Thread by @WoleOluyemiCo

Let me talk about Rachael.

Rachel is the creative director of Royal Designs (name has been disguised), a business she started a year ago and has grown in the past year.

She was almost quitting in January 2020, but there was a miracle!

#thread #WOthreads

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Yes, I believe in miracles. The #COVID19 crisis opened up an opportunity for her. You know...opportunities sometimes disguises as work.

Also......"Ti a ba n sa epa ninu epo epa, eni to ma yo maa yo".

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I recall sharing an opportunity with the members of my Telegram group (link to join is in my profile) some weeks ago and she was eventually chosen to supply 5,000 face masks (fully funded in advance).

But there is a problem.

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Rachel is now currently always stressed out because she works or reviews almost every fabric that is being produced from her store as she believes her tailors would not get it done to the required specifications.

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This also means, she does not have enough time to meet with her existing customers and financing partners as she does not want to disappoint on the face masks project.

She has never handled a project of N1M before. The face mask project is a N10M project.

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Yes, she is going to make a huge margin from the N10M face mask project, no doubt! But, she can't afford to lose her existing customers. They were there before this big project and she needs them after this project too.

Rachael came back to me with tears.

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She recently went to the clinic and her blood pressure was read as 190/130 with no history of hypertension in her family. I am not a doctor like @DrOlufunmilayo or @aproko_doctor or @Okizle - but I know that her BP reading is not looking good at all.

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Rachael is worried. What is she doing wrong? What steps can she take to grow in her responsibilities as her business grows?

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The first thing I told her was to take some few days to rest and take her medications based on the advice of her doctor.

She is bothered that her staff cannot access the store without her, they can't use the specialized stitching equipment without her.

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I immediately remembered a panel discussion I was part of where I was discussing the difference in being self employed or having a business. Rachael does not have a business...she was just self employed!

She didn't even have staff, she only had assistants.

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If your business can't run without you, you don't have a business yet.

Anyway, Rachael eventually recruited a temporary Project Manager who also operates a fashion design business in Abuja. My team helped her to create a project management agreement.

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As a CEO or senior executive, there are some tactical and operational tasks that you must delegate downwards to your team members as your business grows. I know the quality of the talent pool might be discouraging, but you can't afford to do it all.

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Delegation of authority and responsibility must go together.

This also involves significant investment (time and resources) in learning and development to enhance the capability of your people.

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If you refuse to invest in their learning because you are afraid that they'll resign and leave your organization, what of if they chose to stay?

Don't be KOBO wise, and DOLLAR foolish. Yes!

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Then ensure that good performance is monitored, recognized and adequately rewarded.

Recognition & Rewards is not just monetary - it could also be additional authority levels and power. It could also be a dinner with the the leadership team.

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Yes, I am also an evangelist of "performance based rewards" or "pay as you work/deliver" models. This is even more important in Nigeria where you have an entitlement based culture.

Our ancestors were using the "eat what you kill" model. Learn from them.

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Anyway, don't be like Rachael. Learn from Rachael.

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The above is a simplified version of a real life situation but the names of the parties, location and amounts have been altered.

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The purpose of a thread like this is for intellectual debate, discussion and learning. Please feel free to disagree with any viewpoint (including mine) raised in this thread. However, kindly refrain from using any abusive language on anyone on my post.

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I know that my style of writing is targeted at people with a certain basic level of understanding (above elementary school). If you still don’t understand the issue being discussed, I apologize.

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