be a boss or supervisor in the private and public sector and you are not listening to your staff when they are giving brilliant ideas to boost productivity? A self-centered leader would sink that workplace like the titanic ship. Leaders should not instigate problems at the workplace but have problem solving skills.
Good communication at a workplace would ensure that information is passed from the top to the bottom. A breakdown in communication would cause serious issues at the workplace. Bosses and supervisors should not engage junior staff with “commess”. Motivate your staff to achieve the workplace goals instead of commess. Commess would create a warzone at the job. Fairness should be promoted across the board in the private and public sector. Bosses and supervisors should not be making recommendations to promote delinquent workers while your hard working staff are stagnant. What message are we sending when we promote delinquent workers?
A good leader should know your staff strong points and put them in units or departments where they can apply their training to boost productivity. For example, if someone training is in Environmental Science, you do not put that person in an Accounts Department. Bosses and supervisors should not make decisions on emotions but in the best interest of the work place. It would be a very good idea if more workplaces can have a dinner or Christmas party during the Christmas season and if extra money is available, reward your staff with a Christmas bonus. These little things would make your workers feel valued and appreciated. Workers are your treasure at any workplace, once they are happy, comfortable, and feel appreciated, they would go the extra mile for you. In a previous article, I made the recommendation for the relevant authorities to conduct a survey in the private and public sector for workers who are suffering from anxiety and depression as a consequence of poor leadership at various work places. I am hoping that this survey would be done and measures would be put in place to alleviate toxic work places. Leadership qualities can make or break any work place.