Determined to foster 21st-century talents management strategies that will effectively link employers with their bottom-line using the right set of employees post-covid-19, Oladapo Akinloye and Gbemiga Owolabi, two human resources professionals, have launched a book, ‘Winning with People’, in Lagos.
Akinloye and Owolabi, authors of the book, opine that it is people that make an organisation to be profitable, not the process only, adding that employers need to understand that if the talents aspect of the equation is handled right, every other element in the organisation will fall in place.
According to them, “When employees are trained for higher performance to fit into an organisation’s value, culture and goals, such talents even after leaving the organisation, remain proud ambassadors of such companies”.
Akinloye, chief operating officer, Emerald Zone, Nigeria while speaking to newsmen at the official launch of the book in Lagos, observed that employers, businesses be it profit or non-profit-oriented aspire to win, noting that the formula to achieve winning is what the book addressed.
Akinloye, who is also the lead author, said that the book encompasses over forty years experiences of managing businesses, adding that knowledge from the book can help a profit or non-profit organisation succeed.
“You will agree with me that the combined practical knowledge of these human resources gurus in authoring this new book ‘Winning with People’ will undoubtedly give a complete spectrum for employers, employees and entrepreneurs,” he said.
Gbemiga Owolabi, co-author of the book observed that the best approach to achieve status of a high performing organisation is through the quality of employees not just the machines.
Owolabi, a Human Resources expert with over 25 years experience, working with companies like Airtel Nigeria Limited, Lafarge PLC, said that the book deals with how to make personnel in an organisation become high performing employees.
He disclosed that the book handles aspects of talent-sourcing, training, mentoring among other aspects of motivation to help such talents attain higher-level performance and make them do what they do not want to do ordinarily.
“What we did in this book was to use leadership and management principles. We highlighted those tenets that can help organisations to succeed irrespective of where they find themselves,” he said.
Owolabi, who is the O&HR Director, Lafarge Africa Plc, further said that he learnt over the years as a human resources manager that there is no way an employee can be happy if the organisation he is working in is not succeeding.
According to him, “The first thing that comes to the mind of an employee when an organisation is not succeeding is the issue of layoff which is the current situation, especially with the coronavirus pandemic affecting companies”.
The book ‘Winning with People’ addresses issues around continuous learning to create an impact on employers and employees. The book provides a pointer on how employers, employees can deploy continuous learning approaches such that if there are changes in the future, the learning imbibed can help them adapt and continue to grow.
