my forehead. I quickly remembered Mr.
Hinata and his detailed handover. In such
a time, such thoughts don’t help matters,
but exacerbate proof of our ignorance. I
finally had to look for other means to get
me home.
We can live our lives like that, if we may,
but the problem is when we carry those
bad habits to our work place. Which we
often do. Just the other day, I accompanied
a technical sales rep to a customer in
Mombasa. We normally go to farms to
support farmers who buy our products.
In this particular visit, we were going to a
farm that is over 30 kilometers away. The
Where and when did
we get this tradition,
or is it a habit, of as-
suming things and ig-
noring what we think
are small things, and
finally end up looking
like clowns? Why do
we always assume that
taking time to plan is a
waste of time, and we
finally end up wasting
more time?
owner had complained that his chickens
were underweight and were not growing
as expected.
So, before we left Mombasa island, we
knew that the key objective of this visit was
to investigate the problem of underweight
and poor growth. We drove through dirt
roads and arrived in the early afternoon.
The technical rep, as usual, exchanged
greetings and introductions, and we went
straight to work. I walked around with
him as I observed him do his job. To verify
the underweight allegation, you weigh
chickens at random and compare the
actual weight with the expected weight.
So, I asked my rep to weigh them for us to
ascertain the weight. He started looking
around and scratching his head. “Sorry,
I didn’t carry my scale” He said. The
farmer also didn’t have one. Ok. Never
mind. We started investigating the other
causes. Chickens growth can suffer when
temperatures and humidity go above, or
below, a certain limit. That is a common
cause of stunted growth, especially
in Mombasa. So, I asked we read the
temperatures. The rep started scratching
his head again. This time, I knew what
that meant.
After that visit, as you can imagine, I was
miffed. Where and when did we get this
tradition, or is it a habit, of assuming
things and ignoring what we think are
small things, and finally end up looking
like clowns? In this case, the sales rep
exactly knew our objectives, why did he
not carry the right tools for the job? Why
do we always assume that taking time to
plan is a waste of time, and we finally end
up wasting more time?
Planning and organizing is the
cornerstone of good management. And
professionalism is hinged on those two
management skills. We can never talk of
achieving what we determine to achieve,
if we can’t plan, if we can’t set objectives,
and if we can’t organize resources and
tools.
It is not a waste of time to take a moment
to plan or organize. When we take time to
plan and organize, we take lesser time to
do the actual work. We must shed off this
culture of thinking work is more about
execution than planning and organizing.
Herman Githinji is a seasoned
marketing practitioner and law
graduate from the University Of
Nairobi. Currently the CEO Bidco
Land O’Lakes Company that makes
quality Animal Feeds using American
Technology. You can commune with
him on this and related issues via email
on: [email protected].