I returned to Nairobi from Mombasa this morning and I’m thrilled to report that the Gazelles Four Decisions Executive Workshop was well-received. The quote above was one of the participant’s closing comments at the end of the second day. It was an incredible learning experience for all of us and also hope that it’s just the beginning!
There were 23 participants and what most of them valued the most was taking away simple tools for communicating and executing strategy throughout the organization using the One Page Strategic Plan, meeting rhythms and dashoards. But I owe much of the success of connecting with this group of leaders to Mr. Karugor Gatamah, who joined me as co-facilitator to ensure that we kept the discussion relevant to the specific issues Kenyan leaders are facing in their unique business, political and social environments. Mr. Gatamah, a long-time KIM consultant, is an expert in the area of corporate governance, is facilitating the next two days of the week-long Advanced Leadership and Management Programme.
Mr. Gatamah set the stage
I believe another factor in the success of this particular Gazelles workshop was the work I’ve done in translating the tools for use in the social sector. Of the 23 participants, only 6 were for-profit. The others were public agencies or professional organizations. This made the only challenging aspect of presenting the use of the tools the translation of the business terminology to comparable metrics these mamager could relate to.
What’s your BHAG?
I hope that KIM’s consultancy group will stick with these new Gazelles to ensure they are successful going forward. One of the participants, Mr. Ali Hassan Mohamed, Managing Commissioner of the Kenya Meat Commission, plans to convene his team this afternoon to introduce the OPP and his intentions for implementing it. He’s going to let me know how it goes.
OK, now for the travel update: Needless to say, Jesse has enjoyed himself while I’ve worked! Not a whine – I got to run the beach at sunrise and enjoy the four star amenities of the Serena Mombasa. For those of you a bit unfamiliar with Mombasa, it’s Kenya’s sea port as well as one of its major tourist destinations. The population is very diverse and the business centers are just as congested as Nairobi, with cars, trucks, matatus, and loaded carts such as the one shown below.
Negotiating on the beachWould it even fit in an F150?
So two more days in Nairobi with more work to do. Tomorrow I meet with Ms. Selina Mokokha, KIM’s Chief Manager of HR, to discuss the options for visiting faculty. Later in the afternoon, I reconvene with Evans and Louis to continue development of the plan for the eLearning platform. On Friday morning there’s a meeting to wrap up the entire trip. In the meantime, I’ve been recruited to be on the KIM Management Digest peer-review panel and I’ve got a few papers to read and comment upon.
I’ll be glad to get back to my busy schedule at home to take a breath!
