After teaching SIY to few hundred officers in various ministries, it’s becoming evident that everyone believes every civil servant need to change in how we manage and deliver from our tables. In fact many said the training is more relevant for those at the top tables first.
Everyone believes that civil service reform must begin from changing how we perform as a leader, from as simple as how we speak to others to how we attend to other’s needs. We must look at people we serve as human beings, everyone a unique species, with individual traits and potentials.
And one humble confession everyone makes is that we need to change from ourselves first and that our behaviours can be changed by being more aware about how we impact others around us. The assumptions we make without basis, the doubts and fears we harbour, the power we play and pride that drives us can affect our relationship and work.
Many participants said that people are educated and experienced and capable of performing big things, but there are many small things that need to mended about ways we think, speak and do, and to mend small things in the workplaces first. If leaders are bottlenecks in the system, affecting progress and demotivating to people, it is time hard decisions are made.
The realization, “If I am more aware about who I am and what I do, I can live happier life,” is a common awakening among participants. Most times, SIY participants says that they have lived and worked on ‘autopilot mode’ and regret for many mistakes made in the past. They said that ‘by practicing mindfulness and being more aware, my relationship at home amd work will definitely improve.’
There are others in the prime of their service as driver and sweeper to leadership personalities who decried that ‘if SIY training came decades ago, they could have lived happier life.’ This only indicates that their performance at work and home was not as fulfilling as it should have been and that SIY is an important skill everyone needs to practice.
If people behind the tables are little more calm, connected and collaborative, with heightened sense of self-awareness about their emotions, more empathetic and motivated in their services, civil service will see enhanced performance, and people working in a happier atmosphere. SIY contributes towards this atmosphere, by being more mindful of who we are first and how others relates to us.
There are policies that need to change, there are office doors that must become more welcome, there are leaders who need to be more approachable, there are people who need to be more aware of their focus, there are relationships that must mend and there are purpose and meaning we must seek together. These change amd growth can begin only by transforming ourselves first, by accepting and learning to transforms how we think about ourselves and
The graduation certificates and training credits, the years of learning and experiences will become instrument for great accomplishments if only we train emotional intelligence. If we are able to know, manage and monitor ours and others emotions, giving attention and respecting how we feel and how others would feel, then who we are and what we are will change. We will become more human in our ways, we will become wiser leaders, a parent and a civil servant.
First, know and accept that, no matter who we are now, where we stand and what age, we need to and we can change. This small step can make our life more meaningful, and our performance more sustainable and visionary.
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