Africans have been urged to embrace technological interventions as practical measures to overcoming poor time management.
Panelists at the inaugural TAM Summit unanimously agreed that technology can aid individuals and organisations in setting clear timelines for their set goals and objectives.
TAM Summit under the theme, “From ‘African Time’ to ‘On Time’: A paradigm Shift”, was conveyed by SB Telecoms in Lagos on Thursday, May 19, 2016 seeking for attitudinal change while drawing attention to the economic loss in Africa due to the “African Time” mental appendage.
Speaking at the Summit, Mr. Afolabi Abiodun, CEO of SB Telecoms & Devices and Conveners, disclosed that a survey conducted with the aid of TAM solution, found that almost 12% of annual labour cost is lost to lateness, tardiness, time theft and absenteeism.
He said, that in an economic climate, such is a huge lost as there was no successful venture devoid of time as a major contributory factor.
Abiodun said, “In 2005, the American government set a goal to reduce their dependency on foreign crude oil from 60% of their total need to 30% by 2015 and 0% by 2020. One of their key follow-through mechanisms is the perfecting of the fracking technology to access their Shale Oil. Today, America’s daily production has increased from 5.4 million barrels in 2005 per day to 9.3 million barrels per day as at the end of 2015.
“For the past three decades, various Nigerian governments have touted Vision 2020 to take us to the Promised Land of development. Four years to expected delivery date, we are yet to scratch the surface of this laudable target. Why? Although it is easy to blame lack of political will and socio-economic factors, but the real culprit, in my honest opinion, is a lack of interest in doing things in a timely manner and a readiness to give excuses, even though Nigeria is well known for drawing plans and issuing communiqués”.
He lamented that lack of time management has eaten deep into the fabric of the African society, and has turned the people to victims- of its manifestations in corruption, infrastructural decay, apathy, poverty, and so on.
“But it would be difficult to have any meaningful development if we hesitate to demand accountability, not only of resources and budgets but also of TIME- in the private sector and at all levels of government. Because, as we all know, no society can hope to make progress or catch up if there’s a culture of disregard for time.
To solve the challenge, he said that SB Telecoms developed a Time Attendance Management Systems (TAMS) service which from 2013 to the present has been deployed by over 1,000 organizations (including multinationals).
According to Abiodun, “Currently, TAMS has become much more than a time management solution. Based on customer research and feedback, we have developed other modules such as: payroll, appraisal, vacation and leave management.
In the course of promoting time management and the value proposition of TAMS, a few business owners and HR practitioners have protested that punctuality has nothing to do with performance. My response has always been that if we took the time to do some number crunching, we would appreciate the cost of time to us.
“To achieve more productivity, TAMS is getting better and better. TAMS is integrated with 20 Commercial Banks and 56 Microfinance Banks and all Pension Fund Administrators. I am happy to inform you that TAMS is one of 150 solutions worldwide invited to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Washington DC, to be hosted by President Barak Obama next month”.
Nodding in agreement, Mr. Adeola Adejokun, principal partner of Kishi-Lagos, said that he strongly believes that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people across the globe.
He said that applications like Google Calendar, Smart Planner, smart wristwatches, are proven solutions Nigerians and African at large can leverage to undo the sickening ‘African Time’ syndrome.
Adejokun said, “I have realized that ‘African Time’ malaise as lack of consequence management enforcement which requires institutions that will monitor people in the work environment, whether in corporate or public sector.
“We can use technologies available today to tackle this head-on, because ‘time theft’ leads to erosion of values. Without rightly defined and times processes, it is usually difficult to have thr right culture in any place.
On her part, Mrs. Bukky George, who chaired the Summit, said that time like health is wealth and should be efficiently managed, hence poor time management is at the root of poor planning bedeviling the African society.
George who is also the founder/CEO of HealthPlus Limited, said, although ‘poor time management’ is a global phenomenon, Africans, especially youths must have attitudinal change to adapt to 21Century work environment, particularly, every sector of the economy revolves around such principles as time, predictability and efficiency.
She added that in spite the enormous infrastructural deficits in the country, proper time management can be maintained.
Mr. Oyeniyi Oguntoyinbo, MD/CEO of Philliy & Mools, said that every thriving multinational (companies) today started on the clear-cut principles of strategic and conscious timing of programmes.
According to him, a service company, for instance, must be built around timely response to customer’s inquiries or dissatisfaction.
“It is amazing when you list the consequences of poor time management. We often use the phrase, ‘Time is money’, but a lot of employees do not appreciate the fact that late responses to customer’s questions can lead to the demise of the entity. It is an attitude we must address as a people, business and country or Continent. Time is same everywhere, and we can’t change it, rather invest it wisely,” Oguntoyinbo added.
