Sarah Osah, Port Harcourt (2026)

03/04/2023

I am excited to share that my paper on the "extent to which equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) practices in the workplace predicts organisational innovation" was recognized as the 5th best paper at the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) 2nd International Academic Conference!

As someone who is passionate about this aspect of workplace and human resources management, I was thrilled to present my research alongside so many talented academics and human resource practitioners.

The award of recognition showed that hard work and dedication always pay off.

Thank you for this incredible opportunity.

02/05/2022

The first thing you see on the walls of most organizations is their vision, mission, and core value statements. In many cases, these statements have the potential to inspire and drive employees to take action, but the irony is often the case.

Your employees can hardly commit to words on a wall if they are not integrated into day-to-day activities. Here are a few ways to ensure that your school values are not stuck in print:

Live and lead by example: Setting core values and failing to abide by them is worse than not establishing the values.

Repeat your values often: Meetings are avenues to reinforce the values in different ways. For example, you can explain the reasons for making certain decisions by relating them to one or more values.

Encourage everyone to share: Do not be the only one talking about your values. Your employees and students can share stories or describe situations that show how the values can come to live.

Reward values-centric behaviors: Do not hesitate to publicly reward an employee for exhibiting behavior in line with the school values.

Hire based on values: For each of your school's values, develop a list of questions designed to assess a candidate’s character and potential fit.

Incorporate the values into your performance review process.

Did you get value? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

30/04/2022

Dear School Owners, what else does your school have to offer its employees apart from salary?

Do your employees leave your school better than they came in?
Have their skills improved since they joined your school?
Do they have a better attitude and positive experience that adds value to their life?
What is your culture of growth and development?
Do you have a clear path of progression in your school?

Did you notice that all I have said so far in this post are questions? That is because I want you to do a thorough examination of your process and make amends.

If money is the only thing you can offer your employee that is the only language they will understand as an exchange of value to your school. When the highest bidder calls, of course, they will answer.

I hope this post has been helpful? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

25/04/2022

I have been to schools with beautiful and practical policies that proper implementation would have been a solution to the problems I was consulted to fix.

If you have policies that you are not using, ask yourself questions like:

Did I properly communicate the policies to my team?

Did I care to ask if they understood the policies/procedures?

Were the policies designed to meet the peculiar needs of my school/parents, or was it a one-size fit?

Do I take the lead in enforcing the policies I created?

Do my team members see me endorsing these policies and consistently rewarding obedience and punishing offenders?

As we begin the new term or are about to begin the new term, now is the time to look at your policies and see what changes you can make in their implementation.

Do not forget to make the policies accessible to all. What is the usefulness of policies if employees do not have access to the policies relevant to their job description?

Do you need school policies or a revamp?

Let me and my team of School HR consultants review your school's policies and tailor them to fit your school.

21/03/2022

School Owner: I need a year four teacher with the following requirements: …, and a minimum of five years teaching experience.

Me: Can I recommend a candidate with less than five years’ experience who has the requisite skills and is teachable?

School Owner: That is the minimum years of experience for that position. We will prefer someone that even has more rather than less.

Me: Years of experience alone should not be used as a benchmark to measure skills or success. It certainly does not qualify someone for the job. People have different learning curves. What took one candidate five years to master might take another candidate one year.

If you want to hire right, stop making decisions based on things that do not qualify good work and character.

Would you hire a candidate who took five years to figure it out over someone who took one year? Share your answer in the comment section.

14/03/2022

Last week on , I talked about micromanaging as a trait that drives employees crazy. I received a DM asking me to share my experience managing a micromanaging boss. Here are some ways you can cope with a micromanaging boss:

1. Check if your work ethic is the problem: Take a close look in the mirror and ask yourself if your boss has a valid reason to watch you like a hawk. Do you show up late? Make mistakes you consider small but are important to your boss? Miss deadlines? Guilty? You see why you are being micromanaged.

2. Clarify Expectations: If you are not the problem, discuss with your boss to find out their expectations of you. Then, work out a plan and realign expectations.

3. Anticipate what your boss expects and regularly update: Let your boss know what you have accomplished, what you are working on, and where you are at with it.

4. Let your boss know how you feel: If nothing changes, you may need to confront your boss gently and respectfully. Having an honest discussion could help but be tactful in your approach because no boss wants to be called a micromanager.

5. If the micromanaging does not stop after using different tactics, it might be time to look for a new job.

We would like to hear from you. Have you successfully coped with a micromanager? Please share your experience.

11/03/2022

Are your employees always late to work, resign on short notice, or even without notice? Do you keep giving queries because your employees exhibit unprofessional behaviour? Are you caught in a constant process of hiring and firing? I know many of us will answer yes to one or all of the above questions.

I have penned down some reasons why your employees do not follow your school's policies.

1. You do not have documented school policies. Of course, there is a high tendency for non-compliance if your policies are unwritten.

2. Your employees do not understand the policies.

3. You do not follow the school's policies. I have had statements like technically, that is what the policy says, but it does not apply to me. Dear school leaders, you are not above the law.

4. You fail to give proper authority when you delegate. Other team members will not cooperate because the person you delegated a task to does not have the authority to act and make a decision.

5. Your employees do not buy into your policies. You need to consistently communicate with them why they need to do what they need to do.

6. Lack of punitive action against employees who have wilfully violated the school policies. Try to institute a culture wherein they know that the consequences of their actions are inevitable.

When you consider the above points carefully and enforce the suggestions, the level of compliance with policies will be high. There might be some exceptional cases where leniency is appropriate, but that will not be the norm.

I am a dm/call away if you need a customizable and comprehensive Staff Handbook drafted and reviewed in line with current employment standards, laws, and corporate culture.

Did you get value? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.

11/03/2022

The things we see and hear on the street of
.

07/03/2022

Research has shown that employees do not leave organizations they leave managers/bosses.

If you constantly display any of the following behavior as a manager, you could be driving your employees to look for a new job elsewhere.

v. You do not listen: you ask your employees for their input on a particular matter and allow them to deliberate, ponder, think, analyze when you have already determined what you want to do. You know you do not have the intention of listening or accepting your employees' inputs, why ask for it?

v. You are a micro-manager: you hire someone to do a job and then spend so much time and energy watching their every move that you might as well perform the job yourself. It means that you do not trust your employees to do the work you hired them to do.

v. You do not give feedback or give only negative feedback: you do not offer any praise or constructive/helpful criticism. On the other hand, employees may consider bosses who only give negative feedback without suggestions for improvement or commendation as impossible to please.

If you are guilty of any of this behavior or those mentioned in the comment section, it will be in your school's best interest to make amends.

Please share in the comment section what drives you crazy as an employee.

07/02/2022

Your employees are your number one brand ambassadors. Their image can affect your brand and customers' perception of your school.

Hardly do we hear people say a teacher in that school is very rude, or teacher A in so-and-so school has poor customer service. It is the school has poor customer service. Instead of referring to the specific employee's attitude, they generalize. These can tarnish the image of a school.

This is a Monday morning reminder for you to pay attention to how your employees project your school's identity in their daily activities.

24/01/2022

Once you have invested time and money into training your teachers, the last thing you want is to lose them to another school. If your teachers always leave after training or you fear that your teachers will leave after training and grooming them, then it's high time you conducted an audit on your retention strategies.

Ask questions like:

v Why do my teachers always leave after training, or why am I afraid that my teachers will leave my school after training?

v Does my school structure give room for career progression and growth?

v Do I stay competitive with my pay rates to ensure that my employees do not suffer from the "grass is greener" syndrome?

v What can I do to maintain the knowledge within the school system for as long as possible?

v How do I keep the competition from luring them away?

A forward-thinking school cannot do without training its employees. And it is even an essential factor to keeping employees around for as long as possible, but that does not mean they will stay forever. If you want to increase the chances that your employees will stick around, make their experience with your school a positive one.

I hope this post has been helpful?

19/01/2022

Dear School Owners/Administrators, you need to start rethinking your staff retention strategies.

There has been an outcry of teachers exiting the profession at an alarming rate. Teachers have always exited the profession, the COVID-19 pandemic only made it more glaring.

Some of the reasons for driving this exit are:
 Lack of respect or recognition.
 Poor work/life balance.
 Lack of employee growth/progress.
 Poor working conditions
 No welfare package
 Poor remuneration.
 Greater workloads.

You need to rethink your staff retention strategies if your school contributes to one or more of these reasons why teachers are exiting the profession.

Share in the comment section other reasons that contribute to this great exit.

Sarah Osah

03/04/2023

02/05/2022

30/04/2022

25/04/2022

21/03/2022

14/03/2022

11/03/2022

11/03/2022

07/03/2022

07/02/2022

24/01/2022

19/01/2022

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share