By Dr. Amina Ahmed El-Imam
I set up Carnation Consults to fill a gap in the development of our youth that was bothering me; it is as simple as that.
Please read on.
Table of Contents
Having spent over a decade teaching in post-secondary education, it was obvious that there was so much our graduates needed to learn that the educational system in Nigeria was simply not providing. I realised, sadly, that the soft skills were sorely lacking, and frighteningly, the gap was widening. Several surveys have shown that employers place a premium on the possession of soft skills in potential graduate job-seekers. These soft-skills one should have in order to compete favourably in the job market include leadership, communication, interpersonal skills, teamwork, work ethic, critical thinking, adaptability among others. The most glaring deficiency was in articulation; it was the first deficiency that stood out with so many students/graduates. Many of our students are not very articulate, and because in today’s workplace, one needs more than the technical skills on the Curriculum Vita alone to be successful in one’s chosen career, I genuinely worried about their job search/retention success. Especially, verbal and written communication skills play an invaluable role in projecting one as being work-ready.
The major advantages include:
It is thus obvious that regular public speaking as a form of communication is an important activity for most.
It is one thing to know the problem, and another to do something about it. When I got tired of wringing my hands over the matter, I decided to do something about it. I did have a platform after all, because as a university lecturer, I teach over a thousand different students in any given semester. So I began to insert, at the end of most classes, a humble appeal that my students should start to read fiction. I would encourage them to read books by public figures they knew (President Obama and Ms Adichie were obvious choices). This was aimed at improving their conversational skills, comprehension, and critical thinking. It would also reintroduce them to the use of full sentences with actual subjects, direct and indirect objects, and predicates, as text-speak, slangs and nearly exclusive use of pidgin English in conversation had eroded these skills. I then also began to insist that they spoke audibly to me; none of that whispering that some may think correlates to deference for me.
To be fair, I was usually too harried to ask a student to repeat themselves numerous times anyway. I hoped that this would make the university a testing ground for them to develop these important conversational skills.
To improve their writing skills, I would also sneak in appeals to get them to write more. I told some of them about how I used to send small columns and opinion pieces to Daily Trust as an Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) undergraduate. I was influenced by the Late Professor Abubakar Gimba, the National President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, and the then National President of the ABU alumni association.
However, I was not unaware that this was not going to be an easy feat to accomplish for them. I also knew that my persistent admonitions alone on reading (even my #TeachersTip posts is heavy on admonitions in this regard) and writing could only do so much. So I bought a projector and began to teach my assigned seminar students the art and science of scientific presentations. We would project PowerPoint slides on the wall and I would correct every student’s presentation. This helped tremendously in the students’ presentations and I say (with a lot of pride) that watching them implement the lessons from the training sessions is usually the highlight of the semester for me.
However, I still did not think I was doing as much as I could. I knew many science recruiters rate soft-skills at par with academic skills. So when a senior executive shared an experience with me, of how many Upper Honours Nigerian students were unable to articulate their thoughts clearly in an interview where they selected a graduate of a university in a neighbouring country, I was not surprised. If they were not impressing me (their teacher), I was not surprised that they were unable to impress potential employers. Still, I was crestfallen. Most of our students learn and study under excruciatingly difficult conditions to obtain their degrees and as graduates, the Nigerian young professional deserves a better fighting chance.
In addition, recent research shows that American companies with up to 100 staff lose an average of US $420,000 annually due to inadequate communication. I do not even want to imagine the equivalent sum for Nigerian companies. I recognise that it takes time to bring these skills to par, but employers are fed up NOW. There is thus an urgent need to proffer more intentional solutions.
Carnation Consults is a consultancy company I set up with the intent to address these issues. It is also aimed at contributing, along with other professional development organisations, to closing the huge gap in soft skills. We organise training activities for students and young professionals to brush up on articulation skills, oration, and presentation skills. This will help to improve their performance at job interviews and better utilise networking opportunities. In the first class, I taught all aspects of making formal presentations from time management to eliminating stage fright over a two-hour period using multi-media materials. It was the best thing I had done in a while. Many attendees expressed genuine appreciation, and everyone said they left the session better capable of delivering a presentation. I was walking around with a smile on my face for days, especially after yet another thank you message or call.
Based on popular request, I will hold a free writing skills class soon on the Telegram platform https://t.me/CarnationConsults .
We also post infographics, like this one, which have been well-received on our twitter page. Similarly we will be partnering with professionals, including psychologists, to help with some of the thornier areas of delivering the perfect general and public speaking tasks.
Considering that early-career jobs that require presentation skills can pay an average of $6,122 more than those which do not, it is clearly a valued skill, and worth investing in by young professionals. We have however kept our paid classes affordable, starting from just N2,000 as we are fully cognizant that our target audience is the youth trying to get a head start in life. Please check out the courses available here then contact us. The brick-and-mortar classes will commence as soon as the COVID-19 lockdown is over and it is safer to hold them. Companies can also contact us to organize training sessions for their staff. We will help them take intra-organization communication and the pitching skills of their customer-facing staff to greater heights.
Teaching is all I know how to do well now and I sincerely hope I can make a difference with it. Many of my educator colleagues are doing a lot (one is hosting some of his students at his home at no cost!), and this post is not in any way meant to be self-adulatory or self-gratulatory. This is just to provide a background as to why I am doing this. I would like to call on the government and the private sector to partner with educators to develop our greatest resource – the youth.
To the youth, a Parthian shot: Do not give up in your pursuit of better careers, even as it seems the odds are stacked against you. Regarding impressive speaking, many of the world’s most successful people had to learn to become great speakers. A notable example is Warren Buffett who also said investing in public speaking skills can increase a person’s value by a whopping 50%! Anyone can learn too and since up to 70 % of people have a fear of public speaking, developing and honing this skill confers on a person, a significant advantage over the competition.
I leave you with this quote:
“Communication is your ticket to success, if you pay attention and learn to do it effectively.”
Theo Gold
Thank you very much for reading to the end. Please leave a comment for me below.
President Joe Biden’s inauguration speech started with “This is America’s day”. The newly-inaugurated American President used this to remind the audience that they were still
On countless occasions, people who knew me from my previous job have asked me one or more of these questions: What does it take to
By Dr. Amina Ahmed El-Imam I set up Carnation Consults to fill a gap in the development of our youth that was bothering me; it