The jiffy that changes everything

The jiffy that changes everything

It was a day like every other.

I had closed from my office in Victoria Island and made my way to the bus-stop to get a cab home. 5.30pm was the usual rush hour in Lagos so I anticipated the heavy traffic- and grudgingly accepted it too. I didn’t wait too long before I got a cab and my long ride home started.

After several hours of snail-speed movement, we got to ‘Cele Bridge’. My cab driver announced that the road ahead was blocked, and it would take more than the expected time to reach my destination. I knew what he was getting at. Before I could voice it, he spat it out “Oga, you go add something for this money o. No be wetin I expect I dey see again”. As a proper Lagosian, I wouldn’t be caught in that trap, so I opened my eyes wide and put on my most intimidating voice before responding “Which kain talk be that one na? Abeg I will give you what we agreed o.” My retort seemed to work as the discussion ended as quickly as it begun.

When I saw that the traffic wasn’t moving, I reckoned that since my house was barely 10 minutes away I could as well alight and pick a bike home. I had done it before, so no big deal.

One minute later, I was out of the cab and about to cross the road to hail a bike when I remembered that my son had been haunting me since last night for his birthday gift. I went instead into an electronic store located beside the bridge to get him the PSP game he had always wanted. I could already hear his excited squeal and I see him doing his signature happy dance.

“Bike!” I shouted, a young bike rider stopped. I told him my home address, we agreed on the price and I hopped on. As he made his way, I thought of my little Sophie who was still down with cold and my wife’s text message earlier that day telling me to buy her drugs while coming home. I quickly told the bike rider to stop at Heavenly Pharmacy just down the road…

Suddenly a boy standing by the road ran right in the middle in a bid to make it across. I heard screams from passersby – and screeching of car tyres.  A failed brake system soon launched the bike rider and myself into mid-air. It all happened in a jiffy!

I landed on my back but a sharp pain in my leg begged for immediate scrutiny. I came to quickly and looked down fearing the worst, but it wasn’t as bad as I suspected. Call it grace or luck, but it would have been another story if I wasn’t wearing a good helmet. My bike rider wasn’t as lucky.

The bike was on him and I suspected his leg was crushed from the way he screamed uncontrollably. One look at him and my fears were confirmed. The onlookers who had come to assist soon got to work removing the bike on his leg. I got up and looked around for my things, gathering them with shaky hands as I made to walk away- but the ‘Good Samaritans’ wouldn’t have it.

They tried to hold me insisting that I may have internal bleeding, but I declared that I was fine. I needed to leave that scene. I was too disturbed to stick around. They let me go. I stepped away from the ruin and tried to walk. One step after the other, I walked steadily with some blood oozing from my wounds till I reached the pharmacy which was already very near. While Oga Chidi dressed my wound, I thought of what would have been if that accident had turned out another way.

Blood stains covered the PSP game I bought for my son. As I took cotton-wool soaked in water and cleaned off every red blotch, I imagined how everything would have changed for my family in just a jiffy.

I was lucky…too lucky. For many, that moment could mean that they remain bedridden for the rest of their lives. For others like Mrs. Abimbola Olamuyiwa and her family, such an instant changed everything. Watch her story here.

As I limped home, my eyes swelled with tears as I hugged my boy’s game, my laptop bag and Sophie’s drugs. I had been given another chance at life, at love, at hope. A chance that many are not opportune to have.

That jiffy of a second could have been fatal changing everything for my wife Blessing and our two children.

 

This article is brought to you by ARM LIFE.

 

The post The jiffy that changes everything appeared first on Realising Ambitions.

Source: Articles

Enhancing productivity through employee engagement

employee_engaggement

January is hardly the brightest month for most people, including your staff. Particularly with the not so encouraging economic climate Nigeria experienced in 2017 which resulted in non-payment or part payment of bonuses for many people. Add that to fuel scarcity and the plethora of worrisome reports sweeping across the country and what you have is a nation of people just trudging along, hardly hopeful, simply taking life one day at a time.

Although, the lack of motivation is probably understandable, it is in no way favourable to your business. Unmotivated employees are largely disengaged and perform sub-optimally. This could easily reflect on service delivery, customer satisfaction and bottom line. While we hope for a better day in the country, the pointers below can boost  morale while increasing employee engagement and commitment to duty as the year unfolds.

  1. Change the scenery: little changes make big differences a lot of times, repainting your office, remodeling the front desk, office furniture or other items in the home or around the work place can provide your employees fresh burst of energy and newness that make them feel better about themselves and work.
  1. Acknowledge achievements: While the organization may not have exceeded its targets in the previous year, there may have been high points and notable achievements notwithstanding. Focusing on such highpoints and recognizing the brains behind them can boost staff morale, increase their sense of worth and inspire them to perform better in the current year.
  1. Switch up the schedule: Introducing something new to the regular schedule can also serve as a renewed drive. For instance, if status update meetings were   held on Mondays in 2017, consider moving them to Fridays this year.
  1. Reflect the bigger picture: Work often becomes monotonous and tiring, constant reminders of the vision that birthed the organization can instill a sense of purpose, belonging and drive towards accomplishing set goals.
  1. Promote from Within: This might be a bad time to employ a stranger to head a department. Offering opportunities for promotion to your employees serve as an avenue for growth within the organization and motivation for employees to increase productivity.
  1. Create time for fun: All work and no play can indeed make people very grouchy. Create room for fun occasionally. Perhaps a TGIF celebration every other month end, wellness and gaming facility (Table Tennis, Snooker, gym etc.) in a corner of the office. To improve employee engagement, office tournaments can be held periodically and the winners celebrated.
  1. Show that you care: Team bonding activities can feature in the year’s calendar of activities. Other notable activities to be introduced include staff retreats, knowledge sharing sessions, timeout with executives, town hall meetings where grievances can be aired and discussed without negative consequences to staff members. These provide opportunities for interaction with employees and display genuine commitment to their individual advancement.
  1. Provide ongoing training: Often, employees get complacent, demotivated, frustrated and eventually disengaged from work. These are evident in high rate of absenteeism, lateness to work, low productivity and attrition. Employers can prevent the aforementioned by ensuring relevant training and cross training for different jobs roles, job enrichment, job rotation, and role expansion to mitigate boredom provide opportunities to acquire new skills and take on higher responsibilities.

As your lifetime partners, we are committed to helping you realize your corporate objectives which include building a motivated, engaged, empowered and productive work force through employee engagement. Financial freedom is an invaluable motivator for employees which further enhances their well-being and sense of worth. Incorporating in the year’s calendar, non-work related programmes like personal financial planning sessions underscores your interest in employees’ welfare and increases their commitment toward realising corporate objectives.

Would you like one of our seasoned financial advisors to hold a session on personal financial planning with your staff? Please reach out to your relationship manager, we would be glad to oblige you.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further enquiries.

On behalf of the ARM Team, we thank you for your invaluable patronage and wish you a productive and fulfilling year.