2007 - YEAR OF REST

Happy new year to all my friends and readers of my blog(s). This is the first post I'll be doing this year, 2007. In my quietness and waiting on the Lord at the end of last year, He made it clear to me that the year 2007, would be my year of REST. It will be a year of 'sweatless' victories. My little efforts will yield great results and all this is for the purpose of His kingdom and promise he made to me about ten years ago.

Most of us would have received various words from God either directly or through those we listen to. But one thing I have come to know is that no matter what the promises are, there is still a part of keeping the covenant that you must fulfil in other to see the manifestation of the promises. When you hear the promise, find the covenant and fulfil them and you will have 'sweatless' victories in this year of REST in Jesus name, Amen.

I'll like to be inspired by the promise you received from God for this new year. It's an amazing thing that even in this time, God still speak to his children. Post His promises in your comments on this blog and we may blog His promises soon.

Christmas Texts

Merry Christmas everyone. I just happened to be in the office today being Christmas day and decided to do this post.
I just want to publish some of the text messages I received or sent to friends during this season.

"May you and your family be well this Xmas season. May your house be filled with cheer. May your dreams come through. May life treat you well & May all the love you send come back to you".

"May the joy of Xmas put more smiles on your face as you celebrate this season and may the coming year bring you even greater joy than ever. Wishing you a wonderful celebration".

"These warm greetings are sent to wish you a wonderful Christmas and happiness in the coming year".

"I get people wen make sense. Come rain come shine, you make sense give me. Make the joy of this season and God's plenty blessing full like ocean for your side. abeg Merry the Xmas jare".

"May your heart be filled with boundless love, joy and affection this season. And may prosperity take root in your life. Have a lovely season".

Effective Listening Habits

Listening is more than merely hearing words. Listening is an active process by which students receive, construct meaning from, and respond to spoken and or nonverbal messages (Emmert, 1994). As such, it forms an integral part of the communication process and should not be separated from the other language arts. Listening comprehension complements reading comprehension. Verbally clarifying the spoken message before, during, and after a presentation enhances listening comprehension. Writing, in turn, clarifies and documents the spoken message.

Teachers can help students become effective listeners by making them aware of the different kinds of listening, the different purposes for listening, and the qualities of good listeners. Wolvin and Coakley (1992) identify four different kinds of listening.

• Comprehensive (Informational) Listening---Students listen for the content of the message.
• Critical (Evaluative) Listening ---Students judge the message
• Appreciative (Aesthetic) Listening---Students listen for enjoyment.
• Therapeutic (Empathetic) Listening---Students listen to support others but not judge them.
  

Traditionally, secondary schools have concentrated on the comprehensive and critical kinds of listening. Teachers need to provide experiences in all four kinds. For example, listening to literature read, listening to radio plays, and watching films develop appreciative in addition to comprehensive and critical listening. When students provide supportive communication in collaborative groups, they are promoting therapeutic listening. For example, the listening behaviour can show understanding, acceptance, and trust, all of which facilitate communication.

Students benefit from exposure to all four types of listening. Listening is a general purpose in most learning situations. To be effective listeners, however, students need a more specific focus than just attending to what is said.
In my next post we will see a chart that contrasts effective and ineffective listening habits.

By the way hope when you hear the word Christmas, your listening is Aesthetic (Appreciative) and not Evaluative (Critical).

I need Someone To Talk To.

I received a call from a friend (I promised her, I wont disclose her name) at about 9pm yesterday. I was surprised that she called me because she's only communicated to me via e-mail before now. By the way she is my friend even though we have never met physically only virtually (Online) through a friend that knows us both but I do call her occasionally. On taking her call, the first thing she told me from a sad voice was 'I Need Someone To Talk To'. I paused and asked what the issue was, she really did want to tell me but did not know if she should.

I asked her to drop so I can call her back. I did and that was when she told me, that her fiance cheated on her and mistreated her some months back but the thoughts keep hurting her even though they claim to have settled the issue.

I am not a counsellor and even if I want to be, certainly not for ladies. I tried talking to her though and whatever I told her would have been good because after talking with her for about 14 minutes, she, amidst her laughter thanked me for the relieve she's got from talking with me.
(I have her permission to write only this but Iwill seek her permission to post our conversation someday, hopefully soon.)

When I lay on my bed later to sleep that night, these thoughts came to my mind.

When do we need someone to talk to?

How often do we need someone to talk to?

When your friends need someone to talk to, do they call you?

Who do you call when you need someone to talk to?

When people need you to talk to, are you always there for them?

What do you expect from people you need to talk to?

After talking with those who need to talk to you, are they better or worse?

How prepared are you to answer those who need to talk to you?

Believe me, in life one day or the other, someone will need you to talk to, as much as you will need someone also to talk to. How you feel after the talk and how you make the person feel matters a lot. Do not turn people down, get prepared to help that friend bottling up things and help yourself by letting that thing you are bottling go. You can only do this by letting it out - Talk To That Person You Need To Talk To.

Caution: Know who you Talk to. (I'll blog this topic soon).

Wonderful Experience

It's a wonderful time to be alive, don't you think so? With all the hullabaloo going on in the political terrain of this great nation, we should not just be comfortable analysing why we deserve a great leader who will make significant changes but we should begin to demand one.

However that's not what I want to talk about today. Today I want to tell you about my wonderful experience on Saturday December 16, 2006. I had a meeting (Mentorship session) with Adeolu Akinyemi and Gbenga Sesan. By the way, Adeolu Akinyemi is an HR Manager, with specialist skills in Talent Management, Learning and Development and Gbenga Sesan was Nigeria's first Information Technology Youth Ambassador. Presently they are both Managing Partners of Generis Solutions, a budding consulting firm with a vision to become the leading global company that helps people and businesses succeed.

We were about six mentees present at the Mentorship Session. I discovered there is a lot to learn from these great young guys. Gbenga started the session by giving us a 'wake up' call.

Deolu challenged us by letting us know that "a day will come in ones life when you will meet someone with equal potentials & opportunities, the differentiating factor is how much you have developed that potential in you".

There was a lot of questions from the mentees and answers were flowing from these two great guys like a water fountain. I will tell you that it was an inspiring session and when we were through in the evening, I felt like Peter when he saw Jesus at the mountain of transfiguration and asked for tents to be built for Jesus, Moses and Elijah 'cos' he did not want to come down from the mountain.

I will just briefly share with you few of the things I took away from this Mentorship Session.

Take Home:

Your network is a determinant of your networth. The essence of power is not for control but for opening doors and granting access.

Your strength cannot stand between you and your greatness but your weaknesses can.

That change is not occurring the way we want it is probably because we are asleep.

Three questions you must ask yourself:

1. Why am I here? (Purpose).

2. Where do I want to be ten years from now? (Planning).

3. What are the things I must do to get there and what are the skills required? (Preparation).

No matter how much talent you have, if you don't spend time developing it, it will remain dormant.

What you have that you don't use is not yours.

The most important part of you will always be what is inside of you.

NOTE:

I hope this is enough to stir you, if not, then you have to climb this mountain yourself.

Your comments are welcomed. Just click on comment below any of the post and follow the instructions.

HAVE YOU HAD DAYS LIKE THIS?

I haven't recovered fully from the retreat we had in my company last Friday when something wonderful happened again the next day (Saturday).

However I'll tell you what happened on Saturday in my next post just read on if you want to know how the retreat went.

The retreat was nothing short of Waohhhh!!!!. It was the first time my company was organizing a retreat for all employees from top management to senior and junior staff.

The retreat was targetted at launching a new project "Project Restore". The aim of launching this new project is to define a new way of life for everyone in the company. The slogan for the launch is "The Oando Way, A future of Change, Commitment and Caring....".

What made the occassion 'thick' was the invitation of Fela Durotoye, a leading motivational speaker and the Managing Director and Chief Executive of VIP Consulting in Nigeria to speak. He practically blew the mind of everyone present. Attesting to that was the standing ovation he received when he was through speaking to us.

Below are some of the take home from his talk;

You can only create according to your own kind.

A company can only be as great as its people. Therefore I am the limit of the greatness of my company.

Don't just be unique, be special.

Move from the level of Survival to Success and then Significance.

Position doesn't guarantee Prominence.

Have a vision greater than yourself and believe you can make a significant change.

Be passionate about the impact of your vision and inspire the love for what you do............

Need I say more.....you should have been there. I think if more employees hear talks like this, they will be fired up to enjoy their job knowing that what they do is significant to the growth of the organization.

I promise to tell you what hapened on saturday in my next post.

Company's Retreat

Hello, today seem like a very busy day for me. We are having a retreat in my company from 9am - 5pm. After that we will be having our long service award nite and end of year party by 6pm. So in case you do not hear from me again today, please bear with me. I will see you when I recover from this "grangrancious" celebration, hopefully soon. But always remember this "When you settle for less than you deserve, you actually get less than you settled for".