Managers and staff have a chance to make working places more
productive and efficient if they are enabled to unlock their full
potential both individually and collectively.
This is possible when both sides -- the employers
and the employees -- strive to attain growth intellectually, physically,
spiritually, emotionally as well as healthwise.
Experts in lifestyle coaching and mentoring posit
that individuals are likely to increase their performance and undergo
attitude shift, when they are conscious that for everything that happens
in their lives, it emanates from the choices they make every moment of
their lives.
Speaking at a breakfast session in Dar es Salaam
last week, two inspirational speakers argued that hunger for success and
a desire for health and longevity were the reasons why most people seek
to live and lead consciously.
They, however, urged that sometimes people step
into leadership positions and responsibilities unprepared thus end up
facing difficulties all along the way. “Many leaders in Africa are
thrust into key leadership positions for various understandable reasons
including as rewards for good governance,” says Zuhura Muro -- managing
director of Kazi Services Limited, a human resource advisory, training,
coaching and management consultancy services firm.
Muro, however, says that far too often, leaders
step into these positions with great trepidation because they believe
they do not possess any specific training in becoming a successful
leader. Even those who have been trained, she says, most have not had
training in how to understand and manage their mind, body and spirit as a
fundamental pre-requisite for enlightened leadership.
“The majority of them suffer from high levels of
stress, hypertension and other related ailments leading to many lost
productive hours,” she says.
According to her, the simplest way to observe the
toll that leadership responsibilities exert on the human body, mind and
spirit, is to watch the speed with which the colour of a true leader’s
hair greys and how often they look visibly exhausted.
“The world leaders are a classic and most visible demonstration of this phenomenon,” she says.
There is good news, however, to all those suffering pressure due to leadership responsibilities, according to Muro.
She says that the phenomenon could positively be
reversed if staff and the managers master the skills and competencies
for striking the balance of the mind, body and spirit.
“Such a result will, in good time, even reduce the visits to the doctors and thus reduce employer expenditure on medical bills.”
Presenting a topic entitled: “Know Thyself: Mind, Body and
Spirit” as a fundamental prerequisite for being able to live and lead
oneself as well as lead others in one’s personal and public space-more
consciously, happily and effectively, the chief executive office of
Maadili Conscious Leadership and Healthy Lifestyles Coaching, Dr
Scholastica Kimaryo, said everyone has a chance to lead a happy life.
According to her, knowledge, skills and
competencies -- including skills for nonviolent communication — for
embarking can lead to one’s freedom.
Dr Kimaryo, who is former UNDP Resident
Representative and Coordinator of the United Nations System in Lesotho
and South Africa, among other posts, says most people age because they
do not find ways to reduce risks that are associated with the food they
take.
“People age because they do not detoxicate…they
have a lot of stress and do not eat well, you have to detoxicate your
body,” she says.
She says leading a healthier life is all about knowing oneself and making sure they leave a standard life.
“Increased self-awareness and empowerment through
ability to re-establish intimacy with oneself and interactive with
higher emotional intelligence is important for our health. People have
to also remember that meditation is very important. Despite what we
have, there is one who has all the mighty, God,” Dr Kimaryo, who is
currently based in South Africa posits.
Participants at the breakfast praised the presenters for raising their awareness on how to live happily.
Bertha Semu-Somi, for her par, says she has been
living according to expert advice in a bid to lead a happy life. She
says, often, working places can be very stressing, particularly when one
does not seek to strike the balance in the wellbeing of his mind, body
and spirit.
“Whenever I have problems with my juniors, I
always tend to ask myself why one is this person doing whatever he or
she is doing. If you try to understand their points of view, it becomes
easier to handle different challenges,” says Semu-Somi, a retired
diplomat.
She says it is equally important for the people to
observe and respect the existence of a higher being, who is the source
of goodness -- God.
For her part, Sophia Mruma is of the opinion that
the human body has mechanisms which tend to change as one’s age
advances. So, it is for this reason that it is important to find the
best balance as one grows physically, spiritually, intellectually and
emotionally.
“I try to manage what I eat and exercise even at this age…it is very important,” says Ms Mruma.
