…say both major parties must present Urhobo characters that have excellent records in governance
The Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, United Kingdom Branch, last Sunday declared that whoever will emerge as the Governor of Delta State in 2023 must be a man with excellent records in governance.
The UK branch made this declaration in an international webinar tagged: ‘ 2023: ‘The Leadership We Want’ was well attended by prominent sons and daughters of Urhobo origin.
The webinar which was hosted
by Chief Ejiro Ughwujabo. President UPU
United Kingdom in commemoration of Urhobo Day 2020, had Col. Wilson Ijide,Prof. Robert Dode, Chief Victor Ewere, Chief Kenneth Okpara a management Consultant as guest speakers.
Recall that the zoning arrangements put in place since 1999 has made it mandatory that the next governor of Delta State must emerge from Delta Central.
Also, the governor of the state, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has repeatedly told Deltans that he’s definitely going to hand over to an Urhobo Indigene come 2023.
One of the major takeaway from the international webinar is the fact that both major parties in the state, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC must present Urhobo characters with excellent records of performance previously in governance.
Giving an insight on his presentation at the webinar, a former Commissioner of Finance and Economic Planning of Delta State, Chief Kenneth Okpara who is also a management Consultant said:
“A leader that is visionary and ensure that Urhobo and Delta State witnessed economic development with focus on the sectors like Agriculture where we have comparative advantage, above all, we want a leader that is accountable.
Okpara who presented a paper entitled’ Leadership-Accountability and Transparency To Achieve Good Governance’ further explained that:
“Experience they say is the best teacher, we can judge from the performance of those Urhobos that have served in various capacities in the previous Government, and based on their excellent performance, we can select some to be put forward for a final choice, mind you, it has to be done by the Urhobos in the two major parties – PDP, and APC.
With this development, a quest to search for a credible son or daughter of Urhobo extract has begun though 2023 seems far flung from now, the UK branch has set a very tall credentials for any Urhobo that will be selected to government the state from 2023.
Both parties are already strategising and networking on who may eventually pick the gauntlet ahead of time.
No visible aspirant has really indicated interest so far because it’s largely assumed that there’s still plenty of time and space between now and 2023.
Also, recall that in 1999-2003, Delta Central held sway through Chief James Ibori, followed by Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan from Delta South before Dr Ifeanyi Okowa administration from Delta North.
Chief Kenneth Okpara Presentation Below:
As you go through my slides, let me explain how the write up was presented for more clarity. You will see a Delta State Economic Dashboard, and then a Harvard Business Review article by Peter Bregman, followed by some accountability quotes. My presentation was on Leadership that we want in 2023 – Accountability and Transparency to achieve good governance. The Peter Bregman’s article was on the principle of accountability and the five ingredients required for accountability to be effective, I spoke elaborately on these five ingredients but used the Delta State Economic Dashboard as an accountability mechanism I used while I was a Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning in Delta State, to illustrate how accountability works effectively using the five ingredients.
Accountability – The obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner. It also includes the responsibility for money or other entrusted property.
The Right Way to Hold People Accountable
by Peter Bregman
A Harvard business review article
John* was doing his best to be calm, but his frustration was palpable. Jeanine was explaining that there was little chance her group was going to make the numbers for this quarter. “Honestly?” she said. “The numbers weren’t realistic to begin with. It was really unlikely that we were going to make them.”
That’s when John lost it. “You agreed to the numbers in our budget meeting! You came up with them!”
Jeanine was silent for a while. Then she stammered out a weak defense that John promptly tore apart. Later, when John and I were debriefing the conversation, he asked me a question that I have heard countless times from countless leaders.
“How do I get my people to be more accountable for results?”
Accountability is not simply taking the blame when something goes wrong. It’s not a confession. Accountability is about delivering on a commitment. It’s responsibility to an outcome, not just a set of tasks. It’s taking initiative with thoughtful, strategic follow-through.
And it’s necessary at all levels of the hierarchy. Executives high on the org chart can’t really be accountable unless the people who report to them also follow through on their commitments. This a struggle, of course. I have seen leaders direct, question, and plead. I have seen them yell, act passive-aggressively, and throw up their hands in frustration — all in the service of “holding people accountable.”
None of that works. Getting angry with people when they fall short is not a productive process for holding people accountable. It almost always reduces motivation and performance.
So what can we do to foster accountability in the people around us? We need to aim for clarity in five areas:
Clear expectations
The first step is to be crystal clear about what you expect. This means being clear about the outcome you’re looking for, how you’ll measure success, and how people should go about achieving the objective. It doesn’t all have to come from you. In fact, the more skilled your people are, the more ideas and strategies should be coming from them. Have a genuinely two-way conversation, and before it’s over, ask the other person to summarize the important pieces — the outcome they’re going for, how they are going to achieve it, and how they’ll know whether they’re successful — to make sure you’re ending up on the same page. Writing out a summary is a good idea but doesn’t replace saying it out loud.
Clear capability
What skills does the person need to meet the expectations? What resources will they need? If the person does not have what’s necessary, can they acquire what’s missing? If so, what’s the plan? If not, you’ll need to delegate to someone else. Otherwise you’re setting them up for failure.
Clear measurement
Nothing frustrates leaders more than being surprised by failure. Sometimes this surprise is because the person who should be delivering is afraid to ask for help. Sometimes it comes from premature optimism on both sides. Either way, it’s completely avoidable. During the expectations conversation, you should agree on weekly milestones with clear, measurable, objective targets. If any of these targets slip, jump on it immediately. Brainstorm a solution, identify a fix, redesign the schedule, or respond in some other way that gets the person back on track.
Clear feedback
Honest, open, ongoing feedback is critical. People should know where they stand. If you have clear expectations, capability, and measurement, the feedback can be fact-based and easy to deliver. Is the person delivering on her commitments? Is she working well with the other stakeholders? If she needs to increase her capability, is she on track? The feedback can also go both ways — is there something you can be doing to be more helpful? Give feedback weekly, and remember it’s more important to be helpful than nice.
Clear consequences
If you’ve been clear in all of the above ways, you can be reasonably sure that you did what’s necessary to support their performance. At this point, you have three choices: repeat, reward, or release. Repeat the steps above if you feel that there is still a lack of clarity in the system. If the person succeeded, you should reward them appropriately (acknowledgement, promotion, etc.). If they have not proven accountable and you are reasonably certain that you followed the steps above, then they are not a good fit for the role, and you should release them from it (change roles, fire them, etc.).
These are the building blocks for a culture of accountability. The magic is in the way they work together as a system. If you miss any one, accountability will fall through that gap.
I’ve found that it’s useful to make this list public and to discuss it with the people you’re asking to be accountable before there’s a specific project on the line.
When I explained all of this to John, it was easy for him to identify the gaps in his communication with Jeanine. His expectations were clear, but her capability was lacking, which they had never addressed. Once they’d spoken about the gap, he could support her development with coaching while also reviewing her milestones more frequently. That gave him the data he needed to give her clear and timely feedback.
Remember the question we started with, the one that plagues so many leaders: “How do I get my people to be more accountable for results?”
Now there’s an answer: It depends. Which of the five areas have you neglected?
Peter Bregman is the CEO of Bregman Partners, a company that helps successful people become better leaders, create more effective teams, and inspire their organizations to produce great results. Best-selling author of 18 Minutes, his most recent book is Leading with Emotional Courage. He is also the host of the Bregman Leadership Podcast. To identify your leadership gap, take Peter’s free assessment.