SEMINAR PRESENTATION

The 5th in the series of the HR individual seminar presentation

Leadership Influence In Goal Achievement:

IITA In Focus

By:

Mr. Sam Ayebameru, Executive Assistant

Human Resources Unit

IITA, Ibadan

Discussion will be on:

• Leadership and Leaders

• Some Attributes of Leaders

• Delegation and its importance in leadership

• IITA – Background

• IITA – Achievements

Leadership Influence In Goal Achievement: IITA In Focus

What is leadership?

• The ability to affect human behaviour so as to accomplish a mission

• The process of directing the behaviour of others toward the

accomplishment of some common objectives

• Leadership is influencing people to get things done to a standard and

quality above their norm, and doing it willingly

Leadership Influence In Goal Achievement: IITA In Focus

contd

Who are leaders?

• Leaders are those who are able to think and act creatively in non-routine

situations – and who set out to influence the actions, beliefs and feelings of

others

• Leaders are people who know what they want and why they want it, and

how to communicate what they want to others, in order to gain their

cooperation and support

• Leaders are people who influence groups toward obtaining particular

results

Three things stand out in leadership:

- First, to lead involves influencing others

- Second, where there are leaders there are followers

- Third, leaders are people who have clear idea of what

to achieve and why

Fundamental Question:

Why are some leaders/managers effective/successful while others

are not?

Effective Leadership

Is the ability to successfully integrate and utilize available resources

within the internal and external environment for the attainment of

organizational or societal goals

An effective leader therefore is an individual with the capacity to

consistently succeed in any given conditions and be recognized as

meeting the expectations of an organization or society

Determining what makes “effective leadership”

Effective leaders generate results, attain goals, realize vision, and

other objectives more quickly and at a higher level but with lower

costs than ineffective leaders

Attributes of leaders/managers

• A clear sense of purpose – clear goals

– focus – commitment

• Charismatic inspiration –

attractiveness to others and the ability

to leverage this esteem to motivate

others

• Task competence – good knowledge

of the task; a deep understanding of

the business

• Will power and self-discipline

• Self-confidence – belief in one’s ability

to “make a difference”

• Capacity to motivate people

• Role models – lead by example. The

ability to “lead” one’s own self prior to

lead others

• Keep informed always. Open to new

ideas, insights and revelation

• Empathy – Understanding of followers

and their needs. Be willing to discuss and

solve problems; support and help

• Sense of Humour – people work better

when they’re happy

• Delegation – Ability to encourage and

nurture those that report to you. Delegate

in such a way as people will

grow/develop. Avoid close supervision;

do not overboss; have faith in the

creativity of others.

Leadership attributes are the inner or personal qualities that constitute effective

leadership

These attributes include a large array of characteristics such as values, character,

motives, habits, traits, competencies, styles, behaviors and skills

John Adair’s Action-centred Leadership Model

• achieving the task

• managing the team or group

• managing individuals

Your Responsibilities for achieving task are:

Identify aims and vision for the group, purpose and direction

Identify resources, people, processes, systems and tools

Create plans to achieve the task

Establish responsibilities, objectives and accountabilities by agreement and delegation

Set standards, quality, time and reporting parameters

Monitor and maintain overall performance against plan

Review, re-assess, adjust plan, methods and targets as necessary

Your Responsibilities for the group are:

Establish, agree and communicate standards of performance and

behaviour

Identify and meet group training needs

Give feedback to the group on overall progress; consult with, and

seek feedback and input from the group

Your Responsibilities for each individual are:

Understand the team members as individuals - personality, skills,

strengths, needs, aims and fears

Assist and support individuals - plans, problems, challenges

Identify and agree appropriate individual responsibilities and

objectives

Give recognition and praise to individuals

Where appropriate reward individuals with extra responsibilities,

advancement and status

Train and develop individual team members

Delegation

Delegation is an act of transferring responsibility with corresponding authority to another

person(s) for the purpose of achieving a goal.

It is a dynamic tool for motivating and training team members to realize their full potential

Benefits of effective delegation

It saves you time

It motivates people

It develops people

It aids succession planning

It aids greater team flexibility

When you delegate, you must ensure that the person/persons:

- know what you want

- have the authority to achieve it

- have the knowledge and skills required

- know how to do it

Delegation can be:

1. Downward delegation

2. Sideways delegation

3. Upward delegation

Downward, Sideways, and Upward Delegation

Sideways delegation

Delegation: Dos and Don'ts

Dos

• Delegate based on a fair and objective

assessment of the skills and abilities of staff

in relation to the requirement of the task

• Delegate responsibilities to those you trust

• Give precise instructions, explain the task;

explain what should be done, but don’t tell

them how

• Show how each delegation contributes to

organizational goals

• Clarify expected results

• Develop standard of performance

• Discuss problems; answer questions; seek

employees’ ideas about how to do the job

• Be supportive

• Praise positive achievements in public

Don’ts

• Don’t delegate in an unorganized fashion

• Don’t over exercise your power; don’t try to

dominate the delegates; be rather a leader

than a mentor

• Don’t criticize employees in front of others

• Don’t bypass the chain of command

Manager

Supervisor

Worker

Upward

Downward

Advice•Avoid micro-management

•Learn to do less and manage more

Dele

gati

on

IITA IN FOCUS

• IITA is an international non-profit research organization established in 1967

• It is governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR

Mission

To enhance food security and improve livelihoods in Africa through research for

development

Mandate

- Cowpea

- Bananas

- Plantain

- Yams

- Soybean

- Cassava

- Maize

CGIAR Centres

• IRRI

• CIMMYT

• CIAT

• IITA• WARDA

• Bioversity International

• CIFOR

• CIP

• ICARDA

• ICRISAT

• IFPRI

• ILRI

• IWMI

• ICRAF

• WorldFish Centre

IITA DIRECTORS GENERAL

(from 1968 to date)

No. Name Duration

1. Dr. Herbert R. Albrecht 1968 – 1975

2. Dr. William K. Gamble 1975 – 1980

3. Dr. Ermond H. Hartmans 1980 – 1985

4. Dr. Lawrence D. Stifel 1985 – 1990

5. Dr. Lukas Brader 1990 – 2001

6. Hartmann 2001 – to date

Location of IITA Station

Kano,

Maiduguri,

Malawi,

Mozambique

Uganda,

Tanzania,

Kenya,

Cameroon,

DR Congo

Ibadan, Akure,

Onne, Abuja,

Liberia,

Benin,

Cote d’Ivoire

Director,

Southern Africa &

Northern Nigeria Locations

Director, East & Central Africa

Locations

Director, West Africa

Locations

Director, Project

Dev. & Management

Deputy Director General

R4D

IITA STATION LOCATION FOR SUPERVISION BY DIRECTORS

SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS ON RESEARCH

Cassava:

Higher yielding cassava varieties developed through genetic

improvement

Improvement in agronomic practices.

Improvement in the processing, utilization and marketing of

cassava (value-added chain)

Improved cassava varieties deployed to serve as fire-wall

against spread of a devastating cassava brown streak disease

common in East Africa

Discovery of parasitoids (organism feeding on mealy-bug, a

cassava pest). The parasitoids reduce population of mealy

bugs on cassava plants.

SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS ON RESEARCH CONTD

Soybean:

– Many high yielding soybean varieties developed. New varieties

with resistance to rust being tested

– Improvement in the processing, utilization and marketing of

soybean

– Development of soybean-based food products such as soy milk,

soy-ogi as baby food, soy cheese, etc.

SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS ON RESEARCH CONTD

• Cowpea:

– Early maturing cowpea (2 months) varieties developed.

– Cowpea pest control measures were developed at IITA

• Yams:

– Many yam varieties are now available for local farmers in Nigeria,

Ghana, & Cote d’Ivoire, etc

• Rehabilitation assistance to war-torn African countries – DR Congo,

Liberia, Sierra Leone, etc

SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS ON RESEARCH CONTD

Sustainable Tree Crops Program on Cocoa:

– Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP) emerged (the concept in 2002 and the pilot work in 2003)

– Improvement in rural economy where cocoa is grown

– Development and use of innovative training approaches such as Farmer’s Field School (FFS) to train farmers

– Development of new marketing approaches for cocoa

• IITA-STCP:

Ghana

Cameroon

Liberia

Cote d’Ivoire

Nigeria

Training:

– Many current African agric. scientists have been trained through IITA’s training program.

SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS ON RESEARCH CONTD

Research breakthroughs/Awards:

- 1989 - The King Bauduin Award in recognition of its development of streak resistance maize varieties

- 1990 - The King Baudouin Award was jointly won by IITA and CIAT in recognition of their outstanding achievements in classical biological control of the cassava mealybug.

- 1994 – The King Bauduin Award in recognition of outstanding achievements in breeding plaintains for black sigatoka resistance and advances in Musa genetics

- 1996 – CG Chairman’s Excellence in Science Award (Outstanding Scientific Partnership) in recognition of outstanding achievement in collaborative research on the improvement of root and tuber crops in West Africa

SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS (ADMINISTRATION)

• Industrial Relations Harmony: Industrial relations dichotomy

put to rest

• Improved security system especially at the headquarters

• More administrative power to the stations

• Provision of multi-purpose loan for local staff

THANK YOU