Office Dressing

She walks in and everyone in the office cranes their necks to take a look. Today she is in a tight sweater top, short skirt and cowboy boots to boot. The top has a low neckline and they can see the bust.

What does your dressing style say about you or affect those around you? There are some companies that have a dress code and others don’t. In some other areas people are influenced by the norm from their colleagues, friends who work in other firms, and yet others are influenced by magazine and TV. Does a dress code count so much at the work place?

I would like to think that it can go either way. On one hand having a uniform way of dressing breeds confidence to the external customers as it exudes professionalism and maintains formal working environment. This is predominantly in banks, legal, and audit firms where the goal of dressing formally, read suits for both sexes, to inspire customers to trust them with their money people. It is a simple psychological battle, look presentable and you are trusted. To the internal customers who are workmates, the dressing of one especially the ladies can be distractive from a man’s point of view and in this day and age to some ladies as well. Look at it this way, one may be holding a discussion and then a scantily dressed lady walks by. Chances are that the conversation will stop and after she is gone and out of sight the momentum will be destroyed leave alone remembering which point was being discussed. This is one of the negative effects that can results as a free for all dressing stand a company might be employing.

On the other hand, a policy that states specifically what can and can’t be worn is perceived by some employees as limiting their self-expression hence hindering their focus and application thereby affecting their ability to meet their targets. Take an example of a radio presenter, a rapper, or even a fashion designer; I believe their individual expression is most important. A fashion house can’t have an employee dress code

I am for a dress policy that gives direction and a platform for the right course of action if there is a breach or defense needed. Morally, being decently dressed adds more value to the impression you stir. Ever heard sleeping my way to the top? You can be perceived as one who is an easy lay judging by the way you dress. You can still be perceived not being straight judging by your dressing.

The point is that we are at the work place and need to have exercise some restrain so that we make it possible to have good working environment. Even if it is Funky Fridays or Dress down Fridays, we should ensure that even if we are going clubbing later in the night we don’t dress that way from morning. Some people may be at the brink of giving in to their temptations then she walks by, out of the window goes the strength, the last will-power to stand tall in the face of adversity. At the end of the day you may be an individual but in a team we have to pull together. If you dress well without crossing certain boundaries may be we can get some work done and attain the objectives set for us as a team if we don’t meet them we shall all get the boot. Therefore the big picture is that policy or not decency should be a priority that we should all achieve. To stop being called certain names let us remember the adage advice of dressing how we want to be addressed.

A guy approaches a lady and solicits for sex as though she was a hooker; enraged the lady replies to the man’s advance in a violent manner arguing that there was no way she was a hooker. Calmly the guy apologized for the mistake but not before explaining himself. If you see a person in a police uniform, it goes without saying that he/she is a police officer. How about if you see a person in a hookers uniform?

WAZZAM

Excelling in leadership

One Saturday morning, 12 November 2011, owners of houses in Syokimau got up to a rude shock. There was heavy machinery in their neighbourhood brought there courtesy of Kenya Airports Authority (KAA). The excavators were for the purpose of bringing down the houses. The reason was; the land belonged to KAA and they wanted it back. You and I know or suspect that there is a lawful way of going about it, there has to be an eviction notice and a court order and other legal mambo jambo. The story goes that the eviction notice was served but the conjectured encroachers of the land had contested it and the matter was yet to be decided. The decision was to be made known on the following Tuesday. How convenient that they went to carry out the demolition on a weekend so that they couldn’t be challenged with a court order to stop like it would have been done on a weekday. The supposed land grabbers who built on their plots had their documentation from the relevant authorities so they thought. When the Mavoko County Council was interviewed he said that if the Ministry of Land gave the title deeds to the settlers then they don’t have power to do otherwise hence the blame is on the Lands ministry.

How convenient to say “I am not the one, It is that department”, or in the famous words of the former mayor of Geoffrey Majiwa, “They told me to sign so I signed”. If you are a leader, supervisor, manager and this is the nonsense you are pelting, then you aren’t worth your salt or that position and you are a fraud. In true Kenyan fashion a commission of enquiry should be formed to investigate how you got there. It is an insult not to take responsibility of what you are in charge of and instead taking the easy way out of throwing the blame to someone else. The same people of such an appalling character are the bed rock of system failure in our country, organizations, even departments. They hold such positions which should translate to overseeing everything, being on the top of each and every aspect of the activities you are in charge of. Hypocrites these people are, they wouldn’t take any blame but open their arms wide to receive the acclaim even when it isn’t their efforts that brought the achievements.

As a boss, manager, supervisor one should lead with among others; integrity, applying due diligence, fairness, and most of all striving to be in control even after delegating. A leader is able to influence others to accomplish an objective and directs the team, group, or organization in a way that makes it more solid and comprehensible. This is because what you do as a leader is transmitted to even the lowest of ranked workers under you. If you are poor time keeper your whole team will follow your lead. If you try to cheat the system such as rules governing employee conduct e.g. leaving office stationery for office use and not for your post-graduate studies or for your kids, your team will do the same. They will have the mentality, ‘If the top boss is doing it then it must be ok’. You shall lose credibility when you warn them against doing something but yet you do it. The famous phrase goes like, ‘Preaching water while drinking wine.’ As the head you should have the decency to be answerable to whatever your charges do, their failures and achievement. How you deal with them individually is up to you but you shall sound lazy and out of your depth if you tell your superior that it wasn’t you but a particular person who is under your authority. When you observe that something isn’t right either one of your subordinates isn’t pulling his weight in the team due to lack of competency you have to look for ways to remedy that be it training or other means. If one of your charges aren’t conducting themselves in a way that is helping the rest of the team then he needs to get a talking to from you as the head so that it is clear to everyone that such conduct won’t be tolerated. In such an instance of where you decide to go moaning to some of your team members it will show a sign of weakness and translates to being viewed as lacking authority to rein in those who are going against the grain. Your juniors will assess your leadership qualities as lacking.

To be successful in your leadership you have to be able to face problems head on. Wanting to cover your ass from blame will only turn the team to be made up of people looking out for themselves and not for the team objectives thereby destroying the chemistry, moral, and focus that a compact team should have to succeed. You should direct and take charge of your teams every aspect

So will you be Majiwa, or the Mavoko Ministry of Lands representative or even Shaggy who gave us the song ‘...Wasn’t me…’? As for me and I hope you too, I should stand for what is right as per the team’s decided stand and not conduct yourself as someone without a backbone who can’t stand up to wrong actions yet you have the position of authority reducing yourself to a weakling of a manager looking at skipping responsibility of all wrong actions but ready to jump at the chance to grab the glory for yourself. It is better to own up and say ‘I was wrong’ than say it wasn’t me. You retain your dignity and credibility. That is excelling in your leadership

WAZZAM

How strong should your opinions be?

Just had an interesting ‘debate’ on how strong ones opinions should be in a job interview set up. My take on it was that if you have strong feelings about something it would be in your interest to express it if an opportunity avails itself. This doesn’t mean you rub the people with a contrary opinion the wrong way, but the things you strongly stand for are what determine how well you fit - in in a group or an organization or even that job. The other take on this issue was that one should present themselves as accommodating of other people’s opinions as possible. The argument is that too strong an opinion may present someone as not being a team player or not willing to accommodate differences. These two arguments to start with aren’t mutually exclusive but I believe there is a place and time one should sound accommodating and almost opinion-less and there are others where that hardnosed character should shine through.

Here is a scenario, you just completed college and are out to get your first job, how do you present yourself at the interview? Highly opinionated or laid back; and ready to form new opinions? It goes without saying that you can’t be too strongly opinionated as you operate at a lower power position to that of the organization that interviews you. This is due to the fact that the organization has more to offer you than you have to offer them.  But this is not to say you should be a push over; a real life ‘yesman’. Any attempt to contradict the things you stand for should illicit strong feelings and should be resisted. Work occupies so much of our lives that if what you do for a living contradicts what you stand for you will just lead a stinker of a life; you will end up a walking contradiction. Like the all famous Kaguthi (former head of NACADA), working for BAT or EABL, would that work bring him joy in his life and fulfillment as fighting drugs seemed to do or was his strong stand part of his job description at NACADA meaning he will dance to the tune of the one paying? I bet not. But on the other hand he probably would have taken a job from EABL as he left college and who knows may be he did.

Second scenario, what if you are being interviewed for a leadership position? How strong a stand/opinion should you take on things and to what extent should it show? Unfortunately, I have to say the extreme is required. A leader is gets to be one as a result of the certain values, beliefs and views that they hold as their guide. A leader is expected not to just have an opinion but to hold a strong one at that, referred to as his/her ‘stand on things’. If this lacks in a leader is viewed as being indecisive and that is where leadership stops. Kalonzo in Kenya is a classic example, he has shown the lack of a clear path charted by him, he is all over the place and doesn’t seem to have focus on where he is heading. For him it’s always ‘kati kati yao’ (in between them) as if to imply he first wait for others to set their path and then chooses to stride a path in between them like the proverbial hyena. Contrast this to the strong opinion/stand shown by our new Chief Justice. Justice Willy took a stand on a small inconsequential issue; a stud; and in so doing showed a glimpse of the kind of leader he is. He is no one’s puppet; we can conclude that much from his stand off on the stud. So even if he is headed the wrong way, at least he is confident it is the right way and people tend to follow those who seem to have a clear picture of where they are going and have a map to lead them there.

So next time you are in front of that panel and they question a belief you hold dear, please  ensure that there are things that you will not compromise on. If it’s distasteful question at the interview, a sexual overtone by a member of the panel or even some insults; take your stand, you don’t have to take ‘crap’.  Because at the interview you display the person you are and set the precedence for the person you are expected to be. So show the prospective employer who you really are and set the right precedence. You may think that employers look for a certain kind of person; but what they really want is the right kind of person, who fits in to the organization. SO LOOK FOR WHERE YOU FIT IN THE MOST.

WAZZAM!!!