Indisputably, the world is indeed a global village, where partnerships, networks and collaborative efforts are championed among nations to enhance sustainable development.
However, the spirit of autonomy and diversity goes a long way to determine the greater part of every nation’s macro and micro economic framework.
When the concept of leadership is interpreted among nations, the resultant factor will determine how strong and visionary a particular nation is. Our understanding and conceptualization of leadership has been the determining factor of the rate at which Ghana is developing!
The leadership and mindset of Ghanaians can be likened to a cast of black crabs put in a small container. When the container is left open, none of the crabs will get out of the container because every crab wants to quickly get out of the container, therefore they end up struggling and preventing one another from getting out of the container. In the end, they all remain in the container and become stagnant.
Almost every Ghanaian wants to enter the “pool of political game” for the purpose of pulling out the national cake and directing it to whatever path that pleases him/her. It’s highly suicidal that most Ghanaians in this 21st century do not understand the concept of leadership. The so called leadership journey pioneered and spearheaded by most leaders since time immemorial is termed as “blood sucking game”. Some have pierced the hearts of the public in disguise to fulfil their political game and personal aggradisement.
Monies are being channelled in various schools and professional entities through seminars/workshops/summits to train people on the best leadership practices.
The question is what is the main focus area of these training programs?
They focus on what leadership is about but they fail woefully to focus on the main area that determines the overall composition of the concept of leadership, thus, management.
Leadership and management are inter-twinned concepts, hence sidelining one causes non-functionality and zero outcome/empty nest.
While leadership involves leading change, management focuses on the process of bringing or causing that change. Every individual can lead, but the concept of management is very delicate and therefore requires adequate training and massive amount of knowledge in diverse fields and rich value oriented practice. Leaders in schools, public offices, and other political arena are mostly elected based on “mere leadership labels” , political affiliations and luring personalities.
Most of the leaders in Ghana are shortsighted in the strategies for managing people and resources. This has gone a long way to determine our incompetencies and ineffectiveness in our leadership journey.
Our leadership journey has been misplaced over the years and this has resulted in our economic doom!
Ghana will work again if we redirect our focus on training people to become competent and effective managers, rather than mere leaders who lack basic management strategies for people and resources. Moreover, Ghana will work again when all citizens are enlightened on the best management practices required for effective leadership, and be able to use such criteria during elections or appointment and not based on “mere leadership labels”, partisan politics or luring personalities!
Effective blending of best leadership skills and management strategies creates an excellent room for good governance and transparency to thrive.
Author:
Theophilus Quaicoe
KNUST
