LAGOS state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has charged civil servants in the state to ensure optimal management of time and stress, in order to be able to deliver quality service to the public in the course of their duties.
Governor Ambode made the call at the weekend in his keynote address delivered at a two-day training session with the theme, “Time and Stress Workshop,” organised for civil servants, by the Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions.
Speaking at the training, which took place at Ikeja, the governor, who was represented by the commissioner for the ministry, Dr. Akintola Benson, said the ultimate objective of the workshop was to ensure that, in addition to training aimed at increasing knowledge and on the job skills, civil servants in Lagos were equipped with the practical tools to live well-rounded lives and cope with a number of factors that were often overlooked in the quest for organisational efficiency and personal fulfilment.
The governor reiterated that two of such factors were time management and stress management, saying that observations made on the subject by experts suggest that while there was a need to plan every moment and fill the schedules with one activity and obligation after the next, the human body and mind also requires downtime to rejuvenate.
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“Indeed, in today’s 24-hour, round-the-clock work engagement culture, the Lagos State Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions, has discovered that there is a critical need to help officers of the Lagos State Civil Service learn the mechanisms for coping with the demands on the management of time and the consequential stress. This is because effectiveness in the Lagos State Civil Service goes far beyond the acquisition of knowledge and job-related skills,” he said.
Governor Ambode said it was, therefore, important to recognise the common causes of stress at work so that one could take steps to reduce stress levels where possible, adding that workplace stress could be caused by a number of factors from heavy workloads and over-promotion to bullying and blame culture.
“The next related question is how do you know that you are not properly managing your time? The following have been identified as the general symptoms: Missed deadlines, difficulty in concentrating, errors in your work, as well as stress and anxiety,” the governor said.
He opined that senior officers of the Lagos State Civil Service would greatly benefit from the seminar as they learned how to make the civil service as less stressful as possible for civil servants.
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