People Dynamics - January-March 2018

WWW.IPM.CO.ZA JANUARY-MARCH 2018 VOL36 NO.1

IPMACE2017

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

PROACTIVE, RESPONSIVE & VISIONARY LEADERSHIP

Digi-Age Leadership

SPECIAL

CREDIBILITY UNDER SCRUTINY

The SA Context

“THUMAMINA” BREAK OF A NEW DAWN WELLNESS ISSUES

LIVING WITH PERFECTIONISM

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

CONTENTS

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4

10

20

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Become a leader!

2

New Beginnings

3

Career Moves

4

HR Disruption

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Performance Rating

10

Performance Improvement

12

Perfectionism

18

Employee Wellbeing

20

Professional Vulnerabilities

22

Safeguarding Employee Interests

24

Reconstructing Work - Deloitte Review

27

IPM Convention

29

Group Learning

50

Leadership Lessons - Esidimeni

52

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Leadership

“ThumaMina!”

HAVE YOU TAKEN UP YOUR CHALLENGE YET?

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r Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa has accepted the role of President of South Africa, and has issued an invitation to all to take up their calling to serve their country. Of course, he gets paid to lead South Africa. Should you be asking who will pay you for serving the country?

How about getting a thank you from your own grandkids, some day, for a wonderful initiative you started in your community? How about getting a standing ovation at a company awards ceremony for having proved selfless and dedicated in delivering your duties despite challenging conditions? How about getting daily thank you’s from colleagues you help through rough days at work, or from subordinates that you give upbuilding feedback to? And how about receiving a thank you letter from an intern whose life you have changed by offering mentorship beyond the call of the job? How about a wave on your social media pages from an old coachee whom you supported through difficult patches of her career? And how about the gratitude of that employee who was at the verge of being ‘worked out of the system’ because line couldn’t relate to; and instead of firing, you helped him flourish in a different department or environment? How about the arrogant but grateful nod from your executive for having tactfully coached him/her out of brat behaviour that constantly embarrassed the organisation whenever s/he interacted with stakeholders?

How about getting a shaky thank you from an elderly neighbour whose home you have helped clean or from that young orphaned child you regularly take a sandwich to? How about the thank you from people you have taken into your home when theirs were broken, and helped towards re-building and establishing wholesome lives of their own? How PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

about a smile from someone you have given a hand with a baby at a supermarket? Wouldn’t that be worthy payment for your efforts, or do you hanker after thank you in Rand and dollars?

There’s a lot of good every one of us can do, if we just accept the challenge of making our own corner of the world a better, morally cleaner and healthier place.

As people managers and human resource practitioners, we have the opportunity to shape lives, nurture people’s development and carve the country’s future leadership. You are favourably positioned to call out corporate evil when you see it or shabby performance when you spot it; to defend the disenfranchised and empower the disempowered with knowledge of their responsibilities and accountabilities, and with an understanding of their rights.

You have the ear of leadership and the hand of the employee, as much as you have the hand of the leader and the ear of the employee.

Recognise this power and use it to the success and sustainability of the operation; to the growth and upliftment of every employee, and ultimately to the prosperity of the country. In the words of the President of the IPM Board, Mr Bulunga, this is time for activism. The success of organisations and the growth of the country lie in HR taking up the challenge to lead a transformation that equips and energises South Africans to live their full potential through meaningful work.

And, in the words of the late legend, “Bro Hugh Masekela” and the spirit of accountable leadership inspired by the country’s president, Mr Ramaphosa, let each of us lift our feet and extend our hands in worthy service of our country: “Send me!”

New Beginnings

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New Beginnings E

very day is an opportunity to begin anew. To try again. To right the wrongs. To do better. To be better. To be the you you’ve wished for.

The secret is planning. Getting the “what” and the “how” right.

This is something you can do by yourself and on your own. But, you may decide that it’s something you want to do with someone else. You can get a friend or colleague with similar goals and you can support and peer-coach each other. Alternatively, you may decide to get a professional to help keep you on track. A coach may work through the plan with you, tapping into your ideals to find out what you really want to achieve (and why) – to establish your determination and level of commitment, then work with you on the how: to determine what you see as the best route, based on pros and cons, the demands and the effort it will entail.

Change is never easy. It requires a continuous effort to stay on track and it is a battle to kick off old habits. But if you know why you want the change, and you know the cost of keeping the old ways, it makes it so much easier to focus.

Today may be your day 60 or 90 on a new course. In that case, we wish you staying power and success in achieving your goal, and in pursuing the best YOU that you can be. If starting off, today can be the day before day 1. You are welcome to set the goals for the change you wish to make, then draw the plan, identify the support mechanisms – what you will avoid and whom you will co-opt on the journey – the

resources you will need and how you will maintain them.

Remember to identify the areas of your life that need the most and immediate attention, among which might be your career development, emotional health, financial stability, physical wellness, spiritual connectedness, social network, domestic affairs, relationship success, community outreach, personal management – all of which contribute toward your personal growth and wellbeing.

If you find yourself struggling in any way or at any stage, you can always shout. Reach out to a group of life scholars, human resource professionals, personal mastery coaches and career mentors. That’s the pleasure of being part of a professional body – particularly a ‘people management’ professional body. People management starts with you – personal mastery and self-management.

An early start with your year-plan and a programme that sees you through several milestones, balancing all aspects of your life will set you up for greater waves of success. Nothing worthwhile comes easy, but having others doing it with you makes it so much more fun. We are here to help you chalk up your achievements (CPD logging); to offer guidance (professional advice and tools), support (development programmes and specialist referrals) and encouragement (mentoring and coaching) - exactly what every professional needs.

Here’s to positive change, growth and success through 2018!

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Career Moves

CAREER MOVES AND URBAN MOBILITY-

COUNTING THE COSTS

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

Career Moves

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f course, you are excited about the job offer or the prospective promotion! The question is: have you counted the costs – the real costs? While hidden costs can come from many unexpected angles, where personal sacrifices are to be made socially, domestically or otherwise, we look at just a few changes in your work conditions that could present hidden costs – particularly those affecting travel and mobility.

Responsibilities that come with a new job may require that you review the means and pattern of your travel.. In certain cases, a new job requires visiting branches or clients, which may compel you to drive.

DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE ACCESS TO A CAR?

If so, how reliable is it? Can it hold up to the demands of your new responsibilities? If not, can you afford to buy a more reliable car instantly? The banks are ever eager to finance your dream wheels the minute you have secured the job. And, car dealers will dangle all sorts of deals at you. If you can’t afford to buy a good car for cash, and have to enter into a financial arrangement - does the additional income cover the extra budget you need for installments?

Before you commit, ask yourself: i. With more travel, would you be faced with longer, predictable distance travel or more of frequent ad-hoc trips?

If buying a car or financing a vehicle lease will strain your budget, ii. could you accept the job and rely on public transport, e.g. a bus, a train, a taxi, or arrange a lift club? iii. Do the train- or bus-hours suit your working hours? iv. Does the train or bus drop you off at a safe spot within walking distance to work and home?

Would the bus-route traffic compromise arrival times for work?

Would you always have to leave much earlier to make it to work in time, and/or eat up much homeward commute time?

How reliable is the bus service?

If you find a taxi more convenient, v. do the taxis working the route take passenger safety seriously?

If a lift club is an option, vi. will the company be comfortable? vii. Does it allow you to read and “work” while in transit as you might have been able to do in public mass transport? viii. Are relationships in the lift-club secure, simple and uncomplicated?

If the new job involves unpredictable movement, ix. can you afford on-call taxis each time you need to get to business meetings?

These questions are to be asked against the following: LESS FLEXIBLE WOR REQUIREMENTS

i.

Company’s business model and structure.

Professional service organisations would generally offer more flexibility than physical service companies that use equipment, components and require process coordination, monitoring and approvals; or compared to manufacturing entities with production plants, logistics, physical contractor involvement, short-term procurement requirements, monitoring, and high stakes in physical quality control. ii. Job flexibility – self-contained role with little immediate impact on others.

If, for instance, your role is strategy development, planning,

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conceptualisation and design, there may be limited reasons for you to be in the office. Such a job may also allow you to put in the hours it takes to deliver outside of standard working hours, thereby working very early mornings or late into the evenings. iii. Customer service - requirements as far as being physically on-call for clients’ service: interactions with customers or with fellow employees in order to discharge your responsibility iv. Company policy on working hours or flexi-time. Irrespective of the nature of your job, companies in certain fields have restrictions imposed by legislation or industry standards based on security, safety or work collaboration requirements. v. Operational seniority.

Senior personnel require flexibility to respond to operational needs. Operational oversight requires management by observation, accessibility and availability of seniors for emergencies or impromptu, informal engagements. Early starts or late finishes offer one the opportunity to reflect, review strategies and performance, identify improvement opportunities and enhance service quality and compliance – which things may be pushed to the periphery during the normal working day.

While travel-specific costs are relatively straight forward and easy to work out, other costs relating to a new role or responsibilities may not be obvious. vi. People governance protocols and management role Often, protocols will require the physical presence of a senior officer to approve, sign off or co-sign recommendations from his team. It is likely that accompanying paperwork would need some scrutiny, or a discussion be held to interrogate the required approval, particularly where ad hoc activity is concerned.

In management, it is ideal to make time for informal business/ work discussions to pick up the mood among your team and climate in the organisation.

While travel-specific costs are relatively straight forward and easy to work out, other costs relating to a new role or responsibilities may not be obvious.

A promotion may mean: DRESS CODE

i.

dress code may be required as part of corporate identity for specific roles in the company, particularly in front-line positions.

If you come from the liberated world of jeans and tees, you have to brace yourself for change.

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Career Moves

Front line positions are recognised as the face of the organisation, and often require a specific dress code, even a uniform, as part of corporate brand strategy. A specific corporate look is designed to project a certain image to the customers and to differentiate the company from its competitors.

Frontline uniform may be fully or partially funded by the organisation, but upkeep usually falls squarely on the shoulders of the employee. Costs may creep in from maintaining the uniform in good condition and from replacement of damaged units.

Should you struggle with weight fluctuation, you would have to bear the cost of ad-hoc purchases or alterations – something easily absorbed by your own clothing range, were you free to pick anything from your existing wardrobe.

Whether the company enforces it or not, a corporate uniform is enhanced by a certain look, which may cost you extra on grooming, deportment and accessories. ii. dress code may apply as a means of promoting equity.

An organisation with employees coming from diverse communities and social backgrounds may promote the use of uniform to allay perceptions of economic imbalance and feelings of selfconsciousness. This often happens in retail or rural operations.

While this potentially represents a saving for the employee in the long-term, initial costs of building up the uniform may eat on the anticipated salary. iii. dress code may be enforced for legislative reasons pertaining to security and safety of the employee The reverse may be true in certain cases. For instance, you may have to wear uniform in your current role, or perhaps can get away with jeans and tees. At a higher level job uniform may not apply. While new-found wardrobe freedom may be exciting, it may result to more of your salary being allocated to building a work wardrobe.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

With a new wardrobe comes image transformation or upgrade.

Although totally optional, the upgrades could make it easy for you to blend in or to make a statement of growth intent.

Early arrivals or departures at the office may cost you extra on meals you have to buy as opposed to having all meals with family at home. The new hours may also require new domestic arrangements such as school after-care for your child or the acquiring of a full time housekeeper, driver and so on. While these conveniences make your life easy at your new job, they come with multiple price tags. A rand or dollar cost as well as a non-quantifiable cost in family bonding and emotional security owing to less contact and communication.

To compensate for less family time and for perceptions that you are moving up while other members of the family aren’t necessarily climbing with you, you may develop bad bribery tendencies. Dishing out more pocket money than warranted or giving more entertainment allowance for the family to busy themselves and fill the time of your absence. Money can be used in many good ways, but in young, inexperienced hands, it may also be used for unwelcome recreation – experimenting with tobacco, alcohol and drugs. There are almost as many incidents of drug abuse that come from social deprivation as there are from privilege. It is often not a poor kid who makes the headlines for killing a parent in drunken stupor or in a drug daze.

While the job change and upward mobility in one’s career is a good thing, care should be taken that one’s lifestyle is not negatively impacted, and that the things that matter most are not neglected, such as one’s family relationships and spirituality. These are the things that will support you through your career and sustain you beyond it. Job security is increasingly becoming elusive. So, even though you have to keep a positive outlook by enjoying the privileges and advantages brought about by a new position, it is important to keep yourself grounded.

Make sure that your career move doesn’t end up being a cost in the

Career Moves

long-term. Sacrifices are to be made for one to reach out for growth, but they shouldn’t be at the cost of more important things in life. And best of all, where you can help it, avoid getting into long-term debt to finance a new job. Rather keep living within your means. If you have increased need for transport, for instance, consider relying on public transport and take advantage of the new taxi structures in the country – where a taxi can pick you up pretty much anywhere at reasonable cost.

Don’t be duped into ‘buying’ a car because a job requires “own transport”. Whether the transport is required because of awkward working hours or because of location, you can always call a taxi, and build the taxi fare into your budget, without adding the burden of loan repayments, insurance, fuel, motor-plan or service and maintenance. If your job requires that you are on the road for most of the day, the company should provide the vehicle – because that makes it a work tool. If the company needs you to have your own vehicle for this type of work, then you should make sure that all car-related costs are covered as cost of work rather than as part of your salary.

Of course, it might mean when you move jobs to a role that doesn’t require a vehicle, you would lose the portion of income that was attributed to the vehicle.

Contrary to age-old belief, buying a car is not an investment unless you have tons of spare cash to pay for it. Although car dealers have

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long reduced monthly repayments to make ‘purchase’ affordable to almost any professional with regular income, the balloon payments at the end of the contract term place the buyer in yet another difficult spot – where you either have to take another loan to pay off the balloon and finally own the car, or, your balloon amount compounds the debt for the next upgrade car that the dealer interests you to buy, with the carrot that a new car will be fully maintained, costing you “nothing”. But of course, there’s still fuel, insurance, tyres, battery replacement, and other costs you are responsible for, but no dealer will harp on these while trying to make a sale.

In the end, you remain forever indebted. If somehow, you choose to pay off the balloon and keep the car, you suddenly have to bear increasing costs as one car part needs replacement after the other.

So, when you plan to take up a job, calculate the direct and indirect costs related to maintaining the specific job and keep these aside from your real earnings. What’s left should be able to cover your bills, maintain your general lifestyle and preferably allow you to build a savings that will cover emergencies and afford you some luxuries such as travel now and again, or help you with other life goals such as furthering your studies or building long-term investments.

Before you sign up for that job, have you counted your real career costs?

If you are not an academic, on the other hand, and the mention of research and protracted studies distress you, you may be the kind who learnt through life, living and practice.

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Career Moves

RECOGNITION where it counts the most

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hereas qualification, certification and designation matter, it is essential for people management and HR professionals to appreciate that the collective impact of HR is what brings credibility to the profession.

Professor Dave Ulrich who needs no introduction, has had predictions of what will count the most through 2018 as he discussed disruptions in HR, in an interview with HR Leads Business. As he professed during his 2016 South African Tour hosted by BRG, the most obvious disruption in HR will relate to FOCUS.

off qualifications. Talent development involves shaping leadership capabilities in each individual – irrespective of level of operation.

Self-leadership is what motivates and drives delivery and stimulates creativity and innovation that set an organisation apart. So, for all those HR executives whose talent development was inward driven, it is high time to turn the focus towards ensuring that people-related investment is to drive organisational improvements continually.

COMMITMENT VS COMPETENCY FOCUS

A shift looms from competency toward employee commitment, thus focus moving from “right skills, right place, right time” to employee HR tends to be very particular about the functions of HR; the engagement and finding meaning from work people do. This shift talks processes, protocols and standards it enforces and procedures followed to performance drive and motivation of employee’s delivery. Anyone – which is necessary and commendable. This, however, is no guarantee working for a salary may pursue success at all costs – using skills and that HR will add value to the organisation and make a difference intelligence while applying little conscience and customer or societal between an organisation’s success and demise. Hence, the focus has to empathy to his actions. It takes skill to manipulate company books shift to the value that the function adds through and successfully pull wool over investors’ eyes, its activity. It’s not enough to tick boxes that the and it takes some competence to know what Perhaps you would care to department has recruited to fill all vacancies, short cuts to pull in engineering to let products share about Ulrich’s other held an induction twice a year, conducted through without the proper environmental disruptions, which include: training for 10 departments and received 100% tests. And if the eye of an individual is • Collective Leadership performance appraisal submissions from line purely on surpassing competition and not on vs Individual Leadership management; or that 4 staff wellness days were protecting the reputation of the organisation, Focus; held and that employee awards and retirement the organisation may well end up paying for functions were attended by all senior executives. “great skill” long after the clever engineer or • Credible Activist vs Trusted Recognition for HR lies in the value that the account-wiz has made his or her exit from the Advisor; function brings to the organisation and adds to organisation. So yes, while it is key to have the • People Technology vs the line functions. Over 2016 and 2017, IPM right skill for the right job, companies need to Administrative Technology; coaching interventions have been helping HR invest in the right hearts as well. Reputation • Business vs HR analytics practitioners and people managers measure costs incurred by the likes of Ford, Volkswagen, focus their impact by evaluating and measuring Steinhoff, KPMG, Enterprise attest to this. The the C’s they offer the organisation through its effects are not only felt in the markets or share programmes and human capital. Other than policy and legislation prices, but the entire organisation is affected. Corporate pride is eroded compliance, HR needs prove its value-add through increased and whatever EVP or employer brand one had established is gone, and competencies, capabilities, capacity, culturally-diverse corporate fit, recovery is a steep climb. cost-effectiveness, continuous Improvement, all of which should give the organisation a competitive edge as far human capital is concerned.

CAPABILITIES VS STRUCTURE FOCUS There is no doubt that lean and mean is light on the pocket and offer ORGANISATION VS TALENT FOCUS more versatility. Huge corporations are working to streamline and In this regard, Ulrich’s research conducted among some 1 200 automate as much as possible, to focus on what they do best and businesses and over 30 000 respondents shows that “organisation uniquely for the market. So, while HR seniority and capability used to improvements have four times the impact on business results as talent be rated on the number of staff on the payroll or where the HR manager investments”. There is recognition that individuals are champions, sat in the organisational hierarchy, focus will move more toward the and People Dynamics has to believe that people were the initiators, personal capabilities (individually or collectively for a department) implementers and overseers of whatever organisation improvements and the effectiveness in the support of the organisation – not on the are introduced. For people to have achieved this, they would have had size or complexity of the structure. In the olden days, the number of to be strategically recruited, appropriately motivated and correctly layers seemed to suggest the strength of the organisation and therefore trained – whether within the organisation or prior to joining. The latter the amount of job security one could enjoy; that has become a fallacy. would have put a premium on the recruits as they would have known Success is based on companies’ capabilities, including leveraging of their worth. While there is agreement that organisation deserves information, culture, agility, collaboration and innovation, according to more focus by HR managers, it is from the point of view of focusing Ulrich’s studies. The good thing is that, these are capabilities that HR talent development and talent management toward achievement of can focus on building among its employees, irrespective of the size of organisational goals, rather than doing it for its own sake or to show organisation and complexity.

BUSINESS VERSUS HR FOCUS

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

Career Moves

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WHEN CAN DEBTS BE RECOVERED FROM EMPLOYEES?

The starting point in answering this question is Section 34(1) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act [1]. It provides that employers may deduct an amount from an employee’s remuneration only if the employee has consented thereto in writing or the deduction is permitted in terms of a law, collective agreement, court order or arbitration award.

HOW CAN DEBTS BE RECOVERED?

Section 34(2) of the BCEA provides for deductions from remuneration where the employer has suffered losses or damage on account of the employee and a specific process is provided for prior to the deduction of monies which is, in short, the following: • The loss/damage occurred due to the employee’s fault during the course of his/her employment; • A fair procedure has been followed, including giving the employee an opportunity to give reasons why the loss/ damage should not be deducted; • The deduction does not exceed the cost of the loss/ damage; • The deductions do not exceed a quarter of an employee’s monthly salary.

• The losses/ damages suffered by an employer may arise from a variety of causes of action, including overpayments made to the employee.

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IF THE STATE IS THE EMPLOYER?

DEBT COLLECTION OF

FROM EMPLOYEES

BY: ALEX DAVIES, Johanette Rheeder Inc.

INTRODUCTION:

From time to time employers are faced with a situation where an employee is indebted to the employer. In some cases, the recovery of the debt is simple and painless however in other cases the situation can lead to significant difficulties and discord.

The aim of this article is to provide readers with an overview of the legal position and the procedures which should be followed in these circumstances.

The Public Service Act [2] provides in section 38 thereof for the deduction of moneys from the remuneration of employees of the State, without the need for compliance with a process as set out hereinabove. The effect of this is that the State was able to unilaterally decide to impose deductions on an employee without the employee’s consent thereto.

In the recent judgment of the Constitutional Court in Public Servants Association obo Ubongo vs Head of Department of Health, Gauteng and Others [3] it was found that this ‘self-help’ provision was an unlawful limitation on section 34 of the Constitution and was consequently declared unconstitutional and invalidated.

As a result of this judgment, the State is placed in the same position as any other employer in the recovery of debt from its employees.

CONCLUSION:

As employees are required to consent in writing to the deduction of monies from their remuneration it is advisable to obtain such consent from all employees prior to any damages or losses being suffered. This may be done through the incorporation of a clause to such effect in their contracts of employment. Thereafter should the position arise where monies need to be recovered they should only be recovered after a fair process has been followed. Deductions must be made within the prescribed limit of a quarter of an employee’s monthly remuneration [1] Act 75 of 1997, as amended [2] Act 103 of 1994 [3] Unreported judgment under case number CCT6/17 OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

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Performance

HOW TO TAKE THE AMBIGUITY OUT

OF PERFORMANCE RATINGS. BY: DESHUN DEYSEL, MD of Deshun Deysel & Associates

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nless you’ve been living under a rock in that past few months, you’ll have noticed that there’s a major buzz about ditching Annual Performance Reviews. Global organisations like EY and Deloitte have already started to implement ways to replace the annual Performance Appraisal, and many companies are soon to follow.

But, what do you do in its place? According to numerous studies [Harvard Business Review, Deloitte University Press and Gallup to name a few] the 21st Century workforce requires ongoing feedback and coaching. In other words, they want continuous conversations about how they’re doing and what they could do to improve.

According to research out of the most recent Gallup ReEngineering Performance Management document: “ Performance is not an episodic event — it happens every day. Continual coaching helps managers and employees create an ongoing dialogue about performance expectations and individualized developmental needs.

By creating an ongoing conversation about performance, barriers can be removed, opportunities can be seized and expectations can be adjusted when circumstances change [pg.20].”

Here’s a tip; why not get employees to evaluate themselves against their highest expectations? Before you line me up against a wall and stone me for committing HR Heresy, consider the following....

The majority of your workforce already does personal (and daily) check-ins through platforms like Instagram, Facebook as well as a myriad of Apps which counts steps, calories, water intake, etc. So, they’re used to self-evaluation in a way that previous generations are not. I’m specifically referring to Millennials and young Gen-xers here.

You might argue that they use filters to position themselves in the best light possible. That is true. However, if the self-reflection platform PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

is psychologically robust, digitised and benchmarked against actual performance on an ongoing basis, then there’s very little room to airbrush reality.

As a Manager or HR Leader, do you get night-sweats the evening before Performance Appraisal Day? There’s unbelievable evidence to indicate that no-one enjoys this process. It stirs up loads of anxiety, which causes both evaluator and ‘evaluatee’ to do whatever is necessary to get out of the meeting - fast! Using a digitised platform, which can provide you with a performance dashboard of your team at any time, helps to stay on track, reduces admin significantly and focuses on why you’re actually there - to be part of a team, which produces results and increases productivity.

Ever heard of subconscious bias? Off course you have. Traditional Performance reviews are wide open to the subjective lens of the evaluator.

According to Gallup “Performance management conversations have a history of being one-sided and one-dimensional. Too often, managers set the same expectations for all employees, forcing people into the same model or peer-to-peer comparison group.”

The danger is that Managers are more likely to give positive feedback to employees who have a similar work-ethic, personality or even cultural background as themselves. An objective self-reflection removes the sub-conscious bias of the manager and helps the employee benchmark against clearly set and previously agreed goals.

In short, the game of Human Capital is changing. There are new rules. One of those rules is to provide ongoing feedback and coaching.

It is therefore imperative for leaders in HR to add the vital skill of coaching to their managerial handbook.

“Employees who receive daily feedback from their managers are 3 times more likely to be engaged than those who receive feedback once a year or less.” [Gallup 2017]

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Performance Standard

SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION Project and Change Management by any other name!

Part 6 of a series of articles on the 10 standards for Performance Improvement BY: BELIA NEL, founder and CEO: Improvid Performance Consulting

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

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n our quest to improve performance and change productivity we are sometimes overwhelmed with the pressure of speed of delivery, speed to market, speed to satisfy clients’ needs, speed to execute to earn credibility and build relationships. In short, time is of the essence and we live in a society of immediate gratification and quick fixes. Every manager and project owner has to balance this with quality, budget control, cost cutting and achieving more with less.

Moreover we are also overwhelmed with tools, methodologies and processes to ensure quality implementation of projects. In this quest we lose sight of the end result and the value-add. We jump to implementation and quickly form a project team, change management

Performance Standard

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As a recap of what was discussed in previous articles, the first four standards are known as principles, as they are the lenses through which we apply systematic methodology of consulting and managing.

Our methodology guides us to how we do it. In part 3 of our series, we started the consulting process by determining “where is the gap?” In part 4, we uncovered the importance of data and cause analysis.

In this article, I will focus on the eighth and nine standard.

STANDARD 8: Ensure Solutions’ Conformity and Feasibility

Standard 8 of the International Standards for Performance Improvement deals with solutions’ conformity and feasibility.

STANDARD 9: Implement Solutions

Standard 9 of the International Standards for Performance Improvement deals with implementation.

Standard 8

Competent practitioners and project owners oversee the development of the solutions. They may develop some or all of the solutions or be a member of the development team. They: • Compare the solution elements to the design specifications.

• And an important point to remember is what the client brief was originally. Does it match it? Will we be able to measure the performance improvement gap and quantify results for the client?

• Make sure solution elements are developmentally tested.

• Use the appropriate testing mechanism and method.

• Make sure the solutions are feasible and work as intended.

• This has to closely match the design specification and the original request of client.

• Arrange to pilot test the overall solution.

• Oversee improvements and changes based on the results of the tests.

Standard 9:

Competent practitioners and project owners develop strategies that allow clients to sustain change. They: • Develop messages that clients can use to communicate what is being done, why, and when.

• Develop tools and feedback mechanisms so people can monitor their own progress.

• Draft messages clients can use to report progress.

• Facilitate discussion on how to address deviations from the plan.

• Advise clients how to manage changes in practices so gains are sustained.

team and communication team to show activity. And usually we jump to the fad of the month – is it digital, is it agile, is it scrum or lean thinking to name but a few.

This article is not about evaluating any tool or application – but to provide the “back-to-basics” of holistic thinking of performance. This article is a reminder about the importance of solutions’ conformity to quality and to what the original agreed performance need or opportunity is and secondly, what to consider during implementation.

In a series of articles, I will focus on the 10 Standards for Performance Improvement. You can find a full explanation of these standards at www.ispi.org

We are accountable for clients’ responsibility for the success of the change as part of the total application of the 10 Standards for Performance Improvement. This is an important aspect as our credibility as valued partners of performance is critical. The other important aspect is the clients’ comfort to communicate progress, results, value and benefits to all stakeholders.

We will use many tools to bring about sustainable change in performance – we will definitely use any number of project management tools and methodologies. We may also use change management tools to sensitise people, prepare the landscape, and adopt new behaviours and to develop the materials and messages for successful completion.

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Performance Standard

Figure 1

1. Conditions and environement

Organisational (workplace factors to consider) External logic

Economic logic

Operational (process factors to consider) Strategic logic

Client logic

Services logic

People (work factors to consider) Process logic

Internal logic

2. Outputs / Targets

3. Process steps

4. Input

(Resources, budget, information)

5. Receiving system

(internal and external Clients and/or stakeholders

6. Consequences

7. Feedback

Application Tool and Worksheets

1.1.2 Demographic

Because project management is such an important part of our work I am including a tool (refer figure 1) and questionnaire worksheet to customise for your own application. The benefit and value of using this holistic approach to scope a project at the start to ensure results at the end: • A holistic view to scope and plan a project – all possibilities are considered in a systemic and systematic way.

• All project team members are involved from the start to final project delivery. They will workshop each area in the matrix of the tool with a project team.

• In this way all possible areas are considered when planning and scoping a project.

• What changes in the population/labour market are affecting this project?

• Is the labour market migrating/stable?

A set of questions are used to populate each area in the matrix.

1. Conditions and Environment 1.1 What is the external logic?

• What do we need to consider in the environment and its conditions?

• Have you checked the external environment for opportunities and threats the organisation faces, due to forces in its own industry?

• What are the general trends in the world around it? How will these opportunities, threats and trends impact the project – consider the external factors below: 1.1.1 Economic

• What changes in the economy are impacting this project?

• What is the availability of internal and private/investor/donor funding?

• What impact does the economic disruption and fluctuating interest rates have?

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

1.1.3 Political/Legal

• What changes in legislation and regulation are affecting this project?

• What are the changes in safety or environmental restrictions?

1.1.4 Technological

• What technological trends or innovations are affecting the industry and have a likely impact on the project?

1.1.5 Socio/cultural

• What changes in people’s habits, actions, beliefs, and educational levels are affecting the industries in the environment?

• What is the economic logic to consider for this project output?

– What is the impact of the economy at large or in the industry?

• What is the strategic logic to consider for the project output? – What is the purpose of organisation and the direction it is moving in, and its plans for getting there? Is this project strategically aligned with the organisation’s strategy? What is the mandate?

• What is the internal and external client and/or stakeholder logic to consider for the project output? – What is the service delivery and performance improvement plans to address the needs and expectations of the clients and/or stakeholders?

• What is the services logic to consider for the project output? – How are the organisation services differentiated and appealing to the clients/stakeholders; how is the image being viewed?

• What is the process logic to consider for this project output?

– How does the organisation deliver its service? What is the service delivery performance culture to consider?

Performance Standard

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• What is the internal logic to consider for the project output? – How does the organisation organise itself to accomplish its work?

What is the (infra) structure which supports the project deliverable?

Organisational (workplace/work environment factors to consider) • How will the conditions and factors in the environment affect the performance culture in the organisation • and what will the impact be on the leadership?

• What will the strategic impact be on poor future planning and a lack of environmental scanning?

• What will the effect of poor planning be on the service delivery mindset of the organisation?

• How will a lack of leadership support for the external environment and current conditions • Impact the strategic vision and implementation of the project?

Operational (process factors to consider) • What impact do the infrastructure and the way in which we are organised have on the project deliverables?

• What impact will the internal processes and systems have on the project deliverables?

• How will a lack of an internal service delivery mindset impact the progress of the project?

• How will cumbersome and a lack of standardisation inhibit or enhance the project deliverables?

People (worker factors to consider) • How will a lack of vision, skill or knowledge of the environment and its conditions affect the project?

• What skills, knowledge, motivation and attitude are required for the people to perform and contribute to the project?

2. Output/Target

2.1 What is the strategic objective of the project? Does it support the organisation’s strategy?

2.2 What do we need to consider in this project as a specific stakeholder output?

2.3 What is the final observable project deliverable/target?

2.4 What are the priorities associated with this project deliverable?

2.5 How will the project be measured? (How measured?)

2.6 What are the key milestones? (Measurement by when?)

2.7 What are the key indicators and standards to judge the successful performance of the output/target of the project?

2.8 What are the measurable timelines? Are these timelines realistic and achievable?

2.9 From who is internal and external support required?

2.10 What are the risks and challenges associated with the project – what could jeopardise the project?

2.11 What are the recommendations?

2.12 What is the contingent/alternative strategy to this project deliverable?

Operational (process factors to consider) • What are the operational and/or process factors that will inhibit the delivery of the project?

• How will the output be achieved?

• What procedures will be followed?

• What process steps or activities will advance the output?

People (worker factors to consider) • Do performance standards exist for the people to deliver the output?

• Do performers know the desired output to achieve the performance of the project?

• Do performers have the skill, knowledge, understanding and motivation to deliver the output?

• Do performers consider the standards attainable?

• Is there a willingness to perform?

• Are there appropriate incentives available – reward and recognition?

• Are performers physically, mentally and emotionally able to perform?

What are the observable measures/targets and have the timelines been met?

3. Process

Organisational (workplace/work environment factors to consider) • What will possibly inhibit the operational success from an organisational perspective?

• (Inhibitors like leadership incompetence, poor communication practices, lack of a performance culture, etc.?

3.1 What is the process and activities for this project?

3.2 Who are the stakeholders that will assist with the project?

3.3 What are the procedures to be followed?

3.4 What is the procurement process to be followed?

3.5 What are the possible operational and procedural factors that may affect the project delivery?

3.6 What is the contingent plan when things go wrong?

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Performance Standard

What are the observable measures/targets and have the timelines been met?

Organisational (workplace/work environment factors to consider) • What are organisational factors to consider, e.g. communication, feedback and management support?

• What will possibly inhibit the operational success from an organisational perspective?

Operational (process factors to consider) • What are the operational or procedural factors that will inhibit the process implementation of the project?

• What are the contingencies that should be in place from a process perspective?

• Is a project management plan in place?

• Are the timelines being monitored to ensure the smooth running of the project?

• Does a project management approach support the project?

People (worker factors to consider) • Are the performers familiar with the procedures and operational plans?

• Do they need coaching in the system or procedures?

• Do they need training in project management?

• Are the job procedures and workflow logical?

4. Input

4.1 What resources, budget and information are needed to deliver on the output? Are all resources readily available?

4.2 What are the budget constraints?

4.3 What are the internal and private/investor/donor requirements and funding?

4.4 What is the total expenditure for the project duration?

4.5 Who is the supplier(s)? How will the supplier be selected? (procurement) 4.6 What is the stakeholder input to the project?

4.7 What are the input delivery constraints of the project?

4.8 What is the contingent plan for insufficient resources?

What are the observable measures/targets and have the timelines been met?

Organisational (workplace/work environment factors to consider) • Are managers making resources and information available to deliver on the project?

• Are managers supportive and communicating in respect of the availability or lack of resources?

Operational (process factors to consider) • Can the task be done without interference from other tasks?

• Are procedures for procurement of resources clear?

• Will a lack of resources inhibit the operations of the deliverable output?

• What contingencies will you put in place to ensure the smooth operation of the project deliverable?

People (worker factors to consider) • Are adequate resources available for performance?

• Do performers have the knowledge and information regarding procurement procedures?

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

• Are performers briefed in terms of the standards of the input requirements?

• Can performers easily recognise the input requiring action and duties?

5. Receiving System (clients and/or stakeholders)

5.1 Who are the internal and external beneficiaries/stakeholders of this project? What are the benefits?

5.2 What are the external beneficiary/stakeholder expectations and needs of the external client/stakeholder we are delivering to?

5.3 What are the internal beneficiary expectations and needs of the client/stakeholder we are delivering to?

5.4 What are the client/stakeholder criteria for satisfaction for this project?

5.5 What are the success indicators for the client/stakeholder?

5.6 What are the expected standards of delivery to the client/ stakeholder?

5.7 What is the contingent plan for poor client/stakeholder support and buy-in?

Organisational (workplace/work environment factors to consider) • What organisational factors will inhibit delivery of the output to the client/stakeholder?

• Will leadership incompetence inhibit the speed of delivery?

• Will a lack of a performance culture inhibit the service delivery of the output?

Operational (process factors to consider) • What organisational factors will inhibit delivery of the output to the client/stakeholder?

• Will leadership incompetence inhibit the speed of delivery?

• Will a lack of a performance culture inhibit the service delivery of the output?

People (worker factors to consider) • How will you ensure that performers/project team members have adequate knowledge of the • service and client/stakeholder logic to perform?

• How will you ensure that performers/project team members understand the interconnectedness • of the components of systems thinking to perform on the project output?

• How will you ensure performers/project team members have the communication skills and • behaviour to deliver to the client/stakeholder?

6. Consequences

6.1 What is the consequence management system for the project?

6.2 What are the positive and negative consequences of this project output? What will the impact be on the project?

6.3 What is the consequence management alignment to strategy, work plans and individual plans? How are the positive and negative consequences aligned with the desired, strategic project output?

Organisational (workplace/work environment factors to consider) • How will you ensure leadership in the organisation practise consistent consequence management to • assist with the delivery of the project?

Performance Standard

7.1 What is the feedback system for this project? Who will get feedback? And how often? Who will do the feedback?

7.2 What are the feedback loops in support of the project output? Is feedback on demand or only formal? How will it be documented?

7.3 How will you ensure consistent feedback?

Operational (process factors to consider) • Is a feedback system in place in the organisation? If not, how will you overcome this?

• How does the feedback system or lack of, support the goals and objectives of the project output?

• Is there relevant and frequent feedback given for how well or how poorly a project is being performed?

People (worker factors to consider) • How will you ensure performers/project team members receive information about their performance • on a project?

• How will you ensure the information they receive is relevant, accurate, specific, constructive • and easy to understand?

• Are you and management skilled in providing feedback? If not, what will you do about it?

• Are you and management skilled and knowledgeable in interpersonal communication impact to • provide meaningful feedback on the project output? If not, what will you do about it?

Organisational (workplace/work environment factors to consider) • Are the leadership and management sufficiently skilled to provide regular, meaningful feedback?

• What are the inhibitors to a feedback system?

• How does a lack of feedback inhibit the performance delivery of the project output? What will you do about it?

Conclusion Too many project owners and performance workers jump to assumptions about solutions implementation without proper fact finding and gap analysis. We have seen so far we have to remain solution neutral until we have the data to support our decision for appropriate selection. The implementation tools you use will only be a vehicle or mechanism to provide successful implementation.

• Does the culture support consequence management for both poor and successful project delivery?

• If not, what will you do about it?

Operational (process factors to consider) • How will you ensure consequence management is practised throughout the duration of your project delivery?

People (worker factors to consider) • How will you ensure consequences are meaningful from the performers’ viewpoint?

• How will you ensure consequence management is enforced timely?

• What are the rewards (incentives) for performance?

• Are there sufficient positive consequences to perform?

• Do the performers know the disincentives to perform?

7. Feedback

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OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

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Employee wellness

THE IMPERFECTION

of perfection

I wish I knew who advised candidates that “perfectionism” was the best weakness to mention in a job interview. Not only does this fallacy take away the candidate’s authenticity, it leaves interviewers wondering about the candidate’s self-assessment abilities.

PERFECTIONISM

Perfectionism is defined as the inclination or tendency by individuals to seek perfection in certain or any aspects of their lives.

Perfectionism can have different orientations: senses e.g. visual symmetry; experience-related e.g. desire to enjoy the perfect steak, returning it several times until it’s perfect; predictability e.g. relating to plans - a strong desire to know the exact what when and how.

CHILDHOOD

A chaotic childhood has been found to lead people to a strong desire for PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

perfection in an attempt to escape the chaos or obliterate the memory of the chaos. Subconsciously the adult coming from such childhood may be trying to right what she believes was wrong with her childhood. Chaos could have come as a result of unstable family – a non-resident parent with unpredictable appearances and disappearances. Or it may be chaos brought about by an unstable economic situation, where a child could not know what to expect and when, getting her to guess whether any of the regular school requirements would be met – from school fees through getting the uniform to school trips or project participation. The unsettled uncertainty from such a life may compel an adult into an obsession about

Employee wellness

predictability and perfection.

On the flip-side, a childhood of perfection could have programmed order in the psyche of a child, to the extent that as an adult he or she cannot stomach anything less. It could be due to family routine that involved set waking times, chores programme, non-negotiable mealtimes, lesson/study schedules and expectation for perfect performance and scores.

EXPECTATIONS

Feelings of inadequacy as a child can drive you to perfectionism, particularly if a lot was expected of you and your siblings or fellow pupils. and you always felt that you fell short. That chase can still be on long after the parents are gone to care and monitor, and beyond schoolyears into your career. You may still feel that you have something to prove to your parents or those early teachers, and to yourself - that you are as good if not better than your siblings or the school stars.

Inadequacy may also emanate from having experienced life as a straight A student or top performer, and suddenly find yourself struggling keeping that record up. Your life may still be about pursuing those distinctions because you believe that’s what’s expected of you and no less.

PITFALLS

While perfection may bring about satisfaction or induce elation, an obsession with it can lead to a very miserable life. This is because a lot around us is not perfect, and having to live with that, contend with it and be part of it can drive a perfectionist up all sorts of invisible walls.

Also, when one demands nothing less of perfection, they may spend longer than necessary on simple tasks that have low impact and low priority. Losing time on non-consequential elements risks failure to accomplish more meaningful tasks. In the end, the quality of one’s work ends up compromised.

IGNORING THE IRON TRIANGE

Perfectionism can also trap one into non-delivery, where one misses deadlines due to a struggle to get absolutely everything to be perfect in all respect. Despite an accepted reality about projects that there will always be a compromise among three key elements: time, cost and quality – commonly known as the iron triangle, a perfectionist will struggle to get all these elements right, a self-sabotage that yields failure.

WELLNESS ROLLER-COASTER

The entire chase of perfection puts the addict in a constant rollercoaster of highs and lows, tugging at their psychological wellness as they deal with endless bouts of self-induced frustration, self-inflicted anger and self-condemnation and self-loathing.

Perfectionists do not stop at self-hate; their low tolerance for imperfection can lead to constant irritability and impatience with others harbouring unjustified resentment for others and hate for the world. It can make for a very sad life and tortured existence.

As a result, perfectionists may be tense – always restless, waiting for something negative to happen, denying themselves joys of the moment and denying themselves excitement coming from an experience – always scared things may go wrong, interrupting their enjoyment. They keep themselves on permanent alert mode, anxious to fix - restless and robbed of many beautiful experiences which only much later, they appreciate were career highlights.

A perfectionist can let a good life go to waste by remaining tense

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through great moments, only realise much later, when life really sucks, that they actually missed out on the best days of their lives.

In a “sick” sort of way, perfectionists mostly have their celebrations in retrospect, when they heave a sigh of relief from the fact that no disaster fell.

MANAGING A PERFECTIONIST

There is an upside! As workers, perfectionists tend, perfectionists tend to exert themselves diligently and are dependable. They are meticulous and have strong attention to detail. They are selfmotivated, are likely to take the initiative and can accomplish things without being prompted.

The best way to manage perfectionists is by breaking their assignments into defined projects and giving them a series of nonnegotiable deadlines for each milestone.

For optimum productivity, perfectionists are best working alone, in pairs or in charge of the team. Alone, they focus and push themselves

Perfectionism can also trap one into nondelivery, where one misses deadlines due to a struggle to get absolutely everything to be perfect in all respect. towards a goal. In a team, they work hard, but may also concern themselves about other people’s work and want to work, help or rescue. In charge of teams, they would be able to organise others – ensure that goals are clear, there’s a solid plan to work towards and performance is on time and on point.

They make good strategists, change agents, planners, auditors, brand managers, safety officers, quality assurance managers, accounting officers, operations executives.

While they may not be the most creative conceptually, they are resourceful and innovative in execution – to achieve a version of nearperfection that can be an asset to an organisation.

THE IMPERFECTIONS OF PERFECTIONISM

Perfectionism can be a form of addiction. In its extreme form, it can be a form of obsessive compulsive disorder. If not well-managed, it can lead to serious psychological issues and other forms of addictions, such as workaholism – to keep up performance; or substance dependencies such as alcoholism – to “cope” with stress or ease the pain of constant conflict going on in one’s mind in dealing with what is perceived as a world filled with imperfection.

PERFECTIONISTS NEED HELP

They need help to uncover unhealthy sources for their perfectionism, and resolve any underlying issues. Counselling and therapy will help save them from self-destructive obsessive tendencies and a counterproductive work life, while preserving good characteristics such as accountability, diligence and attention to detail.

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Employee wellness

WELLNESS IS A STATE OF BEING

NAVIGATING 2018 PEOPLE DYNAMICS | Jaunuary - March 2018

Employee wellness

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diet or the othermanaging stress. In this context, however, cHowever, corporate wellness is not just abouthas shifted frommonitoring physical health, buttowards a more holistic, proactively preventative approach, with the intent of increasing employee engagement, reducing absenteeism and boosting creativity and focus. Going forward, I believe that we’re likely to see athe rise inof more sophisticated and meaningful Wellness Programmes that really make a difference by focusing onkey areas like mental health,sleep, mindfulness, sufficient rest and wholesome sleeping patternsand mental health.

BY: GEORGINA BARRICK, MD, Cassel&Co, Insource IT Edge and The Working Earth

The first quarter of the year is typically spent with everyone trying to shrug off guilt about unfulfilled new-year resolutions. Some resolutions are pretty frivolous, really, but anything to do with wellness and development warrants our diligence. 2018 has started at warp speed. Or, so it seems to me. And, speaking to colleagues and friends, I’m not alone.

S

o much has happened in the firstfew weeks of the year, bringing a renewed sense of hope, optimism and positivity,coupled with an overwhelming sense thatwe havean enormous amount of workto do.

In South Africa, newleadershipis champing at the bit,we finallyhave a new President, corruption is under serious scrutinyand the mood amongst our clients is definitely more buoyant.For the first time since 2015, the Randhas brokenthe R12/$barrier. Cape Town is bracing for Day Zero and counting the potential human and business cost of being the first major city to switch off the taps, while thousands of litres of water arearrivingby truck, sent by well-meaning Joburgerswho want to assist animal shelters and the like.

For me, Personally, the first few months of 2018January seems to have passed in a blur. Despite my best intentions to consciously remain focused on my crucial purpose, my packed diary often left little space or time for focus, reflection and personal development.

If, as business leaders, we’re feeling this way, our teams most certainly are too.

The question is how best to help them – and ourselves.

One of the avenues that haves gained so much traction is corporate wellness.

For some, ‘corporate wellness’ may conjure up images of weight management programmes, Smoke-eEnders and emailers about one

In the 1980’s, sleep deprivation was considered a badge of honour.

Margaret Thatcher famously got by on only 4 hours of sleep a night, stating ‘sleep is for wimps’. Today, the Rand Corporation estimates that sleep deprivation costs US employers roughly $411 billion per annum – and everyone from Oprah to Arianna Huffington is espousing the benefits of at least 7 hours of sleep per night. Sleep improves cognitive functioning, productivity and creativity, protects the body from disease and helps keep your weight down.

I believe we’ll see business leaders tackling sleep deprivation with sleep awareness education, sleep challenges and work time naps. We may even see some providing sleep rooms or pods. Flexible hours also allow employees to better manage rest, particularly in an always-on, 24/7 world.

Mindfulness is another concept that can make a big impact.

Buddhify is a mindfulness app that offers guided meditation, with surprising results. It helps users to sleep better and helps them to find their ‘happy place’ during times of intense stress. All of which is excellent, given that studies show that people who practice meditation have stronger focus, stay calmer under stress and have better memory - just ask Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Finding ways to incorporate mindfulness and meditation into my professional environment is one of my key challenges in 2018.

Mental health issues are often stigmatised – and, as a result, hidden.

However, in South Africa, loss of productivity due to mental illness is estimated to be R17 billion per year, with R15 billion attributed to ‘presenteeism’, where workers are on the job, but not fully functioning because they are “not well”’re ill.

Wellness programmes can make a difference to mental health by offering mental health days, therapy benefits and a focus on self-care.

Many of these programmes have also become more personalised or customised.

Today, nobody expects a ‘one size fits all’ model. AI and big data have made it possible to use collected data to design personalised experiences, which cater to individual needs, set specific challenges and offer unique incentives.

However you choose to navigate 2018, whether by simply focusing on the growing trend towards ‘grounding’ (the simplest way to be grounded is to go outside and place your bare feet or hands on the earth or immerse yourself in a body of conductive water, like the sea or a mineral-rich lake) or incorporating formal wellness interventions into your life, it’s clear that to be able to stay healthy and excel in a high performance world, we need to be finely tuned and firing on all cylinders.

‘Health is a state of mind. Wellness is a state of being’ Good luck!

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Professional issues

ACCOUNTING WOES,

JOB SCARES and Retirement Worries T

he accounting and audit professions are back in the spotlight, this time for less than lustrous reasons, as it would seem. These professions pride themselves for leading the pack as far as strict standards enforcement and subscription to the codes of ethics and governance is concerned. The recently revised King codes are meant to raise the bar to an all-time high for moral conduct and fiduciary responsibility of both executives and non-executive board members. Yet the road seems uphill a good decade after the Enron scandal.

At the back of the KPMG (South Africa) scandal, doubts have been cast against reliability of audit practices and the comfort that PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

stakeholders can draw from the profession. One can argue that perfection remains elusive in all things human, but we had been made to draw some assurance from audits carried out by accredited professionals who subscribe to the highest, approved standards and apply the industry “tried-and-tested” approach. The audit processes involves taking a sample of an organisation’s activity or transactions and testing it against set standards, policies and protocols or procedures. A compliant sample result is assumed to be representative of the rest of the activities and transactions of the organisation.

While one may buy into the scientific rationale of the audit approach,

Professional issues

there is, unfortunately, significant room for error or inaccuracy in the true picture. But it’s all within an “acceptable” tolerance level - a situation that can yield applauded results over a number of audits, and suddenly uncover a huge hole under a façade, just before everything crumbles.

BUT WHAT CAUSES SOME COMPANIES TO GET IT SO WRONG? Blatant deception

In most cases, someone, somewhere in the company knows when things aren’t rosy, but it is usually someone who also knows how to gloss over or cover up the tell-tale signs. They, unfortunately, can deceive successfully for a while. And if they are lucky, this will be until the enterprise recovers from a bad patch. In a worst case scenario, it will be deceipt till everything crumbles.

Sometimes the ills are difficult to cover up and executives simply collude with the auditor to paint a pretty picture and keep shareholders and stakeholders in the dark. That is, until the operation recovery sets in, or until things fall apart.

Lack of capacity

Poor industry acumen or lack of insight into the industry’s ratios and organisation’s performance metrics can undermine an audit firm’s work.

Ignorance about key indicators and high risk areas may yield a less relevant sample and compromise the results.

When audit firms delegate loosely or use a standard, repetitive format or templates for their audits, management may find it easy to show only the glowing picture of the operations.

Poor orientation on the company’s programmes as well as poor guidance, out of ignorance, may guide audits away from critical areas that require attention or represent grave risk.

Dealing with an unsophisticated board makes it easy for unscrupulous executives to pull wool over the members. Hence, it is imperative that all directors undergo proper induction, both on the organisation’s operations and on universal Codes of Ethics.

Lack of representativity

Proper representation of the board is necessary, to cover the key functions of the company and critical operational areas. Most boards are also structured to represent key stakeholders, such as industry groups, employees, investor interests, and so on. Most boards have more than one Chartered Accountant and/or duly qualified, experienced professional, certainly to head critical board committees such as Finance, Audit and Risk.

King IV training is readily available and presented simply enough, whether by the Institute of Directors or by one of its accredited training consultants. Board members have no excuse for poor oversight. They should be morally and intellectually invested in high quality work; interrogate each set of strategies, plans and reports placed before them, interview the operators (not just the CEO), and intervene at any sight of deviation.

If they fail to ask the right questions, follow the reports and dig into anything that seems out of kilter, they will only have themselves to blame when the world condemns them together with executive management.

Of course, the assumption is that, they are there for the right reasons – to see to the sustainability of the organisation, the preservation of the brand and the protection of stakeholders - most vulnerable of whom are employees who have families and a community to feed. There should never be any question that board members and management live by the

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values and principles espoused by their respective professions.

The latest crisis represented by the sudden resignation of the SA Steinhoff CEO, and the subsequent doubts resulting in the plummeting of Steinhoff shares and the downgrade to junk status by international agencies – at least Standard and Poor, demonstrate how much an organisation can get away with less than a healthy status, only for significant wrongs to shock everyone.

There may have been no intentional deceit at Steinhoff, but only an oversight during the last couple of audits. Or it could have been a combination of oversight or negligence in the audit process, coupled with improper guidance from the executive – causing a delay in uncovering a precarious situation that might have been simmering for a while.

Either way, one has to ask oneself how such could have been the case, given as highly credentialed board as they had. The Steihoff board has boasted of business stalwarts who have run major businesses and overseen massive financial operations such as Sanlam.

Dealing with an unsophisticated board makes it easy for unscrupulous executives to pull wool over the members.

IMPACT OF THE STEINHOFF SCANDAL?

There will be numerous. The S&P downgrade will certainly give the group less access to funds as it will be restricted from any lending it may have contemplated to offset investors’ losses. So, an emergence from debt and an ability to pay its investors will need to rely on operations and trading. Should liquidity impact operations, the Group may be forced to cut back on staff – potentially affecting its +120 000-strong workforce.

A loss of jobs will affect the entire consumer value chain. Since investors include pension houses, some pensioners may be broke, with government bearing an extra load to support the stranded citizens: displaced workers through UIF, and retirees through state-funded pension.

Among those who expressed concern over the impact Steinhoff is bound to have to the workers is Federation of Unions in South Africa (Fedusa). Fedusa’s interests are not limited to the workplace welfare of members, but extend to the preservation and investment of workers’ pensions. The General Secretary, Mr Dennis George, however, allayed the apprehension about potential disappearance of workers’ pensions, explaining that pensions are invested in multiple channels, which somewhat evens out the risk. Of course, there may be less than targeted returns, but workers should not expect it to be doom and gloom.

George also assures union members that wherever there are significant union funds invested in any group, there usually is union representation on the board. This is to protect the interests of the workers and increase vigilance and due oversight by those entrusted with care of organisations.

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Professional issues

“NOTHING FAILS LIKE SUCCESS” – Lessons for Company Board Members and Retirement Fund Trustees BY: RAMA GOVENDER, HR and Retirement Consultant, former HR Executive at PPS

S

ince December 2017, Steinhoff still has many a retail people manager holding his or her breath - dreading an ever-looming call to “cut!”. Investigations are currently in progress, it is therefore premature to make any definitive pronouncements. However, it does provoke a few questions.

How did the executives, boards, CFOs and audit committees, auditors, coterie of asset managers and their research teams, consultants and big private investors get it wrong?

It shows that it is not very difficult to fool most of us. Have we developed a “conspiracy of reverence” to these companies? Are they “holy cows”?

Before we look at the lessons, what is good corporate governance?

“Good governance starts with good legislation” Anne Maher, CEO of the Ireland’s Pension Board has asserted. Elias Masilela (ex- CEO PIC) believes that good governance starts with sound integrity at individual level and transparency. “This takes us right back to basics which requires professionalism and experienced people, well defined accountabilities, defined framework for policies, conflict identification and resolution, and performance management”.

We have a great constitutional democracy enshrining individual rights. We also have a conducive legislative framework (Companies Act, Pensions Fund Act etc. and guidelines from King) and one of the best regulated stock exchanges in the world. Therefore the formal technical requirements for good governance are spelt out very well.

So how did all of these safety nets fail? What are the key lessons for corporate governance?

1. Corporate Demagoguery:

We have created rock stars in business. Let’s be fair, many of these luminaries have built strong businesses, in the case of Steinhoff a substantial business straddling Europe, US and Africa built over 5 decades with multiple brands in its markets. However, why do we embrace these entities with blind reverence? They have become demagogues that are invested with royal status. No one dares challenge this status; it is tantamount to heresy if one does! This untouchability bamboozled almost everyone including the auditors it seems; it took the German regulators in 2015 to raise a red flag!

What is the formula to achieve this status? If you have business PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

grown meteorically, a charismatic CEO, key larger than life private investors and a constellation of stars on the board? It also becomes easier when you have a group operating in multiple jurisdictions with complex businesses. When a shroud of invincibility is created, an environment is created for CEOs and executives to think that they are above governance and beyond criticism.

Confidence turns to arrogance, ambition turns into greed. This phenomenon poses a big risk to the economy. In an over concentrated exchange where the top 7 companies constitute about 40%, and top 33 about 80% of total market capitalization, this should be a major concern.

Are we able to distinguish between those that are running a good ship and those that give the impression that they are?

The key question then becomes, are there other Steinhoff’s?

Definitely! The object of the piece is not to identify the likely candidates, but to ensure that proper processes and protocols are applied in assessing businesses and investment portfolios. These robust assessments should be conducted all the time and not stop when companies appear to become invincible.

The vast majority of employees in SA participate in defined contribution retirement fund arrangements where they take responsibility for their own investment return outcomes. This is an onerous responsibility. Regulation 28 of the Pensions Fund Act prescribes investment of retirement monies (currently maximum of 25 % outside the country, it has been increased in 2018 budget).

Therefore, corporate demagoguery poses a significant risk which is exacerbated by the overconcentration of a relatively small number of assets on the JSE. How do we deal with this ? We need to hold the auditors accountable for corporate malfeasance; it may mean rescoping their

Professional issues

duties relating to corporate audits. We need to devise disincentives for them turning a blind eye. The investment managers/consultants also need to take responsibility in a more formal way. The investment and auditing community are paid handsomely for the work that they required to do, we need to make sure they deliver.

Does this mean that trustees will need to take a more conservative view on stocks generally? It may mean that they need to monitor and reduce exposure to the “risky” assets, namely these demagogues

25

initiatives), however it requires a more systemic solution involving government, labour, business and broader society.

In South Africa, a narrow shareholder perspective is pervasive.

The King Codes assert the longer term stakeholder perspectives with a shared capitalism focus. Steinhoff and the other cases have shown that business needs to get its house in order and join broader society and government to drive corporate governance and fight corruption.

4. Board Dynamics:

2. Penetrating the “Corporate Veil”: Is it too much to ask for simplicity?

Are directors and trustees able and willing to penetrate the corporate veil? Does the CEO enable this to happen?

It is the duty of the CEO to relate to the board with integrity. Are board reports simple and lucid without the jargon? When spin becomes half-truths or lies, this could have major repercussions. Was this the case at Steinhoff? We’ll have to wait and see. This is where the directors need to have their “BS detectors” on – provided the directors understand the business well enough to unpack the issues in question. It is critical to have a proper dashboard of relevant performance measures in place which is reported on regularly. Regarding Steinhoff, there seems to be a “R100 billion hole” in accounts, how was this not picked up and dealt with properly much earlier?

All stakeholders depend on the auditors to validate the financial details of a company (assets, liabilities, expenses, income, profit etc.).Do they understand the jurisdictional parameters in each country in the case of complex, multi –national entities like Steinhoff? Is there too much scope for lawyers, accountants, actuaries etc. to stretch the parameters of the standards and assumptions used in accounting? Do the auditors understand the complex and innovative financial instruments being created all the time. We must assume that there are some people who will” take the gap” if the environment allows it.If the CEO decides to transfer certain expenses off- balance without proper approval, are the auditors able to pick these up?

Should we not have financial analysts, in addition to auditors, conduct audits in complex, multi –jurisdictional companies like Steinhoff? Can we make annual financial statements more accessible to lay people, for example the people that invest their retirement monies in these entities? Perhaps we should have 2 versions of the annual financials – the technical one for the specialists/regulators etc. and the second simplified one for the stakeholders?

For retirement fund trustees it is imperative that the investment managers/consultants are held to account. The problem is that many trustees are not familiar with the investment landscape. More should be done to expose trustees to understand the investment universe, how can we expect them to perform their fiduciary roles if this is not done properly?

Given the apparent failure of the experienced Steinhoff board to discharge its fiduciary responsibility, is it fair to expect untrained, unvested trustees to perform this role?

The relationship between CEO and Board chairperson needs to be professional with an “arm’s length “relationship with the necessary robustness to everything that is done. In Steinhoff there may have been a very unhealthy relationship of unconditional trust between the chairperson and CEO. The board chairperson should be the wise counsel to ensure that the entire ecosystem works in smooth and meaningful way (a lot of this executed by the CEO)-management, employees, suppliers, customers, shareholders, regulators and the broader community. Is the CEO/chairperson holding everyone accountable for their respective roles? It seems that CEOs/chairpersons are too narrowly focused on shareholder interests. Do the rules of engagement underline robust discussion or tacit acceptance by an “old boys club” where unwritten

Arrogance on the part of leadership should be a warning sign of possible failure. This calls for maximum vigilance from the fiduciaries. rules apply? Why fix it if it is not broken, seems to be the mantra. The culture of the board is paramount to achieving optimum outcomes.

King has promoted board performance reviews, should we not promote culture reviews as well? The worst scenario is where a board chairperson has been in place forever and “rubberstamping” becomes the norm.

Ray Dalio, the founder of largest hedge fund manager, Bridgewater Associates expressed it very eloquently when he said that to get fora to work you need a context for meritocracy where the best ideas see the light of day and a clear process to manage disagreements is in place.

One key concern is that there are some board members (seems to be in place in Steinhoff) who are participants in company’s incentive schemes. Having “skin in the game” is normally considered a positive re-inforcer, however in this instance does it not impact objectivity?

3. Shareholder vs. Stakeholder Approach:

Shareholders are people holding shares of the business whilst stakeholders are people and institutions affected by the operations of an entity (example employees and community). Given our levels of unemployment inequality and poverty, our business community needs to play a key role in addressing broader societal issues, not only looking at profit in a one dimensional one. There have been point solutions to address this (example narrow corporate social investment

Conclusion:

You can tick all the corporate governance blocks, but still be exposed.

As mentioned above, integrity at a personal level and transparency are the keys to sustainability. Arrogance on the part of leadership should be a warning sign of possible failure. This calls for maximum vigilance from the fiduciaries. Success can breed arrogance. Nothing fails like success.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

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Jun 13

Job Profiling - Workshop

+ 21st Century

Line Managers, Human Capital & Recruitment Managers

2

R2900

R2450

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Research Community of Experts – Round Table

+ HRSC

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0.5

R500

Free

Jun 22

Mentoring & Coaching - Workshop

Mavis Ureke

Line Managers, HR

1

R1800

R1600

Jul 4-5

HR Business Partner Master Class

Improvid

Intermediate to Senior HR Managers

6

R7850

R6550

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1

R1800

R1600

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0.5

R500

Free

0.5 Non CPD 2 members Points Excl VAT 0.5 R6500 00 4 1 R395 2

R980 Presenter Non R1600

R1200

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Dispute Resolution, Strike Management & Related Procedures

Jul 12

Employee/Labour Relations Community of Experts - Round Table

+ CDH

Jul 17 Event Name Date(s) Jul 20

HR-Led Digital Transformation + Accenture* Date Venue Programme/ Workshop Partner/Presenter Women’s Conference (Durban) Transcending & + Empowaworx Digital & Life Barriers Jan 24 Learning & Development Community of Experts + TPI* Performance Improvement Consulting - Workshop 06-07 March 2018 IPM Office - RoundManagement Table Jul 25-26 Project for HR + Mavis Ureke

HR Executives, Managers Amount Target Audience Women in Corporate, Excl VAT Public Enterprises, & Member Small Business L&D Specialists R5500,00 HR Leaders, Managers Leaders Jan 27 Case Law & Related Lessons for Sound + Cliffe Dekker & Hofmeyr / Intermediate to Senior/ Management of-Employee - Breakfast Michael Executive Leadership Masterclass Partnership - Breakfast 23 March 2018 R275,00 Aug 3 Human Capital Return on Relations Investment + Mavis Yeats UrekeProtea Hotel, Midrand Human Capital Executives, - Seminar HR Managers Feb 10 The Role of HR in helping Organisations preIPM HR Managers, HR Aug 10 Disruption: CCMA Cross Examination Techniques CDH HR Executives, R275,00 IR & ER Cultural Transform your Culture to 29 March 2018 Protea Hotel, Midrand pare for, and navigate the Digital Economy – Practitioners -ASeminar Managers Innovate Strategic Response to the 4th Industrial RevolutionConference Transcending & Digital & Aug 17 Women’s + Empowaworx Women in Corporate, Leadership For Women - Breakfast 05 April 2018 Regenesys Business School, R275,00 Life Barriers Public Enterprises, & Feb 13 Research Community of Expert Practitioners IPM IR, Labour Relations Sandton Small Business Round Table Managers & Corporate PR Managing for Peak Performance in the 11-12 April+ Office R3500,00 Aug 23-24Emotions HR Metrics Workshop HR Touch/Maggie Human Capital Specialists, Feb 23 Healing the -Toxic Labour Relationships +2018 Labour LawIPM Consulting/ CEOs, HR Executives, Workplace - Workshop Mojapelo HR Managers in SA - Seminar Ivan Israelstam Labour Specialists Aug 29-30 Partnering Remuneration forForum HR Managers - Workshop + 21st FebBusiness 28 IPM HR Student + Accenture* HR - Workshop 17-18- April 2018Century IPM Office

HR HR Managers, Students, R5500,00 Remuneration Practitioners Representatives, Lecturers/Educators Sept 6-7 HR Business Partner Master Class Improvid Intermediate to Senior One in three jobs is at risk of automation. South 24 April 2018 Regenesys Business School, R275,00 HR Mar 2-3 HRskills Leadership - Seminar + Mavis UrekeSandton HR Managers Executives, Senior Africa needs new now - Breakfast Managers Sept 21 Managing & Optimising Diversity + Empowerworx Directors, Managers, Performance Ability or Agility? & - Breakfast 10 May IPM Office R275,00 Workshop Line Managers Mar 9 Remuneration Benefits Community Experts – 2018 + CDH Human Capital & Round Table Remuneration Specialists SeptProfilling 22 HR Directors Forum & IPM 2017 + Industry Experts / HR Directors, Human Job - Workshop 17 May 2018 IPM Office R3000,00 Convention Meeting 1 Convention Speakers Capital Specialists Mar 13 HR Tools forKick-off Entrepreneurs IPM Small Business operators HR Leaders Coaching for Operational Excellence 22-23 May+2018 IPM Office R4400,00 Oct HR-Led Digital Transformation HR Executives, Managers Mar 528 Organisational Effectiveness + Accenture* QBIT/Sibongile Mogale* COO’s & OE Executives - Workshop Community of Experts Final - Round Table Oct 5 IPM 2017 Convention Briefing + Convention Committee IPM Convention Presenters & Submissions Youth HR Leaders & Business Leadership 20-21 JuneMember(s) School, R2200,00 Mar 29-30 Emotional Intelligence for Effective + 2018 Mavis UrekeRegenesys Business Managers Conference Sandton Management Oct 18-19 HR Metrics – Workshop + HR Touch/Maggie Human Capital Specialists, Mojapelo HR Managers Apr 3-5 HRWorkplace Master Class - Workshop + TPI* Human Capital Specialists, The Collaborative - Union Exec & IR 26 June 2018 IPM Office R2500,00 HR Line Managers Business Leaders, HR Nov 19 - 22 2017 IPM Convention & Exhibition + Local & International Ethics - Workshop Apr 11 in HR Management Social Media & Corporate Strategy

17 July 2018 Regenesys Business School,General R2100,00 Experts, Industry Specialist Executives, + 33Emerald* HR Executives, Managers , Sandton Suppliers Managers, Human Capital Corporate Strategists Development Specialists, Apr 20 HR Business Partner -Community +2018 Accenture*Business HR Strategists, PractitionersR4500,00 Coaching Master Class for Coaches Workshop 24-25 JulyProgressive IPM Office HR IR/ER of Experts – Round Table Leaders, Academic Officers & Managers, Remuneration Committee - Workshop 07 August Institutions, 2018 IPM Office R3000,00 SHEQ Business Apr 21 Freedom & Youth – Leadership IPM Youth &Officers, Young Managers Chambers & Professional Corporate PR & CSR Discourse Women In Business - Seminar (Joburg) 16 August Bodies, 2018 Economic Regenesys Business School,Academics, R2500,00 Managers, May 9 Coaching & Mentoring Community of Experts + TalentLine* Sandton Managers Entrepreneurs, Development & Tourism Students, Round Table People Development Agencies, Wellness & Women In Business - Seminar (Durban) 23 August Hospitality 2018 TBC - Durban Professionals , HR R2500,00 Groups May 16-17 HR Metrics - Workshop + HR Touch/Maggie Human Capital Specialists, Practitioners Mojapelo HR Managers R5500,00 HR Business Partnering - Workshop 28-29 August 2018 IPM Office May 23 Breakfast

Employment Law & Industrial Relations

IPM 2018 - Workshop May Annual 25-26 Convention Job Evaluation

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IR Specialists, Labour R275,00 Union Officials

21 -24 October Protea Hotel Ranch Resort, + 21st2018 Century Human Capital & Polokwane Recruitment Managers

1 1 R395

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R550

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R500 Free Ms Belia Nel - Improvid R5150 R4150 Performance Consulting R580 R350 Ms Lulu Letlape - Letcom R3600 R2850 Consulting R980 R550 R1800 R1600 Mr Vivek Wadhera - JSE COO

2 R395 0.5

R1600 R1200 Ms Mavis Oreke R500 Free Emotions for Success

R4500,00 4 1

Ms Mavis Oreke R5150 R4150 R980 R550 Emotions for Success

4 1 R6500 00

R6000 R500 Free Ms Belia Nel -R5150 Improvid Performance Consulting

6 R395 4

R7850 R6550 Dr Roze Phillips R5150 R4150 Accenture

2 R395 1

R11800 R1600 IPM Facilitators R500 Free

0.5 R3000,00 1 R5400,00 0.5 0.5

R5800 R4950 IPM Facilitators R580 R350 IPM Facilitators R980 R550 R500 Free

R2200,00 4

N/A N/A IPM Facilitators R5150 R4150

4 6

R5150 R4150 R7850 R6550 IPM Facilitators

8 R3100,00 1 0.5 R5500,00

R12790 R10790 SA Ethics Institute (R11050 (R8500 R1800 R1600 Early Bird Early Bird Payable by Payable by R500 Free IPM Facilitators 15 June) 15 June)

R3000,00 0.5

IPM Facilitators R350 Free

R2500,00 0.5

IPM Facilitators R500 Free

R2500,00 4 R6500 00

IPM Facilitators R5150 R4150 IPM Facilitators

2 R395

R1800 R1600 IPM Facilitators

4

IPM Facilitators R5150 R4150

May 31

Disciplinary Enquiry Plans - Workshop

+ CDH

Line Managers, HR Managers & Employee Relations Officers

1

R1800

R1600

Jun 1-2

HR Metrics – Workshop

+ HR Touch/Maggie Mojapelo

Human Capital Specialists, HR Managers

4

R5150

R4150

Jun 6

Employee Wellness Community of Experts – Round Table

+ ICAS/Juanita Simpson*

HR Managers, COO’s, SHEQ Specialists

0.5

R500

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Jun 8

The Latitude of Employment Contracts - Workshop

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1

R980

R550

Trends Technology

27

RECONSTRUCTING

WORK

– CRYSTALISING DELOITTE’S REVIEW Are Automation and Artificial Intelligence marginalising Human resources?

Pessimists predict that the rise of the robot and increasing dominance of artificial intelligence will make humans redundant.

This raises fear that jobs will be lost. Optimists, on the other hand, assert that historical norms will reassert themselves and technology will create more jobs than it is likely to destroy, requiring new skills, knowledge and new ways of working, and resulting in a new set of occupations.

No matter how you feel about ‘automation and artificial intelligence’, you just can’t wish it away. Humans, by nature are curious and creative species, and will pursue new things that challenge and excite them. In the process, they find ways of delegating work that they have mastered, and where delegation has led to further boredom and monotony down the line, it only makes sense to mechanise and automate.

In operations where a significant number of tasks have been automated and as artificial intelligence becomes more capable, technology becomes an enabler for humans to achieve higher-level REFERENCE: DELOITTE REVIEW, ISSUE 21

goals and re-conceptualise work. Human focus moves from tedious end-to-end mechanical processes to an ongoing situational diagnosis and generation of continuous improvements that benefit customer experience and improve operational efficiency. A human-machine collaborative effort prevails where humans define the problems, machines generate possible solutions which humans test and determine as viable, adapt or adjust as required.

There is no doubt that the level of worker engagement in such operations needs to be high, as would the workers’ cognitive skills.

A mindset of “job-description” won’t cut it, nor would complacency or fixation on “job” security. Jobs are bound to evolve and people in those jobs have to continuously work at obtaining higher-level competence and a greater appetite for digital/AI mastery, thus ‘rising beyond the robot’.

Learning is not an option

The most obvious job-creation emanating from automation is skills development. More than ever, today’s workforce needs to be familiar with technology and its capability. This requires contextual OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

28

Trends Technology

learning and conceptual thinking (and design) training. Thanks to the cellphone industry and, to some extent, the banking industry, age-boundaries on digi-usage are being flattened everyday.

Employers need to take advantage of this to drive more digital training and solution-development thinking among workers across all levels. There is an unimaginable amount of knowledge and understanding of operations lying in each member of staff, with most capable of coming up with solutions to simplify and improve processes. The inhibiting factor has mainly been structure and silo mentality. Companies ought to help employees embrace upcoming change; create conducive learning and collaborating environment.

Cross-functional project teams, more-so than departments, are able to foster learning and unlock creativity that elevates both individual and collective delivery within the enterprise.

Industrialisation coming full circle

With the advent of AI, industrialisation is coming full circle.

Mechanisation and automation evolved from a factory floor full of individual craftsmen working manually on complete products (e.g. entire garment), towards factories made up of production lines filled with individuals specialising on a single task. Upon perfecting the task and defining its process into steps, mechanisation became possible, followed by automation and digitisation. The current wave of industrialisation is taking humans back into the role of being the designer and arbiter rather than forming part of perfunctory processes. Training should be designed to equip humans and take them back to attention-to-detail: good observation, analytical, opportunity identification and problem solving skills.

Some of the lessons brought about by Industry 4.0 are:

This impressive history of industrial automation has resulted not only from the march of technology, but from the conception of work as a set of specialised tasks.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

Human and machine intelligence are different in complementary rather than conflicting ways:

While humans are responsible for guiding what the machines do and how by determining formulae, principles or rules, the machine speeds up processes, increases accuracy of results, generates possible solutions much quicker and improves human’s ability to make informed decisions, take calculated risks and simplify operational complexities; Work is a social construct; it is up to humans to decide how to shape it – not up to machines:

Meaningful jobs will be built around problems or opportunities; the application of human and/or technical resources will be determined by context, rationale and pursuit of optimum solutions.

Proactive, Responsive & Visionary Leadership A People Management & Organisational Development Perspective

Emperor’s Palace Gauteng, South Africa PEOPLE DYNAMICS | March 2018

30

IPM 61st CONVENTION AT A GLANCE…

We need to be gamechangers in HR (IPM President)

Know your employees and know what keeps them awake at night.

If you are not a CREATOR OF CHANGE, you will become a VICTIM of it.

(Professor Nick Binedell)

Transformation is a change in mindset and HR needs to close the then taking action gap between Technology, based on leadership Individuals, Businesses and knowledge.

Charlotte Mokoena

& Public policy.

(Nene Molefi)

(Gill Hofmeyr)

It is vital that people become relevant and that we arm them with the necessary skills to succeed.

(Felleng Yende)

Organisations need to create meaningful work where employees can grow through experience and have trust in leadership. (Perry Timms)

Engagement is a two-way street. It’s the responsibility of the manager and of the employee! (Precious Nyika)

Engagement is what motives you not only to come to work, but to do your best. (Matt Manners)

The first level of leadership is self leadership.

(Mavis Eureke)

You cannot craft competitive strategy if the organisation has a bench of leaders who do not live like digital natives.

(Abdullah Veracia)

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

What are we doing today to help the future generation?

(Professor Peter Hawkins)

HR must step up to the complexities in the new world of work and should be looking at an integrated solution which will drive the business

Adopt coaching conversations vs leadership demands.

(Belia Nel)

The youth are not2 Minute Noodles; you need to grow them! (Dr Florus Prinsloo)

We are all part of a global society, so change needs to come from us as practitioners.

(Allon Raiz)

PM 61st CONVENTION AT A GLANCE…

31

WELCOMING ADDRESS • 61st convention needs to see us make a commitment to be activists.

We can not have HR without understanding the political part and we cannot champion transformation without understanding policies • HR without understanding political context becomes hollow, fictitious and vague, and impedes transformation • Part of transformation should be democratizing the workplace and how can we do that? If we don’t democrat unemployment will still be a high • Let’s be OPEN TO CHANGE

We need to be gamechangers in Human Resources.

Bhabhalazi Bulunga, IPM President

OPENING ADDRESS

FP&M SETA have been partners for 2 years with IPM and a proud sponsor at the 60th & 61st convention • If we are to sustain business, we need to think differently, and have different approaches to address 2020 skills and labor market requirements.

• Proactive leadership and responsiveness are required to address the challenge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution • 27% unemployment rate in South Africa, but unemployment is a global challenge with 71 million unemployed aged 15-24 around globe.

• The challenge of high unemployment calls for integration of minds to yield tangible results.

• The focus area in skills is integration. It is vital that people become relevant and that we arm the youth with relevant education • We need to ensure our business plans are able to make an impact, and that we have complex problem solving capabilities.

• Vision is to deliver excellence and a highly skilled workforce and we are creating supported learnerships, apprenticeships and bursaries for rural areas.

It is vital that people become relevant and that we arm them with the necessary skills to succeed.

Felleng Yende, CEO of FP&M SETA

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

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WELCOMING ADDRESS

The World We Work & Live In: Innovation, leadership & management in contemporary SA BY: PROFESSOR NICK BINEDELL, GIBS

How we got in the room and what we’re doing in the room, is not how we’re going to get out the room!

• We are living in a period of extraordinary change that when it happens we become resentful and want to blame the past. But, we need to change how we work - if we don’t our country will be left behind.

• It is vital that we marry transformation with

performance if we want our workforce to sustain. 21st century needs us to absorb the changes that are happening and open our minds to all the possibilities • 750000 will leave school with a qualification but only 20% will get jobs

Growth is everything- it is the oxygen of democracy, and is needed to build an inclusive society • South Africa has a framework of freedom, but to thrive in it, you need to be an activist.

• World does not ask SA permission to changewe will get left behind

• We need to look around and be rule makers and not rule takers.

• All leaders need a map and a mirror.

What difference will you make in HR? PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

Remember….

• All success comes from being a Knowledgeable Optimist!

• If you are not a CREATOR OF CHANGE, you will become a VICTIM of it.

• The opportunity of a life time must be taken in the life time, and talking and listening is irrelevant unless you take action.

• You are responsible for your own knowledge and expertise!

PM 61st CONVENTION AT A GLANCE…

33

Top 7 Challenges We Face

TOMORROW’S LEADERSHIP

and the necessary revolution in today’s leadership development BY: PROFESSOR PETER HAWKINS, HENLEY BUSINESS SCHOOL

• More and more of your future people assets will not be on the payroll.

• Over 90% of current leadership development is not fit for purpose.

• Time for HR and L&D to join strategy in the future-fit-function.

• What do stakeholders need you to learn today that is of relevance to future stakeholders?

The challenge is not move from IQ to EQ but rather from EQ to WeQ, which is collaborative intelligence.

• Although in the future, organisations will employ less people, the number of people they will have to partner with to be successful, will get bigger and more complex.

• When it comes to people assets, we need to think OUTSIDE the boundaries of the organisation.

We need to learn and adapt faster and think about how globalisation impacts our business.

Learning must equal or be greater than the rate your environment is changing.

• Unceasing and accelerating TransformationVUCA world, • Technological and digital revolution - the rate of change in the next five years will be much faster, • Disintermediation- competition and innovation have fundamentally changed – UBER, Netflix, Air BnB , In todays world you either disrupting yourself or something will disrupt you; take people out of comfort zone and into the learning zone • Hollowing out of organisations and stakeholder complexity, its all about partnership and network • Globalization – local businesses have global customers, competitors • Climate change – Increase turbulence, insecurity • Need to learn, adapt faster- learning must equal or be greater than the rate your environment is changing

What are we doing today to help the future generation?

• How do we collaborate to solve tomorrows challenges?

• Get millennials in to work on future challenges • Shadowing- coach shadow millennial team • Create personalized learning journeys • Get stakeholders voice into the boardroom • We need one department – Future Fit Function • Biggest challenge lies in Business : connecting

Questions to consider

• What is leadership in the digital world?

• How can you be more innovative each day?

• What is the relevance of HR in leadership?

• How much time do you spend managing yesterday’s problem?

SUGGESTED BOOK: Three Horizon Thinking.

By Bill Sharpe

An extraordinary business starts with extraordinary people. Extraordinary people start with purpose. Jesper Lowgren OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

34

IPM 61st CONVENTION AT A GLANCE…

Elevating the role of HR in the transformation agenda:

WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS?

Transformation is a change in mindset and taking action based on leadership and knowledge.

BY: NENE MOLEFI, OWNER AND MD, MANDATE MOLEFI HUMAN RESOURCES CONSULTANTS

When it comes to the transformation agenda: 1. Be the first to be transformed 2. Identify the pain points 3. Understand the businesses and its challenges Take on the role as anticipator: 1. What might come next?

2. Predict future talent gaps and strive to close them.

3. Need to be involved in the strategic planning process.

• It is not practical to nurture and manage talent without the transformation agenda.

• Do not shy away from reporting positive trends and achievements, but guard against false starts and recognise the signs.

• Do not buy into that narrative of soft, airy fairy stuff-this is what kills talent • Be aware of micro- inequalities: when one point is shared and ignored but then praised in someone else. Or taking credit for someone else’s work; showing preferences of certain universities; PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

omitting someone from an important email, questioning the competence of one group.

• Transformation is a journey and as management you need to believe in it.

The best way to drive transformation is to collaborate, but unless the COE/ MD follows the journey you don’t have anything!

Challenge your leadership about the importance of personal change and transformation, and be a role model for transformation yourself.

• Transformation is attracting, developing and retaining talent in the context of SA • Be a role model for Transformation and use it to guide the journey, monitor and evaluate Transformation 1. Establish custodians and allies 2. Communication Strategy and stakeholder mapping 3. Pre Intervention assessment and survey.

Questions to consider

• How does the role of HR evolve?

• What role can you play as HR executive or practitioner?

• How do we create a link between transformation and organisational performance?

• Can one be a proactive and responsive worker under a visionary leader?

REMEMBER… HR’s role needs to continually evolve and has to raise the bar.

PM 61st CONVENTION AT A GLANCE…

35

2017 Deloitte human capital trends for South Africa HR needs close the gap between Technology, Individuals, Businesses & Public policy. We need to help the business accept technology and to have leaders start to become role models BY: GILL HOFMEYR, DIRECTOR HUMAN CAPITAL, DELOITTES

• Employee experience - move to smaller simpler surveys in order to get your results faster • Talent acquisition - new generation talent expects a different recruitment experience • Careers and learning- Continuous learning is critical for a business success- make sure learning always on learning always on, and always available over a range of mobile platforms • Diversity and Inclusion - Fairness, Equality and inclusion are now CEO levels issues • Performance management - Organisations have radically changed the way they measure evaluate support and recognize employee performance • Leadership disruption - high performing leaders today need different skills and expertise than in generations past • Digital HR - HR leaders are being pushed to help drive the organisation to “be digital” not just “do digital” • People Analytics - People analytics is becoming a business imperative; using data to understand business operations • Future of work - Organisations must implement cognitive tools, retrain people to use these tools and rethink the role of people as more work becomes automated

• Continuous learning is critical for business success.

• Use new approaches like bite size learning; micro learning & pod casts.

• Learning must be available over a range of mobile platforms

Ranking of 2017 Trends

• Organisations of the future • Employee experience • Talent acquisition • Careers and learning • Diversity and inclusion • Performance management • Leadership • Digital HR • People analytics • The augmented workforce

REMEMBER… • The role of HR is to help business accept technology.

• HR’s opportunity is to help close the gap among technology, individuals, businesses and society.

• The organisation of the future is arriving NOW! • Organisations must implement cognitive tools, retrain people to use these tools, and rethink the role of people as more work gets modified.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

36

IPM 61st CONVENTION AT A GLANCE…

VALUE ADDING AND

IMPACTFUL HR HR must step up to the complexities in the new world of work and should be looking at an integrated solution which will drive the business BY: ITALIA BONINELLI, Independent Consultant and Executive Coach

Key predictions for HR

• Constant change and increase in “black swan” events.

• Increasing global mobility of skills and new models of work with people having more than one career in a lifetime.

• Greater impact of socio-political events into the workplace.

• New generations will challenge traditional work practices.

PROACTIVE AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

HR must step up to the complexities in the new world of work and constantly relook their models for relevance.

BY: MAVIS UREKE, Human Behaviour Specialist, Training B2B

• Understand the business value chain and seek to add value through integrated business solutions, not narrow technical HR solutions.

• Move their focus beyond short-term acuity and myopia to interrogate ‘outside-in’ and ‘future-back’

The first level of leadership is self leadership.

We need to have a more liquid workforce, as people will recycle and reinvent themselves as they go. This means that HR is involved in evolving not only the company but the society as well.

Focus on contracting rather than year-end appraisal processes and ensure both manager and employee understand the performance process and the feedback, and consider having employees being rated by customers on their service and not only by peers or management.

Questions to consider

• How is the strategy communicated?

• What is the value proposition?

• Is the business operating model clear?

• Are the levels of work clear?

• What drives and adds value throughout the business?

• What is the business problem I am trying to solve?

• How does this impact the business?

• How am I measuring the impact?

• What is the integrated initiative I am taking?

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

• Ask, how well do you lead yourself? The impact of self leadership is such that you need to check how you make others feel and how it impacts performance.

• The anchor of leadership is “character” and is based on who you are, not what position you have been given. Character is selfleadership, and in order to influence others, you have to lead yourself well.

How do you check if an organisation has strong ethics?

• Deep connection = strong ethics • Little connection = weak ethics • No connection = no ethics • Proactive leadership means going first and having self leadership.

It is self-motivated, goal-directed, emotionally mature, requires positive mental attitude and servient leadership.

• For every process, action, activity, decision, always ask “what is the impact on relationships?”

• As leaders we must commit to not adding fear and aggression by carefully choosing our responses and actions, building on human goodness and offering faith in people as a gift to others.

• The danger of VUCA is leaders who are not thinking, but leaders who are afraid.

ASK YOURSELF:

• How do you influence people everyday?

• Is your organisation run by fear?

• How does leadership behave when things going wrong?

• How do you hold yourself accountable for your role?

• How much time is given to thinking, reflection and learning from experience?

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SQ SPIRITUAL QUOTIENT

IQ

HOW INNOVATION IS VITAL

Deep History- the earth is a billion year old. Can a human brain conceptualize that far back? The guys who produce movies are able to think years ahead.

BY: CHARLES MAISEL, owner, Innovation Shack

Innovation technique:

Reading the newspaper in a different way. If you are an innovator you look for problems so you can find solutions. Train your brain to find solutions. There is increasing global mobility of skills and new models of work with people having more than one career in a lifetime.

• Historical trends • Watching Sci-Fi movies and looking for innovative ways.

• To be innovative you have to practice to be good.

• Through looking at problems, innovators should find solutions.

Up until a few years ago there was not an entrepreneurship society in any university, but the urge for innovation amongst young people is much greater.

Artificial intelligence is key in the current society.

It would be beneficial for HR to encourage staff to watch Sci-fi movies.

The future of all work is in the imagination and creativity.

INTELLECTUAL QUOTIENT

EQ EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT

Emotional and spiritual intelligence BY: MARKO SARAVANJA, Chairperson and Founder, Regenesys Business School

Benefits of Spiritual Intelligence • Builds trust • Forms a sense of belonging • Sense of ownership • Improved performance

• Staff retention • Team spirit • Excellence • Innovation • Creativity • Entrepreneurial spirit

• EQ is to understand your emotions and emotions of others and without EQ you cant become a good manager • Spiritual Intelligence is the highest form of intelligence; it’s about understanding purpose: Listen to your heart, listen to your own talents • You have the power to achieve dreams. All you need is power to succeed, the power within yourself, to conquer fears and self limiting beliefs.

• Be true to yourself and remain moral and be sure that you love what you do • When you give unconditionally, you receive abundantly, but remember that success doesn’t happen overnight • Gratitude – be grateful for what you have, be positive • Align purpose of your life to your organisation and dream big – dreams do come true, get that PHD, you never too late or old too study, pursue your dream • You are 1 in 7 billion people in the world, be real to yourself, you are special, you are meant to do great things • Awaken your own potential- look deeper, recognize the soul not the physical looks, focus on positives • Risk taking and going into unknown-don’t be scared to take a risk – be free- push boundaries of comfort OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

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Can executive coaching

FOSTER

transformative learning amongst executives?

HR must step up to the complexities in the new world of work and should be looking at an integrated solution which will drive the business BY: GLORIA MBOKOTA, executive coach and author

5 Layers To Consider

• Skill level • Improving performance • Developmental coaching – longer term • Transformational coaching – change in ways of thinking • Critical reflection – taking out assumptions and values and reflecting on them. Dealing with unconscious biases What Matters?

1. Support coaching with communication and listening skills 2. The length of sessions (days) depends on the client’s frame and how they get into the journey 3. Measure coach-ability of the persona 4. Aim for 1 outcome with 4-6 sessions to unlock potential 5. Measure by conducting pre assessment

Q&A

Q: Does disorientation have to be understood by a number of people in the organisation?

A: It can at individual, team and organisational level Q: Which is more adaptive – individual or team coaching?

A: they serve different purposes. When coaching teams, it is advisable that the leader is taken through executive coaching Q: Is there a study that was done between team coaching and work-life balance?

A: Personal growth and company agenda - the coach must coach to create this balance for the coachee Q: Is prescribed coaching successful?

A: this is not advisable since there is an ethical contract in coaching

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

Employee relations policies, practices & procedures have

CHANGED BY: BRIAN VAN ZYL, director, Van Zyl, Rudd and Associates (Pty) Ltd

Why do we have policies in place, have you asked that?

• Unfair labor practice- policy practices and procedures • When have you followed the polices practice and procedure that are fair labor practice?

• Employment contracts are in line with all policies, practice and procedures • Labor Relation act was changed on 11 November 1996 but it looks as though the landscape of the Act didn’t change • A dual system was introduced: CCMA and Labour Courts • CCMA can’t only say a contract is unfair • The reasonable employer debate settled• There are no disciplinary enquiries in the new act • When the CCMA arbitrates they then make the reasonable decision • There is no request to plead in the new LRA- this is settled lawthere is no case law that says differently

The real winner in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better Barbara Pletcher

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HR Transformational

BY: PERRY TIMMS, (consultant & coach)

EMPLOYEE

ENGAGEMENT Engagement is what motivates you not only to come to work, but to do your best.

BY: MATT MANNERS, employee Engagement Awards

• Definitions of engagement change day to day, week to week - it all depends on needs of the employee. At the end of the day it’s about giving your employees the chance to be the best employee they can be • Having great employee engagement results in great customer experience which is why engaged employees are valuable assets • Engaged employees stay when there’s an urgent need, help someone they work with, make a recommendation, do something good for the company • 3 positive business outcomes- top line, bottom line and reputation growth CX=LC+CS

• (customer experience=Loyal customers + customer spend) EX+CX=E

• (Employee experience + customer experience = engagement)

Top 3 pieces of adviceEngagement 101 1. Find out from employees what they want 2. Find out how the customer experience is 3. Use the employee voice

• Lead from the top • Listen • Keep a people focus • Stay the course • Don’t give up

• Transformational HR provides an opportunity for HR to help organisations create the workforce of the future through considering the world in which we operate today.

• HR are the guardians of the values of the organisation, as trust is critical to employees. HR need to offer solutions to those at the highest level so they understand what matters to the people that work here, and the importance of being a trusted organisation.

• HR’s role is to create a just organisation which is fair, true and transparent. There needs to congruence between the external and internal brand. How the organisation positions itself externally should align to the employee experience inside the organisation.

• Organisations need to reshape how they think about their employee value proposition and need to engage employees as the consumer.

Abandon a blanket EVP for an individualised one that speaks to employees.

An organisation’s ability to learn and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.

BY: FRANCOIS DU PLESSIS (group CEO, Inavit iQ )

• Organisations that align their external and internal brand outperform competitors by 30% • To achieve people performance some organisations have recrafted the psychological contract, back to basic performance in terms of how they deal with employees, changing the way we learn (on the job), and careers are being redefined as a set of experiences.

• The rise of the work martyr is something organisations also need to take into consideration.

• Organisations need to create meaningful work where employees can grow through experience and have trust in leadership.

• Research shows that trust in leadership is an important feature from a brand, leadership and cultural perspective.

The challenge for HR is to bring a balance between contradictory expectations of the workforce and business expectations of stakeholders, so as not to unfairly favour one over the other OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

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How should Business Respond to Socio-economic Challenges of their Employees?

South Africa’s National Treasury reported that total expenditure on social protection was R164,9billion during 2016/2017 financial year and it is projected to increase to R209,1billion by 2019/20 BY: CHARLOTTE MOKOENA, Executive Vice President, HR and Corporate Affairs, SASOL

Understanding the multiple political, economic and social factors at play is critical to optimising the impact of business on society

High levels of poverty

Scaling down of industrial activity

High levels of unskilled labour

What Questions must Business Leaders in Human Resources functions be answering?

• • • • •

Deteriorating/Lack of infrastructure

Poor service delivery

High levels of youth unemployment

Lack of organised community leadership

How should Business Respond?

Population growth

Access to water challenges

Increased youth radicalism

High levels of dependency on Sasol by community & local municipalities

What’s the Company’s Operating & Labour Footprint?

What do we know about Employees?

What are the Living Standards of Employees?

What community challenges may affect our employees’ well-being?

Could it be: Education, Housing, Service delivery, Transport, Community/SMME Skills, Job security?

High dependence on social grants for households

High prevalence of HIV/AIDS

Difficulty in accessing business opportunities

• Pick one Employee Issue/Challenge matching employees’ highest need and organisation’s strategy and capacity; focus on this and to making a significant impact to community and to employees’ wellbeing - involving the employees as champions Six I’s for a relevant CSI programme with sustainable impact:

• • • • • •

INFORMATION & INSIGHTS INFLUENCE INVOLVE INTERVENE IMPACT TRACKING INFORM

Crafting competitive strategy in a complex and rapidly evolving

ENVIRONMENT BY: ABDULLAH VERACHIA, CEO, The Strategists

• The hyper competitive landscape in which we find ourselves makes it impossible to craft strategy for the organisation.

• Organisations need to create leaders that are responsive to the new type of change.

• What are some of the issues and challenges that are grappling our ability to become more productive? How do we see the next 2, 5 to 10 years in the context of the global economy?

• We need to connect the dots and reflect on how macro factors affect the real economy on the ground e.g. a mining company laying off workers means impacts the mining community.

• Connecting the dots through newspaper headlines PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

shows how deep the systemic impact is, hence the state of heightened anxiety in South Africa.

• The challenge is to create inclusive economic growth that benefits the majority of the South African population.

• The challenge is also to understand the ‘new normal’ and how the new environment that we impacts our ability to build competitive organisations.

• In light of the revolutionary changes in the world, we need ‘future fit’ organisations. You cannot craft competitive strategy if the organisation has a bench of leaders who do not live like digital natives.

• Successful companies will ask what can we do differently in the shift?

• You need to Innovate for the end user, and make it interesting and relevant • We need an interplay between social scientists and digital scientists.

• You need to play with Artificial Intelligence in order to understand it

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Courts of Law Amendment Bill BY: DAVID BROWN, CEO, Profile Corporate Services (Pty) Ltd

Old Magistrate’s Act 32 of 1944: The Courts of Law Amendment Act – Act no. 7 of 2017; • HR and corporate executives need to be familiar with new Law, and safeguard employees and organisations by: • Taking a proactive approach towards employee financial wellness • Facilitate workplace education on money management, family responsibility (child maintenance), debt management and legal process; to help employees avoid compromising legal situations • Review company policies on garnishee order processing, salary deductions and court appearance leave or time-off • Review legal assignments for related court liaison necessitated by the Law • Review employment contracts such that the company can fulfil its legal obligations

PANEL DISCUSSION:

sustainable job creation for the youth BY: ALLON RAIZ, BONI GANTILE & DR FLORUS PRINSLOO

• On the one side of the coin is the capacity of the economy to develop sufficient jobs and the other is the capacity of the labour market to produce graduates or youth that match the demands of the industry.

• Even though you have the qualifications, doesn’t mean you have the skill that is required. There are still jobs vacant and can’t be filled as there is no skill for it • We need to look at having the learner in the business while studying, so that no business training is required • The problem with South Africa’s s linear school system is that our graduates still have to be taught about how to do their job when they get to the workplace.

• We don’t have an entrepreneurial culture- this should be taught in schools from a young age. We must teach people how to find the information instead of just teaching them the information. You should teach apprentices the tools of the trade before they enter the workplace • Traditional education will fall away- things will happen online.

Finland has the best educational program- there are no more subjects, tablets are used and children are able to learn what they are interested in • Younger people who are exposed to the workforce earlier adapt better at work, so work out how to take your learners to the work place faster.

• Use digital platform to teach them to find information • A terrible mistake would be to assume that every young person is

entrepreneurial; stats show that only 4-7% of youth is • Entrepreneurship is a tough space and 96% of businesses fail.

• Youth entrepreneurs are given contracts usually once off, so the problem is that there is no continuity as they do not invest in the business.

• How we contract youth entrepreneurs is also a problem e.g. personal development is out of the question due to entrepreneurs being contracted to sites.

• Funding of youth destroys more value than it creates.

Entrepreneurship needs to be embedded in the education system.

Learners need to be taught resilience in every single subject.

• The concept of a 3 year degree will die. The university of the future will be in organisations where people can learn.

• One common mistake is throwing entrepreneurs into the same program. The program needs to be tailored to who they are.

Action Points • • • •

Make MENTORING more of a priority Let entrepreneurial change start with you Create Job Makers, NOT Job Seekers The youth are not 2 Minute Noodles- you need to grow them!

We are all part of a global society, so change needs to come from us as practitioners.

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How the performance landscape will affect your business BY: BELIA NEL, Managing Director, Improvid Performance Consulting

• As we enter our fourth stage of digital revolution driven by knowledge, things are evolving so fast and the trends are showing that we need a people focus where performance conversations and performance coaching is needed.

• Performance Management = the past performance of an employee • Performance improvement = looking at how an individual can improve their performance • We need to create a simplified process with a recognition focus based on results and future performance improvements.

What is the solution?

• Change the strategic approach – move from command and control to coaching for performance.

• Involve the entire value chain to develop a game plan. Adopt coaching conversations vs leadership demands.

THE EVOLUTION OF WORKPLACE

EDUCATION

Delivery strategy for e-learning has changed; if you’re not including mobile, you’re making a mistake.

BY: DENNIS LAMBERTI, Director, Media Works

Data is a problem and flash is dead since it cannot work on mobile devices

Breaking out

• e.g. you tube copyright considerations – creates disruptiveness Interactive worksheets

• Self marking • Disclaimer of work self completed Gamification

Flipped learning

• Learn at home to get the concept and do the context in groups/ in class • Single concept, bite sized content, consumed on the go - learning bubble • Skills associated with learning Going off line

• Setting up – must have an app that goes off-line • Setting up – functionality to store content including quizzes off-line then upload when having access Just in time and just in case learning

• Scanning to menu for problem solving PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

• Do it for motivation – leader boards, badges

Consider when implementing…

1. Start with a strategy that has consideration that’ll be built in the future (mobile, offline, forums, gamification 2. Content – keep short, change media types must be multiple (HTML5/SCORM/kAPI) 3. Don’t do away with the human touch – blended learning

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REDESIGNING

employee experience using engagement initiatives BY: PRECIOUS NYIKA, President of IPM Zimbabwe /HR Director, Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Ltd.

A disengaged employee is easy to see from their language and their work- they only do what is required of them - will just do what’s defined in the job • In Zim it’s very difficult to manage employee engagement • Employee engagement is a 2 way street- responsibility of manager and of the employee • Developing a sense of ownership, belonging and empowerment; strategy alignment to reward and recognition • Baby boomers are very different from Millenials, and you cant always keep all staff happy Engagement ideas

• Communication is the liver of a business- share company info look at social media • Check in and create team touch points, this helps to bring the human element.

• Peer to Peer recognition is very powerful. EG • Inclusion programs- digital transformation, gender inclusion, hygiene factors, reverse mentoring, project give back, employee volunteer program,

• Rethinking our succession plans - allowing employees to leave and come back with different perspective/experience • a separate bullet • On-the-spot prizes for doing something outstanding • Leader boards- show where you are rated against someone else • How I live my values- build a culture out of stories-find the stories that speak to your values • Create an environment that encourages innovation • Skills to manage people- give them the tools • Start rewarding people for long service at 2 years • Multiskilling teams- making your employees agile, can work in more than one setting /department- shouldn’t have specialists

REMEMBER:

• Ensure that you have let the unions know what your strategy is • Ensure the union understands how the business works- when you make and lose money • Promote union relevance, don’t kill it • Create an emotional connection to your customer - a cartoon was created • Individual approach to engagement- if the employee doesn’t sort out his/her wellness issues the company will never do anything right

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THE FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP IN THIS VUCA WORLD BY: DR ANDREW JOHNSON (Eskom Leadership Institute) & PROF THEO VELDSMAN (University of Johannesburg)

• Key Leadership ingredients = trust & context • Despite money spent on leadership training and development, trust in leaders is low and getting lower. The leadership cadre faces lots of suspicion, mistrust, anger and revolt. Followers believe that the interest of leaders is more in themselves and their own careers than in their organisations, communities and people they lead.

• There is a growing leadership crisis, where personal leader integrity is further challenged by the volatility and ambiguity of the environment in which organisations operate.

• Technology now makes it impossible for leaders to hide leadership deficiency because as soon as there is sub-par performance, online media buzzes with observers venting or voicing out dissatisfaction.

• Most errors emanate from leaders thinking that their job is about jumping in and making decisions or providing all the answers to challenges.

• There’s growth in “spontaneous leadership” emergence where one has seen leaderless revolutions across the globe.

• Most innovations that lead the world were not driven by established leaders (top leading organisations), but have popped up where no one expected. Models have been disrupted in many industries, thanks to non-leaders.

Examples of Trends disrupting the established leader-concept:

• The disappearance of people into e-suburbs or virtual space and the new approach to mobility (Uber).

• Challenges experienced in multicultural leadership calls for a different mindset. The very definition of right and wrong may well depend on where you are and what culture you are leading in since leadership is about leading self, others and organisations or communities.

• Work contracts have taken a different shape in many countries, and rigid leadership may mean losing out. Leaders need to find new ways of managing under new circumstances.

• A set of new, future-fit leadership capabilities are to be developed, PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

Questions to consider

• How relevant is my leadership model for the environment and constant in which I lead?

• How relevant is our leadership training?

Any suggested books/videos

• Leadership Perspectives from the Front Line (presenters = co-authors)

Action points/things to remember

• Future-Fit Leadership is required • Trust and Context play the most significant roles • Understanding of the layers of leadership – the leadership funnel • The new 20 Competences of Leadership

in recognition of the saying: the power of the fish is in the water. If a leader can’t swim in the VUCA world, he/she is devoid of power.

• The key requirement for future-fit leaders is a contextual understanding or appreciation of what is taking place in their own leadership environments.

• It involves reading situations right, exercising judgment and skillfully improvising for each challenge. Leaders need jazz band expertise. Jazz artists may or may not have practiced together, but they will come up with a seamless rendition that suits the audience –something they may (never) not reproduce for any other audience.

Had the band practiced earlier and a member makes a mistake, the fellow players capitalize on the mistakes and improvise for seamless performance.

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CULTURAL DISRUPTION TO INNOVATE

& LEAD

45

Four key ideas of design thinking: • • • •

Build to think Empathise with the user Beginner’s mindset Radical collaboration

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. Mark Twain

BY: VIVEK WANDHERA (Cultural & Leadership Disruptor, Ideaforms)

• The world is increasingly becoming volatile, unpredictable, complex and ambiguous (VUCA).

• Customers are also “becoming VUCA” and organisations have to cater for new kind of customers which include millennials and generation Z. • The internal culture of organisations needs to be disrupted to connect with the new kind of customers through new kinds of thinking and innovation.

• Organisations need to be able to create products and services that work for the end user and not the other way around.

- Do users really want it?

- Can it be made?

- Will it make money?

• Visionary thinking is about being at the centre of design thinking solutions which brings the end user to the forefront of business.

• Organisations need to use the principles of design thinking to disrupt their internal culture so that different departments can deliver better products and services to each other by empathising with each other better.

• Once organisations can empathise better through various departments, they can focus on meeting the requirements of the new kind of customer.

TAKING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT & THE SETA BEYOND 2020 BY: PK NAICKER, General Manager: Research, Planning & Reporting, FP&M Seta

Unemployment is not lack of jobs, but rather a lack of skills…

• 71 million unemployed youths (aged 15 to 24) around the world; • SA unemployment rate at 27.7% with youth at 38.6% • 58% of unemployed SA are aged between 15 and 34 • Unemployment among those with less than a matric qualification is 33.1% and among higher education graduates remains at 7.3% • Solution to this problem is through Skills Development • The National SD Strategy is to ensure increased access to skills development opportunities and transformation to address inequities linked to class, race, gender, age and disability in our society • FP&M Seta skills development programme is vibrant & dynamic: • +/- 13,422 learners entered programmes & +/- 6,757 learners exited system with a qualification in an occupational programme.

• Throughput rate of +/- 50% - 4% higher when compared to 2015/16

• Skills and employment facilitation in different sub-sectors through varied activity: • career exhibitions • world skills summit • national skills conference • HR & people management convention & expo • learnership partnerships • University research partnership for sector studies • international leadership development programme • book fair & literacy promotion

It is vital that we arm people with skills. Skill formation is critical!

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TED STYLE TALKS Perry Timms

We need to know who we are, understand the world we operate in, know our skills and our systems so that we can designing a better experience of work and engineer for a balanced workplace’ in order to create more JUST organisations.

Deshun Deysel

People who make decisions are Baby Boomers, but your workforce is Millennials – and Millennials don’t stick around. We need to find out WHY! We need to change performance management to management development

Akiva Beebe

Most valuable resource is attention- the world is so busy, what are you paying attention to? We need to start paying attention to stuff that adds more value.

Natalie Danster Abrahams

When leading staff ensure YOUR principles are in line.

HR needs to look at new methods and means in communicating in order to be more effective.

Mariam Sha

Performance managementshould be a 2 way discussion. Values ends up as a frame in the boardroom, but employees measure the leaders to these. We need to ask: do we have leaders that lead because they have title or do they lead because they lead?

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

A people management

&

organisational development perspective

BY: TUMELO MOKWENA, Group Executive : HR, Transnet

What is the level of engagement in your organisation?

• Employees of today seek a sense of meaning, fulfilment and purpose in their jobs.

• Our people management practices need to change in the era of fourth industrial revolution. Although we seek to embrace the fourth industrial revolution – the way we interact with people needs transformation • Transnet puts the employee first- they are the most important assets • We can not remain the same while we are in a different era • Do employees need to be lead, managed or supervised? They possibly need to be inspired If you take care of the employee they will take care of the client

• People make the business work • Happy employees stay longer • Happy employees invest • Employees first, customers next, then investors • Employees are also consumers of people management practices.

Every day employees consume our people management practices.

Employees need to be put at the same level as the customer.

Building Employee Whole person paradigm = best employee leads to best benefits for the company

• We need to move from “staff need me” to “staff are smart and they will figure it out without me” • Staff want no hidden agenda- be open and transparent • Engagement is key • We need to get to a stage of creative engagement • The sense of “I belong” is important

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PANEL DISCUSSION:

Jobs of the future BY: HEIN WEYERS (PMI) JOHN BOTHA (Adcorp) DR RAYMOND PATEL (Merseta) MR KOBUS ROUX (Meraka Institute)

• Jobs of the future will require a different form of education system.

Is our education system responsive to the jobs of the future?

• Businesses are changing due to technology changing so quickly • How do we combine procurement talent and skill with the technology change?

• Our training of artisans is reflective and not proactive e.g. cars of the future are electric.

• Need to do a full mind shift on training. We need to start thinking of training differently and start responding to the needs of the new world of work.

• We have 4.25mil unemployed youth and should use universities to develop the skills that businesses need The new revolution is changing mindsets…

• This will bring new creative ways of doing the job • Leadership is the most important role of the future • Leaders need to be bright and ready for the change

• The greatest challenge as leaders is how we take the transition from one step to another?

• What kind of leaders are we looking for? We cannot replace one leader for another old school leader.

• What is HR’s role in navigating jobs of the future?

• We have to recruit for talent and train for character.

The illiterate of the future are those that can’t learn, unlearn and relearn.

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BUCKLE UP! The next wave of HR is here BY: DR ROZE PHILLIPS, Managing Director, Accenture Consulting

• We are no longer the most intelligent species on the planet.

• Robots are just as intelligent if not more than humans • Design thinking- this is when you put the human first when designing a product - making user the centre of your design • In HR, you need to redesign your processes by putting the employee at the centre of your design/process.

• Designing great employee experiences starts with transforming the traditional transaction and function orientation of HR services, to orienting around services and treating employees as consumers.

• Bots take away tasks but not jobs – they free up time for us to do the important stuff • We aren’t likely to get to a phase where machines take away decisionmaking from humans entirely • Robotics can deliver payback on investment in 3-6 months when implemented at scale- without dehumanizing your workforce • Robotics also allow for increased satisfaction amongst employees as it eradicates monotonous tasks.

HR is there to grow people and innovation

• Getting the right experience matters.

• Tomorrow’s reality is that of the world of the augmented reality.

• Do we want to be machines or be more human?

• We need to engage the whole self through body, mind, soul and heart.

• We need to worry about the fall of humanity and stop worrying about the rise of the machines.

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PANEL DISCUSSION:

• • • • • • •

KGOMOTSO SEKHUTE AND MATT WHITE (Executive Meta Coaches)

If you don’t disrupt and create exponential change, someone else will, and their revolution may be your extinction.

the business of change

• Proactive leadership is not serving us well • Implement Penologic thinking & find a way to make money out of change • Get to know the business you are in • Visionary leadership brought us Tesla , so what is beyond visionary leadership?

PANEL DISCUSSION:

SA’s economic prospects

BY: PATIENCE SEMENYA (ACCA) & MR ANDREW DAVISON (Old Mutual)

• What is going to happen when the rating agencies downgrade us again? What does it mean for us as a country?

• The net effect of a downgrade is that its going to add an additional cost burden to our debt.

• The downgrades get a lot of attention but what’s important is that it is similar to an individual applying for a loan, as it determines whether or not you can afford to service the debt. It is about the state of your financial affairs.

• The response to the downgrade is what is important or as an individual it is how you respond to the bank when it decides not to grant you a loan.

• There are a lot that can potentially be done by robots but what is

CLOSING THOUGHTS Find your heart, train your mind, remember that good leaders are always learning…

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

Find value, valuable value Operationalize MTP Replacement of employees will now be millennials Transparency is required to move forward Drop the current lenses and remember that openness is required Where is your next move where you will make the biggest impact?

Constantly open yourself up to disruption and input

important is that humans must not act like robots by doing the bare minimum. Think of how you can add value by thinking out of the box!

• For SA to succeed, we need a change of attitude which in the workplace should be led by HR. • The work of an HR practitioner is going to become more important with more garnishee orders to process as a result of more indebtedness.

• HR will need to be proactive in its support of employees, e.g. offering financial wellness programmes and offering counselling services • Good governance is the ability for people to make decisions that are morally and capitally sound.

• The opportunity to grow is there but we need to identify talent that share the innovation- values of the organisation.

• Culture change: look at how we can assist employees stretch their buck instead of them taking out their pension • What are we doing with our current workforce to ensure they are ready for the digital world in the next few years?

• Add value, don’t just do the basics • If you are going act like a robot we can easily replace you with a robot • Values of organisation is vital • HR need to reinvent our selves, • HR needs to be seen as a wellness role /advisor

Things to Remember….

• Encourage and capacitate design thinking – be curious, try new things, be aware.

• Make sure your employees are at the centre of your processes • Know your employees and know what keeps them awake at night • Create the future you want rather than defending the past you had • Catch people doing something right… frequently!

• Look for people with highly skilled judgement and critical thinking abilities • Be ready to act in uncertainty and be more flexible – learn, unlearn and relearn • Create a legacy that outlives you.

1PM, annually, recognises initiative and excellence in Business Leadership and HR under the following categories:

Business Leader of the Year HR Director of the Year HR Team of the Year HR Practitioner of the Year HR Emerging Practitioner of the Year

Visit: www.ipm.co.za/excelle nee-awards to find out more Email: info@ipm.co.za Tel: 011 544 4400

INSTITUTE OF PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

50

Learning & development

Are you pushing beyond the boundary with Group Work?

BY: SONJA VAN DER WESTHUIZEN – Associate, Maccauvlei Learning Academy

Tell something to someone, and they are likely to forget.

Show something to them, and they might remember seeing something like it. Get them to do something; they are not likely to forget! Of course, I’m paraphrasing a popular Chinese Proverb well recognised among OECD experts.

W

hile there may be arguments about the order of effectiveness between Auditory and Visual/Spatial senses depending on personality type, there is no argument about the power of experiential learning.

In todays’ Outcomes Based environment of learning, we as facilitators are encouraged to do group work as this is seen as a basis for reflexive development of the learner as well as retention of information through debate and sharing different experiences from different backgrounds.

Most Outcomes Based learning programmes include group activities based on case studies especially at higher levels of learning.

The main concern, however, is that it seems as if facilitators are “passing the buck” so to speak when delegating group work to learners.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

In my experience there are facilitators that give out group work to the learners and expect the learners to do this completely on their own.

This strategy does work if the learners are high level, but only to a certain extent.

The question remains: How much accountability and responsibility are we as facilitators expecting our learners to carry on our behalf?

We are, after all, the subject matter experts that are facilitating the programme to impart knowledge, skills and reflexive abilities to our learners. Our learners are our clients and they expect to derive value from our service. I have had discussions with learners about this very topic and it seems as if learners tend to feel lost sometimes when guidance from the facilitator is not prevalent during the group sessions.

I do believe that group work has its place in the OBE system and there are numerous advantages and disadvantages.

Some advantages of group work include:

• You can create good case studies which enhance debate and discussion in the various groups • Reflexive competence is developed through the debates • Learners from different backgrounds can share real life experiences which broadens the knowledge of the whole group • Groups tend to compete with one another if you have multiple groups doing the same case study. Competition is a good enhancer of learning as each group wants to be better than the next group • It gives the adult learner some feeling of empowerment where they can make their own decisions relating to the information supplied and their own outcomes instead of receiving instruction only (deductive)

Learning & development

Environment

e

Feelings

f

f

Focus

51

Changes

e

c

Experiences

t Timing

EFFECT

All it does this to remind us to think about:

• What sort of settings do we need to work with the group to facilitate so that people can engage with each other and the subject that is our focus?

Focus

• What is the purpose of the session?

• What is the subject of our learning and action?

• Does it relate to what people have expressed as needs, or that we have identified as needs?

Feelings

• What sense do people have of what they want and need?

• What emotion is the session likely to evoke or is evoking?

Some of the disadvantages listed by learners include:

Experiences

• The selection of the group members is not well thought out or calculated to enhance team dynamics • Facilitators often withdraw from the activity and let learners struggle alone, which is not a bad thing if learners have been briefed properly but you may find certain groups that do not cope well with this mode of learning. This must be analysed by the facilitator and assistance and support must be given at all times • Diversity and different cultures can also be a limiting factor to the group not functioning well which includes gender and is dependent on the target population in the group • The stronger learners always take the lead and the introverts and less experienced learners withdraw and go along for the ride which is not the purpose of the activity at all. We can say that stronger learners with more knowledge and experience get punished to take the load of the bulk of the work and when it is time for thanking the group for a great job done, everyone gets the recognition which makes the stronger learners feel disempowered and negative as they have not received the recognition they duly deserve So what can “we” as facilitators do to enhance our delivery with group work and maximise the results for the benefit of our learners?

The secret is in preparation and a willingness to see our learners succeed and be everything they can be. In other words, to maximise their experience and ensure they leave the programme fully loaded!

This should be our ultimate goal!!

There are lots of ways of thinking about what it is important to attend to but here we can use a simple model to do your preparation as a facilitator.

• Does the session have the mix of experiences/activities to facilitate and stimulate exploration and learning, address the focus of the session, and meet the needs of participants?

• Are we facilitating the right sort of openings in the session for people to work together to explore and express these?

Changes

• In what ways would we like people to change, do participants want to change (and if so how).

• Are people changing if at all by participating in the session?

Timing

• Have we allocated the right amount of time for the different learning experiences and activities?

One thing that the model does not mention is the participation of the facilitator. The facilitator should be involved in the group activity as a guiding tool throughout. Completely delegating the activity to learners is not acceptable. Let’s take responsibility for our learner’s education, guide and nurture them through the learning process.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is education a job or a passion for you?

• Do you understand the impact you can have on one person’s life?

• Are you accountable for the knowledge and skills you transfer?

• Do you take responsibility for the nurturing of your learners?

• Do you make your learners look forward to learning even more?

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

52

Community leadership

LIFE IN DIGNITY While people were meant to live life in dignity in spite of their handicap, South Africa stands indignant at the treatment of mental health patience who once called Life Esidimeni their home

T

he irony of ‘esidimeni’ - in dignity - looms large given the indignity that led to ultimate demise for some 148 people who were entrusted to Gauteng health professionals. Some amount of closure would have been attained following the Arbitration hearings that featured testimony by senior officials that families had been anxious to get answers from.

Despite initial reluctance to testify, the account given by Dr Tiego Selebano brought a measure of comfort to the families of the victims of Esidimeni relocation saga. Dr Selebano acknowledged his role and took operational accountability for the incident based on his title as the Head of Department. Throughout his testimony, the main direct responsibility Dr Selebano claims was in the closure of “unfit” NGO’s, following a direct call by the national health minister. The minister’s call, on the other hand, was said to have been prompted by media and inquiries from an opposition party.

While Dr Selebano’s testimony ended with a heart-wrenching apology for what the families and their loved ones experienced in the custody of the health department, there was reluctance from those, in particular PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - March 2018

the legal representatives, to accept the apology or embrace its spirit to allow ‘peace’ to have the last word in the room. They seemed to aggravate for more disclosure and a pinpointing of “the one person” that can be held totally responsible for the death of the patients.

Dr Selebano’s account outlined the different roles played by different people in the several layers or levels of responsibility in the department.

If anything, it served as a mine of confusion with fragments of activities allocated to different people or units The identity of who may be singled out as a project sponsor was ultimately confirmed to be the director of mental health, Dr Makgabo Manamela, who happened to have testified before Dr Selebano.

Dr Manamela had indicated that there were many players in the plan, and expressed that it would be unfair for her to be held responsible for the implementation of the transfer and subsequent demise or disappearance of the patients.

What the arbitration made clear from direct declarations or through deduction is that:

• there was no consultation with relevant stakeholders or interested parties • there was no proper project management: preparation, detailing of the process, pre-contracting administration (due diligence) and coordination to make sure that destination centres were sufficient and compliant for patient profile • there was no proper execution plan for the transfer or handover: logistically, clinically, financially, human resource- and infrastructure-wise • there was no communication or documentation to relay all relevant information pertaining to each patient, and this was partly due to

Community leadership

53

The grief and relief felt at Dr Selebano’s humble and genuine apology was palpable.

The peaceful silence that befell the room was broken by a loud wail from the audience. terms, what could they have done with the patients: people who had high dependency and medical needs • where does the de-institutionalising of patients feature • does the de-institutionalisation call explain or justify the transfer of patients to “homes” as opposed to keeping them in a hospital-type facility • could the call for deinstitutionalisation have been premature or indiscriminate, given that some patients that have been sent home ended up dying in the hands of their families – at least one of them from overdose • might de-institutionalisation have been used as a scapegoat or an excuse for another agenda

lack of information in original records held at Esidimeni • there was a call to save costs, whose real source and rationale has not been quite identified since analyses showed Esidimeni was demonstrated to be the most cost-effective or best value-for-money solution for the patient care • due to delay in planning, there was ‘sudden’ pressure to roll out as the Esidimeni termination date befell the officials • The HOD put it well – better than anyone could have – when he declared: “We made a mess”!

The grief and relief felt at Dr Selebano’s humble and genuine apology was palpable. The peaceful silence that befell the room was broken by a loud wail from the audience. More sobs followed and some calm was recaptured when one of the family members – a priest who also lost a son – responded to the arbitration chairman’s call – Justice Dikgang Moseneke – to say a prayer. The audience may have been forgiven for thinking that the prayer was for the house, and their departed ones.

Surprisingly, it appeared as though the prayer was actually for Dr Selebano. Go figure!

When the arbitration hearing resumed in 2018, the families expected some answers to many of the questions that the first round had left hanging, such as:

• why did Dr Selebano only sign the transfer of patients to the NGO facilities long after the transfers had commenced, and after at least 30 of them had already been reported deceased • how were the NGO’s meant to sustain the patients service over three or four months of non-payment by the department • why did the NGO’s accept such terms, and if they didn’t like the

There may be no answers to these questions, or at least none that would be satisfactory. Given the depth of information shared with the families, however, a lot has been shifted into their court - to allow themselves to properly grieve, to forgive, to gear themselves for a healing journey, to piece together their lives and face a future without their lost loved ones This would refer particularly to those who were able to identify and bury their loved ones. It’s a totally different case for those who are yet to find the fate of their family members.

Further pursuit of the case for those who had managed to bury their loved ones may be for reasons other than the memory of the deceased.

We know it certainly will not be due to any loss of financial support from a breadwinner, nor would it be due compensation for an ambitious life poised to lead the world with career cut short.

It would likely be to affirm the dignity of life of those who passed away – who lost lives under a least respectable circumstance and in a most inhumane way. For this there is no price in any world currency that can replace the lost value - the same way as one cannot morally fathom putting a tag on a bride or set a price on lobola.

While legal representatives may feel they have a duty to themselves and to their profession to hustle for compensation or monetary pay-outs – a bulk of which may end up in legal coffers - the families would know deep down in their hearts that nothing can replace their loved ones, least of all profiting at the expense of their delicate, precious lives.

Indeed, officials were paid to look after the wellbeing of the deceased, and perhaps the proposed R1.2 compensation to each family should come out of “their own pockets”. Perhaps they are already paying, in remorse, in mourning, in a shadow of death that constantly follows them through the day and haunt them through the night – taking away peace and depriving them of sleep.

As a country, as a nation, as members of the human race, we will never forget the loss of lives in what was meant to be life in dignity for our most vulnerable.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM