Mr John Nkum, an Organisation and Leadership Development Expert, says the disconnection between the training and socialisation of African leaders can be blamed for defective leadership on the continent. He said due to the lack of an African-centred approach to training leaders on the continent many aspects of the training about leadership were borrowed from Europe and America. Mr Nkum made the remarks during the Gestalt Africa Leadership Programme held in Accra. The Gestalt Africa Leadership Programme is a 12-month training programme that comprises seven modules comprising both in-person and virtual training for the participants. Mr Nkum, who is also a Trainer for the Gestalt Africa Leadership Programme, said such a challenge made leaders on the African continent take decisions that did not resonate with its people. ‘Therefore, it has become imperative that a leadership training approach with emphasis on Pan-African ideals, philosophy, and perspective be introduced and taught on the continent,’ he added. The Gestalt Africa Leadership training programme, he said, would address the challenge of the Eurocentric leadership approach on the African continent. ‘We have realised that there is a great disconnect between the leadership training that leaders on the continent receive and their socialization,’ he added. He said the programme aimed to integrate disconnection, where leaders who know but do not live it because their inner person is different from how they lead, the Programme to train people to lead based on how they have been socialised. Mr. Nkum said the integration of leadership training and African socialisation would consequently lead to self-accountability from African leaders. Madam Chantelle Wyley, a Coach, Facilitator, and Trainer for the Programme, said leadership on the African continent was not consistent with the demography. She said a significant number of the population on the continent was comprised of younger people, but the leaders on the continent were over 60 years old. She said many of the youths on the Continent felt left out and unappreciated for their efforts in leadership and it often led to turnovers in organisations and leadership spaces. Professor Nana Susubribi Krobea Asante, a Guest Lecturer for the Programme, said the integration of African culture into a modern democratic system was key to addressing the leadership problems on the continent. He said the continent’s leadership problems stemmed from the exclusion of the chieftaincy institution from key decision-making processes of the State. He said the proximity between the chiefs and the people made a case for the chiefs to be included in decision-making for the state.
Source: Ghana News Agency