Founding Director of Social Bridge and Acting Director of the National Folklore Board as of the year 2020, Nana Adjoa Adobea Asante, has opened up about some challenges she had on the job and lessons learnt as well.
Interviewed on YFM’s Y-Leaderboard Show hosted by Rev. Erskine, she mentioned that although she runs an NGO (Social Bridge) and was also a prefect in school, as well as had a few leadership positions, being a leader in a public sector institution was nothing close to what she had already experienced.
“There are people who have entrenched positions and there are people who are used to certain ways of doing things so firstly, me being young and secondly, a female, coming to bring so much change and shake up things, was a bit hectic”, she said.
Nana Adjoa shared that she had to learn how to deal with people but also be sure to bring them along or in other words, being stern and firm but also being nice so that employees do not end up going on strike and a whole lot.
Generally, she acknowledged that it was a wonderful experience; one that she did learn a lot from. The lawyer went on to share some things that she learnt as the Acting Director of the National Folklore Board.
“I learnt how to manage people further and I also learnt how to lobby so even though I couldn’t become a professional lobbyist, this job actually helped me improve my negotiation skills”, she said. Detailing on how exactly the job helped improve her lobbying skills, she explained that there were certain things that parliament had to approve before she could go through with, hence, she was faced with the task of having to prove to the parliamentarians why that particular thing had to be approved.
Other challenging factors that made her lobbying even more difficult was the fact that during the election year, some things like passing of acts are not done as much as usual. However, thanks to her lobbying skills, she was able to speak with them well enough to convince them as to why what she needed approved should be approved and passed.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye
