Adapting to new role at work should not change personality

I don’t believe in this kind of approach but how can I relate with my team cordially and professionally?”

A: As soon as Uhuru Kenyatta became President of Kenya, social and political commentators made the point that his style of people management was different from that of all his predecessors.

Both President Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, have breathed a new lease of life to the presidency, making it humane in a very special and unusual way.

Despite their high offices, they still give the impression that they are “normal” people in the way they engage each other and have retained their personalities of being generous in their handshakes and broad smiles and light heartedness in public.

They also have a self-evident serious and business like side when it comes to discharging their duties. Little has changed in this regard.

President Kenyatta’s first role in public was most telling in this regard; he wanted his wife to hold the Bible with him to commit herself to remind him of the Oath he was to take before God and the people of Kenya.

This was his first, and most dramatic way of demonstrating the place he had in his life, for the family, and the role he anticipated that the family would play in his presidency. The next big controversy was kneeling to give thanks to God at his swearing in ceremony.

As we were told, some men in uniform could not see how the Commander- in- Chief could kneel in the presence of solders. President Kenyatta and his deputy did so without apology and in many ways with great effect. They have new offices but have not changed!

You have been promoted to a managerial level because of who you are. In its wisdom, the company you have worked for the past 12 years has looked at you in your totality and has determined that you are, by virtue of your experience and personality, suitable for the job. The company did not anticipate that you would change in any way.

At a recent interview in the UK, President Kenyatta spoke about being drawn away from his friends because he could not go out for nyama choma with friends in the way that he could in the past. Security is paramount for him.

In your case, and perhaps what your colleagues are telling you is that the new job has certain responsibilities both social and corporate that might require a change in the way you do things.

It might, for example, be that now it is in the disciplinary committee of the company, and it would be unwise to spend Saturday afternoons in nyama eating joints with your junior staff.

Responsibilities

The position you now have though not changing your mind about people confers duties and responsibilities that could modify your lifestyle.

There are things you simply can’t do, for example, as part of management you cannot complain about “management” any more. You are simply part of it.

Sadly, this need to accept the new role and its attendant lifestyle changes reminds me of Wole Soyinka’s “Trials of Brother Jero”.

In the book, Chume, the messenger had only one ambition; to become the chief messenger so that he could enjoy the perks of the office, namely a bicycle, a desk and a telephone!

For too many of us we are like Chume the messenger. It is the perks and not the duty and opportunity to serve that we care for.

On appointment to serious position in the private or public sector, men and women show change fundamentally. They start with the accent, mode of dress, choice of food and drinks and soon begin to express discomfort in the presence of “ordinary people”.

They have great difficulties riding in lifts with strangers, must be followed by big men (bodyguard) preferably carrying a poorly hidden gun. This is a show of power!

In the perfect case, he develops loss of memory for the names of people they have known all their lives. They speak only to fellow colleagues in high places, and when an “ordinary” person finds his way to their presence, conversation ends.

Adapt to the new status of manager, accept you have a new role and many responsibilities, but remain faithful to yourself and personality. That is what made you what the company wanted to promote. Adapt, don’t change!

Without exception, they are empty tins peddling influence and rumours around and about themselves and their closeness to the powers that be!

When management changes. They come back to the ordinary people only to find the people have themselves moved on!