Kunle Olaifa, a human resources expert, is lead human resources manager for Samsung across West Africa. In this insightful interview, he x-rays issues surrounding human capital development in Nigeria, HR challenges, among others. He spoke with KELECHI EWUZIE.
Career path
Before now I had always been a consultant. I have worked at various levels of human resources; I have led recruitment in various companies in the world and across Africa before recently joining Samsung as lead human resources for the company across West Africa covering about 19 countries in the West African region.
Motivation
My motivation for being in HR is centred on how to manage human capital to get better. The truth is that what makes any country, company or family better is the quality of the people. So I have come to love the idea of looking at how HR can help improve the resources that are human, which is one of the most interesting things that a company can have.
My biggest drive has always been the challenges I have faced. Another motivation for me is that I see nothing as impossible. I feel lucky that I am in HR because I am dealing with the only product that companies have that responds but does not have a perfect way of response. At no point in time in any company will you have 100 percent of the employees agreeing on one thing. HR is so dynamic and these are the things that have really motivated me to be in it. I love it when I realise that my role as HR manager contributes almost immediately to the bottom line.
Skill gap challenge
Well, I think the problem is systemic. It is a function of our country. It is not the graduates that don’t want to be good. The other question we need to ask ourselves as a people is: what other things that we produce as a nation actually come out good?
As government and employers, we sometimes ask our graduates to be excellent. We need to ask: how many of our companies are excellent? How many Nigerian-born companies have become multinational or have become regional players?
So the environment in itself also dictates what you get from the companies. If you look at the few companies we have that are local or the ones that are multinational that have thrived, it is because they realise the need to grow so they are beginning to invest in growing people. I will say that the better the business environment, the better the kind of businesspeople we produce, the better the industries, the better the feedbacks to the school which will in turn affect the graduates that such schools produce.
Looking back, the best time in education in Nigeria was in the early 1950s, ’60s, and maybe ’70s. This was so because it was the period the country was an emerging power in the world, so it was important for Nigeria to produce its own goods. It was the time when the nation was part of the British Empire. So there was a deliberate effort to get good graduates because employees then were like tools in the hand of the company.
Nigeria as a whole is probably not working very well and this is something we need to look deeper into to know what the issues are. I usually talk about the issue of generational skill gap. What our schools are still teaching today was what my parents needed when we were in the industrial age; we have gone way past industrial age, now we are in the knowledge age. So you can rightly say that a country is only as big as what her citizens know, not the resources that lie underground.
Getting good graduate talents involves getting an environment that is conducive. Nigeria as a whole is not encouraging enough for us to grow skills in certain fields of endeavour because the tools required to grow these people from the education system – from facilities in schools to the business that should even challenge people – are not available. It is only until these things are made available that we will begin to see the difference.
That is why if you look at the private schools, many of them are still good in the social sciences and not in the technical areas but with time, all those things will keep coming up. We are already seeing individuals setting up technical schools, and companies setting up technical practice to grow these skills. It is a function of necessity: if there is a need for these things, they start to come up, and production for it will increase. It is about supply and demand. The demands for these talents are much but the industries that really need them are not available. The truth of the matter is that the environment cannot produce what it does not need.
Staff motivation
Motivation of staff is a very strong force. In motivating staff, there are a couple of things one has to consider as a human resource manager, you need to understand the state and status of your staff. It is a very big factor in ensuring that the staff engaged is productive.
HR managers in motivating staff need to look at the cost of such motivation; there is also the need to ensure that such motivation is sustainable. So, HR managers need to look at the cost of motivation, the durability, sustainability and the effect of such motivation on the overall interest of the organisation. In motivation, key areas HR managers need to look at include what the population needs, the benefits, the sustainability and credibility of such motivation. It is only when these areas are taken care of that they begin to look at all the things that will help them achieve results.
Leadership style
In my experience, what I have done in all the period I have occupied leadership positions is to have a very collaborative style. I believe in the beauty of democracy, I believe in the beauty of innovation which does just reside in only one person.
I operate an open system where everybody is allowed to contribute, but what I like to do is to set the boundaries so that everyone working with me will know the dos and don’ts, but in-between those boundaries, my teams of workers can do as they wish. So I appreciate the idea that says let’s set the rules, let everybody understand and let’s engage.
Again, one of the things I like to do and which I am actively involved in is that I don’t want to be engaged with someone, lead, coach or mentor anyone and not leave an imprint of improvement on such a person. It is a personal thing that I go actively after. If you have worked with me for, say, three months to one year, if people see you, they need to see the imprint that I have made in your life.
Another key thing for me in leadership is the issue of integrity. I think this is something that you can actually pass down. This is one key thing I put down in my leadership. In addition, loyalty is one characteristic I like to follow through on because once I am committed to a cause, I like to follow it through.
In leadership, you also need to understand the different classes of the population working with you so you can know what their different needs are. It should be like an open system; you create the boundaries, communicate, give information, but ensure that people stay within the rules. You don’t want to have a situation where people break the rules because it is an open system.
Ideal work environment
An ideal work environment is a place that feels like home. As you are aware, we spend more time in the workplace than at home. So if that is true, we need to enjoy working with people in the workplace.
A workplace should be a conducive environment where you feel comfortable, feel productive, feel the need to come every day; it should be a place where you feel the need to grow, and also feel that you are contributing to the growth of the system.
An ideal work environment is not just about the aesthetics or building, but it is about the feeling that exists in you. One can have the best office space but there is no love, there is tension and stress. So an ideal environment should be able to make you feel at home, feel comfortable – you need to be able to enjoy what you do.
Challenges facing HR community
The biggest challenge facing the human resource community in Nigeria, Africa and other parts of the world is the issue of HR becoming a strategic partner. Every HR manager out there is looking at how HR can sit at the table with management where key decisions are made and be able to strategically connect.
HR is a business driver actually. So one challenge every HR manager has is to be able to prove to business owners that they are strategic partners. This is a challenge that HR managers have inadvertently brought upon themselves by being very administrative in the past. Another key challenge is the issue of talent management. HR managers are challenged on how they can maximise the potentials in managers, business owners and employees and work out how to let go of an employee that is not just ready to work.
The third challenge facing HR managers today is the issue of ‘double’. I call it double because HR needs to create a balance between the two customers (management and employees). HR needs to constantly look at ways to create that balance such as how to get salary increase, bonuses for employees doing the business, and how to get better benefits for the company and ensure that the benefits equate productivity.
Work/family balance
The easiest way for me to balance the family and work is that I am working always. What that means is that while I am working, my personal life is also in the work. If there is an issue at home, I deal with it.
This gives me a breath of life and that is because in my kind of work, I am probably flying between time zones, talking with people with different time zones, so if I do not master or learn that, I will be behind on several things.
In my head, there is work always to be done, there is play to be done, and there is family to be looked after. If there is work to be done at home, the work in the office will wait so that I can deal with the issue at home. The same goes for other things.
So everything that comes to me, work or family, I try to deal with it at that time, and dealing with it immediately does not mean that there is utmost resolution immediately, but that there is an action that has been taken about it.
Another way I balance the two is that I try as much as possible to put myself in whatever I do. When I am at home, I am actively at home, and when I am at work, I am actively at work. I try to pour myself in whatever I am doing. That way, it helps me to quickly finish things that I am required to do.
