INDUBITABLY, the country needs to elevate the quality of its conversation around the themes of leader, policies and politics.
Last week, I wrote on the importance of resetting our country Zimbabwe.
Today, let’s delve into the need for our country to change, challenge and elevate its conversations.
In a community, conversations are set around problems, people and what’s currently popular.
Conversations are a reflection of what we think about most of the time.
Conversations are centred on what the leaders, in a given space, set as an agenda.
The moment we intentionally see the need to change our conversations, and the quality thereof, it’s that time we choose to change or shift our mental focus and what we think about.
We discuss consequence, not creation.
- Zim needs better conversations
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Generally, the human mind has a tendency to discuss what it physically chooses to focus on, or what it sees.
As has been said, the mind is like a camera, it captures what is in focus.
Not only does the mind capture what it focuses on, it could even be captured by what it focuses on.
As my friend Rabison Shumba, once wrote: “The level of your mental exposure will determine the level of your success”
If we are to change our conversations as a people, we need to elevate our thinking just from discussing consequences, but to creating things.
The mind has the ability to create and be creative.
If we focus on what we want to create (or produce) we definitely shift our talk from just accepting what the country is going through, to what we want our country to become.
We discuss people, not processes.
A talk around people or personalities might not be bad, but it limits us.
Having imagined, or created in our mind, we need to create models or processes that will rig our thoughts to fruition. Processes are not easy.
Countries that master processes fast, serve other nations with their value.
For example, Japan has mastered processes to make cars and is serving the world with the Toyota Production Model (TPM) which consequently gives us Toyota cars.
As leaders, thinkers and legislators, we need to shift our conversations to something better.
The quality of our debates in Parliament must change if we want the country to change.
It’s not about who I submit under, but what thoughts bring a better Zimbabwe.
We have delineated ourselves by discussing entertainment, and what’s seemingly trendy, negating the power of seeing beyond that.
The moment you start a talk around processes you have elevated your thinking to systems thinking.
We discuss situations, not systems
We need to graduate from discussing events to discussing systems.
Systems form the substrata that become the foundation of our thinking.
That quality of thinking elevates to what we become as a people.
Remember, it is not about what we don’t have, but it’s about how we can create something with what we have (bricolage systems thinking).
Dubai is built in a desert; Zimbabwe is built in a normal land. What’s the difference?
It’s about systems thinking.
If we elevate our thinking from situation laming to systems thinking, we transition from being mere consumers to better consumers.
We need leaders to shift their thinking and conversations.
We discuss politics, not policy
The discussion politics has robbed us of our quality time to think and create.
Politics is about who has the power and strategies of getting into power and having the bigger control.
We have specialised that as a country.
Everyone seems to know and even discuss politics. That low level discourse.
We need to upgrade our thinking to mastering principles that will, in turn, help us craft and build better policies.
We discuss failures, not functions
When principles are mastered and policies set in place, we now have a blueprint that guides our actions or what we should do, and how we should do it: action.
As human beings, we have a greater tendency of thinking about what we don’t do right, other than what we can do.
Conversation at the country level should be guided by what we want to achieve.
When you get into a relationship or contract, and you are constantly reminded of your past failures, the relationship ends up toxic.
We discuss personalities, not principles
Principles are natural laws that control how we must or should behave.
The moment we violate principles (or laws) we will be punished.
For example, if you oppose the law of gravity by going up a high rise building and attempting to jump, you will face the music.
Corruption is how the country has violated principles of success.
It might seem sweet to receive a bribe or give it, but you are short-circuiting your success.
That has implications on our country. Principles determine the law and order of any given country.
We discuss polarisation, not consensus
It’s not about who is right or wrong, but it’s all about what is right for the country.
We need to come to a mature level, where we don’t discard an idea because it came from someone of a different political party, but learn to embrace it because it benefits and beneficiates our country.
We discuss language, not learning
We have learnt language, but we have not used that language to discuss success.
We need to learn that it’s not in speaking (or education) that matters, but the ability to learn fast and adjust.
Learning agility is the game. Our ability to learn faster becomes an advantage for innovation and creativity.
We seem to have universities, and the knowhow, but our reality is on the contrary. We need to learn the right things.
We discuss ability, not agility
People that use muscle power are usually paid less than people that use mental power.
You might be able to carry a brick, but the most important factor is where to put it and how to use that brick that matters.
We discuss what’s not in the plate, not the plan
We have been fazed by consumer mentality and done less to plan for a bright future country.
We are concerned about what I have now, more than building a system that will determine what Zimbabwe becomes.
Now, the best would be to improve our conversation by creating plans to improve our country.
We discuss social matters, not subtle detail
Value is in the detail. The moment the country is engrossed with entertainment, we miss on the better details of the economy.
Now, we have to focus, and the focus must be on the details of improving our dear
Zimbabwe.
That takes wisdom on the part of leaders and their subjects.
We discuss noise, not notion
There is so much noise in our country and that confuses our future. If you ask school going kids their dream is to go outside the country and become better. Why? Their mother land has noise.
We are seemingly discussing, but the quality of our discussion is clouded by noise. We need to clear that noise by discussing ideas.
