Many times in this forum, I have shared a biblical reference from Galatians 6:9 which says “never tire doing what is right; rewards will follow you at the appropriate time.” Alongside, I have also narrated incidences of encountering hostile training participants. Interactions with one school this week brought to mind one experience that occurred in Kinchasa, DRC Congo in June 2013. (Check https://youtu.be/R86tR6QghXs ). This was just a few years before before venturing into the school system, to entrench our Bottom-Up Empowerment Strategy.
The Kinchasa experience happened while conducting a two day Management/Leadership training program for senior management team of an American Government’s Development Agency (the program for middle management team had already been executed for two days). A certain American lady who we can name as Dr. Angela could not imagine being under the hands of an African man who had travelled all the way from Kenya. Instead, she was expecting a trainer from UK, sent from her preferred training firm, where her visit for a training program had been denied. But, there I was and ably excecuting my role.
Dr. Angela had first wondered what my Professorship was and in which University I taught. With these kind of concerns, I obviously had in mind what Dr. Angela was up-to, having had numerous experiences of training people of such caliber, during Trainer of Trainer’s seminars. The same had for many years, been conducted on behalf of the Professional Trainers Association of Kenya.
As such, efforts of Dr. Angela to disrupt the training program could not work as she expected. Instead, I asked her to either raise her voluminous concerns during tea break or allow the other participants to continue without interuptions. That was totally unexpected by Dr. Angela, whose conduct could naturally have led to abandonment of the training program.
Incidentally, my re-action led to Dr. Angela walking away, until the following morning, when she appeared again and quietly followed the proceedings. As later learnt, she was thoroughly tongue lashed by the boss and asked to behave like other training participants.
Meanwhile. this Kinchasa experience seems to have been replicated in a school located in Machakos County ( Check https://youtu.be/XPjMRCtB8wo). We had as is usually the case been engaged to conduct CREATING THE FUTURE TODAY SEMINAR for the form 2,3 and 4 Classes in May 2021. Upon arrival, we realized that parents of form 2, all teachers and some Board Members were to be part of our empowerment session.
All the same, the seminar flowed well until a section where we highlight some of the critical national challenges, which students should avoid ever becoming part of. Unknown to us, our approach had incensed the Board Chairperson, a University Lecturer and she shot up and hurled some questions. “Where did these statistics come from?”
Me: We learnt the same from the current Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Education.
Board Chairperson: Who did the research on this and when?
Me: As experts in what we do, we never question revelations from Senior Government Authorities. We treat them as policy matters.
Board Chairperson: No no no, these must be politics (as she hurriedly walked away from the session).
The seminar went on quite well after that walkout but, at some stage, there was interuption by the teacher in charge of co-ordinating activities.
“Hey, you are overtraining the students,” she whispered into my ears.
Me: No please, this is standard content delivered in National, Extra-County, County and Sub-County Schools. The only differences are intellectual capacity of students and infrastructure of the schools.
The teacher seemed to be okey with that but later discontinued the session, some fifteen minutes to time. “Sorry, you are eating into the time of other programs,” this co-ordinater of programs insinuated, as the sound system was switched off. Luckily, we were on the 5th session which reveals interesting case studies, having covered everything else.
As such, the students and teachers had evidently learnt what was most critical, despite the abrupt ending. This was confirmed from the evaluation forms returned by students, at the end of the session. It was further revealed by the school principal (a follower of this forum since inception), who had all along participated in the session and constantly taken notes.
In October 2021, we visited the school to find out how the students were fairing and learnt that performance in internal exams had tremendously improved. Equally, the school’s mean-grade shot from 4.3 – 5.6 in 2021 whereas the students qualifying to join university rose from 6 – 26. Surprisingly, this improvement trajectory was again reflected in the KCSE exam results of 2022. The mean-grade shot from 5.6 – 6.0, whereas the students qualifying to join university rose from 26-37.
On the same token, a boys’ school where we conducted seminars in March 2020 and November 2021, has become the talk of neighborhood schools in Machakos County. Their performance trajectory is currently at 6.0. No wonder, the school has already booked our follow-up seminar ( SUSTAINABLE LIFE STRATEGY) for the form 3 and 4 Classes, as well as the usual one ( CREATING THE FUTURE TODAY) for the form 1 and two classes, in May 2023. Mind you, the school is currently under a new Institutional Manager, who was quite inspired by our empowerment strategy.
Now, have you noticed that doing what is right extends beyond rewards? Inevitably, the results achieved contribute towards not only brand building, but also attracting more and more rewards, don’t they?
FYI
Our Empowerment strategy is ideal for all schools irrespective of intellectual capacity of students. We are engaged by schools with mean-grade from 2.1 – 9. and above. High performing schools benefit invaluably, as the students become aligned with their natural orientations.
That reduces incidences of the school system producing brilliant, but eventually mediocre professionals. Incidentally, the 2.1 mean-grade school that embraced our empowerment strategy last year, upgraded to 2.7 after appropriately implementing the lessons learnt.
Meanwhile, empowerment engagements for next May 2023 have started falling in place. More are still very WELCOME.
Rgds
Mwangi Wanjumbi (MKIM)
Personal Empowerment Coach,
Speaker/Trainer Consultant on Strategy, Performance, Change Management and Leadership.
Seasoned Trainer of Trainers,
Competency Based Curriculum-CBC Architect,
Author of 1. KICD approved Career Dynamics in the 21st Century, 2. Living Beyond Survival:No More Tiptoeing in Life
- The 21st Century Student:Are You Creating The Future Today? Also, Retired 5 Year Monthly Strategy Columnist (2013 – 2018) for The SME Today Magazine Phone 254722516210
Welcome to our YouTube Channel under Mwangi Wanjumbi – Empowerment Forum
Latest Upload
Recent Comments