Experts advocate strong governance, leadership to address workplace challenges

To get the best out of an organisation’s workforce and set the pace for development, the need to put the right governance and leadership model in place has been emphasised.

To achieve this, management experts have said that there is a need for every organisation to make a positive change to meet challenges posed by the dynamics of the workplace.

Speaking at this year’s Distinguished Management Lecture, organised by the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) chartered, its President, Dr. Christiana Atako, said that most of the issues being encountered in recent times in organisations are traceable to scant regard for the dynamics of the workplace. She said there is a direct correlation between adherence to the nuances of corporate dynamics and institutional performance.

According to her, there is a compelling need to draw the attention of the nation, businesses and those who manage men and materials at different levels to the issue. She noted that workplace dynamics could be the difference between a successful workplace and one that fails to achieve its goals.

The NIM chief mentioned the consequences of poor office dynamics to include burnout and stress; employee dissatisfaction, high turnover rate, decreased productivity and at times outright inefficiency and ineffectiveness.

However, she added that strong workplace dynamics, on the other hand, could help a team perform at its best and deliver extraordinary results.

“Corporate or workplace dynamics refers to how people interact when they work together. This complex mix includes the actions of individuals, relationships between them, as well as a group’s pattern of behaviour.

“Some teams tend naturally to be helpful and nurturing, while others may be more fragmented and dysfunctional. It comes down to the way individual team members see themselves and their colleagues,” she said.

The Guest Speaker, Dr. Rotimi Oladele, who spoke on ‘The Pragmatic Pathway to Excellent Corporate Dynamics and Governance,’ defined management as a system made up of strategies combinable to renew vision or replace it. He said management should be referring to the core values of organisations.

Oladele, who is also the Executive Secretary of the Institute of Entrepreneurs of Nigeria, said it should also refer to the core values of human capital, services and reputation fabrics with continuous capacity building to retain excellent corporate dynamics and governance.

According to him, the firing system of the goldsmith should be copied for ‘ideasmith’ and ‘deliverysmith’ of any management-driven organisation with eyes on perpetuity via smartly planned and followed succession.