Tuesday 10 July 2012

CELEBRATING GIRL POWER: FAB, FIERCE, AND FEMALE!!

Today and for the next few days, I want to celebrate all the gorgeous yummy and fabulous females! More often than not and for reasons I cant understand (and hope to never understand) Women seem to be each others' worst enemies. But I today I am here not to gossip, lament, or share horror/war stories but to celebrate
GIRL/WOMEN/LADIES POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the last couple of weeks, I've met and made friends with some fantastic ladies; had my sisters offer funny, candid or much needed advice; and learnt so much from lunches/coffee breaks with my best friends. It's brought me happiness, a strong network, and in some cases some financial rewards :) So why won't I celebrate my lovely ladies!
I want to remind us that being a working mum; stay at home mum; single and successful career woman, or an independent entrepreneur/business owner is fantastic, challenging and rewarding. The opportunities we have as women are now practically limitless and while we may have to push harder to tear down the walls in our way, the world is open to us to pursue our dreams, goals, and targets (should we choose to do so. Research shows that women are breaking down barriers at work, entering the political arena, and creating value with the enterprises and endeavours we engage in.
#Fact, did you know that while about 65 percent of both sexes say they are satisfied with their jobs, it typically takes a lot less money to get women to say they are satisfied with their work than it does to get men to say it. Ladies do you know what this means? We as women, should we choose to, have a much higher ability to be blissed out, happy, and satisfied on the job!! That's how awesome we are. However, ladies, we all know that being a successful mum, wife, sister, daughter, worker, and boss involves us being pulled in so many directions, juggling a variety of responsibilities and sometimes even losing ourselves in the process. The sad reality is while more women are doing more than ever before, a lot more of us are susceptible to being depressed, fatigued, and stressed out at work. Bliss, satisfaction, joy and happiness on the job is not a pipe dream out of our reach but a living breathing reality that can be yours now. My name is Nkoyo Efretei, HR and lifestyle consultant and i am dedicated to helping women find happiness in their careers and businesses. Over the next few weeks, I hope to help your achieve bliss by sharing events with you, teaching you how to de-stress, activate a new and successful chapter in your life, and building your business brand in a cost effective manner. We will also be answering some guest questions sent to us by you our readers.
The aim is to ensure I share information relevant to us dynamic females living, loving, and working in Nigeria. So today take out a little time to celebrate you, your sisters, friends, moms, grand mums, colleagues....every single yummy woman in your network and family. The sisterhood is a wonderful thing, let's celebrate it!!!
All my love
Nikky

HURRAH!! GUEST ARTICLE: OFFICE PEOPLE


happy Tuesday everyone!
 
Please help me give a warm welcome for our guest blogger Chioma, An amazing new media specialist who is doing great things here in Nigeria and in the United Kingdom. Enjoy!
 
 
I’ve been working for a little over seven years now, and honestly? Every day is different. New staff, new challenges, new achievements...every day is just different. I’ve been excited at some jobs, I’ve been tortured at others (not literally of course), and for some others I’ve counted down till it was time to move on.

Recently I started a short term consultancy at a government commission, doing New Media stuff (which I do very well by the way). One of the first things I noticed in the first few days I spent there was that the civil service is (with all due respect) a place where creativity is slaughtered, roasted, and then eaten. Bureaucracy holds the knife, ‘memos and minutes’ roast, while the humans eat.

I remember asking the head of one of the units on a Tuesday evening to get something done for me by the next day, and he agreed. The next day I asked, ‘where’s the deliverable I asked for’ and he said, ‘I didn’t know you meant this tomorrow’. What! Is there any other definition of ‘tomorrow’ besides Wednesday coming after Tuesday? *sighs*

Very quickly, I’ll run you through seven classes of people you’ll find in an office; drawing from some people I’ve met in my short working life. Who knows, I might just mirror you! Ready?

1. SID THE SLOTH - if you watched the ‘Ice Age’ trilogy you should be giggling by now and if you haven’t, you definitely can sort out the definition of ‘sloth’. Lazy! Indolent! Lethargic! Sluggish! Won’t lift a finger even if the organization’s existence depended on it! How did they get the job? Dunno, could be from the ‘quota system’ business, or even worse, the HR manager obeying ‘orders from above’. Either way double (or even triple) sigh! Especially since most times, sloths are in sensitive positions so you’ll always need them!


2. MR (or MRS) KNOW-IT-ALL - yes, this class. So I’ll give it to them, they are right 96% of the time. My issue is the haughtiness, the puffed up shoulders and the absolute disregard for the thoughts and opinions from everyone else. These are the ones you pray will make a mistake (don’t even act like that hasn’t been you praying that prayer). And you know the best part of their day? When they rub it in your face that they were right (and you were, well…….slightly off the mark) about something, in front of the boss of course.
3. TIMEKEEPER – people in this class are great. They are polite, do their work well, function ok in a team, can work with little or no supervision, are outgoing and have a great personality. By the way if what you’re reading is a paragraph in your CV, sweetheart it needs redoing! One catch about these guys though; they won’t lift a finger before the start of work or a minute after official working hours. Why? The company isn’t paying for their time then. Simple as that.


4. THE FOOLISH – another cadre of the ‘I-only-got-this-job-as-a-favour-to-my-dad’ people, they give definition to the Ecclesiastes 10:15 “the labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to the city”. Now, these guys want to help, they always seem to have ideas et al, but they are always wrong! It just feels like everything they touch turns into a disaster! Have you caught yourself hiding stuff (an idea/implementation strategy) from a co-worker because you just know they’ll ruin it? And it’s not out of spite, or because they just want to make everyone’s job difficult, they are just ……… (put in the first word that came to your mind)!

5. ZEUS – Boss. The Big boss of all the bosses. That one you fear. Definitely not your peer/colleague. The one all of you strive to please; the one who has a say on the renewal of your contract. That one. Enough said.


6. THE IDEAL – this person is all that and a bag of chips (and a coke too, if you like coke). They are helpful, warm, happy to go above and beyond to get the job done, come in early, leave late kind of people. They’re always smiling, courteous; I could go on and on and on. And yes, they’ve won ‘staff of the month’ every month you’ve been there. Everyone loves them (even you….sometimes).


7. YOU – describe yourself in the comments section; feel free to incorporate all or some of the classes, as long as you’re honest!

Bio
 
Chioma is a New Media Specialist; her background is in radio, having worked as a duty continuity announcer and presenter for various radio stations before moving on to work as a researcher, scriptwriter, producer, and director of radio drama for the BBC World Service Trust in Nigeria. Chioma is intrigued by social media and how it affects/influences governance as well as its relationship with concepts of social capital, open data, and intelligent/big societies. Her company, CC Consulting, specializes in  
  • Conducting audits for companies based on product, location, and target audience
  • Creating bespoke social media solutions
  • Hands-on monitoring and technical support
  • Content development and production for radio and television programmes
A poet and contributor to various media (tweeting from @chiomachuka), Chioma is the Fairy GodSister on the blog www.fairygodsister.wordpress. com and does professional work atwww.chiomachuka.com