Taaka: Welcome, thank you for being the first to share your experience of leading from the frontline.
Juanita Bropleh: Thanks to you, I am honored to be here with you today.
Taaka: So the first question I would ask is this – You have served in some very important positions within the government in Liberia including serving as the Deputy Minister. What are some of the biggest challenges you faced in these roles?
Juanita Bropleh: Well, one of the biggest challenges was technical capacity in the ministry that I managed. There were issues with the middle management. Those at higher positions like mine were always busy with external meetings. So it was up to the middle management to carry out the day to day activities in the office. However they were lacking a lot of technical skills.
The middle management could do a whole lot but were not given the right training prior to being hired.
So I had to step up and find a way to make sure that things got done.
One of the ways I achieved that was by mentoring and coaching them to get them ready to accomplish certain tasks and holding them accountable for the tasks they were assigned.
Taaka: And what you said which was so critical is that you believed in their capacity to get things done so the first thing we can note here is as a leader, you have to believe in your team members because they may not have belief in themselves.
Then you said you mentored and coached them so do you have any examples of people you worked with who changed as a result of working with you?
Juanita Bropleh: Oh yes! One of my first assignments was to work with the Revenue Account and Reconciliation department within the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), the unit responsible for collecting all government revenue.
There, it was quite a mess. Everybody was doing their own thing. They were even unable to clearly state how much was collected. Within a year’s time, I turned that unit into an organised one, where at the end of the day, the revenue was reconciled and balanced so we had a clear record of what was coming in and coming out.
Taaka: Oh nice, so what did you do to achieve such good performance in one year?
Juanita Bropleh: Well the entire staff were young people. It is like working with your kids. You have to keep directing them, showing them how to do the right thing, advising them , coaching them , and that’s what I did. They always had to email me a clear daily task report and make sure to give their best everyday.
Taaka: So… close supervision, accountability, pushing them to go further..
Juanita Bropleh: Yes, I even noticed at some point that huge amounts collected were not accounted for .
People were getting dismissed and suspended, even jailed because of falsification of seniors’ signatures, it was chaos and that was happening only because of poor supervision and lack of organisation and accountability.
I had to set up a system to monitor every single movement concerning the collected money. At the end of the day, the Revenue Account and Reconciliation unit became the most feared unit in the Ministry of Finance(Department of Revenue) because of how strict and well organised the unit was.
Taaka: Very Interesting. So there is this challenge that you have faced, that many people working within government have also faced which is around being the person of integrity in a very corrupt system.
What are some of the lessons you have learned about how to survive and thrive no matter the negativity around?
Juanita Bropleh: I kept telling them “I am not here to cause trouble. I just want you to do the right thing”
Taaka: So you clarified your expectations from the beginning…
Juanita Bropleh: Yes and the biggest lesson I learned is that, in such environments, you have to keep your head high, be firm, persistent and vigilant.
And most of the staff I supervise are so grateful for the opportunity and they too are leading in the right direction.
Taaka: Thank you very much Madam Bropleh It is so nice to know we have role models like you that we can learn from.
Juanita Bropleh: You are most welcome.