Lisa Matomola, an Industrial Psychology graduate, said the biggest mistake young people make when it comes to cementing themselves in their various crafts is wanting a quick fix, climbing the corporate ladder fast without understanding the entire process, further adding there is nothing wrong with being ambitious and following one’s dreams; what is important is to be ready for every phase.
The 33-year-old Matomola established a consultancy firm Hito HR and Training Consultants, focusing on people-related solutions for the workplace. The firm specialises in job description, writing, job evaluation principles, emotional intelligence, and many soft skills training.
“The idea to start the firm was to create employment for me while doing what I love best – and that is working with people in the workplace. I developed training content and facilitated training in my previous job, so I felt I should continue with the experience I have and make a difference. Also, I love working with people; I was in the consulting sphere for more than five years and I know there is a need in the market for these types of services,” she detailed to Youth Corner.
Matomola added: “I worked at an audit firm; at times, organisations wanted the services but because they couldn’t afford the services, they often missed out on the opportunity. This is why I thought of establishing a firm that is affordable – even for small-medium enterprises and still gets the same experience and quality.”
In Japanese, Hito means people or person. “When I was coming up with the name choice for my business registration, I wanted a name that is unique but still has the word ‘people’ in it, because everything I do is about people. I am people-centric and that is how Hito was born,” Matomola explained.
She said she gets approached all the time by people seeking her input and there is a demand with customer service/care training, emotional intelligence, job evaluation principles training and job descriptions writing training.
She said: “In my over five years of consulting, I saw a need for everyone to understand how job descriptions are written, what is considered when a job is graded or evaluated. Often, companies only train HR people on these topics whilst it is every line manager’s job to understand how job descriptions are written because HR is not responsible for writing job descriptions; it is line managers who do so – HR facilitates.” Matomola stated that most employees don’t understand the key principles when it comes to job grading or evaluation – and she wants them to understand what the key considerations are when it comes to job grading or job evaluation so that those issues that arise in the organisations, which are often the reason they are not happy, should be a thing of the past.
“We spend a third of our lives at work, which equates to 90 000 hours of our lifetime. I envisage a world where people wake up in the morning and are excited about going to work. It may not be an everyday feeling but one should be proud of what they do. Job satisfaction is important; ‘People First’ is our slogan at Hito HR and Training Consultants,” elaborated Matomola.
She added: “Toxic workplaces can cause psychological damage to employees. Mental health, at times, results from toxic workplaces. It should be embedded in the organisations’ culture. If the culture of any organisation does not go about it being toxic, then they can forget about hiring talent.
Organisational culture is a strategic objective; top leadership need to drive this; employees should expose any toxic behaviour without being victimised. The workplace should be a haven for everyone and not only for certain people,” she ended.
– psiririka@nepc.com.na