Dr. Akin Oparison introduced the leadership development tool "An Even Better Place to Work" to his MBA students at Lagos Business School. The tool allows individuals to assess their organization's culture, identify areas for improvement, and implement practical exercises to enhance leadership skills and increase employee engagement. One student used the tool to empower his direct reports, which led to improved productivity, reduced overtime costs, and happier employees. Other users reported benefits like increased performance, commitment, innovation and quality decision-making from empowering their teams.

1. Human Behaviour in Organisations
Organisational Leadership
www.lbs.edu.ng
Lagos Business School is using the leadership tool:
“An Even Better Place to WorkTM”.
MBA Students have applied it in their own organisations.
They are sharing their feedback.
www.anevenbetterplacetowork.com

2. Dr Akin Oparison
aoparison@lbs.edu.ng
Dr Akin Oparison is a Senior Fellow at LAGOS BUSINESS SCHOOL and
takes courses on Leadership, Human Behavior in Organisation and
Change and Organisation Development.
He recently introduced the leadership tool
An Even Better Place to WorkTM
with his MBA students who could use it in their own organisations.
DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP SKILLS

3. WHAT IS AN EVEN BETTER PLACETOWORK
Improve leadership – Develop teams – Increase staff satisfaction
An Even Better Place to WorkTM (BP2W) is the world's first self-managed, on line (but not e-learning)
culture and behaviour enhancing solution. People engage with a series of dynamic activities, measures
and resources that quickly create a well-led, engaged and productive workforce.
On Line Measures
Gauge staff engagement levels
Measure the impact of leadership
Real Time Charts
Colourful charts that are easy to interpret
Indentifies Interventions to be made
Activities that Improve Scores
Series of inter-related exercises Short, practical and interactive
Facilitated by team members
Additional On line Resources
Video – Books – Posters
Articles & Quick Tips

4. Dr Akin Oparison’s approach is based on a belief that Leadership is about people
transforming themselves and what they enable others to do as a result of this, and not
just what they know.
Leadership development is a bit like developing an athlete. The athlete’s muscles are
in place. All an aspiring athlete can be taught in a classroom is what are the muscles
and techniques that great athletes use. To be successful the athlete learns to work out
in Gyms and on the field.
It is the same with leadership. You can teach people what habits leaders have but
developing these is up to the individual. Dr Oparison teaches these habits but it is up
to the aspiring leader to get into real-life work relationships (the gyms of life) to
develop and succeed.
He supports participants to learn in real-life work relationships. An Even Better Place
to WorkTM is the leadership tool that allows the individual to practice, learn and
monitor progress.
THE LAGOS BUSINESS SCHOOL EXPERIENCE
Read more about this experience and testimonials in the following pages.

5. THE SITUATION
A review of my work place climate in September 12, 2015 shows that my team members
do not take ownership of their work as they feel that they do not have the power or
authority to take charge of responsibility or to make decisions and that most times in their
opinion is not welcomed in the team. This shows a deficiency in my leadership quality in
the organisation and in the way that I handle my activities as the head of my group.
I however took the below steps based on the training I have acquired in the organisation
leadership class and using the “An Even Better Place to WorkTM” tool to improve my
leadership skills and create a conducive environment to work in my organisation….
ONE SUCCESS STORY

6. THE PROCESS USING AN EVEN BETTER PLACETOWORKTM
• We collectively designed a roadmap for the team with every member having a clear
understanding of key objectives, agreed timelines, agreed individual deliverables and set
key performance indices towards meeting our team goals.
• We have scheduled meetings to review performance and individuals are expected to
appraise their work based on the agreed timelines set by them and agreed by the team
towards achieving the company global goals. This helped to align my team on a vision
of where the company is going and each member of the team could see where he or
she fits in the global picture.
• These improvement and achievement came from the team working together and the
openness of the members. A lesson to learn from this is that team efforts bring about
a great success.

7. READ OTHER TESTIMONIALS ABOUT
THE BENEFITS OF USING
AN EVEN BETTER PLACE TO WORKTM
www.lbs.edu.ng www.anevenbetterplacetowork.com

8. “There is increased performance,
increased commitment, better
interest at work, improved job
satisfaction, negligible rate of
absenteeism and targets are being
met.
My Satisfaction@Work chart
showed a low score in the area of
authority and decision taking. I
called for a meeting and my team
told me that if what is required of
them is 300 bags per day, I should
allow them a free hand to work out
how this target could be met…
Three days after, I saw the figures
going up from 275 to 298 bags
and then to 308 bags and currently
is 310 bags.
They collapsed the shift to one,
working between 7:30am and
4:30pm. Not just meeting targets
but they work less hours and no
overtime is paid.
Today, the results are amazing,
targets are being met, overtime
reduced, waste reduced and
colleagues are happier. I had been
controlling as a leader and was
getting compliance not
commitment from my team.”

9. “I began to replace 'You should'
with 'Let's' when giving direction
to my team members. It proved a
simple but effective way to create a
sense of ownership. I found that
employees are motivated and feel
valued when they are given positive
reinforcement and shown how their
work contributes to the success of
the business. I could see the
positive impact on productivity
within 2 months.”

10. “People who previously would not
speak up in the team gained more
confidence and were able to bring
up ideas that helped us achieve
goals more effectively. The team
members received regular feedback
which improved their self-
confidence and also helped them to
improve in areas where they were
weak. The level of trust improved
which helped in managing conflicts
amicably.”

11. “I have learned to listen more to
people while paying very close
attention to the words unspoken
which is the true reflection of what
is driving their behaviour. Overall,
the experience was a positive one
for my team. We have used the
learnings from the classes in HBO
and OL to resolve some of the
hidden issues in the team. The
team is now more cohesive and
conflict resolution is a thing we
embrace rather than avoid as we
have all learned that by resolving
our issues we are able to work in a
more productive environment.”

12. “What I undertook to create the
right climate for the team, has
helped me also to have more time
to do quality work. The
distractions of managing conflicts
have been minimized, team is
improving on innovation and
creativity. Quality decisions can
now be taken by the team members
as they take ownership of their
assignments and can avoid impact
of delays as they now have the
support to take such decisions.”

13. “It also revealed my leadership
capability and the expectations of
my team members. There were
some of my assumptions about the
departmental climate that were true
while some were totally different.
The analysis of the “An Even
Better Place to WorkTM” (BP2W)
chart brought out the outlook of
my department which was a way
from my assumptions. Working on
the issues raised had made me a
better leader, created a better
department and largely promote a
good culture in the organisation
at large.”

14. “This exercise has led me, and my
team members on the path to self-
awareness, worth, mutual respect,
and excellent professionalism .»

15. IN A SNAPSHOT
 Systemised and incremental
 5% diagnostic, 95% solution
 Designed for busy people
 Works from the inside out not top down
 Minimal time out of the business, ensuring
the day job gets done
 Solutions are found at the local rather than
the corporate level …
An Even Better Place toWorkTM helps you LEAD

16. Contact us for more information:
Akin Oparison - aoparison@lbs.edu.ng
An Even Better Place to Work: info@mcconnonint.com
www.lbs.edu.ng www.anevenbetterplacetowork.com