Groom talent from within - CEOS advise

Sound leadership is the heartbeat of any organisation. And without it, different organisation heads told Jobs and Career, the business entity is as good as dead for it will not be long before the cracks begins to show and shortly thereafter crumbles.
For example, the outgoing Commissioner General of Uganda Revenue Authority, Ms Allen Catherine Kagina, has previously said it will be proper if her successor is appointed from the current crop of senior officers at the tax body who ‘are ready to fill her shoes rather than get somebody outside the institution.’
“I will really love it if my successor is appointed within the available team,” Ms Kagina said in an earlier interview with the Daily Monitor.
She continued: “There is an able team within the institution that can take up this mantle without any trouble. Why should we have somebody who is going to go through the learning curve yet there are those who will just take it up and get into the business straight away.”
Earlier, the tax body’s board chairman, Mr Gerald Sendaula, said there is no evidence to show that people from outside the tax authority have performed better compared to those who have been part of the of the tax system. And it is for that, that the next Commissioner General will be sourced from within the institution.
“To avoid nurturing talent is like denying obvious facts in a broad daylight,” Vivo Energy- Uganda managing director Hans Paulsen, told Jobs and Career when asked how important nurturing and grooming of employees for the position of leadership is.
“It is important for continuity and for the CEO himself. I am product of that and I believe in.”
He was speaking at the sidelines of the fifth annual chief executive officers summit in Kampala last week. At the same meet, Eskom Uganda CEO Nokwanda Mngeni, said, “Ideally there should be an upward movement in any organisation because it breeds hope within the institution and it is less costly.”
According to Stanbic Bank’s Phillip Odera, lack of leadership explains why some organisations within few years of establishment begin to decline.
“There must be a pool of talent that sustains the company from one stage to another. And such strategies must be long-term.”
He continued: “There must be a group of people climbing the ladder and they must have been nurtured, polished and groomed. As far as I am concerned it is all about the people then the products or else you could get it terribly wrong,” Mr Odera said.
Self-made entrepreneurs like Delight Limited’s managing director Julian Nyamahunge Omalla and Nina Interiors Ltd chief executive officer, Ms Alice Karugaba concurred with their counterparts, saying it is important to groom talent from within because it instills the sense of ownership.
“Succession plan is paramount. During our time we didn’t have the opportunities to be nurtured or groomed. Probably if we had such chances the story could have been different now,” Ms Karugaba said.

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