Financial Science expert, Professor Forster Kum-Ankama Sarpong, has called on organisations to recognize what he calls ‘latent’ talents in employees and help develop them to surmount the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
According to him, despite the pandemic whisking many talents away in the form of loss of life, there is still the increasingly competitive landscape for recruiting, retaining and empowering talented employees and making them invincible to drive the national economic development agenda.
“It is not about rocket science or incorporating systems requiring sets of superior human resource processes, but a new mindset that emphasizes the importance of the latent role of talents to the success of nations. There is a need to recognize the latent talents in our employees, thus, we need to make them not to be conquered in corporate combat or war, or overcome or subdued in any manner but the same employee must be recognized and empowered to deliver.
We need to improve the visibility of our people and harness the energies of all stakeholders to arrive at the targeted goals and objectives of our nation’s economic development. There are all indications that previous strategies, efforts, policies and energies to improve life and nation has definitely yielded some results but we can still do better. The next best way to recognize the latent role of the workers. Let thus make them more visible and get them involved,” he said in an interview with the B&FT.
Prof. Sarpong added that, in the face of the battle against the COVID-19 Pandemic on lives and livelihoods, leaders have a great part to play – but cannot succeed without the workers involvement – in helping to make the economy healthier, hence, it is important to invest economic energies in workers until they feel a sense of belonging and reward.
“In this COVID regime, heavy loads of our efforts must be invested into our employees to get them involved in our efforts to subdue the negative effects the pandemic has had on them. Our public and private sectors must be open for leaders to attract, retain and grow talents and make them visible. Having had several chats around this, I would like to suggest that our public sector leaders might need to consider to share their very personal stories on why inclusion had become so high on this agenda.
When I walk around our shop floors, warehouses, depots and stores, far too many of our people feel invisible. It might be for a variety of reasons; that their ideas, involvement or outputs are excluded and not rewarded. I need you all to join me to ensure that those who work for our public sector feel included again. We need to give them a feeling of belonging. Let’s all remember that not everyone will remember exactly what you said, but everyone will remember how you made them feel,” he said.
About the author
Prof. Forster Kum-Ankama Sarpong is a Real Estate developer and has been involved in the development of a number of residential and commercial properties in Accra for close to 20 years. He is co-owner of Tradezone International (implementer of the Fasthouse (UK) building technology in Ghana).
Dr. Sarpong worked previously with the Lands Commission Secretariat (1991/1992) and Inusah & Co-Valuation firm and was involved in a number of valuations and compensation assessments, such as the resettlement of occupants on the land compulsorily acquired by the Ghana Government for the construction of the Kanda Highway, Accra.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Economists (Ghana) and also Fellow of Chartered Financial Managers (USA) as well as a Member of the Ghana Institute of Surveyors. He is a member of the board directors of Ghana Water Company Limited. He chairs the boards of both Tradezone International Foods and the Ghana chapter of China-Arab & Africa Business Union.
He a Professor of Financial Science and holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration from Ghana Communications Technology University and also a Doctorate in Financial Management from the Institute of Professional Financial Managers, UK. He also holds a Master of Business Administration (Finance Option), from the University of Ghana, Legon and a Bachelor of Science in Land Economy, from KNUST Ghana.
Contact: E:[email protected], T: 0244321960
