Ambode charges Civil Servants on time, stress management for optimal performance

The Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has said there is need for civil servants in the state to ensure optimal management of time and stress, in order to be able to deliver quality service to the public in the course of discharging their duties.

The governor made this assertion on Thursday, in his keynote address delivered at a two-day training session tagged ‘Time and Stress Workshop’, organised for civil servants, by the Ministry Establishments, Training and Pensions and facilitated by Messrs. Human Capital Management and Solutions Ltd., at Dover Hotel, Ikeja, he was represented by the Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Akintola Benson Oke.

According to him, the ultimate objective of the workshop was to ensure that, in addition to trainings aimed at increasing knowledge and on-the-job skills, civil servants in Lagos were equipped with the practical tools to live well-rounded lives and cope with a number of factors that were often over-looked in the quest for organisational efficiency and personal fulfillment.

He reiterated that two of such factors were time management and stress management.

“Holly Mosier made the following profound observations on the subject: ‘Our culture encourages us to plan every moment and fill our schedules with one activity and obligation after the next, with no time to just be. But the human body and mind require downtime to rejuvenate.

I have found my greatest moments of joy and peace just sitting in silence, and then I take that joy and peace with me out into the world’.

“Indeed, in today’s 24-hour, round-the-clock work engagement culture, the Lagos State Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions, has discovered that there is a critical need to help officers of the Lagos State Civil Service learn the mechanisms for coping with the demands on the management of time and the consequential stress.

This is because effectiveness in the Lagos State Civil Service goes far beyond the acquisition of knowledge and job-related skills,” he said.

Governor Ambode said it was important to recognise the common causes of stress at work so that one could take steps to reduce stress levels where possible. He said workplace stress could be caused by a number of factors from heavy workloads and over-promotion to bullying and blame culture.

Clearly, he stated, senior officers of the Lagos State Civil Service will greatly benefit from the seminar as they learn how to make the civil service as less stressful as possible for civil servants.

“The next related question is how do you know that you are not properly managing your time? The following have been identified as the general symptoms: Missed deadlines, difficulty in concentrating, errors in your work, as well as stress and anxiety.”