Dr Goodluck Jonathan in his Presidential Inaguration Address, themed: “BEYOND LAMENTATION, BEHOLD TRANSFORMATION”, promised to get the country Nigeria transformed. He said, inter alia, “My fellow countrymen and women, Nigeria is not just a land of promise; it shall be a nation where positive change will continue to take place, for the good of our people.
Dr Goodluck Jonathan in his Presidential Inaguration Address, themed: “BEYOND LAMENTATION, BEHOLD TRANSFORMATION”, promised to get the country Nigeria transformed. He said, inter alia, “My fellow countrymen and women, Nigeria is not just a land of promise; it shall be a nation where positive change will continue to take place, for the good of our people.
The time for lamentation is over. This is the era of transformation. This is the time for action. But Nigeria can only be transformed if we all play our parts with commitment and sincerity. Cynicism and skepticism will not help our journey to greatness. Let us all believe in a new Nigeria. Let us work together to build a great country that we will all be proud of. This, is our hour.” He continued, “Fellow Compatriots, lift your gaze towards the horizon. Look ahead, and you will see a great future, that we can secure with unity, hard work and collective sacrifice.” He also asked you and I to: “Join me now as we begin the journey of transforming Nigeria.”
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How could he best achieve this desideratum? Now, I have got an idea for his consideration.
The thesis of this article is that if President Jonathan really wants Nigeria to be TRANSFORMED, he should experiment with my idea of LEADAGEMENT. The novel and revolutionary concept of Leadagement, on a national organisational platform, suggests that the GOVERNANCE of nations be based on the systematic, strategic and synergetic separation of the two operational functions of Executive LEADERSHIP and Executive MANAGEMENT. The LEADERSHIP executives could be ELECTED while the MANAGEMENT executives could be APPOINTED. The main operational principle here is the word EXECUTIVE. Executivity is the driving force of any process of achieving organisational objectives.
The Nigerian LEADERS have been ELECTED in the persons of the President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and the Vice President. These two Executive Leaders may have to convince their party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to allow them the freedom of appointing the Ministers who will help to run the engine to move the nation forward. In this case, it will not be business as usual, indeed, it will be business unusual which should bring about success unusual. The proposed Executive Ministerial Council will not necessarily be composed of PDP men and women, unless such appointees are not only suitable but competitively suitable. The party’s ministerial nominees could be appointed as Junior Ministers.
Now, let us get our (Executive) Ministers APPOINTED, as it is they who really should be the Executive MANAGERS of the national development process, even in the manner of say, project, quality, change and strategic management. We would then call them Executive Ministers. They could then be relied upon to accelerate the proposed national transformation mission.
How should the new Executive Ministers be appointed? The process should follow the model used by Human Resources departments to search, select and appoint corporate executives. It may be by contracting the appointment process to some agency or by constituting a special panel of human resources experts to screen the qualified applicants who match the published person specifications and job descriptions.
On the small matter of political ALLEGIANCE, where should the allegiance of the appointed Executive Ministers lie, to the ruling PARTY, that is PDP, or to the NATION, that is NIGERIA? I suppose the answer is self-evident as every elected officer swears oath of allegiance to the nation, and to the nation only. Shame that after that the party now becomes their master. If we agree then anyone could send in their CV / Resume, irrespective of their party, for consideration for shortlisting and interviewing for the Executive Ministerial post of their choice.
Combining the appointed Executive Ministers with the selected Junior Ministers for every portfolio may be the required magic wand for exceptional ministerial performance as this will bring together the MANAGEMENT Ministers with the LEADERSHIP Ministers. This is practical application of the principles of LEADAGEMENT, taking governance beyond ordinary conventional Management and Leadership.
You may be wondering, leadagement? Why leadagement?
There is a GLOBAL need for the philosophical and operational SYNTHESIS of the basic Principles / Practices / Prospects / Processes of MANAGEMENT and LEADERSHIP, thereby taking CORPORATE and STATE GOVERNANCE to the required next level of development !
There is a general acknowledgement of the NEED to make great MANAGERS function better as good LEADERS too. And it is vice versa for great LEADERS as well to function as good MANAGERS. But what about what I would like to refer to as “EXECUTIVE DISSONANCE”, whereby a manager would only want to perform their executive role simply and solely within MANAGERIALISM, and the organisational leader wanting to perform strictly within LEADERSHIPISM, and whereby both executive officers finding it very difficult to switch between the two administrative and governance paradigms, even when and if they are consciously trying to be flexible in the executive performances to reflect both their MANAGERSHIP as well as LEADERSHIP roles and goals .
The observable EFFECT of this “Executive Dissonance” is the imbalance in the expected OUTCOMES of Management and Leadership PERFORMANCE in terms of compromising of EFFICIENCY for EFFECTIVENESS and vice versa. We would like to hypothesise that LEADAGEMENT Practice will help organisations and their executives achieve a better balancing of ADMINISTRATIVE and GOVERNANCE outcomes.
There is MANAGEMENT in LEADERSHIP, as there is LEADERSHIP in MANAGEMENT, while both are really embedded in LEADAGEMENT. It makes our task of EXECUTIVE development and deployment much easier if and when we apply the super-model of LEADAGEMENT without needing to continuously switch from neither MANAGEMENT to LEADERSHIP, nor from LEADERSHIP to MANAGEMENT.
This just one way of the President who is trying to make a real difference to achieve his objective.
By the way, Mr President may wish to refer to my earlier piece which was skeptical about the renewed Jonathan Presidency. It was titled, 2011 – 2015: GOODLUCK TO PDP, BADLUCK TO NIGERIA, published on SAHARAREPORTERS.COM. Maybe this latest piece will help the President, come 2015, to prove me a blatant liar!
Bisikay Ayedun, PhD, a global analyst and business philosopher, is director of BCK International, a personal and organisational development consultancy and training firm, from his base in London, UK. He is also Senior Fellow of the Global Leadagement Institute, London. He is the developer of the new performance model, the SLP System of PERSONALISED Human Development (www.superlifepower.com). He is the author of: Why Managers Cant Lead and Leaders Cant Manage – And What They Should Both Do About It; The Supergrid of Leadagement; The Cosmic, God, You & I; The 12 Strategies of SuperLife Achievement; Life Is...; SuperLifePower!; Voodoo?!:Oogun Or Juju-Truth Or Myth? (www.amazon.com). He is also the editor of: Triumph of Rule of Law -The Ladoja “Impeachment”Saga; Umoru, Umoru, Are You Dead?-The Yar Adua Saga; Obama In Africa; Obama:The First 100 Days; Nigeria@50:Chronicle of A Tribulation for Celebration; Baba Sege-You Still Dey Kampe?; GANI-Exit of Our Akonic Fighter; The Saint, The Ogbanje and The Vagabonds in Power: The Obi-Uba-Ngige Saga; Until His Murderers Are Caught, We Are All Like Cicero, Trapped In The Killers Nest: The Bola Ige Assassination Saga etc, etc. (www.lulu.com)
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