Leadership Training with Busara Africa

With the financial support of the Embassy of France in Ghana, this past month Global Mamas leaders engaged in leadership trainings in collaboration with Busara Africa. Busara Africa is a regional consultancy firm based in Ghana that provides responsive leadership development services. Over the years our organization has gathered together an amazing team, and in addition to providing capacity building opportunities for the artisans, we also support the personal growth and development of our talented leaders and staff.

Supporting Global Mamas Leaders

Many of the leaders participating in these workshops have worked their way into a leadership role by developing skills and experience over time. Gladys, General Manager of our Krobo location, started with Global Mamas as a jewelry assembler but now manages the full jewelry assembly team, scores of beadmakers, and is responsible for ensuring multiple domestic and international orders are shipped out each month. Christiane, Cape Coast Quality Control Manager, began in quality control but now oversees the full team, guaranteeing all batik fabric and sewn products being made at our largest location meet specs before being delivered for wholesale orders.

Without question, every leader on our team is passionate about the work we do providing opportunities for women in Ghana. Each one has clearly demonstrated a willingness to learn and over the years has shown tremendous growth through feedback from colleagues and hands-on experience. By offering the Busara trainings our intention is to provide these leaders with additional tools and techniques to better understand themselves, their colleagues, and how to kindly and effectively manage the employees and artisans they work with on a daily basis.

Leading Self, Leading Others, Leading the Organization

Busara trainers divided the training into three consecutive sessions: leading self, leading others, and leading the organization. In past months Global Mamas leaders have already gathered twice to cover the first two sessions and will complete the third in March. Through small group activities, presentations, games, Global Mamas case studies, and lots of brainstorming, the group talked through many practical tools and techniques that could be useful within the specific framework of our organization and when applied directly to their everyday roles.

Topics Covered in “Leading Self”:

• Emotional intelligence: expressing and controlling our own emotions, as well as understanding and appropriately responding to the emotions of others
• Using time management skills and learning how to prioritize effectively
• Rethinking leadership: recognizing leaderships is not about title or position, but more about influencing others to achieve a shared goal
• Managing boundaries: determining your own boundaries and recognizing others’
• Managing pressure and stress
• Maintaining trust and credibility, values and integrity

Topics Covered in “Leading Self”:

• Utilizing effective delegation of tasks
• Using effective communication
• Being self -aware and recognizing your personality and behaviors
• Engaging in active listening
• Creating a cohesive team through team building
• Managing conflict and holding difficult conversations

We’re Powered by Our Amazing People

Global Mamas could not have grown the way it has over the past 16 years without the engagement, passion, and dedication of the amazing leaders and staff that have put their energy behind our impact. As with any organization that has grown organically while doing its best to stay focused on its mission and values, there have been bumps and challenges along the way. These leaders hold us together and keep us moving forward. WELL DONE to the entire team; and we can’t wait to learn more from our third session with Busara Africa!