People Dynamics - September/October 2019

WWW.IPM.CO.ZA SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2019 VOL41 NO.8

SYSTEMS

SKILLS-DRAIN CHALLENGE

THINKING

DITCH THE BAGGAGE! THAT

EXIT INTERVIEW! FEARLESS LEADERSHIP FORGING THROUGH HEADWINDS J O U R N A L

O F

T H E

I N S T I T U T E

O F

P E O P L E

M A N A G E M E N T

APPLY TO UNISA FOR 2020 Master’s & Doctoral Degrees Dates: 10 September - 8 November 2019 (some exceptions apply)

Define tomorrow.

university of south africa

CONTENTS Self-Leadership

The makings of fearless leaders

Leadership Leadership evolution and modern leadership context

Leadership Philosophy

4

9

Leadership – what the world and scholars say

HR Value Creation HR professionals as value creators

4

6 9 13 14

Skills Drain Threat HR implications on the skills-drain threat

16

Health and Wellness

14

16

Let go of your emotional and physical baggage…

18

Performance Culture Systems thinking and practice to improve performance

20

Employee Life-Cyle extracting strategic value from the exit interview

FP&M Seta Feature

18

24

24 OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

4

Self-Leadership

THE MAKINGS OF

FEARLESS LEADERS Hold up the Mirror! Do you see a fearless leader starring back at you?

F

earless leaders are critical and creative thinkers. They are dreamers and visionaries who appeal to the imagination of others to share in the passion to pursue positive change.

Confronting their Reality Fearless leaders are synthesisers and can create something out of nothing. They are acutely aware of their shifty environment and climate fluctuations and challenge the status quo, fighting fear to shape a different future.

They brave global uncertainty, valiantly break barriers, confront blasting headwinds and negotiate hostile situations to chase what others may regard as unattainable goals. When the leadership flame burns, it scorches the stereotypes and scoffs the cynics to emerge victorious.

Leaders don’t fail. They may change tack, alternate paths and avenues but they stay focused on the goal till it’s attained.

Fearless Self-Leadership The most fundamental test of leadership is in self-mastery. Fearless leadership takes knowing your strengths and playing to these in chasing your goals and supporting others in theirs. It takes knowing and acknowledging your weak points, knowing how to minimise their impact PEOPLE DYNAMICS | September - October 2019

as you gradually eliminate them or turn them into tactical strengths.

Self-leadership is understanding your power and significance in all contexts, no least of all, as a member of the universe. Like everything created, leaders understand the reason for their existence and draw contentment from fulfilling their ultimate purpose first and foremost.

They maintain a healthy relationship with the creator and the rest of creation, consciously drawing positive energy, self-healing power, alignment and life lessons from nature. They are in touch with their spirituality.

Fearless Leaders in Society and Business In their commercial pursuits, real leaders understand the overarching purpose of business and pursues it beyond the operation. They are always alive to the sanctity of human life and each person’s right to dignity. In all interfaces and interactions, leaders are cognisant of the power that their positions bear, and their potential influence on others.

Therefore, they are always mindful of their conduct, behaviour and actions and their impact on those who look up to them. The “You do you boo” attitude, doesn’t apply, except in the sanctuary of their family chambers.

Accepting leadership means accepting the reality that you live for others first. Being your authentic self, living virtuous values and enjoying your personal lifestyle choices yet with the realisation that you stand for more than just you. You represent those that follow.

Mastering the Art of War Fearless leaders in business are in it for the win - not just chalk up

Self-Leadership

inconsequential battles, but to drive sustainable success. While they seek to give themselves and their organisations a business advantage, they are responsible and conscious not to exploit positional advantage over vulnerable communities, nor ever prey on the human weaknesses of individuals. They use their (privileged) position to win in business while they help build, protect and uplift communities.

Aiming for the Real Enemy Business is war, hence the talk of ‘war rooms’, stance, strategy, tactics, and so on. The problem with pseudo leadership is that, it loses sight of what is being defended and who the real enemy is, then wages war on the wrong targets.

Fundamentally, every business exists to improve the lot of humans. The common stronghold that we seek to defend is the triumph and vibrancy of humanity.

The universal war is on human lack: deprivation, poverty, insufficient living conditions, poor health, homelessness and a general destruction of human spirit - arising from a lack of choices and lack of opportunities. This is the enemy common to every human being on the planet, every society, every business and therefore, every leader in the world. Businesses are formed to conquer these evils.

Fearless Leadership fending off Global Greed The problem is that businesses are put under pressure to prioritise nominated segments in society - over others. They are forced to create advantages and wealth at the expense of others, to benefit a handful of people who ‘own’ 90% of global wealth or are in a fight to join that elite club.

In a quest to be part of that exclusive 5%, pseudo leaders lie their way, connive, forge, collude, manipulate, trample over people’s lives taking advantage of others’ misfortunes, naïveté or ignorance, and rob many of livelihood.

These are the kinds of leaders that invest time end effort creating all forms of bubble wealth which ends up crashing the stock exchange, and this is thanks to their predecessors who manufactured the artificial, white collar wealth born from no tangible production that truly fights “the real enemy”.

Unscrupulous Human Resource Leadership Unscrupulous Remco executives, supported by the human resource department fancy themselves in this elite league and create or allow ridiculous gaps between executive salaries and the ordinary wage.

They hide behind ‘international executive pay benchmarks’ and competitiveness, and will think nothing of sacrificing jobs of many to preserve the advantage of the few. They motivate for exorbitant bonuses for the top echelon at the expense of the wellbeing or economic survival of the masses.

Leadership Power to Alienate or Empower Rather than recognising their privileged position as a societal responsibility to uplift those under and around them, businesses are still struggling to embrace the principles of the triple bottom line and to live the corporate mantra: people first.

Yet, of the elements of consideration in the triple bottom line, both the profits and the planet are essentially there to serve people.

While it is acknowledged that those who made the sacrifices and ploughed hard-earned investments to establish enterprises have every right to reap the rewards, it should also be at the front of every leader’s mind that no man is an island. As one thrives, so should the rest around him. Inequality that results in extreme cases of poverty gives an excuse

5

to irrational behaviour. The rich become neurotic and start to build themselves physical, social and psychological fortresses to hide their crass consumption lifestyle from those outside.

This social class barrier and isolation makes the haves targets of the have-nots, depriving the former of unbridled happiness and freedom to enjoy ‘the fruits of their labour’. It introduces unnecessary harm and crime among those desperate for survival. Anyone wondering why security and insurance are among the fastest growing sectors in South Africa?

Business Leadership Profiting People and Preserving the Planet Nothing justifies violence, crime of harm to fellow human beings.

Realistically, had society not been induced to obsess about consumption, consumption and more consumption - which tends to be wasteful and hurt the planet, and if no one were to vulgarly flaunt their consumption privilege in others’ faces, there’d be little incitement to crime. Think Oranje. Or perhaps not, but think of the spirit of community that prevails among people of different social, economical and cultural backgrounds, who put humanity at the centre of their value system and work together fighting the common universal enemy: human lack!

Wouldn’t it be remarkable were every business to spread its energies and resources between its commercial ventures to maximise profits, equally towards helping society, beginning with its own employees, get better acquainted with the grand gifts of nature in their surroundings – to appreciate the resources, provisions, lifestyle options, creativity and wholesome living that our natural habitat provides.

Not only would business leaders live fearlessly and authentically among others, they would derive true pleasure in allowing a high-level ethical (human-centric) purpose guide their dealings and decisions in their pursuit of business success and sustainable profits.

Hold up the Mirror and find yourself on these 10 Points: • Am I fearless and relentless in the ethical pursuit of the business success and over-arching purpose?

• Have I built self-mastery and use my strengths and advantages to build, inspire and support others?

• In business wars, do I ever lose sight of who (or what) the real enemy is?

• In seeking advantage for my business, do I exploit opportunities and never people?

• Do I make the corporate mantra: ‘people first’ meaningful by putting people’s wellbeing and future on a sustainable planet at the forefront in the quest for profits?

• Am I duped into thinking that wealth amassed on inequality and widening the gap between the haves and have-nots can bring freedom?

• Do I recognise the human lack while driving commercial success and find parallel ways to address it?

• Do I use my business advantage to address the drivers of social inequality by opening up opportunities for the masses – promoting and facilitating education and self-sufficiency?

• Do I help my employees and build a sustainable symbiotic relationship with nature and learn to expand their lifestyle choices beyond my employ - through mastering the gifts offered by the planet and their habitat?

• Does everything I do epitomise an ethical, responsible and fearless leader who consistently orchestrates transformation that strengthens my personal and business triple bottom line?

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

6

Leadership

LEADERSHIP EVOLUTION and Modern Leadership Context There are numerous definitions of leadership. In fact, one researcher observed: “there are as many definitions of leadership as there are people who attempt to define it�.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | September - October 2019

Perspectives and Context

This implies that each person has his/her own perspective and context, and the definition each adopts is one that is relevant at that time. I have seen leadership defined from an informal social context, formal community context, a professional, industry, academic, political, faith, business and organisational context.

In different contexts, leadership has been defined as a process, a conduct, a person, a collective body of persons, an office, a position, a status, or explained as an attitude, behaviour or action.

As Human Resource professionals and people managers, we would like to confine our definition of leadership, at least for now, to the context of the workplace, and in particular, organisational leadership.

Leadership

Acknowledging the history of Leadership Hierarchical Autocratic Leadership

The concept of leadership was made a subject of academic research around the end of the 19th century and at the turn of the 20th Century.

The initial studies of leadership were based on the role that masters played over slaves and the role that community leaders, in particular chiefs and monarchs played over their subjects. This leadership type was hierarchical and autocratic in nature.

Coercive and Paternalistic Autocratic Leadership

The authority of these groups was legitimised by the response of those subjected to it, which essentially gave power to the leaders. The most logical effect of leader authority is having a following, or followers who submit to the direction of the leader. Generally, submission came grudgingly, with compliance arising from sheer resignation.

In some cases, however, subjects submitted willingly, even proudly.

The latter often prevailed when a leader showed parental compassion and consideration for the subjects; playing a caretaker, provider and protector role, and in return gaining respect as a father figure. All leaders, justifiably or not, expected unquestioned compliance and loyalty.

Bureaucratic Leadership

With Bureacratic Leadership came a de-personalisation of leadership authority. Subjects were made to submit to the authority or power of the office, as opposed to an individual leader.

The designers of this type of leadership came up with a formal framework that governed the behaviour throughout the different hierarchical levels. The framework regulated the behaviour of the highest office-bearer - whether from an inherited crown or by nomination - down to the lowest rung serving under that office.

Although initially designed for community leadership and governments, this structured approach to leadership made its way to commercial entities.

This is where formal structure, hierarchy, protocols and procedures that to this day guide and regulate leadership and governance in organisations were born - also launching elements of management.

and corresponding incentives. While this resembled the slave-master era where non-productive slaves were disincentivised with negative rewards (punishment), industry leaders also decided to offer negative rewards (disincentives) for poor performance, and incentivise with an offer of positive rewards for performance exceeding set targets. In the workplace, managers were preoccupied with determining whether the “carrot incentive” method beat the “stick incentive” disincentive.

Business philosophers came up with theories that, by nature people will do as little as they can get away with, unless there were some form of a disincentive for this behaviour.

People-centred, Humane Approach

Scholars argued that although this was natural tendency, some employees could not be motivated in this negative approach, hence the launch of research into positive motivation drivers. The Mayo Studies (Chicago and Massachusetts) identified that good workplace conditions and team/co-worker relationships made for positive motivators. These discoveries were widely celebrated as they were regarded as a more humane way of leading people – coinciding with the launch of the human rights movement.

The combination of the task-based scientific approach to drive productivity and the people based, humane way to motivate workers, formed the foundations of workplace people leadership and productivity management.

Which takes us to the definition of leadership in the workplace…

Organisational Leadership Description

The basic meaning of leadership is about the successful directing of people (followers) on a certain course toward a specific destination.

In the workplace, the destination will always be related to achieving a specific purpose or business result. The course on which leadership lead followers will be the formulated strategy: identified methods, systems or protocols that lead to the achievement of that purpose or business result. The high-level business result would be broken down into goals, based on performance cycles or categories of beneficiaries that the organisations serves.

Leadership by Birth or by Design

Organisational Leader

Studies ensued around the qualities that typified (admirable, successful) leaders. Some scholars theorised about features and qualities that made up a leader. In Africa, there was specific stature, height, shape, and general physique associated with successful leadership. Western studies identified charisma and dominance as typical qualities for successful leadership.

Research was undertaken to validate these qualities, but there was no sufficient and conclusive cause-effect that associated these features with leadership success. Disappointed, the theorists felt defeated in their quest to find predictive qualities that would help identify potential community leaders, particularly as the era of monarchy was gradually making way to elected political leadership.

A successful leader would be the person who envisions and articulates purpose, identifies the business result to pursue, then initiates the journey and garner support (formally from employees and less formally from society/client buy-in) toward the achievement of the high-level purpose.

With the tools of scientific management, leaders are able to lead remotely and extend their leadership power or influence over multiple geographical centres. Well-defined policy and protocols enable followers (employees) - duly motivated by positive workplace conditions and good peer relations - to develop self-discipline to become individually and collectively productive and achieve the set goals. Supervisors were originally nominated or appointed as in-loco leaders, mainly to enable production progress and facilitate interdependent processes among workers.

Task-based, Scientific Approach

The style of leadership employed in all the types mentioned thus far was authoritative, where decisions are top down and hardly questioned. With rapid industrialisation, leadership interests moved from a one-on-one type relationship studies towards a system of leadership that would be most effective in getting industrial results or productivity.

This is where research uncovered the relationship between achievement of tasks or targets and a promised reward. Differently put, there was correlation between compliant behaviour (reaching target)

7

Leadership, Supervision and Management

Increasingly, leaders maintain a distance from the workplace, allowing administrators and production facilitators to assume leadership as operations managers. With their influence successfully in motion through systems and supervisors, leaders continued on the quest to influence stakeholders – soliciting goodwill among those who share their vision and attempting to persuade prospective partners and potential collaborators who don’t yet buy into their vision.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

8

Leadership

Empowering Leadership

Campaign-based Leadership Emergence

Without negating the effectiveness of scientific management and task-based leadership, the Institute of People Management very much supports the humane way to leadership. The approach seeks to influence followers through inspiring self-leadership and selfmotivation to drive each worker to deliver according to his/her job requirements to the collective achievement of the overarching purpose.

This is neither hierarchical, autocratic, bureaucratic nor taskfocused. It is empowering leadership that encourages personal accountability, emotional investment and employee engagement.

These corporate challenges gave rise to many leadership adjectives that, through modern literature soon got adopted as multiple-adjective leadership. Depending on what challenges the author was set on addressing at a particular time, or what s/he perceived organisations needed to focus on in regaining integrity, promoting governance, instilling sound values and winning over public trust and investor confidence – there were all sorts of campaign-based leadership adjectives trending to inspire the global change process towards morally-sound international operations.

The international school of leadership gave birth to accountable leadership, ethical leadership, moral leadership, conscious leadership, responsible leadership, responsive leadership, proactive leadership, active leadership, visible leadership, courageous leadership, empowering leadership, transformative leadership, etc., in an attempt to instil a holistic, wholesome approach to leadership that not only reassures all parties, but is up-building. The new campaign leadership helped grow the focus on a ‘triple bottom line’ approach to business success as well as helped corporate and government address other areas that needed leadership attention.

You could literally think of any adjective that attempts to arrest any negative global trend, and it will be a leadership prefix. Without being cynical about this modern multi-adjective leadership fad, the campaign leadership series certainly increased leadership consciousness, getting organisations more deliberate when going about leadership development, and the public more vigilant and less gullible to gleaming success images.

Even with more cynicism than actual scientific validation of these different leadership kinds, there is a definite need to continue these descriptives for leadership, to ensure top of mind awareness for the most essential immediate needs in leadership.

Leader-Follower Exchange & Situational Leadership

Modern studies show that this leadership is responsive to the follower needs and maturity levels, and is thus adapted from a liberal, hands-off leadership style to a supportive, coaching leadership approach. This leadership approach also adapts to a range of situations – ensuring that the right amount of leadership attention is given to the relevant group or category of employees, with less hands-on support as employees grow in confidence and assert their independence.

Transformational Leadership

Based on its application, Transformational Leadership qualifies as a form of Situational Leadership, in that at appropriate stages of the different followers’ maturity or need, leaders are expected to be: 1. Inspiring followers through a persuasive vision, purpose or overarching goal; 2. Providing a credible example by being personally engaged with employees (in need), and living the values of empowerment; 3. Offering coaching support for employees to develop self-confidence and find their own methods to achieve corporate goals; 4. Rewarding effort and growing effectiveness with more (commensurate) latitude, scope, autonomy and where feasible tangible/material rewards.

This leadership approach has the effect of leading employees into becoming leaders who find their own voice and path to bring the company vision to life and deliver objectives through creative, innovative means. Thanks to the positive developmental effects of this leadership approach, it is known as transformational leadership.

The Birth of Campaign Leadership

The early to teen years of the 21st century have been confronted by unintended consequences of global trade. Companies amassed profits with multinational operations, and investors responded positively, with offshore stock exchange trading presence increasing. As business and investors transcended borders, so did corruption and crime. Losses experienced as a result of U.S.-based conglomerates, for instance, were felt internationally.

Getting to the root of the issues, analysis uncovered, among others: 1. poor accounting principles or applications thereof 2. Collusion on release of inaccurate value information to lull investors into seeing things brighter than they actually are 3. CEO’s that double as Chairpersons of Boards, thus enjoying a concentration of duties – player and referee syndrome 4. Increasing culture of individualism and nepotism manifesting in greed and corruption In addressing these corporate plagues, the international Ethics fraternity made an appeal to leadership conscience, for leaders to insist on upholding professional ethics; they lobbied for legislation review to ensure independence between the accounting and auditing structures; new governance standards and codes insisted on CEO’s relinquishing Board chairmanship or Board Chairpersons resigning as CEO to have greater Board independence and avoid self-refereeing.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | September - October 2019

Overarching Modern Leadership Type

In our observation, all the positive-adjective leadership ‘types’ are covered in the over-arching Transformational Leadership. Whatever kind of leadership worthy leaders assume as the preferred approach, it would get nullified if not convincingly sold to form part of the culture and fabric of the organisation. Taking turns in highlighting and promoting the espousing of each of these noble leadership values affords an organisation the opportunity to chalk up incremental leadership growth impact as the organisation embraces each kind – finding all positive ways and platforms to apply it.

The World Economic Forum has also been weighing in, in an attempt to influence the focus on these positive kinds of leadership, for instance with the 2016/17 Annual Meeting Theme: Responsive and Responsible Leadership. Outside of WEF, we have also seen on the rise, PurposeDriven, Values-Driven, Principle-Driven, Goal-Driven, ConscienceDriven and People-Driven Leadership, among other campaigns.

Transformational Leadership Adapted to Situation

Authors could write volumes on each of the subjects, extolling its sub-qualities, identifying its behavioural actions and effects on the organisation. Irrespective of the leadership campaign season, the principle of Situational Leadership that is Transformational reigns supreme.

Each situation calls for an accentuation of a specific prefixed leadership or a combination thereof. The effectiveness can be tested in organisational success as far as goals being reached and the triple bottom line being positively impacted: the people – happy, engaged employees, satisfied customers, smiling shareholders; the planet – responsible consumption, safe production and disposal methods, and the profits – sustained through sound business practices to carry the operations into the next generations.

Leadership Philosophy

9

LEADERSHIP

What the World and Scholars Say Over the years, studious scholars, passionate business leaders, entrepreneurs and students of leadership have studied, researched, practiced and observed leadership and came up with their own versions of ‘what leadership is’.

A

s suggested in previous articles, each context of leadership differs, and some definitions will be more relevant in certain contexts than others. And, your version?

“Leadership is the ability to sell a vision such that others assume shared ownership, and through self-motivation and personal expressions, work in concert towards its attainment to everyone’s betterment”

- Litha Mokoena: Coaching and Self-empowerment (Waslalinsights, 2016)

“Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximises the efforts of others, towards achievement of a goal”

- Kevin Kruse (Forbes, 2013) “ ...leadership is like the Abominable Snowman, whose footprints are everywhere but who is nowhere to be seen”

- Bennis & Nanus: ‘Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge’ (1997) “[There are] almost as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept.”

- Stogdill (1974, p.259) “A leader is a dealer in hope.”

-Napoleon Bonaparte, French soldier, Statesman, Revolutionary (1769-1821) “A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. ‘Fail to honour people’ they fail to honour you.’ But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will all say, ‘We did this ourselves.’”

- Lao Tzu, Chinese founder of Taoism, Author (6th Century BC) OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

10

Leadership Philosophy

“A leader shapes and shares a vision which gives point to the work of others.”

-Adeoye Mayowa: A Leadership Manager in Nigeria (2009

- Charles Handy (1992)

“Leadership is a process of giving purpose (meaningful direction) to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose.”

“A manager takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”

- Jacobs & Jaques (1990, p.281)

- Rosalynn Carter, US First Lady (b.1927)

“Leadership is a process of influence between a leader and those who are followers.”

“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”

- Hollander (1978, p.1)

- Bill Gates

“Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.”

“Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader.”

- Northouse (2004, p 3)

- General George S. Patton Jr.

“Leadership is an attempt at influencing the activities of followers through the communication process and toward the attainment of some goal or goals.”

“Leaders are individuals who establish direction for a working group of individuals who gain commitment from this group of members to this direction and who then motivate these members to achieve the direction’s outcomes”

- Donelly, J.H. & Ivancevich, J. M. & Gibson, J.L. ‘Organizations: behavior, structure, processes 5th Ed.’ Plano,TX: Business Publications Inc. (1985 p362.)

- Conger, J.A. ‘Learning to Lead’ San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (1992, p18)

“Leadership is an influence process that enable managers to get their people to do willingly what must be done, do well what ought to be done.”

“Leaders are those who consistently make effective contributions to social order, and who are expected and perceived to do so.”

- Cribbin, J.J. ‘Leadership: strategies for organizational effectiveness’ New York: AMACOM (1981)

- Hosking (1988, p.153)

“Leadership is defined as the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement.”

“Leadership (according to John Sculley) revolves around vision, ideas, direction, and has more to do with inspiring people as to direction and goals than with day-to-day implementation. A leader must be able to leverage more than his own capabilities. He must be capable of inspiring other people to do things without actually sitting on top of them with a checklist.”

- Rauch & Behling (1984, p.46)

- Bennis, W. ‘On Becoming a Leader’ Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing, (1989, p.139)

- John Maxwell, 1998

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”

- John F. Kennedy

“Leadership is discovering the company’s destiny and having the courage to follow it.”

- JoeJaworski - Organizational Learning Center at MIT. “Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less.”

“Leadership is interpersonal influence, exercised in a situation, and directed, through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specified goal or goals.”

- Tannenbaum,Weschler & Massarik (1961, p.24) “Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.”

- Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf “Leadership is a development of a clear and complete system of expectations in order to identify evoke and use the strengths of all resources in the organization the most important of which is people.”

- Batten, J.D. ‘Tough-minded Leadership’ New York: AMACOM (1989 p. 35) “Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential.”

“Leadership is not a person or a position. It is a complex moral relationship between people, based on trust, obligation, commitment, emotion, and a shared vision of the good.”

- Joanne Ciulla (1998) “Leadership is that process in which one person sets the purpose or direction for one or more other persons and gets them to move along together with him or her and with each other in that direction with competence and full commitment.”

- Jaques E. & Clement, S.D. ‘Executive Leadership: a practical guide to managing complexity’ Cambridge, MA: Carson-Hall & Co. Publishers (1994, p.4)

- Warren Bennis Leadership is the ability to evaluate and or forecast a long term plan or policy and influence the followers towards the achievement of the said strategy.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | September - October 2019

“Leadership is the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants. A leader is one who successfully marshals his human collaborators to achieve particular ends.”

Leadership Philosophy

- Prentice, W.C.H. ‘Understanding Leadership’ Harvard Business Review September/October 1961 vol. 39 no. 5 p.143.

11

“The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”

- Ralph Nadar “Leadership is the art of influencing others to their maximum performance to accomplish any task, objective or project.”

- Cohen, W.A. ‘The Art of a Leader’ Englewood Cliffs,NJ: Prentice Hall (1990, p. 9) “Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.”

- Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B.Z. ‘The Leadership Challenge’ San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (1995, p.30)

“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.”

- Harvey S. Firestone “The job of the leader is to speak to the possibility.”

- Benjamin Zander, British conductor, management presenter (b.1939) “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.”

“Leadership is the behavior of an individual when he is directing the activities of a group toward a shared goal.”

- Kenneth Blanchard, US management author, presenter (b.1939)

- Hemphill & Coons (1957, p.7)

“The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers.”

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”

- The Drucker Foundation, 1996

- Warren G. Bennis “You manage things, you lead people.”

“Leadership is the incremental influence that a person has beyond his or her formal authority.”

- Admiral Grace Murray Hooper, US naval officer (1906-1992)

- (Vecchio, 1988)

“A leader is the person in a group who directs and coordinates task-oriented group activities.”

“Leadership is the influential increment over and above mechanical compliance with the routine directives of the organization.”

- Fiedler (1967)

- Katz & Kahn (1978, p. 528)

“Leaders are those who consistently make effective contributions to social order and who are expected and perceived to do so.”

“Leadership is the initiation and maintenance of structure in expectation and interaction.”

- Hosking (1988)

- Stogdill (1974, p.411)

“Leadership is a social process in which one individual influences the behaviour of others without the use of threat or violence.”

“Leadership may be considered as the process (act) of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts toward goal setting and goal achievement.”

- Stogdill, (1950, p.3) “Leadership requires using power to influence the thoughts and actions of other people.”

- Zalenik, A. ‘Managers and Leaders: are they different?’, Harvard Business Review March/April 1992 p.126.

“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.”

- Stephen R. Covey “People ask the difference between a leader and a boss....

The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.”

- Theodore Roosevelt “The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind in others the conviction and will to carry on.”

- Buchannan and Huczynski (1997, p.606) “Leadership is about articulating visions, embodying values, and creating the environment within which things can be accomplished.”

- Richards and Engle (1986) “Leadership is the ability to step outside the culture to start evolutionary change processes that are more adaptive.”

- Schein (1992) “Leadership is the creation of a vision about a desired future state which seeks to enmesh all members of an organisation in its net.”

- Bryman (1986, p. 6) “Leadership is the lifting of a man’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a man’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a man’s personality beyond its normal limitations.”

- Drucker, P. F. (1955)

- Walter Lippman “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor. That sums up the progress of an artful leader.”

“Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts toward goal achievement in a given situation.”

- Hersey, P. & Blanchard, K. ‘Management of Organizational Behavior’. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall (1988 p. 86)

- Max DePree “Leadership is the process of making sense of what people

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

12

Leadership Philosophy

are doing together so that people will understand and be committed.”

- Drath & Palus (1994) “Leadership: the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”Text Color

a few deeds. He keeps informed about everything but interferes hardly at all. He is a catalyst, and though things would not get done well if he weren’t there, when they succeed he takes no credit. And because he takes no credit, credit never leaves him.

- Lao Tse, Tao Te Ching

- Dwight D Eisenhower (1890 - 1969) US Statesman

Leadership occurs when one person induces others to work toward some predetermined objectives.

“One of the hardest tasks of leadership is understanding that you are not what you are, but what you’re perceived to be by others.”

- Massie

- Edward L. Flom, CEO of the Florida Steel Corporation, in a speech, May 6, 1987.

Leadership is the ability of a superior to influence the behavior of a subordinate or group and persuade them to follow a particular course of action.

- Chester Bernard “Leadership is all hype. We’ve had three great leaders in this century - Hitler, Stalin and Mao.”

-Peter Drucker, quoted in Fortune, 21/02/94 “Leadership is an intangible quality with no clear definition.

That’s probably a good thing, because if the people who were being led knew the definition, they would hunt down their leaders and kill them.”

- Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle (1996) “Leadership: The capacity and will to rally people to a common purpose together with the character that inspires confidence and trust”

- Field Marshal Montgomery “A Leader: A person responsible for achieving objectives through others by creating the conditions in which they may be successful and for building and maintaining the team that he or she is a member of.”

Leadership is the art to of influencing and directing people in such a way that will win their obedience, confidence, respect and loyal cooperation in achieving common objectives.

- U. S. Air Force The feminine leadership style emphasizes cooperation over competition; intuition as well as rational thinking in problem solving, team structures where power and influence are shared within the group . . . interpersonal competence; and participative decision making.

- Marilyn Loden, Founder and president, Loden Associates, Management Review, December 1987 The first job of a leader is to define a vision for the organization.... Leadership of the capacity to translate vision into reality.

- Jeremy Tozer

- Warren Bennis, President, University of Cincinnati, University of Maryland symposium, January 21, 1988

“Leadership is a purposeful relationship, which occurs episodically among participants, who use their individual skills in influence, to advocate transforming change.”

The ultimate test of practical leadership is the realization of intended, real change that meets people’s enduring needs.

- (c) Michael S. Kearns, 2005

- James MacGregor Burns

“Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes.”

Managers have subordinates—leaders have followers.

- Joseph Rost, Leadership in the 21st Century, (1993, p.102)

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

“The servant-leader is servant first…It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead…”

- John Quincy Adams quotes (American 6th US President (1825-29), eldest son of John Adams, 2nd US president. 1767-1848)

- (Greenleaf, 1970)

I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.

My definition of a leader... is a man who can persuade people to do what they don’t want to do, or do what they’re too lazy to do, and like it.

- Henry Ford

- Harry S. Truman, 1884-1972, Thirty-third President of the United States, Miller, More Plan Speaking You cannot manage men into battle. You manage things; you lead people.

- Murray Johannsen

Leadership is a two-way street, loyalty up and loyalty down.

Respect for one’s superiors; care for one’s crew.

- Grace Hopper, Admiral, U. S. Navy (retired), Speech, Washington, D. C., February 1987

- Grace Hopper, Admiral, U. S. Navy (retired), Nova ( PBS TV), 1986

As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; the next, the people hate

The superior leader gets things done with very little motion.

He imparts instruction not through many words but through

- Lao Tse, 604-531 B. C., Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism, Tao Te Ching

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | September - October 2019

HR Value Creation

13

HR Professionals as Value Creators BY: RRE ELIJAH LITHEKO

A

s the world continue to change at a pace never before experienced in recorded history, so is business and the role of HR professionals, particularly that of the HR Director or as currently referred to – Chief HR Officer (CHRO).

Over the years the role of HR professionals within organisations has evolved from focusing on administrative matters related to compliance, record keeping, labour relations, remuneration and other HR related admin issues, to that of a strategic business partner and value creator.

This evolution represents a fundamental shift in paradigm and orientation on how HR professionals need to conduct themselves and lead their organisations strategically. This article will present a cursory survey of how HR is practised in leading organisations globally.

1. C-Suite membership

Leading organisations understand that it is imperative for the HR leader to be an integral part of the C- Suite where the organisational strategy is formulated and the direction that the company must take is set.

At this level the HR leader is expected to participate and contribute across functional responsibilities and assist the other functional leaders appreciate the following: • The quality of talent needed to deliver on the organisation’s vision, mission, values and goals and fit for purpose structural relationships • Organisational culture that would propel the attainment of organisational goals on a sustainable manner • The leadership brand that the organisation must project at all times across managerial levels • How the HR strategy will be the oil that lubricates all people related processes, interventions and programmes • HR governance to ensure that HR service delivery is seamless and dependable across various business units 2. Synchronisation of Strategies

Literature talks about aligning the HR strategy with the organisational strategy, but I think the synchronisation of functional strategies with organisational strategy would be a more appropriate way to address this linkage. This means that for each and every strategy move that the organisation takes, operational, human resources, marketing, IT implications and so forth need to be discussed simultaneously amongst all the relevant parties.

3. HR governance processes

Leading organisations have clearly defined HR governance processes with roles and responsibilities covering: • Recruitment and Selection – agreeing the criteria, channels, selection process, quality of hire, time to hire, compliance issues and other related processes

• On-boarding – introduction of new employees to the organisation’s vision, mission, values, culture, clarifying expectations as well as confirmation of employee’s role, reporting relationships and association with other stakeholders both internally and externally where applicable • Talent Management – leading HR professionals understand that “talent management is a set of integrated organisational processes designed to attract, develop, motivate, and retain productive, engaged employees”. (John Hopkins University). They understand that for this process to be effective in helping their organisations in finding the right people for the right jobs to achieve its strategic goals, they must work in concert with line managers and heads of other departments to develop and implement the talent strategy.

• Employee Wellness and Engagement – Leading HR professionals recognise that wellness goes hand in hand with employee engagement and have put processes in place to management them in an integrated manner. This relationship is captured succinctly in the Quantum Workplace report where they stress that, if employees are struggling with health or financial issues, they are more likely to be distracted and unable to give their full attention to their work.

• People Analytics – Leading HR professionals are using people analytics to make decisions on people related activities and to demonstrate their impact on the bottom-line. Research by Deloitte, McKinsey & Company has revealed how People Dynamics can dramatically improve the way organisations identify, attract, develop and retain talent, instead of making decisions based on experience, instinct and intuition. The days of reporting the number of training programmes attended with highlighting the business impact of these initiatives are over. So HR professionals need to acquire the skills and competencies required to put them in a strategic leadership position within their organisations.

• Digital Platforms – in line with the integrated approach to delivering HR services, leading HR professionals are cognisant of the fact that optimum service delivery will be enhanced by digital HR platforms such as; Candidate Tracking System, Learner Management System, Workforce Planning System, Performance Management System, Recognition and Reward System and so forth. Some of the benefits of digitalisation are: to facilitate speedy delivery of services, userfriendly experience, prompt feedback and a culture of continuous improvement.

• Innovation – Leading organisation and so do their heads of HR, are conscious of the fact that as they embark on processes that will contribute to giving their organisations a competitive edge in the market that it is critical for them to consider business strategies keep innovation, flexibility, adaptability and efficiency at the centre.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

14

Skills-Drain Threat

HR IMPLICATIONS

on the Skills-drain threat PEOPLE DYNAMICS | September - October 2019

Skills-Drain Threat

We cannot ignore the reality that many of our skilled people in SA have left for greener pastures, and many more are actively looking to move. This article does not try to find blame or political solutions, but help HR practitioners consider and deal with the implications in the workplace.

BY: GARY TAYLOR

THE SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM:

The best information we currently have is that 1,5 million South Africans have emigrated, with no intention of returning. They are almost all graduates and, for the first time since the initial wave in the 1980s, the number of black emigrants is now exceeding that of whites.

Dr Johann van Rooyen has done some helpful if depressing research on the topic but this is a “landscape” issue we need to understand at a deeper level than the repetitive discussions we tend to have over drinks with friends: • emigration rates climbed by 20% in 2018/2019 and the trend is being described as the next big wave of skilled emigrants leaving.

This includes job creators, entrepreneurs and those good enough to land jobs in very competitive international job markets.

• In actual numbers, SA is losing around 25,000 per year, and about 1,000 high net worth individuals.

• 86% of top executives said they could seriously consider a move overseas, according to the Jack Hammer Executive Report.

• several countries abroad are actively soliciting SA skills. Our good people are wanted elsewhere, and our weak Rand makes even average overseas packages very attractive.

We are unlikely to witness any incentives to retaining such talent, so HR will need to consider a range of tactics which could be deployed in this battle.

It is fair to assume that the majority of employers only discover an employee’s intention to emigrate when the deal is done, they have the job or the residence permit, and the flight is virtually booked.

Trying to “save” a highly skilled staff member at that stage is virtually impossible.

This means that HR departments need to be much more alert and proactive if they want to have any impact in influencing developments as it impacts them. Here are a few considerations: SOME HR TACTICS: 1. We can start off by keeping emigration records within our termination stats, so that you know the extent to which your company and certain departments are susceptible to emigration. If you do have an HR network within your industry, try to share data which would allow you to benchmark whether your emigration turnover is in line with others.

15

2. Smart HR departments will be encouraging their line managers to initiate enquiring conversations with their high skilled and vulnerable people in a business-like and non-emotional way. Career discussions should be taking place anyway, so make sure they extend to whether their stars are considering overseas secondments or permanent moves. If we can get our people to share these plans, we can work with them to seek mutually beneficial solutions, such as delaying the date to coincide with a project they are working on, and in return possibly co-funding their relocation costs.

3. Multinational employers are often attractive to internationally mobile staff, and put in place plans for overseas secondments or relocations, so as to keep talent within the group. If you are a local company, could you strike up a relationship with an overseas employer/ supplier to make your employee available to consult back or undertake some form of time-share? Possibly an ex-employee could consult directly with you when overseas. Bringing them back to work for you in SA for periods of time (such as during overseas school holidays) keeps them interacting directly with you, while also being attractive for them to return to visit relatives.

4. We know that many of the reasons to leave SA are “push” factors, such as the security situation, and this is one of the factors an employer can influence to a degree. Reconsider the degree to which you will go as an employer to assist with or actually provide additional security to a key family. For instance, directly after a home invasion, are you prepared to provide a week’s accommodation for a family or an on-site security guard while they repair damage and upgrade their security? I have seen this done twice with enormous benefit to loyalty and retention.

5. Accepting (and working with) the inevitable might be an additional consideration. Funding an internationally portable qualification (with appropriate claw-backs) could be a pragmatic way of working

In actual numbers, SA is losing around 25,000 per year, and about 1,000 high net worth individuals. with your key staff in helping them achieve their goals, but in a jointly-managed proactive strategy. Perhaps this is a smarter alternative than just waiting for their letter.

6. Maintaining a realistic but positive narrative within the company can go some way to counteract the predominantly pessimistic sentiment about the national future. If the company messages reinforce the motivational “you can make a difference with us” theme, it does allow people to enjoy a sense of “home” while working. Do not fall into the trap of dismissing an employee’s talk of emigration with “you’ll be back” bravado talk. It only exacerbates the sense of alienation which prospective emigrants are already feeling.

HR departments have handled most challenges well, but the emigration of skilled staff is something many of us have just treated as a sad “reason” for people leaving, rather than us strategising about how we can influence events proactively in favour of mutually pragmatic alternatives or compromises.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

16

Health and Wellness

LET GO OF

Your Emotional and Physical Baggage… …it’s bad for your health, it’s bad for your work, and it’s bad for your life!

BY: GEORGINA BARRICK

R

ecently, like many of my contemporaries, I have helped my elderly parents move out of the home that they inhabited for almost a lifetime. To call the process fraught would underestimate the toll it took on all of us. For nearly 40 years, my parents lived, loved and experienced life in this house, collecting memories – and stuff.

Sorting through it, this detritus of a lifetime, and watching my parents unable to let it go, was a powerful lesson for me, forcing me to look at how we all carry baggage - both physical and emotional - that weighs us down. Letting go of this baggage can set us free.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | September - October 2019

We all carry personal baggage.

For some of us, this baggage is physical. Like magpies, we pick up, collect and fill up our spaces with things that bring us joy or that we know we’ll ‘use someday’ and believe we simply can’t do without.

And, as it fills up our lives, this stuff brings comfort – a physical safety blanket.

Others carry emotional baggage. The unresolved past emotional traumas, issues and stresses that occupy our minds and spill over, colouring all of our new experiences or encounters – and giving rise to

Health and Wellness

17

Understand

The first step towards letting go of emotional baggage is to understand it – and what caused it.

Think deeply about situations that have upset you, made you feel uncomfortable or stirred up negative emotion. Try to identify what made you upset – be it unexpressed feelings of hurt, unresolved anger, regret or grief. If these feelings haven’t been allowed to run their course, they’ll hang around, repeatedly causing issues in your life.

You may need to talk to a therapist or trusted friend for help with this process.

Accept

The ability to understand the reality of a situation, without needing to fight it or change the outcome, is acceptance. If we’re able to look at a negative experience without emotion or expectation and view it pragmatically, we remove our need to be tied to changing the outcome – and can start the process of acceptance.

Forgive

We’re human – and we make mistakes. We all feel guilt, regret and shame over our actions – but, sometimes, we hang onto these feelings as a way to punish ourselves. And, while we can neither change the past nor predict the future, we can let these feelings go and forgive ourselves and others. Accept your choices. Learn from your mistakes.

Own your truth. Stop the retroactive self-judgement. Remember that you’ve done good and can be proud of the many positive things that you have done in your life.

Channel Your Anger

Often, we’re taught that being angry is bad and that, when someone wrongs us or we observe injustice, we should ‘turn the other cheek’.

But, hanging onto anger can be deleterious.

Allow yourself time to rant or cry. If you can, explain your anger to the person who caused it. Understand your role in the situation and determine whether you could have done anything better.

Channelling your anger positively can be very empowering.

Be Mindful

prolonged feelings of guilt, regret, shame, anger, fear or stress. It’s the critical inner voice constantly telling us that we’re not good enough or can’t change the outcome. While we might not all hoard stuff, we certainly all carry some form of emotional baggage.

Like an overfull backpack, emotional baggage cannot be contained indefinitely. It overflows, impacting the carefully crafted new reality that we’ve created for ourselves. Sometimes, it manifests physically, causing health issues like unexplained back pain, headaches or stomach problems. Prolonged stress is a known trigger for cancer and heart disease.

Emotional baggage can also become a barrier to making healthy lifestyle changes. If we’ve dealt with past trauma by developing bad habits – like smoking, binge drinking or comfort eating – it can be really hard to break the pattern and stop. And, carrying our personal perceptions of past (bad) experiences into our relationships or workplace can negatively impact our connection to others or prejudice our career ambitions.

So, how do we ‘unload our backpack’ and slip out from under our emotional baggage?

Sometimes, we are so caught up in our past experiences that we forget to simply be – to live right now. Practising mindfulness involves accepting your thoughts and feelings, without judgement. To be mindful is to live in the present moment, rather than reliving the past or imagining the future.

Declutter

If your baggage is more physical, than emotional, it’s important to make time to declutter.

As good place to start is with Marie Kondo, the Japanese organisation expert, who created a system for simplifying and organising your home by getting rid of physical items that do not bring you joy. Kondo believes that, to thrive creatively, your home should be filled only with items that you cherish.

Whether your baggage is physical, emotional or both, letting it go can set you free.

And, ensuring that you don’t allow emotional baggage to overwhelm your life going forward is a good goal.

‘Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed and you haven’t been.’

Marcus Aurelius OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

18

Performance Culture

Systems Thinking and Practice

to Improve Performance When one country sneezes, the world catches a cold.

BY: BELIA NEL

T

hat’s how interconnected and interwoven our lives are with our global counterparts. The ongoing trade battle between the USA and China is volatile and central to the stability of the world economy.

Recently, at an economic showcase event, S.A. CEO of Growthpoint Properties, Estienne de Klerk reminded us to “put South Africa first”.

In his speech he referenced a very interesting parallel of Singapore and Ghana. Both came out of oppressive regimes in 1958 and today there is no comparison.

In achieving his success, the Leader of Singapore who spearheaded the transformation applied three principles: • Meritocracy — merit of those selected in power positions should be the only guideline • Pragmatism — a good dose of realism — “If a cat catches a mouse, it is a good cat — It does not matter whether it is black or white” • Honesty — to be applied at all cost These three principles could be the values of any organisation. And it could be the foundation of sustainable performance deal broking.

Principles are good but you need a practice — a way of doing anchored in a proven results and value-add foundation, including utilising partnerships and a realistic total view of performance. My immediate thought is why are politicians and leaders reluctant to apply a systems-thinking practice like Performance Improvement to transform the economy? It seems as though the more complex a situation appears to be, more stringent analysis and thinking is adopted. And when action is taken, it appears to be haphazard and piecemeal typical of performance deal breakers. We don’t need another political debate — we need performance deal brokers in politics and in business for real transformation.

Experience in many years teaching the application of the Performance Improvement methodology, one question always surfaces again and again — why are leaders in organisations reticent to understand what is needed to transform and change performance?

Many leadership books published every day offer the latest thinking, easy to use tools and quick five step action plans to be a better leader.

This should translate to better leadership and leaders equipped to PEOPLE DYNAMICS | September - October 2019

manage, lead and sustain performance. Right? Wrong! Somehow the advice, tools and checklists don’t get to the core of the value of systems thinking because many indicators and barriers are not easily visible.

The iceberg analogy popularised by the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 illustrates this phenomenon. Today we have the technology, methods and practices to do a deep dive to uncover performance barriers and identify indicators which lurk below the waterline to avoid a catastrophe like the Titanic.

These invisible indicators are usually evidenced as organisational barriers like poor clarity of vision and direction, poor strategy communication and implementation, inadequate or ineffective leadership, ill-formulated operational plans, poor or no performance discipline, silo thinking that leads to poor information sharing and an ineffective performance culture. Research indicates that poor performance of people (workers) and processes (work) is directly correlated to the invisible performance indicators below the “waterline”.

In 80% of instances people are blamed for poor performance.

However, when only a 20% deep dive is done below the “waterline” and causes are identified, it can contribute to 80% in people performance improvement. Unlike the Titanic disaster where a decision was taken based on the visible performance indicator — the iceberg — organisational performance can improve when we pay more attention to the invisible performance indicators causing poor performance. To base solutions implementation only on what is visible can have far reaching and costly consequences — as in the case of the Titanic.

Leaders need to view performance as a system and apply the

Performance Culture

systems thinking methods and tools to solve complex and everyday performance problems. Leaders who do not perform are seen as performance deal breakers.

These performance deal breakers of leaders are: • A denial of the performance indicators that are not easily visible • The issue of meritocracy — some leaders are placed in positions not through merit • Performance passion is absent • Unrealistic expectations of people and performance • A theoretical view of performance and organisations • A lack of critical systems thinking — and not connecting the dots • Being too power hungry — ego driven and not servant leaders • Unidentified behaviour issues leading to bullying, gaslighting and harassment • Intellectualising performance rather than a pragmatic, realistic view The list is endless and you can add many more as part of your own reflection. What is needed is a positive systems thinking approach to performance — what is referred to as ‘a positive performance deal broker’. This is a leader who fully understands the gaps, shortcomings and misalignments in the team or business unit. This is a leader who also, through continuous reflecting and feedback, allows performance to fail and fall. This is a leader who has passion for people to excel.

How do we achieve this positive performance deal broking?

• Decide on the principles you stand for — whether it is the same as the Singaporean leader’s principles of meritocracy, honesty and pragmatism or not.

• Understand that performance happens in a total system aligning workers (people), work (processes) and workplace (leadership, culture and information) to the betterment of profit and the planet.

And a set of principles should drive these for sustainability.

19

• Practise positive performance — this means provide the tools, skills, information and resources for each team member to shine.

• Focus on all that is already working well — the gaps and misalignments will surface almost always automatically — but further investigation may be needed.

• And above all — treat employees the way you want them to treat your customers.

The figure shows a Performance Improvement systems thinking process to achieve sustainable performance through a performance deal broking practice. Often, we think too much about blaming people for inadequate performance — what is needed is a focus on what already works well and identifying the invisible indicators and barriers contributing to poor performance.

A positive performance deal broking practice for action: 1. Plan the required performance. Focus and identify what works well in all the sub-system pieces of people, processes and workplace indicators.

2. Plot the reasons why performance is working well and not working well.

3. Develop how you want performance to be delivered. What are the pieces to fix in the people, processes and organisational domains?

4. Manage performance through rigorous measurement practices to sustain the performance change.

I was reminded recently of a great organisation value chain: minimise risk and maximise reputation by building relationships. Whatever your performance value chain for your team or organisation is, begin to practise positive performance deal broking for sustainable performance. To minimise performance deal breaking, I quote, with some poetic licence, Ken Blanchard of many years ago: “Focus on the positive things your people do for your customers’ sake”.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

20

Employee Life-Cycle

Extracting Strategic Value

FROM THE EXIT INTERVIEW The Exit Interview forms a valuable strategic tool to manage employee engagement, retention and employee value proposition.

It affords companies uncensored views from people less inhibited by protocol and less intimidated by consequence from any unflattering comment.

The Liberation of Exit Although hardly out to burn bridges or destroy relationships, exiting members are able to be as candid and critical as they can be complimentary about the organisation they are departing from. They have nothing to lose, yet the organisation has everything to gain from insights gleaned from these discussions – flattering or not.

Potential Strategic and Operational Benefits “Exit interviews tell you how great your organisation is or how much it sucks and why; who’s killing it, who’s sustaining it; what makes it work, what drags it down; what’s ahead, what’s outdated; systems that work, policies that inhibit; which processes are superfluous; where the risks lie and where the loopholes are; what motivates your people, what exasperates them; who your Employer Brand competitors are, what’s attractive about them; what can be done better, eliminated or tweaked.”

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | September - October 2019

Essential Quality Factors It takes a skilled professional to structure exit interviews and design questionnaire guides to extract this all empowering information effectively. It is also essential for people managers to know which exit interview approach and method to choose for what category of employees. The timing of the exit interview also contributes to response levels and the quality of content.

Areas of feedback in exit interviews can be as comprehensive as the chosen method allows. To optimise its value and give balanced actionable feedback, exit interviews can be designed to cover aspects of organisation’s culture, leadership style, operational climate, professional enablement, line-manager relations, human capital development, career opportunities, HR effectiveness, and overall leadership quality.

Exit Interview Methods and Approaches Different methods include self-completion questionnaires - paper-based or online, telephonic or face-to-face interviews with an HR officer, the line manager, a corporate office representative or independent exit interviewer. The choice of both method and interviewer can enhance or compromise the quality of the information, based on the exit member’s location, operating level, level of engagement or state of mind, as well as on the quality of relationship with the assigned interviewer.

Response Rate Our research shows that independent or externally administered telephonic interviews yield higher response rates and more comprehensive information than self-completion questionnaires or interviews conducted by internal personnel with whom exit members may have had strained relations.

“External interviews are often more articulate, less nuanced and given with less codes and jargon. The feedback is more comprehensive in range, and allows exit members to comment and openly express feelings on senior personnel whose actions may have affected them or impacted their service at the company. This information is valuable to

Employee Life-Cycle

21

help management address issues and give personnel an opportunity to improve their people management approach.”

but not before I’ve told them to their face what’s wrong with this place’.

Hence, the exit interview being used as an outlet.

Disadvantage of External Interviews On the downside, interviews conducted externally may not be able to pick up on loaded statements, thus miss out on any opportunity to probe, interpret jargon and clarify corporate euphemism for more meaningful, actionable reports. For this reason, external interviews are still subject to unpacking by internal officials. The response rate advantage brought by external interviews may then be weighed against both quality and cost.

Costs aside, any organisation that passes up the opportunity to collect and draw insights from exit interviews loses out on critical information that potentially enables and empowers it for important improvements that bolster employee engagement, employee satisfaction and retention of critical talent.

Feedback Quality vs Separation Background The exit interview forms part of the separation stage in the employee life cycle. Although the employee separation stage is part of the natural ELC made up of phases such as recruitment, on-boarding, engagement/ retention, retirement, it may however be brought forward in certain cases.

Voluntary early separation is the most common and happens when an employee resigns to pursue other interests. Involuntary early separation happens as a result of misconduct, poor performance or unresolved dispute, etc. Occasionally involuntary separation would be due to retrenchment resulting from operational restructure or economic factors.

Standard questions on the exit questionnaire include profile: the exit member’s tenure, role, level; reasons for departure, best experience, worst experience, operational challenges, tip for successor, next employer, new role, level, benefits, etc.

Cost-Value Factor Exit interviews help organisations identify strong, positive elements and potential persuading points for EVP and future recruitment. The insights give input into the crafting and refining of the Employer Brand.

Used in corporate communication, the positive points enhance employee satisfaction and keep any member dissonance at bay. In promoting productivity and retention, the exit interview feedback effectively reduces overall HR costs.

In our experience, positive action applied as a result of exit interview feedback has helped enhance leadership qualities and employee relations where negative criticism is taken on board and immediately turned into a proper change- or development programme for line managers and HR officials.

Critical information obtained through exit interviews has helped organisations avert possible litigation, and in some cases, retain valuable human assets who were on their way out as a result of a misunderstanding or communication gaps. A healthy employee churn is credited for injecting a fresh cycle of ideas and holding incestuous corporate culture at bay. Runaway staff turnover, on the other hand, bleeds companies of essential talent - bringing about prohibitive costs in replacement recruitment, lost productivity, compromised client service and reduced customer satisfaction.

Healthy Corporate Culture & Communication It is an indictment on companies and people managers to wait until employees are on the way out to get honest feedback and information that can be turned into corrective action and positive change. In an ideal world, healthy organisations are expected to have a free flow of corporate communication, good manager-employee interactions, regular soap boxes/town halls, access to executive leadership discussions and periodic climate surveys. These are instrumental in keeping the organisation in touch with employee sentiments and in a continuous improvement mode.

The Irony of Corporate Feedback The irony is that, when things are going smoothly, there’s little appetite by employees to give quality feedback or make input into the proverbial ‘suggestion box’. As a result, employee surveys and climate studies have an all-time low response rate – with certain organisations registering as little as 1% despite anonymity reassurance.

When there are issues, however, employees want to vent but are concerned that their views can have them labelled as instigators, resulting in some form of alienation or victimisation. As frustrations mount, affected employees disengage and ‘can’t wait to get out of here,

Short and Sweet; Time and Quality An exit interview strives for a balance between length/time of completion and content quality. Self-completion questionnaires often provide prompts with multiple choice of common answers, as well as ask for ratings on member’s experience of the different facets of the organisation.

Prompted-answer questionnaires (tick-box) are quick and make for easy interpretation and standard quantitative report compilation. These reports are easy to monitor trends and manage through metrics – which benefits large companies. What they provide in efficiency may be missing in quality, however, as they may be limiting to the exiting employees who wish to give in-depth causal input. The qualitative input on reasons to exit, although not necessarily statistically representative, is good input for management action.

It is important for each organisation to customise its own exit interview in order to maintain the highest levels of survey validity and reliability.

Suggestions on Quality Feedback Guides We see a variety of questions providing both qualitative and quantitative input. They range from overall tenure satisfaction, personal growth rate, line-manager relationship quality, executive access, corporate climate, professional development program, peer relationships quality, professional tools, work facilities, health and safety, and increasingly feedback on HR process evaluation including induction, on-boarding, training, personal development support, performance management process, remuneration and benefits, employment policies, employee motivation and discipline.

Voluntary Exit Drivers Among lower employment levels, voluntary departures have been mainly linked to line manager relationships, performance review issues, remuneration, recognition and compensation discontent.

Among the higher levels, departures have been essentially due to irreconcilable differences between the organisation and the member e.g. values, direction, policy, culture, management approach, and increasingly, the pursuit of alternative working conditions and structure.

Exit Interviews, left to chance, lend themselves to inconsistent quality of information which impacts the value derived by the organisation, and by extension the organisation’s current and future employees. Interviews range from vibrant professional interchange, through emotionally charged reminiscent sessions, to distant one-liners or tick-box exercises.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

22

Employee Life-Cycle

The Exit Interview Contrasts: Retirement

For retirees, it’s often a moment filled with emotion – possibly a reflection on experiences that span years, even decades. It is an occasion often honoured with some celebratory fanfare – making feedback a largely positive rave, which stands to reason; had the exit member felt that unhappy, s/he would have made an early exit and resigned.

Dismissal

The exit interview for a fired employee is different. It tends to be brief and curt, that is, if anyone in the company can secure one. A fired employee is likely to prefer an exit interview through ‘the press’, giving an extensive account to a sympathetic member of the media. The feedback in this type of ‘exit interview’, as can be expected, centres around the bone of contention that got the member ejected from the company. It’s more of a venting and/or justification exercise rather than an all-rounded corporate feedback.

Voluntary – Dissatisfied and Disillusioned

The exit interview for the dissatisfied employees who ‘manage to escape this hellhole’ tends to vary in length and detail, depending on the extent to which the employee had invested emotionally. For the less engaged, it is a relatively short and non-committal exchange. The more engaged who may harbour some resentment for what they perceive as lack of appreciation or poor reciprocation of their commitment and sacrifices tend to go well beyond the auto-cued questions to pour out their heart on all things dissatisfactory about the organisation.

Properly addressed, matters raised by this latter group could be used as strategy-input factors to reassure and retain any affected, aggrieved members. They are likely to shed light on potential sources of workplace disputes and litigation.

Voluntary – External Opportunity

An exit interview for an employee with great external prospects usually makes for a very interesting exchange. It yields a most balanced information, whether the departing employee had personal issues with the organisation or not. They are likely to cover eloquently, positive corporate and employment aspects as well as the negatives that can contribute to valuable employees’ premature departures.

Some empowering insights may be found in their reasons for specific choice of employment – the key attractions to the next company.

These highlight the current organisation’s position in relation to the competition, and highlight gaps that could cost it market advantage when it comes to employee value proposition.

Businesses can use this information to better align their HR strategy with what employees regard as important and look for in a prospective employer and implement programs and practices that will attract top talent and influence valued resources to stay with the organisation.

To make the most of information gathered at exit interviews, feedback needs to be reduced to palatable data and converted to metrics that can be monitored to guide HRBP and line management, particularly in large organisations. Quantitative statements from exit interviews should be grouped by category - positive and negative, area of operation, long-term strategic issue, operational quick-fix, and converted into a live action plan that addresses issues – serving as a guide into recruitment, engagement, retention and overall employment policies and strategies.

Exit Interview Completion Rates While response rate for exit interviews often surpasses that of periodic PEOPLE DYNAMICS | September - October 2019

employee engagement and climate surveys, it is important to keep the success factors in mind.

• It has been observed that passive methods of data collection such as self-completion online or paper surveys have the lowest participation rates of around 30%. After all the message possibly read into this is: complete it if you so wish, we may or may not read and we may or may not action any of your suggestions • Involving a human being in the process increases the average participation rate to 50%. This suggests an amount of commitment by the organisation and a wish to hear out the employee and take their opinion on board – even effecting changes that may yield a positive employee environment and climate.

• Outsourcing the exit interview process achieves the highest participation rates of 90% or more. This is to be expected as the organisation commits extra resources to the feedback collection process. Anyone hired outside of the organisation specifically for this purpose is expected to pursue the feedback doggedly until information has been successfully captured. After all, payment may be linked to successful collection of this data. Outsourcing does not necessarily show more commitment to actioning of the feedback, it demonstrates commitment to high response rate and easier process for management.

• If the direct manager of the departing employee conducts the interview, only 26% of organisations achieve completion rates of 90% or more. This is consistent with research showing that the majority of premature voluntary exits emanate from poor line manager-employee relationship. It follows, therefore, that there would be reluctance for employee to entertain any extended interaction with the line manager.

• If junior or administrative Human Resources personnel conduct the interview, only 31% achieve completion rates of over 90%. While objectivity of an HR officer may be appreciated, the handling of the interview by junior HR personnel, in the eyes of the employee, minimises the value of his/her contribution, with potential skepticism of whether any real solutions will be pursued to change status quo.

Another negative factor would be the opinion that whatever poor relations may have been suffered between the employee and line manager, would have been on HR’s watch, and their inability to intervene or help resolve would be seen to have been complicity on behalf of HR, if not openly implicating the HR officer(s) in the frustration or absence of effective grievance process.

• Senior personnel: HR Executives, Corporate Office representatives and indirect managers achieve higher participation. As an inverse to the lack of commitment and lack of power to effect changes, senior management are perceived as being capable of bringing about meaningful change by affecting high-level decision-making – if not for the exiting employee, for those that are left in the organisation or yet to join. These meetings, therefore, even if approached with some trepidation by those who feel pushed out by conditions with no exciting external prospects, the satisfaction of “having told them to their faces” becomes persuasive.

Proactive Leadership and Communication Management Exit Interviews by no means replace ongoing communication, sound employee interactions, active management involvement and consistent attempts at regular climate surveys. For these to succeed, leadership commitment, a culture of transparency, fairness and employee empathy should be generated, to enable employees to give (and get) honest feedback in a constructive and affirming manner. Difficult conversations should not be feared or avoided, because rather than endear the organisation or its leadership representatives to employees, avoidance alienates them.

" i

"

" Q

"

" i

" i

"

"

" e

" ii

" iS

" iQ

'HVLJQ

Bold, Courageous and Ethical Leadership HR 4.0 for Leaders Leadership for the 4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution) Employee Experience and Engagement

TIME

ACTIVITY

FACILITATOR & VENUE

07:00 - 09:00

Registration for Wellness Programme Warm Up & Exercise Wellness Seminar Exhibitors Set Up and Stands Dress Up

WELLNESS INTELLIGENCE Facilitator: Ms Shantal Dietrich Personal Trainer, MyLifeWellness Venue: Cabanas Poolside

09:00 - 16:30

Golf Tournament

Host: Mr Welile Mabaso Professional Designations Manager, IPM Venue: Lost City Golf Course

16:45 - 17:30

Golf Prize Giving & Networking

Host: Ms Melissa Moodley Venue: Lost Golf Club Clubhouse

18:00 - 19:00

Conference Registration Continues Reception & Exhibitors Networking

Executive Host: Dr Jerry Gule CEO, IPM Venue: Superbowl

19:00 - 21:30

Reception Cocktails

Executive Host: Dr Jerry Gule CEO, IPM Venue: Superbowl

TIME

SESSION

SPEAKER Facilitator: Ms Shantal Dietrich Personal Trainer, MyLifeWellness

VENUE

05h30 – 06h30

Sunrise Wellness Intelligence Coaching

Cabanas - Poolside

07:45 – 08:00

Convention and Exhibition Registration - continued

08:00 – 08:15

Opening Welcome Address Setting-the-scene

Mr Bhabhalazi Bulunga President, IPM

Kings Ballroom

08:15 – 08:45

Opening Keynote Address

Ms Felleng Yende CEO, Fibre Processing & Manufacturing SETA

Kings Ballroom

08:50 – 09:20

Plenary Presentation: Conscious Corporate Leaders promoting sustainable development

Professor Mervyn King Chairperson Emeritus, International Integrated Reporting Committee

Kings Ballroom

09:20 – 10:00

Plenary Presentation: Purpose Driven Leadership in the New Digital Age

Dr Marko Saravanja Founder & Chairperson, Regensys Business School

Kings Ballroom

10:00 – 10:45

Plenary Presentation: Leadership in the 4th IR

Ms Mechell Chetty HR Vice President, Unilever Africa

Kings Ballroom

10:45 – 11:15

Refreshments – Visit to Exhibition Area and Networking - Superbowl

11:15 – 12:00

Plenary Presentation: Fearless Leadership – what does it take?

Professor Jon Foster-Pedley Director and Dean, Henley Business School

Kings Ballroom

12:00 – 12:30

Plenary Presentation: Fearless Remuneration Trends

Dr Mark Bussin Chairperson, 21st Century (Pty) Limited

Kings Ballroom

12:30 – 13:15

Lunch - Visit to Exhibition Area and Networking - Superbowl

13: 15 – 14:00

IPM Annual General Meeting - Kings Ballroom

TIME 14:00 – 14:45

KRATAN BREAKAWAY

LUPATA BREAKAWAY

CHAWA BREAKAWAY

SESSION 1

SESSION 2

SESSION 3

SESSION 4

4IR / AI

Research & HCM Reporting

Total Wellness

Digital & The Gig Economy

PDA-Africa Leadership Tomorrow Masterclass Mr Wade Cooper Chief Executive Officer: PDA International Mr Gordon Cousins Chairman, Business Today

Transformation in South Africa: Asset Management Annual Survey Results Ms Lameez Amlay Managing Director 27Four Investment Manager Human Capital Disclosure Through Integrated Reporting <IR> Dr Mpho D. Magau Lecturer & Researcher University of Johannesburg

Panel Discussion Programs that are super-fit for a connected workplace and world - Why the workplace is an important setting for health protection Dr Fundile Nyati Chief Executive Officer Proactive Health Solutions (Pty) Limited Mr Timothy Maurice Webster Author, Brain & Brand Science Timothy Maurice & Associates Dr Etienne Van Der Walt Chief Executive Officer Neurozone Human Capital Products

15:30 – 15:50

KINGS BALLROOM BREAKAWAY

Refreshments – Visit to Exhibition & Networking Area - Superbowl

Panel Discussion Fearless Leadership through Digitizing the Workplace Dr Timothy Hutton Director: Short Courses and Consulting, Wits Commercial Enterprise Mr Gavin Olivier Senior Partner & Managing Executive Wits Digital Campus Mr Irwin van Stavel Managing Director LRMG

TIME 16:00 - 17:30

KRATAN BREAKAWAY

LUPATA BREAKAWAY SESSION 6

SESSION 5

Employee Engagement Leadership for Change Culture transformation with bottom line impact at Coca-Cola Devland: a case study Ms Alinda Nortjie Chief Executive Officer, Free To Grow

The Constancy of Transformation: Embedding Lasting Change through Empathetic Leadership.

Ms Carol Hondonga, Global Talent Leader, GE Healthcare

First line leaders: A weak link in the engagement Lessons from Fearless Leaders chain Ms Mmatjatji Edelstein Director, Free To Grow

Mr Nhlanhla Qwabe Founder & Director Muntamu Holdings (Pty) Limited

CHAWA BREAKAWAY

KINGS BALLROOM BREAKAWAY

SESSION 7

SESSION 8

e-Learning

Labour Law, Cases, Rulings & Future

Panel Discussion Use of e-learning in the HR industry for the employment process, workplace learning and in-house skills development Mr Eugene Beetge CEO Tuit Online Mr Martin Pienaar COO, Mindworx Academy

Panel Discussion Con Court Rulings: * Derivative misconduct; * New CCMA rules on Rule 25 representations VS Rule 25 Practice Act; Principles to suspension Dr Brian Van Zyl Managing Director, Van Zyl Rudd & Associates Marijuana: Addressing Impairment / Intoxication in the Workplace Dr Natalie Skeepers Consultant How Leadership Motivated & Retained Employees – A Water Case Study Mr Saki Makume Group Employee Relations Manager Rand Water

TIME 17:45 – 18:30

SESSION Plenary Presentation Leading Through Times of Turbulence

SPEAKER Mr Lincoln Mali Head: Group Card & Emerging Payments, Standard Bank

VENUE Kings Ballroom

Official Opening & Cocktails - Superbowl 18:45 – 22:00

Welcome Address

Ms Felleng Yende Chief Executive Officer Prize Giving Draws, Spot Prizes, FP&M SETA (Platinum Sponsor) Networking and Cocktails

Superbowl

TIME

SESSION

SPEAKER

VENUE

05:30 – 06:30

Sunrise Wellness Intelligence Coaching

Facilitator: Ms Shantal Dietrich Personal Trainer, MyLifeWellness

Cabanas - Poolside

08:00 – 08:15

Welcome and Recap

Esra Overberg Programme Director

Kings Ballroom

08:15 – 09:00

Plenary Presentation New horses for new courses: Building Leadership Capability for Large Scale Change, Competitiveness and Complexity

Professor Nick Binedell Professor of Strategy & Leadership Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria

Kings Ballroom

09:00 – 09:45

Plenary Presentation Future Proof your Leadership

Dr Alex Granger Founder & International Speaker, Twice Blue (Pty) Limited

Kings Ballroom

09:45 – 10:30

Plenary Presentation Fearless HR Leadership (inspired by Forman and Ulrich)

Professor Shirley Zinn Kings Ballroom Non-Executive Director of Boards Adjunct Professor, Zinn Consulting

10:30 – 11:00

Refreshments – Visit to Exhibition Area and Networking - Superbowl

11:00 – 11:45

Plenary Presentation Leadership and Unconscious Bias

Ms Marlinie Ramsamy Chief Executive Officer, FranklinCovey South Africa

Kings Ballroom

11:45 – 12:30

Plenary Presentation Mind & Body Personal Brand Wellness Intelligence (WQ) – The Power of a Brain and Body Connection

Mr Timothy Maurice Webster Author, Brain & Brand Science, Timothy Maurice & Associates

Kings Ballroom

Ms Shantal Dietrich Personal Trainer, MyLifeWellness

12:30 – 13:30

Lunch - Visit to Exhibition Area and Networking - Superbowl

13:30 – 14:15

Plenary Presentation People Management in the Public Service – Transitioning into the Now Future

Dr Richard Levin Director General, Public Service & Administration, South African Government

Kings Ballroom

TIME 14:15 - 15:30

KRATAN BREAKAWAY

LUPATA BREAKAWAY

CHAWA BREAKAWAY

KINGS BALLROOM BREAKAWAY

SESSION 9

SESSION 10

SESSION 11

SESSION 12

Essential Skills & Reporting

4IR & Disruption of HCM

Courageous & Mindful Leadership

Authentic Leadership Masterclass

Outcomes of the National Skills Development Plan (NSDP) and Employability

Panel Discussion

Courageous Authenticity in the Service of Self, Team & Organisation I Serve

Are we complicit in our own oppression at work?: A case study of authentic leadership in a multinational company

Mr PK Naiker General Manager: Research, Planning & Reporting, FP&MSETA Mr Nico Landman Head of Department, Didactic SADC FESTO

Effective leadership in the 4th Industrial Revolution and the new role of human capital Mr Thabelo Siala Group Chief Executive Officer, TIPP Focus How HR can manage the Disruptive Road ahead

Mr Goodnews Codagon Director, The Village Leadership Consulting Leadership tools that foster inclusivity and collaboration amongst teams

Dr Ruwayne Kock Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Authentic Organizations

Ms Charmaine Mr Rob Bothma HCM Solutions Architect, Kobrowisky Executive, HR Oracle Transaction Capital Recoveries 15:30 – 16:00

Refreshments – Visit to Exhibition & Networking Area - Superbowl

16:00 – 17:45

Visit Exhibition Area and Networking - Superbowl & Made-in-South Africa Showcase (Fashion)

18:45 – 22:00

IPM EXCELLENCE AWARDS & GALA DINNER, Kings Ballroom Keynote Address: Ms Felleng Yende, Chief Executive Officer, FP& M SETA Guest Speaker: Mr Max Moyo, Author & International Public Speaker

TIME

SESSION

SPEAKER

VENUE

08:00 – 08:15

Welcome and Recap

Esra Overberg Programme Director

Kings Ballroom

08:15 – 09:00

Plenary Presentation Gaining power and influence at work to get things done

Professor Samuel Azasu Associate Professor, (Real Estate) Wits School of Construction Economics & Management

Kings Ballroom

09:00 – 09:45

Mr Ashish Goverdhan Das Plenary Presentation HR Analytics - The next big growth Associate Vice President driver for HR Professionals & IOT Leader, Corporate Business, Jigsaw Academy, India

09:45 – 10:30

Plenary Presentation Transcending the status quo: The leader as activist

10:30 – 11:00

Refreshments and Networking

11:00 – 11:45

Kings Ballroom

Dr Andrew Johnson Chief Learning Officer, Eskom Holdings SOC

Kings Ballroom

Plenary Presentation Empowering the workforce for the digital age: Leveraging the fourth industrial revolution

Dr Puleng Makhoalibe Head: Innovation, Creativity & Entrepreneurship (ICE), Henley Business School, Africa

Kings Ballroom

11:50 – 12:45

Plenary Presentation Lift as You Rise – Business, Leadership and Personal Journey

Mr Bonang Mohale Author of ‘Lift As You Rise’.

Ex CEO Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA)

Kings Ballroom

12:45 – 12:55

Closing Address

Mr Bhabhalazi Bulunga President, IPM

Kings Ballroom

12:55 – 13:00

Vote of Thanks & Closure

Dr Jerry Gule CEO, IPM

Kings Ballroom

13:00 – 14:00

Lunch