Leadership and Leaders,Some Attributes of Leaders,Delegation and its importance in leadership,IITA – Background and Achievements

1. SEMINAR PRESENTATION
The 5th in the series of the HR individual seminar presentation
Leadership Influence In Goal Achievement:
IITA In Focus
By:
Mr. Sam Ayebameru, Executive Assistant
Human Resources Unit
IITA, Ibadan

2. Discussion will be on:
• Leadership and Leaders
• Some Attributes of Leaders
• Delegation and its importance in leadership
• IITA – Background
• IITA – Achievements

3. Leadership Influence In Goal Achievement: IITA In Focus
What is leadership?
• The ability to affect human behaviour so as to accomplish a mission
• The process of directing the behaviour of others toward the
accomplishment of some common objectives
• Leadership is influencing people to get things done to a standard and
quality above their norm, and doing it willingly

4. Leadership Influence In Goal Achievement: IITA In Focus
contd
Who are leaders?
• Leaders are those who are able to think and act creatively in non-routine
situations – and who set out to influence the actions, beliefs and feelings of
others
• Leaders are people who know what they want and why they want it, and
how to communicate what they want to others, in order to gain their
cooperation and support
• Leaders are people who influence groups toward obtaining particular
results
Three things stand out in leadership:
- First, to lead involves influencing others
- Second, where there are leaders there are followers
- Third, leaders are people who have clear idea of what
to achieve and why

5. Fundamental Question:
Why are some leaders/managers effective/successful while others
are not?

6. Effective Leadership
Is the ability to successfully integrate and utilize available resources
within the internal and external environment for the attainment of
organizational or societal goals
An effective leader therefore is an individual with the capacity to
consistently succeed in any given conditions and be recognized as
meeting the expectations of an organization or society
Determining what makes “effective leadership”
Effective leaders generate results, attain goals, realize vision, and
other objectives more quickly and at a higher level but with lower
costs than ineffective leaders

7. Attributes of leaders/managers
Leadership attributes are the inner or personal qualities that constitute effective
leadership
These attributes include a large array of characteristics such as values, character,
motives, habits, traits, competencies, styles, behaviors and skills
• A clear sense of purpose – clear goals • Keep informed always. Open to new
– focus – commitment ideas, insights and revelation
• Charismatic inspiration – • Empathy – Understanding of followers
attractiveness to others and the ability and their needs. Be willing to discuss and
to leverage this esteem to motivate solve problems; support and help
others
• Sense of Humour – people work better
• Task competence – good knowledge when they’re happy
of the task; a deep understanding of
• Delegation – Ability to encourage and
the business
nurture those that report to you. Delegate
• Will power and self-discipline in such a way as people will
• Self-confidence – belief in one’s ability grow/develop. Avoid close supervision;
to “make a difference” do not overboss; have faith in the
• Capacity to motivate people creativity of others.
• Role models – lead by example. The
ability to “lead” one’s own self prior to
lead others

8. John Adair’s Action-centred Leadership Model
• achieving the task
• managing the team or group
• managing individuals

9. Your Responsibilities for achieving task are:
 Identify aims and vision for the group, purpose and direction
 Identify resources, people, processes, systems and tools
 Create plans to achieve the task
 Establish responsibilities, objectives and accountabilities by
agreement and delegation
 Set standards, quality, time and reporting parameters
 Monitor and maintain overall performance against plan
 Review, re-assess, adjust plan, methods and targets as necessary

10. Your Responsibilities for the group are:
 Establish, agree and communicate standards of performance and
behaviour
 Identify and meet group training needs
 Give feedback to the group on overall progress; consult with, and
seek feedback and input from the group

11. Your Responsibilities for each individual are:
 Understand the team members as individuals - personality, skills,
strengths, needs, aims and fears
 Assist and support individuals - plans, problems, challenges
 Identify and agree appropriate individual responsibilities and
objectives
 Give recognition and praise to individuals
 Where appropriate reward individuals with extra responsibilities,
advancement and status
 Train and develop individual team members

12. Delegation
Delegation is an act of transferring responsibility with corresponding authority to another
person(s) for the purpose of achieving a goal.
It is a dynamic tool for motivating and training team members to realize their full potential
Benefits of effective delegation
 It saves you time
 It motivates people
 It develops people
 It aids succession planning
 It aids greater team flexibility
When you delegate, you must ensure that the person/persons:
- know what you want
- have the authority to achieve it
- have the knowledge and skills required
- know how to do it
Delegation can be:
1. Downward delegation
2. Sideways delegation
3. Upward delegation

13. Downward, Sideways, and Upward Delegation
Sideways delegation

14. Delegation: Dos and Don'ts
Dos Don’ts
• Delegate based on a fair and objective • Don’t delegate in an unorganized fashion
assessment of the skills and abilities of staff • Don’t over exercise your power; don’t try to
in relation to the requirement of the task dominate the delegates; be rather a leader
• Delegate responsibilities to those you trust than a mentor
• Give precise instructions, explain the task; • Don’t criticize employees in front of others
explain what should be done, but don’t tell • Don’t bypass the chain of command
them how
• Show how each delegation contributes to Upward
Manager
organizational goals
• Clarify expected results
• Develop standard of performance
• Discuss problems; answer questions; seek
Delegation
Supervisor
employees’ ideas about how to do the job
• Be supportive
• Praise positive achievements in public
Advice
Worker
•Avoid micro-management
•Learn to do less and manage more
Downward

15. IITA IN FOCUS
• IITA is an international non-profit research organization established in 1967
• It is governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR
Mission
To enhance food security and improve livelihoods in Africa through research for
development
Mandate
- Cowpea
- Bananas
- Plantain
- Yams
- Soybean
- Cassava
- Maize

16. CGIAR Centres
• IRRI
• CIMMYT
• CIAT
• IITA
• WARDA
• Bioversity International
• CIFOR
• CIP
• ICARDA
• ICRISAT
• IFPRI
• ILRI
• IWMI
• ICRAF
• WorldFish Centre

17. IITA DIRECTORS GENERAL
(from 1968 to date)
No. Name Duration
1. Dr. Herbert R. Albrecht 1968 – 1975
2. Dr. William K. Gamble 1975 – 1980
3. Dr. Ermond H. Hartmans 1980 – 1985
4. Dr. Lawrence D. Stifel 1985 – 1990
5. Dr. Lukas Brader 1990 – 2001
6. Hartmann 2001 – to date

18. Location of IITA Station

19. IITA STATION LOCATION FOR SUPERVISION BY DIRECTORS
Deputy Director General
R4D
Director,
Director, East & Central Africa Director, West Africa Director, Project
Southern Africa &
Locations Locations Dev. & Management
Northern Nigeria Locations
Uganda,
Kano, Ibadan, Akure,
Tanzania,
Maiduguri, Onne, Abuja,
Kenya,
Malawi, Liberia,
Cameroon,
Mozambique Benin,
DR Congo Cote d’Ivoire

20. SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS ON RESEARCH
Cassava:
 Higher yielding cassava varieties developed through genetic
improvement
 Improvement in agronomic practices.
 Improvement in the processing, utilization and marketing of
cassava (value-added chain)
 Improved cassava varieties deployed to serve as fire-wall
against spread of a devastating cassava brown streak disease
common in East Africa
 Discovery of parasitoids (organism feeding on mealy-bug, a
cassava pest). The parasitoids reduce population of mealy
bugs on cassava plants.

21. SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS ON RESEARCH CONTD
Soybean:
– Many high yielding soybean varieties developed. New varieties
with resistance to rust being tested
– Improvement in the processing, utilization and marketing of
soybean
– Development of soybean-based food products such as soy milk,
soy-ogi as baby food, soy cheese, etc.

22. SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS ON RESEARCH CONTD
• Cowpea:
– Early maturing cowpea (2 months) varieties developed.
– Cowpea pest control measures were developed at IITA
• Yams:
– Many yam varieties are now available for local farmers in Nigeria,
Ghana, & Cote d’Ivoire, etc
• Rehabilitation assistance to war-torn African countries – DR Congo,
Liberia, Sierra Leone, etc

23. SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS ON RESEARCH CONTD
Sustainable Tree Crops Program on Cocoa:
– Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP) emerged (the concept in 2002 and
the pilot work in 2003)
– Improvement in rural economy where cocoa is grown
– Development and use of innovative training approaches such as Farmer’s
Field School (FFS) to train farmers
– Development of new marketing approaches for cocoa
• IITA-STCP:
Ghana
Cameroon
Liberia
Cote d’Ivoire
Nigeria
Training:
– Many current African agric. scientists have been trained through IITA’s
training program.

24. SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS ON RESEARCH CONTD
Research breakthroughs/Awards:
- 1989 - The King Bauduin Award in recognition of its development of
streak resistance maize varieties
- 1990 - The King Baudouin Award was jointly won by IITA and CIAT in
recognition of their outstanding achievements in classical biological
control of the cassava mealybug.
- 1994 – The King Bauduin Award in recognition of outstanding
achievements in breeding plaintains for black sigatoka resistance and
advances in Musa genetics
- 1996 – CG Chairman’s Excellence in Science Award (Outstanding
Scientific Partnership) in recognition of outstanding achievement in
collaborative research on the improvement of root and tuber crops in
West Africa

25. SOME IITA ACHEIVEMENTS (ADMINISTRATION)
• Industrial Relations Harmony: Industrial relations dichotomy
put to rest
• Improved security system especially at the headquarters
• More administrative power to the stations
• Provision of multi-purpose loan for local staff

26. THANK YOU