Name: Hamid Doumbia

Title: Maintenance Manager

Organisation: IHS-CI

I am an Electrical Engineer. After a few years in project management where I had to deploy several BTS sites in different countries with the whole team, I started a career in maintenance in the tower sector.

I started as a Regional Manager and then progressed to Maintenance Manager. The Operational activity remains much broader because it is obliged to keep an eye on all the related activities of the company.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Hamid's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

The most challenging part of being a leader is keeping your teams motivated and learning in a fast-moving business where customers are both demanding and in a hurry.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

You don't proclaim yourself a leader. People choose their leaders. A leader has to be reassuring and supportive. There was a time when we got an order wrong. There were no more deadlines for the project and the defect would slow down acceptance.

Although the situation was stressful, I first reassured the team that there was no blockage in this area and that there had to be an alternative where we had neither a deadline nor the capacity to place a new order. Thanks to an innovative solution, we managed to produce a local solution and were able to take delivery and deliver the project on time.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

A typical day begins with a review of the day's activities. Review the activity list if any emergencies have intruded on the routine. The next step is a review of the previous day's service indicators, followed by a briefing with the teams. The rest of the day is devoted to Meetings. Individual work time is the time given over to validations, dashboard analysis, email management and collaboration.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

At the start of my career, I had to make a communication error that brought 2 managers into conflict. My manager, although embarrassed by the situation, made me understand that although the situation was deplorable, it didn't detract from the quality of my work. He then gave me more responsibility. And I found myself galvanized and even more motivated. Above all, he gave me a certain loyalty.