Growth is about setting own bar high

Dar es Salaam. Cecylia Meshy says that her two degrees in Political Science and Language Studies (French), as well as in Business Administration, have granted her 13 years’ experience in the human resource area, specifically in the Construction and Engineering fields.

“It is all about taking part in decision making to reach the position I’m currently holding. By internal decisions I mean planning and development at the personal level, which involve learning; while by external decisions, I insist that one must be guided, coached or mentored by an experienced person in order to reach one’s goal.”

According to her, growing up professionally in the engineering industry, which is a male dominated field, has led her to demonstrate hard work while meeting the demands of your goals.

“You must understand your goals very well, as a woman and as a person, your priorities and ‘deliverables’ should be aligned in favour of your goals,” she says.

She says women should not compromise their work qualifications because of their gender.

“Women must understand that being a woman is not as different as men in terms of work, you must work harder as well as be your own person with every achievement on your path,” says Ms Meshy.

She reveals that she always knew who she would become after setting her bar and targets at the highest point.

“I knew that at some point I would be working as a HR manager, but with my goals planning, I have not yet reached to that top position because someday I want to be a director of an organization,” she says.

As she expounds about her career journey, Ms Meshy quotes: ‘If you do not set your bar very high, you cannot reach your full potential’.

She recalls the most vulnerable moment she has been through in her 13 years as the HR manager whereas she was pregnant, and was already enrolled for her Master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Dar es Salaam (Udsm).

“At that time, the company I was working for had enclosed a big government project which demanded keen observation and time,” says Ms Meshy.

“We were supposed to arrange early recruitments for the project as we wanted to manage the time frame it was supposed to completed in as the client required (the government), as well as making sure there was enough resource for the project completion.”

According to Ms Meshy, she was supposed to be in class for all the tests and class sessions, as well as be at home timely because she was a mother already (apart from her other unborn child).

At one time, her boss - a director of the company - questioned her on her multitasking and how she would manage all the tasks.

“I was asked if I would study, work or give birth. He saw it was all as being too much work for one person. I felt bad because it made me think that he did not believe in my capability,” Ms Meshy reveals.

At first, shs thought that the director’s comments hinted that she should quit school so that she would have more time for work. “I could not quit my studies because my first degree was not directly connected to my position as a HR manager,” she says.

“I only had skills but I knew at one point I would need the actual education that I was getting at the time.”

She talks of her leadership style, whereas as she is a combination of a pacesetter and a coach to her team, she names herself as an agile leader.

“We are raising a world of millennials, who believe and invest in education more than their deliverables,” says Ms Meshy.

In her early days as a HR officer, Ms Meshy met Pylisiah Mcheni, chief executive officer of Iris Executive Development Centre, who indirectly mentored her.

“She helped me to be better in the HR field. She was the only person who motivated me to first acquire skills as a HR officer before I fully turned to studies that would polish my experience,” she details.

Her second mentor was Mr John Ulanga whom she met during her days as an intern at the Royal Netherlands Embassy.

“At that time (2006), he was CEO of Azaki Tanzania, which is a foundation for Civil Society. Years later, we met after I had finished my undergraduate studies, he asked a lot of questions that were about HR, and if I was following the right chain within the field,” says Ms Meshy. She says she currently has mentees who are either independent, or are sponsored by organizations whereas she usually participates as one of their mentors.

“I often look out to mentor people in different fields. But, at times, I do look at career alignment between me and the mentees - as well as what the mentees want to archive,” explains Ms Meshy. She emphasizes matching deliverables and one’s educational qualification.

According to Ms Meshy, there are internal and external factors that highly influence the diversity of women in top leadership positions.

“External factors are partially involved in reasons for women failing to rise to top positions. They include society set ups. But, these should not be the reason for a person not to ascend their career ladder, rather than challenge them for betterment,” she says.

Internal factors are one’s restrictions to their goals, says Ms Meshy. They include non-self-driven characters, lack of societal awareness, as well as poor goals setting.

According to her, sustaining women empowerment initiatives stems from not forgetting the reason it was started in the first place.

“The goals that are set by organizations, or the people who establish those initiatives, should not be changed but rather the means,” says Ms Meshy.

She further says that her confidence was the result of her father believing in her, because he wanted her to change the way society perceived women, using her as a living example.