A story is told of a lady who resigned from her job as a manager of a department in a certain leading corporate organization. The department was performing great under her leadership. She would be at work by 5 am in the morning and leave late in the evening. She had inherited an underperforming group of people from the previous manager. The department was chaotic. Being a performer, she decided to do all the work for the department by herself. Hence the great results from the department during her tenure. By the time she resigned, she had developed visual signs of fatigue on her body.
Within two weeks of her departure, she started receiving calls from the organization. The effect of her departure on the company had already been felt. The former immediate boss sent in pleas for her to return as soon as possible. Because she had left on not so good terms, jubilations were in order. “Let them also feel it; They thought they could do it without me. Now they know it.” I know many of us can relate with this. If not already, we have already planned for it. But lets continue with the story.
The lady did not go back to the organization as requested by her former bosses. After two months of resignation, it hit her that she had completely failed as a manager. She had failed on the most important aspect of her job. That is transforming the group she had inherited into a winning team. Let me ask you: Are you a failure or a success where you are currently leading/managing? If you were to leave your workplace today, what size of a gap would you have left? And, God forbid, if you were to die today, how many people have you trained to do the same work you are doing? In other words what is your succession plan at your level before we even talk about the topmost office in this country.
After two years, the lady returned to the same organization she had resigned from, determined and intentional this time to succeed. And surely, she transformed the department into an international centre of excellence that other countries travelled to Uganda for benchmarking. Mind you, she still had the same employees as previously. It was still the same organization and department: chaotic and toxic. The only thing that had changed was the lady. It all starts with you as the leader and/or manager. Transformation begins with you.
I have heard some of us, proudly stating that “I am the only one in Uganda who can do something”; “I am the only this engineer in Uganda”. It is great to be the best at what you do. But if you are the only one who can do it, then my fellow professional engineer you are as good as a failure to this country and world. I am grateful to learn from the best. My mentor Prof. Denis Kalumba is currently on a sabbatical (leave) for six months (July to December 2022) but the geotechnical department he leads at the University of Cape Town is still thriving even in his absence. For those with consulting and/or construction companies, how long can they survive without your presence?
