Month: <span>June 2019</span>

Clarity of Intention

Most of us know, at some level, what we are going for. Though many a time, we don’t have clarity of our goal. Or our deeper intention behind the actions and goals is not clearly understood or prioritized. In such circumstances, many times, we end up compromising our efforts and that is never a satisfactory solution.

It may be important for us to ask ourselves the following questions to gain clarity: What is it that I am going after? How important is it for me and what am I willing to give up to achieve it? What motivates me? These questions bring to surface some of our assumptions and help us prioritize our actions before we initiate them. If all things are equal, we should go after what gives us energy, and what we are really curious about to explore and learn.

Without a a crystal clear intention, we rarely experience a sense of accomplishment even if our intentions are fulfilled. Once we know what we are going after, we can build a team or work with the team members to focus on what they bring to help us accomplish our goals.

Of course, to work together effectively, clear intention alone is not enough we need to be aware of what is currently going on and build an emphatic partnership with one another. Strategic intent is the key and once we have the key, we can examine our core competences that allow us to fulfill the organizational intent.

Birungi K. Desiderius
077 2 426 607
Executive Director
Better World Uganda
P. O. Box 406, Hoima-Uganda

On Jun 27, 2019 12:43, "Birungi K. Desiderius" <betterwrld@yahoo.com> wrote:

Clarity of Intention

Most of us know, at some level, what we are going for. Though many a time, we don’t have clarity of our goal. Or our deeper intention behind the actions and goals is not clearly understood or prioritized. In such circumstances, many times, we end up compromising our efforts and that is never a satisfactory solution.

It may be important for us to ask ourselves the following questions to gain clarity: What is it that I am going after? How important is it for me and what am I willing to give up to achieve it? What motivates me? These questions bring to surface some of our assumptions and help us prioritize our actions before we initiate them. If all things are equal, we should go after what gives us energy, and what we are really curious about to explore and learn.

Without a a crystal clear intention, we rarely experience a sense of accomplishment even if our intentions are fulfilled. Once we know what we are going after, we can build a team or work with the team members to focus on what they bring to help us accomplish our goals.

Of course, to work together effectively, clear intention alone is not enough we need to be aware of what is currently going on and build an emphatic partnership with one another. Strategic intent is the key and once we have the key, we can examine our core competences that allow us to fulfill the organizational intent.

Birungi K. Desiderius
077 2 426 607
Executive Director
Better World Uganda
P. O. Box 406, Hoima-Uganda

Core Competences for Success

While skills are good to acquire, integrating them into a systemic practice makes one develop new competencies for success. Competences allow one to integrate his/her skills and knowledge in new contexts of work. Six competencies are useful in all stages of your organization and in fact, could be very useful in your personal life as well. When you start something new, keep the six competencies in mind and consciously apply them in your work and life, as soft skills will integrate with your professional skills over time.

Birungi K. Desiderius
077 2 426 607
Executive Director
Better World Uganda
P. O. Box 406, Hoima-Uganda

Expect failures and learn constantly

Learning and Communication are two sides of the same coin. Learning creates the distinctions, and communication enhances them. When you speak mind the impact. Continually adjust what, how much, and to whom you communicate so that you can produce the results you require. We don’t become experts because we talk like them. The smarter we are, the quicker we may be able to pick concepts and ideas from others.
All of us have edges, these are the points where our knowledge is shaky and sometimes we know it. Be aware of your edges and seek assistance. In every role that you play, learn something and gain some new skills or knowledge. Pay attention to what you are learning rather than what does not work. When you demonstrate that kind of “can do” attitude, it get noticed.
Partnering and teaming are the most effective ways to learn. Listen to others carefully and completely when they are trying to help. If your mind is planning on what to say next while others are talking, then you are not listening. Being silent doesn’t mean you are listening. Asking questions and actively integrating what they said with your responses and plans make you a popular team-mate. Each opportunity that you missed listening to others, you lost an opportunity to learn. Curiosity, anticipation, childlike inquisitiveness and willingness to appear ignorant and make mistakes are the qualities that characterize high achievers.

Birungi K. Desiderius
077 2 426 607
Executive Director
Better World Uganda
P. O. Box 406, Hoima-Uganda

Expect failures and learn constantly

Inability to act in time decisively and inability to take appropriate risks are two important factors that contribute to our failure as leaders. Denying failures only delays your learning.
Remember to fail consciously and not in the same game more than twice. If you do, it means that you did not learn any lessons from the previous failure.
Learning has two components: continuous and discontinuous. Continuous learning is incremental, step-by-step type with no shift in context or point of view. Discontinuous learning, on the other hand, occurs when the context or point of view shifts. It is this type of learning that leads to breakthrough innovation rather than merely continuous improvement. The shift of perspective has been known to produce significant insights (“aha’s”) and inventions, which change the direction of people’s lives.
Prior success does not guarantee future success. If the new role is different, or the organization that brought the engagement has a different culture, or if you have new team members, you have to find ways to learn some new lessons and apply your old lessons to new situations.

Birungi K. Desiderius
077 2 426 607
Executive Director
Better World Uganda
P. O. Box 406, Hoima-Uganda

Focus on outcomes and process

Leaders are motivators, energizers, and liberators. They have passion for results. The essence of leadership is value creation and it happens through both process and outcomes. Outcomes give you the short term value and understanding the process allows you to create value over and over again. Focusing on establishing and communicating appropriate metrics for quality, process, completion, and delivery will go a long way toward success.

Hardwork is not equivalent to smart work. While long hours is taken for granted, the value created is the most critical of factors. By focusing on appropriate process and getting the results, you establish a culture of quality, attention to detail, delivery and accountability. You become less dependent on personalities and more on roles and what needs to get done.

Information is not knowledge. Giving information to others does not mean that they understand what to do with it and how to do it. Focus on what others are taking away. Check for understanding and follow up actions. Everyone must understand the context and environment in which he or she works.

Birungi K. Desiderius
077 2 426 607
Executive Director
Better World Uganda
P. O. Box 406, Hoima-Uganda