Rate yourself. Questions that would help you determine how well you are doing in your career......

28 Questions that will help you assess how well you are doing with your career….

1.   Have I attained the goal that I established as my objective for this year?(You should work with a definitive yearly objective to be attained as a part of your major life objective)

2.   Have I delivered service of the best possible quality of which I was capable or should I have improved any part of this service?

3.   Have I delivered service in the greatest possible quantity of which I was capable?

4.   Has the spirit of my conduct been harmonious and cooperative at all times?

5.   Have I permitted the habit of procrastination to decrease my efficiency and if so to what exent?

6.   Have I improved my personality and if so, in what ways?

7.   Have I been persistent in following my plans through to completion?

8.   Have I reached decisions promptly and definitely on all occasions?

9.   Have I permitted any one or more of the six basic fears to decrease my efficiency?

10.                     Have I been either “over cautious” or “under-cautious”?

11.                     Has my relationship with my colleagues in work been pleasant or unpleasant? If it has been unpleasant, has the fault been partly or wholly mine?

12.                     Have I dissipated any of my energy through lack of concentration of effort?

13.                     Have I been open minded and tolerant in connection with all subjects and issues?

14.                     In what way have I improved my ability to provide service?

15.                     Have I been intemperate in any of my habits

16.                     Have expressed openly or secretly any form of egotism?

17.                     Has my conduct towards my colleagues be such that it has induced them to respect me?

18.                     Have my opinions and decisions been based on guess work, or accuracy of analysis and thought?

19.                     Have I followed the habit of budgeting my time, my expenses and my income, and have I been conservative in these budgets?

20.                     How much time have I devoted to unprofitable effort which I might have used to better advantage?

21.                     How will I re-budget my time and change my habits so I can be more efficient from now on?

22.                     Have I been guilty of any conduct that was not approved by my conscience?

23.                     In what ways have I provided more service and better service than I was paid for?

24.                     Have I been unfair to anyone, and if so, in what way?

25.                     IF I had been the purchaser of my services for the past year would I have been satisfied with my purchase?

26.                     Have the purchasers of my service been satisfied and if not, why not?

27.                     Am I in the right vocation? If not, why not?

28.                     What is my current rating on the fundamental principles of success?

You must get better at work, here's why....

You can have more than you have, if you become more than you are! its an unending challenge to become better than you are. Unless you are stealing, you can not earn more than your skills worth. So the challenge for you and I would be to become much better than we are. What is your chosen profession or occupation? Are you on top of your game? If people seek a person to do the job you do would your name come up anywhere on the list?
Success should not be your pursuit. Success should pursue you. If you have enough skill at your chosen profession and you acquire the highest level of competence, success will pursue you. You will always have work to do. In fact in many cases you would be so overwhelmed that you would need help and that is when you expand.
So become more than you are so you can have more than you have at present. The major key to your better future is you! What are you doing with you? Are you making excuses about your current situation and circumstances? Are you blaming the economy or the government? Are you blaming the traffic or the car or the transport system or the security system. I once did a seminar for a Micro Finance Bank. I discovered that some people do better than others even in the same environment. I teach that you cannot control your environment. Even though we cannot control our environment, the number of hours a day, the tools that the company provides for us. These are things we cannot control. But we can control our skill. We primarily get paid for value. Not necessarily the time we put in to a job. Is it possible to become twice or three times as valuable? Can we make twice as much money in the market in which we operate?Two people can work on the same job in the same environment while one makes twice as much money than the other. If you work on yourself, you can make twice as much money. To become above average in our earnings we must become an above average operative at our work place. Before you look for that high paying job, make sure you have high earning skills. We must all learn to work harder on ourselves than we do on our jobs. We must become so good that we are almost irreplaceable at the job we do. That is the challenge for us all today. So if you are reading this, its time for real change. If the government does not change the country for things to change for you, you have to change. Or else nothing will change. Decide to become much better than you are. I wish you well.

Another view on HSBC and UBS: why they left Nigeria!

 

People have been screaming about the exit of HSBC and UBS as sign of bad economics. That's a huge lie.
I will try to explain it in a very simple way.
HSBC and UBS were never set up for regular banking.
When I say regular banking I mean retail banking.
They never ran salary accounts; they were never set up to afford loans to customers etc.
Their sole purpose was to help customers who can afford their services an easy way to transfer funds overseas.
Many do not know that since the inception of BVN which has made it easier for financial regulatory bodies to monitor outflow & inflow on every account, HSBC has been plotting their exit.
If anyone can make their books public, you would find out they had more outflow than inflow.
BVN was created February 2014, it was only enforced by this government as from 2015.
What did that do?
Every account owner was
forced to get a BVN code on their account (s).
So, if law enforcement and financial regulatory bodies accuse you of fraud, with your BVN
they can tell.... which account(s) you have funds stashed.
Any account without a BVN can no longer be run. Movement of (illicit) huge sums, especially to overseas became a massive problem.
So, imagine a bank whose main source of revenue is moving illicit funds overseas, suddenly can stay for months on end and the only customers you get are those who maybe want
pay school fees overseas or medicals, won't you close shop?
No more wires of $200,000 and above to Dubai to buy that exotic penthouse or carrying on with shopping sprees.
No more bank instruments to private jet companies... overseas.
The importation of big boy toys; yachts, helicopters have reduced drastically.
Now, once you try to initiate a huge wire transfer, CBN red flags that account and next thing you know compliance is calling the account officer to produce KYC.
Within minutes SFU is doing a background check, thunder fire you if you are a civil servant or close to government.
You would have to explain what the funds are for/how they were acquired and this drastically hit such banks like HSBC and UBS!
Banks like Standard Chartered, Stanbic IBTC, Citibank are able to stay afloat because even though they use the same model as HSBC, they are also solid in retail banking.
Any bank that opens shop under this current government with the sole aim of moving funds overseas will surely fail!
Look closely at those who are leading groups against PMB they are private jet, helicopter, yacht, schooners owners.
Many own those beautiful houses we see in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Muscat, Seychelles, London, USA.
Go to our airports especially Lagos and Abuja, all those beautiful girls who once used to sell Dubai real estate deals are out of jobs.
The few you see have stopped hounding travelers like before.
Once upon a time you would see them hanging around airports and 5 star hotels, it made me wonder why Nigerians were seriously marketing UAE real state.
How do you think the transactions were being made? Through banks like HSBC and UBS (many of our local banks also were complicit)!
Now every dollar that passes through CBN to a foreign bank must have complete paperwork! Bankers are now very careful, no one wants to be invited by SFU (special fraud
unit) or EFCC to produce a customer.
Who are those crying about their exit?
The Fayoses, Atikus, Ben Bruces and their minions etc.
Look at the youth coming online to defend them; many were being flown by helicopter to private resorts all over the country.
That tap has dried up and that’s the reason you see many of them online pouring vituperation on PMB.
About 4 years ago, I told a friend that if PMB wins election few banks would be in trouble, Buhari won and it didn't take long it started
happening.
Many of the bank heads used depositors monies to sponsor politicians/campaigns, when investigations started many tried to not only hide their shady deals but shield customers under investigation.
Why won't these people hate PMB?
Why won't they blame their woes on PMB?
When I say many of these banks aren't setup for the common man, people wonder at what I mean.
A very good example; write a lovely proposal for a good business deal and take to the banks and 90% of the time you wont get funding but let APC and PDP finish primaries and produce governorship candidates.
Both candidates can work into same bank and get as much as N500m each for campaigns. Banks didn't care then.
What's the worst that could happen? Worst case scenario, one candidate would lose. Whoever wins would bring enough investments that would cover the N1bn both took, that was conventional banking until PMB came onboard.
If say Odudu Bank sponsors Gochas and he wins he would make sure almost all state accounts go to Odudu Bank.
Some governors went as far as making their account officers commissioners as compensation (I don’t want to call names).
Some bank relationship managers would go on leave close to election period to join the clients on the campaign trail, once the client wins they resign their appointments with the bank and become political appointees.
Why would a bank worker do that if the bank hasn't invested heavily on that politician?
Suddenly PMB appears with this yeye BVN, TSA! Banks now see SFU officers like regular staff as they are monitoring everything. @officialEFCC under magu has become a pain in the ass because money can't just disappear.
Who do they blame? PMB!
The instant BVN came into effect; do you know how many accounts were lying dormant because of BVN? With huge sums in them! Many folks especially people being investigated wouldn't want to come forward to claim them; oga Magu and gang were waiting.
When many of these politicians or billionaires tell you the economy isn't doing so well, look closely at the person because many of them
own some of these 5 star hotels.
Some rooms go as much N300, 000 à night.
Once upon time some folks would pay for as much as one year for a room/suite upfront.
Many of those militants/ folks involved in oil bunkering operate this way.
Mondays through Fridays they are in the creeks sabotaging oil installations, Friday they get into their convoys to Port Harcourt and then jet off to Abuja and Lagos where they eventually check into these hotels.
You enter a place like Transcorp weekends you see them at the lobby, poolside and by Monday morning, banks are wiring funds to these hotels to cover expenses.
Today, the oil bunkering isn’t as lucrative as it once was.
First, price of crude has dropped so selling bunkered oil isn't really worth it as it used to be.
Secondly many countries are cutting down on the purchase of crude and third our military is hitting them harder than before so who is to blame?
They tell you banks are falling because of PMB; lie! Banks are falling because banks were never made for the common man.
I mean naija banks! TSA has collapsed most government accounts into central accounts.
So, we no longer have many government accounts littered all over our banks, many of such accounts were set up just to steal and launder government monies.
Are these tweets saying Nigeria has suddenly become fine for the common man? Hell No!
Nigeria for some years now has never favored us the ordinary folks but this is the first time we are seeing the crooked elite joining us to complain!
The fact they are complaining means something is being done to halt their crooked ways. Whatever it is, Baba Please Continue!
And as for the common man, we didn’t get here in four years! It took years of plundering, bad/no planning to get here. It will take a while to get us out.

Signed
Concerned citizen, who wouldn’t want to get fired by Monday morning for
saying what needs to be said.

My eyes, my eyes! A writers phobia for glasses conquered

Squinting guys, my eyes, my eyes. Small lettering doesn't agree with me anymore. I carry a Techno phone that has a light. Yes, its an android, I must let on before you crucify me for staying analogue in this digital mass.

I've been told to get glasses, but the trouble is I do not want to end up like the tortoise in the story with bifocals perched on the end of his nose. I suppose eventually I might get a pair for reading and writing, but this is one sign we don't like to give into. Age. What did the bible say about one of the patriarchs? His eyes grew so dim that he could not tell Jacob from Esau. I find that pretty difficult to believe you know. Even if he was as blind as a bat, he would surely be able to tell his children apart. Perhaps he was faking it.

I am not faking it. I went to the drug store to get some medicine and the lady pharmacist raised an alarm when I brought out my flash light to make sure I have the right drugs. Her shop wasn't well lit and the lettering on the slip was quite small. Am I making excuses? At a certain age we are in denial. We like to think and believe all the parts of our body will function the way they used to. For one who writes and reads for a living, its an alarm when you can no longer see like you used to. You find yourself squinting at the lettering on the computer, in the newspaper, on the indication leaflet of a drug, at your digital bible(well that can be adjusted) and critical at the business related text messages you receive on your phone.

I have made a commitment to see the ophthalmologist and the optician. Get it over with and make sure that the googles, bifocals or glasses I get are wire frames so I wont even know they are there.

I am interested in putting in one other thing before before I end this rant: Is it really true that glasses are corrective and that we can give them up after some time. Or is that just a line the opticians sell to us with the glasses we pay for?

So to give myself consolation forgiving in to this "visionary" transformation I made a list of celebs who wear glasses and look good: Jay Z, Taye Diggs, TI, Zoe Saldana, LeBron James, Aziz Ansari. Hmmm there are quite a few. That makes it feel better, I tell you.;

21 Biblical principles that would help fulfill your career ambition

21 Biblical principles that would help fulfill your career ambition

The Holy Bible is laden with principles that would help us get to where we would want to go. Many of us wish for a brighter future but we do not necessarily work towards it. We live in a society that is good at praying and very slow to act. This generation must be more forthright in its actions if we are going to fulfill the mandate that the Lord has put upon us by grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the blessings of Abraham that we claim to be ours all the time. By the grace of God I shared these 21 Principles with the Young Men’s Fellowship of the Folawiyo Bankole Memorial Methodist Church in Ikate Surulere. Here is a brief mention of some of the principles. I hope one day to put them into a book to be published for young people to be inspired to use the grace of God to work wonders in our society that is fast giving in to dismay and hopelessness.

1.   Attitude is the first principle. There are many attitudes expressed by the modern day individual. Most of them are determined by what happens around us, our prejudices and our association. A lot of people in our country have an attitude problem: come to work late, deal with the customer wrongly and do what they like instead of what they are supposed to do. If we could change our attitudes it would go a long way in affecting our work and relationships. Do you have the right attitude? Gen 18:14 Is anything too hard for God to do? This is what is known as the Can Do Attitude. 

2.   Mindset: What is our mindset on at the moment? Good or bad things, right or wrong things. Performance improvement or shortcuts to success? The mind is an incredible tool that God has given us. One powerful principles is whatever we conceive and belief in our minds we can achieve! Napoleon Hill said that. But I bet he got the principle from the Bible. As a man thinkest in his heart so is he……Proverbs 23:7. In Genesis 11 people gather together to build the tower of Babel. If God did not stop them I suppose they would have built it!

3.    Belief System: Everyone has a set of beliefs that are deeply rooted in the psyche of the individual. These beliefs guide us in our thinking and could either help us progress in life or be limited.  Four factors determine what we believe: evidence, authority, tradition, revelation and association. Anyone of these factors could be responsible for our beliefs. But the Christian also has his own beliefs which are supposed to remove any form of limiting beliefs we have. The central point in Christianity is the death and resurrection of Christ. Romans 8:11 If the same spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead should come upon us that same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead would quicken our mortal bodies… With God by his side the Christian believes that nothing should be impossible for him.

4.    Core values are also principles that serve as guidelines for the Christian in this wicked world: Integrity, accountability, diligence, perseverance and discipline. Five values that every Christian is expected to live by. They would also serve as principles that would stop us from going astray in this world of temptation.  James 1;12  “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him”.

5.   Dreams and Visions: No matter how old or young we are as Christians we are allowed to dream and also have visions about what is to come in terms of a greater future a time period of blessings and fruitfulness or promotion and achievement:

Joel 2;28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

A vision is a picture of our desired future. Christians should belief and work towards a greater and brighter future, if we work with God we can achieve that future.

•      You dream of who you would like to “BE.”

•      You dream of what you would like to “HAVE.”

•      You dream of things you would like to “DO.”

•      You dream of places you would like to “GO.”

A desired picture of your future!

What are you doing about it?

6.   Words! Be careful what you talk about and think about. You just might get them. A thought spoken out is a creation. Positive affirmations work wonders: Tia Walker said:

“Affirmations are our mental vitamins, providing the supplementary positive thoughts we need to balance the barrage of negative events and thoughts we experience daily.” 

God is my refuge, strength and help in times of trouble. Psalm 46:1

God is my stronghold in times of trouble. Psalm 9:9

My hope is in the Lord. Psalm 40:7

7.   Skills : I put this quote on twitter and it went viral. Thousands of people viewed it. It was retweeted and affirmed:

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and a range of skills that are used in everyday situations, but all too often people remain unaware of, or undervalue, their true abilities”.       

–Alex Ogundadegbe

Every human being is an embodiment of skills. Some of us are suppressing what we have. God has embodied in us the ability to do more than we expect we ever can. Thinking, speaking, creating tools with our hands, introducing new concepts that can solve problems. The skill set of the average human being is deeper than we think. But it remains redundant because with neither explore nor use it.

Exodus 35:30-35

Ecc 10:10

These skills encapsulate our gifts, talents and abilities. 

Promote customer loyalty and improve your business today!

Radical customer service and customer minded individuals often boast that they will surpass the expectations of their customers, this is good and encouraging but let us face facts here: Just how many customers can you really spend extra time and costs on to exceed their expectations? We might be able to do it with one or two, but if you intend to go over the top with every customer you meet, I dare say it will take a whale of time to do that and additional costs too. There are fond beliefs in customer service that there is no limit to the frequency that we should aspire to as professionals; now that is a good mind set for business. Some look at the progression from this perspective: Service is doing the minimal, care is taking it to the extra mile, delight is making the customer very happy, ecstasy is ensuring that the customer is extremely happy. If this is true, just how many of us take the majority of our customers to the level of ecstasy?  The honest truth is very few.
A survey I have conducted across numerous service industries from Maritime, through banking and financial organizations onto educational and health care delivery organizations shows that not many customer service people really have the time or can bear the costs to take the customer to the level of delight, not to talk of ecstasy! Well this is okay. Because the secret of good customer service which is applicable across every service and product providing organization in existence today is simply meet the demand of the customer and do it with the least amount of hassle within the minimal amount of time!
Another out come from my research tells me all customers really want is for us to get the job done. Do what you told them you will do and they are satisfied. Not many customers look for over the top service to attract their loyalty. What they really want is to have the service rendered to them with as little effort as possible. If you can make your service almost effortless on the part of the customer he is likely to come back to you for more.
The summary of all these analysis is customer satisfaction leads to loyalty and loyalty on the other hand should lead to profit. Loyalty means that the customer is willing to make an investment of time and resources to encourage a relationship with you and your brand. So how do we promote satisfaction? Here are five things we can put into our service capability that would help us improve satisfaction:

1. We ought to take care of down stream complaints and inquiries so as to reduce the instances of the customer coming back to us for further information. This means don't just solve the problem at hand, look beyond it, try to anticipate what could be next and deal with it.
2. We should train ourselves as customer service people to address the emotional demands of our customers. There are various categories of customers. Some of them want more control of the product you provide, some want you to listen to their opinions about the product, others simply want you to understand how they feel about certain aspects of the product. If we can be a little more empathetic with our customers it would go a long way in helping us understand them and on the long run we will satisfy them.
3. We should make sure that our customer service channels: online( social media, website, automated service) telephone call center, Physical contact center all solve the problems of the customer so they do not have to switch contact approach. If we make all our channels encourage First Contact Resolution processes then it will improve customer satisfaction.
4. We should use feed back from customers to improve the service. Our complaining customers can be our best critics and a viable source to spotting flaws that could be remedied in our service. Feedback helps us to improve.
5. We should make our service as effortless as possible. Effortless service on the part of the customer is really what brings them back. Their satisfaction is not necessarily promoted with over the top attention and service. Meeting the minimal at minimal effort is enough.

If satisfaction breeds loyalty, then your loyal customers would be the evangelists that would help you build your business. Getting new customers through the marketing mix and promotions is not always as easy and as

cost effective as we think. But if you have dozens of loyal evangelists they will promote your service at a cheaper rate and even literally bring the customers to you.

Putting your best foot forward

I just spoke to a young lady looking for a job and crafting a CV. I asked her, "so what is the exceptional talent you believe you have that you should push forward to your employee?" She was lost. So I asked her: What did you do in school? What skills do you have, what gifts can you use that could help that company fulfill its objectives?" Then it became clearer. Skills, gifts and abilities. We must find a way to push them forward for our organizations. Ability: the quality or state of being able; especially : physical, mental, or legal power to do something. Time and again in HR we are interviewing people with certificates for skills with no ability. What's to be done?