Leadership

Soon after I arrived in my post here, in an attempt to figure out what I could usefully contribute, I conducted 1-2-1s with every member of the team I’m working with to find out what they felt about their role, what they thought needed to change in the department and what made them want to come to work in the mornings. Overwhelmingly, the single clearest message from these meetings was that the motivating factor for all of them was the Head of the department: the fact that he is so busy and works so hard makes them want to do well in their jobs (“If you’re boss isn’t sleeping, you won’t sleep either.”).

I’ve been very fortunate, thus far, to have worked mainly for excellent – and in some cases truly exceptional – leaders, and on the few occasions when I haven’t, it’s completely destroyed my motivation to do any work. So I have to say I’m relieved that that part of the jigsaw is clearly in place here – a good place to start from. Particularly because Nigerian culture is very hierarchical - if the boss tells you to do something, you do it.

Last weekend we had dinner with our boss from the Funder – a huge relief to clarify some things about our roles, why we’re here, what they want us to do, etc. – and it made me realize: all I need to be content in a job is a good leader. If I believe in the person at the top and I know they’re on the ball, I can quite happily put up with a lot of things. But what kind of a person does that make me? The kind of person who goes along with anything so long as the person telling me to has charisma and seems to know what they’re talking about? The kind of person who votes for Tony Blair, that’s who.