Recently on a friend’s Facebook page, her status made me ponder over one of the stereotypes many and most unfortunately, Africans have on Africa. It read this: “But… Why are people always shocked that Kigali is clean! Are African cities bound to being dirty!”
This question generated an interesting debate on why and how many African cities are dirty and the fact that this has become a norm accepted by citizens. Well, we know Kigali is an exception in terms of clean streets but this debate somehow made me ask myself why good things, excellence, quality are not often used to describe us; or describe things that are done or come from Africa?
During my training in France to become a trainer on Quality for the Accor Hotels in Africa, I once had an interesting chat with a Portuguese colleague. Probably based on stereotypes she had on Africa, she asked me if Quality measurements/ standards/systems/procedures used for other Accor hotels worldwide was a need in Africa? Her argument was that if Africa has so many priorities in terms of electricity, water, health, security etc, training people to offer a five star service was probably not a necessity. And she added saying that people visiting Africa are probably not very demanding and not expecting to receive a world-class service in hotels in Africa because they know they are in Africa.
Rather than blaming people with these types of stereotypes on Africa, maybe its time we, Africans pause for a while and ask ourselves if Excellence or Quality can be used to describe us?
It is true our continent has many challenges but the good news is that we have great potentials. We are intelligent, creative and resilient. Sadly, the downside of these challenges is that the majority of us accept everything of “poor” or “average” quality.
Because of the poverty surrounding us, Africans are made to believe that nothing good can come out from their continent. And this is exactly what I call “mental slavery” because we can and should aim at Excellence.
Excellence is a state of mind that needs to be inculcated right from childhood. If we want future generations to be excellent in whatever they do, it is important we persistently push them to do well in whichever field they chose to be. Whether as a mechanic, carpenter, doctor, farmer, driver, cook, etc…it is important the youth strives to be the best at whatever they decide to do.
The day a tailor or a photographer understands that respecting timelines and deadlines is important for his job and for his customers, that is the day excellence can be reached. Who said we do not like good things? Who said we should be content with the average?
Excellence as a personal trait that defines ones character and this description should and can be used to describe things that are done in Africa. Its a shame many today, and most annoyingly African themselves, think excellence is for others, the Westerners. Have you heard of this stupid excuse on « African Time »? Who said that that Africans cannot be on time?
How can we cultivate the habit excellence? Well, I do not have any magical recipe but what I know is that it all starts with a positive “can-do” attitude that involves putting quality into everything we do and driving ourselves to be the best we can be.
If each single person refuses mediocrity and aims for excellence, we can reach that level no matter who we are, where we come from, the environment in which we live.
Excellence is the state or quality of excelling or being exceptionally good; extreme merit; superiority. It is an action, characteristic, feature, etc, in which a person excels. Excellence is the quality of being beyond good or average.
To conclude, I wish to invite us all to think positive about us, about our countries and about our Continent. If we want the best for ourselves, then we should all strive each single day to be excellent in whatever we do. That is how we can also improve on the level of service delivery in all sectors.
Perfection, excellence, quality are achievable if we individually work on them. Isn’t it said that we should aim for the moon and if we miss it, we may at least hit a star? Aiming high is all that matters because if we set extremely high standards and goals, then we will be sure we can work towards achieving them.
And as Vince Lombardi, the American football player, coach says « Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence ». Excellence is neither an act nor a skill. It is an attitude, a daily habit.
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