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Like every other nation Nigeria has its challenges of which workers in public and private workplaces form a part. However, we hardly focus attention on challenges in the workplace and their implications for the nation’s overall well-being. Most conversations appear to concentrate on performance or lack of it by political office holders who we erroneously believe are responsible for all problems. Among the challenges common in the workplace is the sometimes tension-soaked boss-subordinate relationship. This aspect is important. It is because what transpires in the boss-subordinate working relationship impacts how effectively mandates are delivered by public and private organisations.
Over the years, stories of what transpires in some public and private organisations have come to my attention. The conclusions I arrived at are two. One, this nation doesn’t have a sustainable culture of intentionally training those it sends up the ladder. And related to it is that, wherever one turns, little or no mentorship takes place. Two, the situation we are in as a country has one of its roots in the reality that it is bosses we produce in organisations rather than administrators, or more precisely senior administrators that we call leaders. I don’t use the word “leader” because in Nigeria it’s generally a misunderstood word if not a bastardised and misused word. Here, everyone loves being a leader; but most people don’t deliberately develop themselves as leaders, or have the right orientation about who a leader is beyond a vague sense of being “the boss.”
The word administrator as I use it here, to me, connotes a sense of action. You aren’t the boss, the leader, just to sit and be served. You’re involved in the process of serving. You lead the process. It’s an important angle as the head at any level; the head administers, and manages human and material resources within their sphere of operation to achieve mandates. How many organisations achieve their mandates in Nigeria these days? Challenges in boss-subordinate working relationship is a contributor to what we see. It’s a complex issue, and this intervention doesn’t pretend to provide all the answers. But woven into, and influencing the two conclusions I previously stated is the question of how staffers are recruited into organisations in Nigeria.
Do we have a specified guide regarding this? Is the process designed to select the best with the best potential? Does the system allow for the best to move up fairly and consistently? There’s also the angle regarding how all manner of extraneous criteria is infused into selection processes. Here, I pause to ask an important question: Who’s a good or effective administrator? It’s widely acknowledged that the selection and training of good administrators are important, but there’s little agreement among those who should know as to what makes a good administrator. What is stated as criteria is more specific, tailored to the view and philosophy of each organisation, rather than a one-cap-fits-all situation.
So, how administrators are trained by each organisation reflects their varied objectives. Differences are even made between what an administrator’s roles and responsibilities are, and personal characteristics that make them good administrators. I focus on the latter because my observation is that in the Nigerian situation, even where training is given or roles and responsibilities defined, the personal characteristics of bosses still interfere in the boss-subordinate working relationship. Majority of bosses exhibit very poor personal characteristics in plain sight, with no attempt to even hide it. Some are determined to flaunt their being “the boss” in everyone’s face, and woven into all of that is a display of lack of professionalism, zero self-discipline, self-control, pettiness, narrowness of view, jealousy, tribalism, religious bigotry, etc.
One can place on top of these a lack of accountability and transparency, particularly in financial matters where many bosses have a personal interest to pursue. Once the last is involved, as I had explained over a decade ago on this page, nothing in the organization would work accordingly. I return to the question: Who is a good administrator? Generally, a good administrator provides leadership by providing a set vision. They get others’ buy-in as well as lead them toward achieving it. The effective leader acts decisively, dependably, and responsibly. They’re steadfast in all they do, behaving ethically in and out of sight. A good administrator solves problems as there is a need to address challenges if the organisation must succeed. They engage in critical thinking, have the ability to analyse issues objectively, and are creative in terms of looking beyond the ceiling for solutions.
A good administrator is open to acquiring new knowledge and skills. They encourage feedback and their constant curiosity makes them adapt to change; they also create a working environment where others feel encouraged to develop. Good administrators have analytical minds, demonstrating logical reasoning crucial to problem-solving and decision-making. They make evidence-based decisions and measure the outcomes based on available data. A good administrator has excellent communication skills. This helps communicate ideas clearly and accurately. They listen, showing keen interest in what others have to suggest, as well as exuding awareness and appreciation of different cultures and orientations.
A good administrator works in collaboration with teams with different skills. The characteristics aren’t limited to the foregoing. But I pause and return to my observation of the Nigerian situation. Here, many find themselves rising to become bosses without any formal or informal preparation. So promotion happens, appointments happen, and people move just up to the next floor. I know private institutions where fresh graduates are appointed into senior positions. Not a single orientation programme is organised for them, after yearly recruitment for seven straight years that the tenure of one particular administrator lasted. That’s seven generations of staffers who will rise in the system but aren’t grounded in their roles and responsibilities, let alone guided as to how they should develop their personal characteristics to be good administrators.
In the institution in question, when a more experienced officer arrived at the unit of one of such fresh graduates some months after recruitment it was complete chaos on the ground. Not a single file was available as a compilation of documents and formal activities taking place in the unit. Nothing is done properly as the fresh graduate doesn’t have any idea of exactly how to run things in the unit. Anything goes. All motion but nothing concrete achieved to show that the unit is moving forward administration-wise. The more experienced officer had to start reorganising the place after taking over.
In some public establishments in Nigeria, the behaviour of some bosses is an embarrassment. Units and their heads are in place, but this boss dismissively tells them there’s nothing they are doing that he can’t personally handle himself. Yet, unit heads are paid to perform this role. In many government departments, the jobs of different officers are collapsed into the office of the boss for all manner of reasons, including greed to corner funds attached to the specific work. In the event, departmental heads and their staff members have nothing to do, and opportunity to garner more experience is truncated. It’s what bad administrators make happen.
This last point reminds me of the time I was conducting research for my doctorate programme. I was at the office of the European Union Delegation to ECOWAS and West Africa. The Head, Ambassador Michel Arion, minuted my letter to the head of the appropriate department who attended to me very well. On one occasion when I met Arion at an official event relevant to my research and to which he had instructed his staff members to invite me, I wanted to ask him for his personal views on some questions.
He insisted that only the departmental head would handle matters related to my research because that was his schedule. I imagined he didn’t want to collapse the job of his subordinates into his office. Good administrator; he left a lasting impression on me. I think this nation needs to develop a philosophical guide regarding recruitment, training, and promotion in both public and private organisations. It isn’t fixed, it’s a guide, a template to show what the national preference is, and within which organisations maneuver to meet objectives. The overall positive effects will be there for the nation to benefit from in the end.
