By Salieu Bojang
As informed (Bah, 2023, November 21) with ARPS Media, The Gambia Center for Victims of Human Rights Violation “suffered internal disputes and setbacks in operations and management due to corruption allegations and malpractices” (Par 1). The news, among others, reveals the non-doing of right things and doing things right for institutions in The Gambia, which worries many – as propagated in the story the “[Gambia Parliamentary] committee begins investigating NAWEC over water [shortage] supply in the Gambia after benefitting from a World Bank project worth $40,000,000” (Jallow, 2023, Par 7). In context, for the future growth and success of Gambia’s (or Africa’s) organizations, as inculcated by Gaye Njorro in November 2023, “[our] goal of influencing the future [is to develop people] with skills and talent, encouraging creativity and empowering people to act as agents of positive change in their local communities” (Jobe, 2023, Par. 9).
The grooming of today’s managers of businesses and organizations from lower, especially the middle, to become influential leaders of institutions is on the point that “leadership is an organization’s ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization of which they are members” (House et al., 2017, cited in Dawson & Andriopoulos, 2017, p. 504). In retrospect, leaders “do not stand behind a group to push and prod; they place themselves before the group as they facilitate progress and inspire the group to accomplish organizational goals” (Koontz et al., 1986, p. 397).
Great leaders in leadership positions are a “potential source of sustained competitive advantage” (Hall, 2008, p. 157). To be one of those, a person must undergo learning within various “levels of the company [before] rising faster up the corporate ladder” (The Economist, 2006, p. 4). The economist articulated that talent also goes through “performance evaluations to identify potential; psychological testing and assessment centers to determine capability gaps; training and development programs, relocations, project work, and job experience to accelerate development” (p. 4).
Putting together a talent pool of human capital requires a strategy. Therefore, building a talent management strategy (or optimal human capital) for any organization “requires systematically tracking performance over time and isolating relationships between lagging indicators (revenue growth, profit) and leading indicators (effective executive teams, leaders who deliver results, key position excellence, and workforce performance)” (Hall, 2008, pp. 60-61). The executive management of Gambia’s institutions, especially those public, can encourage bottom-up leadership through performance evaluation of critical positions.
Work appraisals help to “measure and monitor employees’ performance, observing behavior closely to streamline [for improved] efficiency”(Bolman & Deal, 2013, p. 43). In so doing, it helps to align work activity and structure (Bolman & Deal, 2013) and simultaneously accomplish the increased effect on a talent’s performance.
Second, challenging a talent for results does help to “identify leaders who deliver results” (Hall, 2008, p. 61). An excellent example is undertaking Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) skill training. In which students are challenged to deliver results for assigned tasks.
Third, the team orientation of the Chef Saikou Bojang cooks team and the values instilled in them to encourage, support, and empower one another to imagine a higher purpose and be transformed into self and others is another way executive management can be encouraged to facilitate bottom-up leadership.
Fourth, high-performing staff at the lower rank should look up to their authority, seniors, and leaders. When asked for an assignment, they should be ready to assist once the activity aligns with the organization’s culture and structure. In the same way, executive management should encourage bottom-up leadership using the human capital by instilling in them to hold up to the ideals propagated by Henri Fayol in his 14 Principles of Management: balancing authority and responsibility, discipline of command, unity of direction, esprit de corps, subordination of individual interest to general interest.
For unity of direction and esprit de corps to be encouraged in an institution, a leader must communicate and be involved in knowing and doing work with subordinates. Doing so makes workers feel a sense of presence, value, and worth of the company’s cause. Such feelings and bottom-up approaches increase a person’s inner drive to perform and do more to set expectations for the position—an excellent way to identify talents and to groom for leadership from the middle.
From this opinion, follow with the Gambia Center for Research And Policy Studies (GCRPS) for future academic publication on the subject matter.
References
Bah., O. (2023, November). After facing various corruption allegations, Jammeh’s victims inaugurated a new board of directors: After facing various corruption allegations, Jammeh’s victims inaugurated a new board of directors – ARPS Media
Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2013). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice & leadership (5th ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Dawson P., & Andriopoulos, C. (2017). Managing change, creativity & innovation (3rd ed.). Sage.
GayeNjorro. (2023). Gallery: https://gayenjorroskillsacademy.com/creation-traditional-work/
Hall, B.W. (2008). The new human capital strategy: Improving the value of your most important investment – year after year. AMACOM.
Jobe., G. (2023, November). Gaye Njorro Graduation Extravaganza: A Celebration of 206 Graduates from Three Training Centers: Gaye Njorro Graduation Extravaganza: A Celebration of 206 Graduates from Three Training Centers – ARPS Media
Koontz, H., O’Donnel, C., & Weihrich, H. (1986). Essentials of management (4th ed.). McGraw-hill.
The Alkamba Times. (2022, November). Chef Bojang: From cooking for the royal family to representing Gambia in Chef competitions: https://alkambatimes.com/chef-bojang-from-cooking-for-the-royal-family-to-representing-gambia-in-chef-competitions/
The Economist. (2006, May). CEO’s role in talent management: How top executives from ten countries are nurturing the leaders of tomorrow. Economist Intelligence Unit. https://blackboard.cuchicago.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_4340496_1&course_id=_84150_1
YEP. (2023). The success stories: Here we bring the amazing stories young Gambians [must] tell: https://www.yep.gm/success-stories
