Ronald Leonard Egesa

Many a time we seek to go to University and other places of higher studies to acquire skills that will make us better managers. It goes without arguement that this training makes people better educated and enables them to pick up some skills that make them better managers in the jobs they take up thereafter of in their own businesses.

Today, I have a burning issue and this is what this whole article is about. Management is about the art of knowing when to say Yes and No. Every single Management decision is preceeded by a person with authority saying Yes or No. “Good/Excellent” Manager are those that have the skill and art to say yes when it is time to say yes and no when it is time to say No. It is as simple as that. If it is as simple as that then why all the problems at the workplace.

The few years I have spent managing my business and seen it grow I have learnt that a good manager needs to follow the following steps before saying yes or no:

1. Quickly decide whether the issue before you is only to be handled by you or requires seeking the opinion of your colleagues
2. If u must consult, then give a straight answer that I need consultation from my colleagues such as fellow Board members of the company
3. Based on what you or the team has decided, go ahead and make the decision and clearly tell the concerned parties what your stand is. Do not leave room for false hope
4. There you have it and you will go down as a good manager.

Ofcourse there is more in management, but as you will learn, it will always trickle down to Yes and No circus!

I have been an admirer of Dr. Besigye but of late, perhaps because of his long stay in the political scene, I am beginning to realise that he has turned into another typical Ugandan politician. Recently, he criticised the re-appointment of Justice Faith Mwondha as the IGG. But let him read the letter Ms Mwondha sent to the Speaker of Parliament in which she stated her case.

Dr. Besigye should also know that there are Ugandans like the President and I who bought the IGG’s interpretation of the supreme law of the land. He should know that the attorney general’s advice is not binding and the President can choose to ignore it.

Published in the letters section of The Daily Monitor of April 20, 2009