By Fred M’mbololo Page 1 LEADERSHIP STYLE, TEAM SPIRIT AND MANAGEMENT BY WALKING AROUND IN TINTORIA LTD PREPARED BY FRED M’MBOLOLO (ACCA), CPA (K)
By Fred M’mbololo Page 1
LEADERSHIP STYLE, TEAM SPIRIT AND MANAGEMENT BY
WALKING AROUND IN TINTORIA LTD
PREPARED BY FRED M’MBOLOLO (ACCA), CPA (K)
By Fred M’mbololo Page 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 What is an Entrepreneur
1.1 Entrepreneur spirit and team spirit
2.0 Leadership
3.0 Vision and mission statements
3.1 Vision
3.2 Mission
3.2.1 Learning
3.2.2 Innovation
3.2.3 Building relationship
3.2.4 Pioneering
4.0 Tintoria Ltd Statement of Core Values
5.0 Organizational chart
6.0 Management by walking around (or WALKING AROUND) in Tintoria Ltd
6.1 Tintoria’s management makes WALKING AROUND part of their routine
work.
6.2 Tintoria’s management does WALKING AROUND on a one or two
manager basis.
6.3 Visit everybody on an equal time basis.
6.4 The management of Tintoria Ltd usually asks for suggestions and
recognize good ideas.
6.5 The management of Tintoria Ltd would normally answer staff later in
case we do not have on the spot answers.
6.6 The management of Tintoria Ltd doesn’t usually confront the staff
upfront or publicly criticize them.
7.0 Conclusions
By Fred M’mbololo Page 3
1.0 What is an entrepreneur?
The entrepreneur is usually a sole proprietor, a partner, or the one who owns the
majority of shares in an incorporated venture. In the case of Tintoria Ltd the
entrepreneur here are the directors. Our directors are not necessarily motivated by
profit but nevertheless, it is regarded as a standard measure for achieving success in
running of the business. Tintoria Ltd is always trying and does create new businesses
through opening of new branches in new malls around the Nairobi City. This certainly
can carry a high risk because it requires money to set up a new business without
knowing if it will give a return on the investment. In a nut shell, we can say that Tintoria
Ltd always organizes and operates its core business directed by the articles of
memorandum and is always looking out for ways of increasing its market share through
opening of more branches and signing new sales contracts as also guided by the
company’s strategic plan, thus it takes on much greater risks than normal financial risks
in order to do so.
1.1 Entrepreneurial spirit and team spirit is an approach. The management of
Tintoria Ltd has an attitude and a method of thinking ahead that vigorously pursues out
change, rather than waiting to adapt to changes in the environment in which the
business operates in for instance we target our niche market and not any other market.
We focus on delivering quality services and timely services at an affordable prices to
our customers and in that regard we don’t worry so much about our competitors. It's a
mindset that involves critical questioning, innovation, service and continuous
improvement.
We encourage team spirit and working towards attaining the company’s strategic plans
and ensuring all employees are contributing towards accomplishing these set targets.
We ensure that everyone understands the company’s vision and mission and that we
are all on the same page so as to eliminate goal incongruences.
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2.0 Leadership Style
The management of Tintoria Ltd leadership style is mainly working towards achieving
the company strategic plans and it is also vision based. We lead our team effectively
towards accomplishing our mission and goals and we are guided by the company’s
core-values. We encourage organized learning, creativity, and the development of
strong relationships among the working team. This leadership style is useful for Tintoria
Ltd as we are more focused on achieving the company short term and long term
strategic plan, we thus have an entrepreneurial spirit. While every visionary leader
manages differently, many of our leaders share a few common characteristics as shown
below:
Leader of Your Life Top people are long-term thinkers. Average thinkers think only about the present, and about immediate gratification. But leaders think about where they want to be in five and ten years, and what they have to do each hour of each day to make their desired future a reality.
i. Leaders inspire others because they are inspired themselves. They are excited about the possibility of creating an exciting future for themselves. They get up every morning and they see every effort they make as part of a great plan to accomplish something wonderful with their lives.
ii. Leaders are optimistic. They see opportunities in everything that happens, positive or negative. They look for the good in every situation and in every person. They seek the valuable lessons contained in every problem or setback. They never experience "failures;" instead, they write them off as "learning experiences."
iii. Leaders have a sense of meaning and purpose in each area of their lives. They have clear, written goals and plans they work on every day. Leaders are clear about where they are going and what they will have to do to get there. Their behavior is purposeful and goal-directed. As a result, they accomplish five and ten times as much as the average person who operates from day to day with little concern about the future.
By Fred M’mbololo Page 5
iv. Leaders accept personal responsibility. Leaders never complain, never explain. Instead of making excuses, they make progress. Whenever they have a set-back or difficulty, they repeat to themselves, "I am responsible! I am responsible! I am responsible!"
v. Leaders see themselves as victors over circumstances rather than victims of circumstances. They don't criticize or blame others when something goes wrong. Instead, they focus on the solution.
vi. Leaders are action-oriented. They are constantly in motion. They try something, and then something else, and then something else again. They never give up.
vii. Leaders have integrity. They tell the truth at all times. They live in truth with themselves, and they live in truth with others.
3.0 Vision and mission statements
3.1 Vision
Current Vision: To achieve international status as a quality service business enterprise
and to be the first choice for dry cleaning and laundry in the highly competitive
environment.
Revised Vision: To be an environmentally friendly, world-class quality service
enterprise and the first choice for dry cleaning and laundry utilizing state-of-the-
art technology.
The management of Tintoria Ltd usually aim to be successful in creating a positive and
inspirational vision in accordance with our strategic plan and conveying the company
vision in an engaging manner that attracts committed employees. The management of
Tintoria Ltd knows and appreciates the importance for meaning and purpose of having
committed employees, hence inspires them to achieve more and to build better futures.
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The staff are thus more motivated by the vision and often have a sense of solidarity
within the working team because of the pursuance of the same vision.
3.2 Mission:
Current Mission: To offer professional dry cleaning and laundry services and to
maintain quality standards and customer services at affordable rates.
This mission statement remains unchanged.
3.2.1 Learning
The managers of Tintoria Ltd realize that learning encourages the development of
personal skills and the ability to make effective decisions. The management of Tintoria
Ltd finds learning highly motivating, and instills that same eagerness to learn in it’s
employees by creating various learning opportunities with the day-to-day complexities in
the workplace. This results in highly skilled and knowledgeable employees contributing
to the success of Tintoria Ltd.
3.2.2 Innovation
Innovation is vital to a business, because to remain successful a business must
continually grow, improve, and find new ways to achieve goals. The management of
Tintoria Ltd thrives on innovation and change. These leaders encourage creative
thinking and problem-solving skills in employees. The management of Tintoria Ltd
embraces change and views the use of new ideas and processes as progress. It tries to
find better and quicker methods to achieve success.
3.2.3 Building Relationships
Building respectful and empowering relationships with employees is a characteristic of
the management of Tintoria Ltd. We believe that our managers have the above-
average communication skills, and always apply those skills to nurture a partnership
approach with employees. The management of Tintoria Ltd encourages respect, team
spirit, team learning, and a type of family atmosphere in the group. We use conflict
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management skills to unite team members, and we prefer to use a friendly approach,
rather than a bossy approach.
3.2.4 Pioneering
The management of Tintoria Ltd encourages employees to develop a pioneer spirit,
doing what others have never done and going where others would never go. This
pioneer spirit manifests both in attitude and in action for the management of Tintoria Ltd
and its employees. Tintoria Ltd likes to project itself than its competitors and has been
growing much and intends to continue doing so in the near future. The current
managers of Tintoria Ltd also are actively involved in developing future managers to
play an important role in the future of the company.
4.0 Tintoria Ltd Statement of Core Values
In an effort to be thoughtful, careful and visionary about decision-making in Tintoria Ltd,
we feel it is important to set forth the core values of the organization.
1. INTERGRITY- TINTORIA LTD recognizes the benefits of having high moral
standards and being honest in dealing with our customers
2. QUALITY- TINTORIA LTD strives to be a leading laundry service provider in
terms of quality.
3. PROFESSIONALISM-TINTORIA LTD recognizes the benefits that accrue to our
customers, suppliers and staff when we do things professionally.
4. TEAMWORK- TINTORIA LTD recognizes the benefits associated with sharing
expertise, time, energy and resources.
5. CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION-TINTORIA LTD intends to be a nimble, flexible
and dynamic organization, able and willing to adapt to the evolving needs of
members and the shifting landscape of technology.
6. DIVERSITY-TINTORIA LTD includes multi-type shops which operate locally, who
serve a diverse clientele including personal and corporate clients. TINTORIA
LTD recognizes that their customers may have diverse missions, disparate
resources and distinct needs. Decisions undertaken on behalf of the organization
are made with the greatest respect and support of these differences.
7. ACCOUNTABILITY-TINTORIA LTD recognizes that it must take care of client
clothes by washing them properly, making small repairs and ensuring that they
are good condition and not damaging them, in case of lost items, TINTORIA LTD
will be responsible.
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5.0 Organization Structure of Tintoria Ltd
Tintoria Ltd Limited is governed by a Board of Directors to whom the Managing Director
is responsible for. The company has three main departments mainly operations, sales
& marketing and finance departments. The company has about seventy (70)
employees and most of them are in the operation department working as either sorters
or pressers given the laundry services is mainly labor intensive.
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6.0 Management by walking around in Tintoria Ltd
Management by walking around, as you probably know from your Internet search, is the
habit of stopping by to talk with employees face to face, get a sense of how they think
things are going, and listen to whatever may be on their minds.
This is how the management of Tintoria Ltd runs its laundry and dry cleaning company.
The main reason beyond such an approach is because the work is labor intensive and
periodic watching over the staff will ensure that lateness to work is reduced,
absenteeism is minimum, boredom is eliminated and that the quality of work is
maintained at all times and that there will be no wastage of time like cat fighting,
gossiping especially for the back office staff or mishandling of our client’s garments
through pilferages and losses. The management also checks to find out if there any
water or oil spillages, the laundry machines are operational, spare parts are purchased
on time and that maintenance of these machines is regularly done so as to reduce
machine breakdowns and down times. Above all we ensure that all the company
policies and procedures are carried out and followed accordingly.
It might be that checking on our employees suddenly is, as you think is an interruption
of their work but we are adamant that this exercise also produces tangible benefits.
“Management by walking around really helps us to be more visible, connect with
employees and share ideas, and invite suggestions for doing things better,” This also
enables us see the cleanliness of the premises, whether the security guards are alert
and that they are at their work stations and to see if both our front office and back office
employees are working towards meeting our own goals and objectives. Also because
not all operations are carried out in one building, it is paramount to walking around to
see if all the employees are working towards achieving the company’s goals and
targets, corrective action of plan can also be implemented in case of any problems that
may arise.
Further than the observable benefits of keeping a close eye on the heart of the
business, employees are also more probable to be more engaged and productive, if
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they see the management of Tintoria Ltd checking on the daily running of the
organization and chatting with them regularly than if they don’t.
This of course may sound like common sense and you will realize that even sending out
of e-mails and memos has not replaced the usual face-to-face contact in Tintoria Ltd.
Also our front offices staff and especially our back office staff are not allowed access to
the social media either through the computers, other gadgets or their own personal
phones, so that they can be focused and composed and not disrupted from executing
their daily work routine like washing the garments, ironing the garments and sorting the
same garments in a timely and orderly manner.
“There has been a tendency to manage other employees working in the other Tintoria
Ltd branches via email, memos, text messages and formal meetings,” partly because
our managers and supervisors just don’t have the time to meet with these employees
informally, however our Managing Director and other staff usual make random checks
to ensure that everything is operating in accordance to our working time and besides
that our clients queries are attended to in accordance to our terms and conditions of
acceptance to be serviced by us and that the garments are collected on time by our
clients and that the old stock which has not been paid for yet is still accountable.
So, the management of Tintoria Ltd has the following guidelines of how to apply this
management style of walking around or rather like some employees would say,
managing by walking away), Tintoria Ltd offers these guiding principle of proposals for
doing it right:
6.1 Tintoria’s management makes WALKING AROUND part of their routine work.
Random checks on employees’ workspaces for an informal chat is most effective if it is
not done on any fixed schedule, since one will notice that the greatest returns are
seeing what is going on when employees aren’t prepared for us, this the management
of Tintoria Ltd has learnt over-time. But we do plan for a bit of walking around on our
own calendar every day, and it is usually for about half an hour only. “The more often
we do it, the more beneficial it is to us
By Fred M’mbololo Page 11
6.2 Tintoria’s management does WALKING AROUND on a one or two manager
basis.
WALKING AROUND works best as a continual stream of one-on-one conversations
with individual staff. Walking around with supervisors or assistants will certainly just
hinder the discussion by making the employees more uncomfortable or, worse still
make them feel that we are spying on them or that we are on a witch-hunting mission.
6.3 Visit everybody on an equal time basis.
As Tintoria Ltd management has realized that spending more time regularly checking on
certain members of staff is likely to create some resentment. Hence we make an effort
of trying to spend roughly the same amount of time — not necessarily all in the same
day or even the same week, but over the long run — with all the back office staff and
front office staff. Although as an exception we would tend to visit the branches which
are not meeting the company’s goals and targets more than the other Tintoria’s
branches that normally would meet their targets.
6.4 The management of Tintoria Ltd usually asks for suggestions and recognize
good ideas
“The management of Tintoria Ltd normally asks all of our staff of their inputs on how to
improve maintenance of the laundry machines, processes, sales, or service,” The
management of Tintoria Ltd always recognizes the good suggestions and rewards
exceptional work performance through bonuses to employees who have initiatives of
improving the operations and staff relationships.
Generally, if someone’s idea leads to a positive result, we make it known to the staff
whose suggestion it was and demonstrate our willingness to give credit where it is
deserved.
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6.5 The management of Tintoria Ltd would normally answer staff later in case we
do not have on the spot answers.
In eventual scenario that the management of Tintoria Ltd can’t answer an employee’s
question on the spot, we would usually get back to the concerned staff with the
appropriate answers at a suitable time, this is besides being polite and friendly, it also
builds confidence and trust from the employees.
6.6 The management of Tintoria Ltd doesn’t usually confront the staff upfront or
publicly criticize them.
We are mostly on a information-gathering mission, with also another major role of
creating and establishing a warm and cordial working relationship with our staff.
In order to cement working relationships and create harmony and motivate our staff, the
management of Tintoria Ltd usually restrains itself from immediately disapproving our
employees actions or even shouting at them.
If we find them not performing their duties correctly and not in accordance to the
company policies and procedures, we don’t try to change their behavior on the spot
unless only in exceptional cases where deadlines will not be met or the company may
incur unnecessary damages and liabilities. Instead if it not an exceptional case, we take
note of that and address the problem at another appropriate time and manner and at
times it may be through issuance of verbal warnings, warning letters or simply
reallocating the work station of the concerned staff.
Undoubtedly, WALKING AROUND requires more time, patience and effort from our
managers but apart from that it has real advantages over other laid back approaches,
the management of Tintoria Ltd certainly does enjoy it.
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7.0 Conclusions
Leadership in Tintoria Ltd is about goal definition, vision creation, and mission
articulation. A poor leadership or complete absence of the same, as it relates to
scalability is detrimental to our objectives. Scalability is the capability of a system,
network, or process to handle a growing amount of work, or its potential to be enlarged
in order to accommodate that growth. The management of Tintoria Ltd usually
emphasizes that employees, the structure of the company, the management styles, and
the leadership approach are all important to scalability.
Employees are the most important element of scalability, as without employees there
are no processes and there is no state of art technology to be applied. The effective
organization of our employees is paramount as it will either get us to where we want to
be faster or hinder our efforts in producing scalable systems. On the other hand the
management of Tintoria Ltd realizes that employing more staff usually increases the
company’s throughput, but the average production per staff tends to decline as well.
Management of Tintoria Ltd is about achieving company goals and objectives. A lack of
management or a weak management team is definitely likely to distract the scalability
course way. Management and leadership approaches used by Tintoria Ltd are just the
push and pull factors, respectively, in this scenario. Moreover our leadership style
assists to inspire employees to greater achievements and the management is there to
motivate the staff to attain the company’s goals and objectives.