An Awesome Privilege

This January, I was presented with one of the most humbling privileges of my life.

In Aug 2017, I made the decision, as my work in New York City drew to a wrap, to start the Kampala Leadership Hub. Through the hub, I would nurture my dream for developing people. As any side hustle, we started small, hurdled in a shared office, working after hours and long weekends to make it all work.

They say in Africa, you create a start up, and then you create the very ecosystem in which it should thrive. How was I going to introduce the idea of coaching - management coaching? All I had to draw from was my own thrust into the deep end years earlier - and I felt the strong conviction that no young leader should find themselves in a senior management role without the skills and insights it takes to navigate.

But by needing to create the ecosystem, we started with a basic management curriculum, then quickly discovered we didn't want to be trainers - we wanted to be and remain coaches. Coaches stick with you over the long haul, they stay on the sidelines, cheering you on as you play. This is what Africa's young business leaders need. It will take us many years to build a broad base of coaches - moreover, it will take a millennial to reach the same generation, even with these deep and meaningful concepts.

Next we started to find the right partners - one of them, a close friend, Jack brought to us the Goal setting class. We held the first in January, a paltry attendance - not bad considering we are still building our base. The rest of the year has been about refining our flagship 8 week coaching class - with much personal impact, but far too low reach.

In Jan 2020, we attempted the Goal Setting class again, this time changed up. We were fortunate to connect with Project Girls For Girls - a mentorship program for women in the workplace. We were bursting at the seams - more than 70 women sat through the sessions over 2 weekends. One of the slides at the end, was a commitment to change, as part of continuous improvement. And now I was faced with the daunting task for how to face the change that KLH so desperately needed.

I want to thank all the women who changed my team's outlook for the year. Every single one of you, when you walked in, contributed to changing our own goals for the year. And now I can smile because we have a brand new product list that allows us to truly keep the focus on leaders.

We have worked hard at clarifying our mission - raising the next generation of business and organization leaders who will drive Africa’s growth and development. Together, this is unfolding right before our eyes, and in 2020, we will see significant strides in this direction.

It is truly a privilege to see the Leadership Hub take shape and form, and for people who share my passion to come around me and help me do this work, many days when I am out chasing my other passions in ICT4D.

This year, we will work to reach 300 graduates and early career professionals with Career Coaching; at least 20 Managers will interact with us every month for a deep dive conversation on a management competence. We have already pencilled in a mid year #GoalsWithKLH review this June, and we shall take our first steps outside Kampala - to Mbarara, Gulu, Mbale and other towns.

Also this year, our 35 Alumni from the last 2 years will receive a comprehensive Management Competence Self and Peer review. We will work to protect the integrity of the KLH Certification.

Everything we do reminds me about this one commitment: We are committed to You - we know that Managers create and sustain environments that allow other people to flourish and thrive; and organizations to excel beyond measure. We are committed to providing a space where managers can think about and outside their routine work.

To do this work, is a very awesome privilege.

Brian