olufunkeadio

There’s so much talk today about mental wellness and how this impacts on employee productivity. Almost every human capital or business fora today has this as a core or sub-theme. And rightly so. With increasing suicide rates across the country and societal strata there is indeed cause for concern. Associated factors are many with some pointing out an increasingly low resilience and/or frustration thresholds in today’s individual especially the younger folks. Nigeria rank low on virtually all global indices related to identifying progressive societies and so it is easy to understand why many are finding life, living and sustenance increasingly difficult. Beyond this, the reality of working in a cosmopolitan city like Lagos for example, comes with its peculiar challenges namely being susceptible to anxiety and stress. While there’s ongoing conversation about how this kind of environmental stress factor can be minimized on the Nigerian worker in ways that make him ultimately more producti...

  As Published in The CASON Magazine Growing a ministry in a cosmopolitan city can come with its peculiarities. Perhaps on account of this it is common place for ministries to struggle with the dwindling and/or inconsistent membership. Several factors exists which gravely affect the quality of life and hence the participatory cum commitment levels of church members. Factors ranging from dwindling economic power, job losses, plummeting standards of living, incessant traffic difficulties occasioned by exploding population levels  [partly via mobility from rural areas] , career/work hurdles, and general infrastructural challenges which continue to minimize the overall quality of living standards. The list is endless. To be sure, the pressures connected to living in a metropolitan city are real! Yet  in order   to fulfill their mandate and thrive , churches must find meaningful ways to circumvent the impact brought about by these stress inducing elements on their members...

  As Published in The CASON Magazine John 14: 1 Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. A google search on ‘Suicide rates in Nigeria’ would easily generate a hit of about four million, eight hundred and sixty thousand  [4,860,000]!  It is hardly a surprise to see this result considering that any rational citizen would be genuinely perturbed with the prevailing trend of suicide in the country. People are seeking to make sense of the phenomenon; looking for what the major culprits might be. Some ascribe the development to increasing lowered standards of living pervasive across the country, occasioned largely by massive loss of jobs, un-abating unemployment levels, financial difficulties and despondency on account of the aforementioned. Others have ascribed the incidences to environmental factors resulting in a critical dive in survival instincts like ‘resilience’ especially with teenage suicide tendencies cum reports. Medical practitioners und...

Unattended disruptive behavioral traits can make or mar our relationships. I once attended a learning session where I took a seat beside a gentle man. We hit up a conversation very quickly partly because he was the outgoing type and partly because I’m very comfortable sustaining a conversation once its been initiated. First day over and we resumed day two since it was a three day program. Once I took my sitting position beside my new friend it was an excited me that sought to pick up our conversation from where we left off the previous day but something had changed. I noticed how my friend disregarded a question I directed at him choosing instead to talk to another person across the table! It had been a while that I was disrespected in that manner. Me ignored?! Me, fine girl small pimples! Lol. The guy gave me a cold attitude throughout the remainder of the training. It was only on reflection that I managed to diagnose what actually went wrong. Thing was on the first day I had left the...

  Just last month at a training where I was facilitating, a participant asked me a question that seemed to have been a burden for quite some time. The questioner was young and I could sense the frustration in his voice. “…Nothing I do is ever enough for my boss. I have tried and it seems she’s just too difficult to work with. How do you manage working for someone like that?” In spite of his evident stress, I didn’t proceed to proffer an answer to his question, I decided instead to ask him a couple of simple yet pointed questions: 1.   Do you believe that your boss’ behavior is targeted at you or is this a general disposition across other team members? 2.   Do you imagine that your boss’ behavior is directed not just to you but also to herself? He couldn’t answer any of my questions categorically perhaps he hadn’t been quite observant? I believe that finding answers to these simple questions will be vital to understanding what it is that is ‘wrong’ with...

It was the tone of her voice that made me realize my team member was determined to unburden her mind about the ongoing ‘release’ of Mr. Solomon from his job as a driver in the establishment. Management had to make the decision to let Mr. Solomon go after series of warnings on issues concerning his attitude to his job and to leadership. He was one of those drivers who would refuse to pick up a call from his manager even during work hours. On one occasion and in blatant disregard for repeated warnings he took a three hour lunch break! “I really didn’t see anything wrong with Mr. Solomon’s performance on his job”. My young friend started. I sat up reciprocating her seriousness with an intense facial gesture. She had my rapt attention, it gave her the impetus to continue. “His driving was ok and he was very knowledgeable of Lagos routes.” She insisted. “I admit he can be very selfish, self-centered and has a really big ego but he was still ok….” I was already familiar with my team member’s...