Ambode: Civil Servants must adopt skills to manage conflict

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode at the weekend challenged civil servants to possess the skills to recognize and manage conflict in work place to enhance harmonious relationship and boost productivity.

The governor spoke at a two-day training for top civil servants held in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.

He said every officer must possess th skills to recognise different types of behaviours and its potential impact; become able to resist the pressure and dominance of excessively dominant people; stand up to bullies and bullying tactics; exert a little more control in situations that are important them; recognise potential conflicts and adopt skills to manage them and talk confidently to people and be heard.

The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Benson Oke also harped on the need for top government officers to mentor the junior ones.

“One of the key tenets of leadership is the need to pass on knowledge and experience to others. Most great leaders throughout history have made it a priority to grow and develop other leaders who can come in, take the reins and lead more effectively.

“Yet another tenet of the vision is effective delegation of authority. When the work of a manager gets beyond his capacity, there should be some system of sharing the work. This is how delegation of authority becomes an important tool in organisation function: Through delegation, a manager, in fact, is multiplying himself by dividing or multiplying his work with the subordinates,” he said.

Ambode also charged top government officials to possess emotional intelligent, saying that the possession of “Emotional Intelligence is another personal attribute that indicates the presence of leadership potential and which forms a critical part of the vision.

“This is the ability to understand and manage your own emotions, and those of the people around you. People with a high degree of this attribute know what they are feeling, what their emotions mean, and how these emotions can affect other people. In leadership, being in firm grip of one’s emotion is sine qua non.

“After all, who is more likely to succeed: a leader who shouts at his team when he is under stress, or a leader who stays in control, and calmly assesses situations? I am therefore hopeful that you will be led to seek the development of the elements of emotional intelligence,” he said.

According to Ambode, the elements of emotional intelligence included self-awareness, elf-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills, adding that every officer aspiring to leadership must develop, possess and maintain problem-solving skills, saying that developing the mind frame for deploying these skills was one of the essential soft skills that is mandatory for success in today’s rapidly changing world.