12 minute read
LEADERSHIP
from African Leader 2022
UBUNTU-DRIVEN LEADERSHIP FOR MEANINGFUL CHANGE
In the aperture of a leadership crisis, Ubuntu principles are the light, writes Cuma Velile Dube
We are undoubtedly in a leadership crisis, one that cuts across many spheres of our society. e leadership culture in our country is dramatically di erent to what we had intended it to be at the dawn of our democracy. While we may have very di erent views on what leadership is and which leadership practices are replicable, we can agree that a key outcome of good leadership is meaningful change. Otherwise, what is the point? It therefore follows that, at a minimum, leadership must be both e ective and responsible. E ective so that change is realised. at change must be managed properly for it to matter in the lives of those being led. It must also be sustainable; if it is to be truly meaningful, it must stand the test of time.
In 2015, Baken Lefa, in a paper published in Studies in Philosophy and Education, had this to say of Ubuntu: “Ubuntu is a capacity in South African culture that expresses compassion, reciprocity, dignity, harmony and humanity in the interests of building and maintaining a community with justice and mutual caring.”
THE VALUES LEADERS NEED TO DISPLAY
e leadership context of the Black Management Forum (BMF) is one that seeks to drive lasting and sustainable socioeconomic change toward a just and equitable society. It is for this reason that Ubuntu-driven leadership speaks to its objectives of developing leaders who lead with humility, respect, and dignity; leaders who are self-aware, develop Ubuntu-driven leadership, or a leadership culture with Ubuntu principles as its foundation. Perhaps, along the way, we have forgotten what those very principles are.
Cuma Velile Dube
self-critical, and satis ed in the work of the organisation in pursuing an objective greater than themselves. e BMF is not always successful in developing leaders with the above values. We see many examples of how our society has fallen short of these values and has failed in electing leaders who exhibit the appropriate leadership behaviours. ere may be many reasons why we have not yet been successful in transforming the country’s leadership culture over the last decade or so. One of these may be that we are possibly not on the same page regarding what it means to have and
A MODEL FOR MEANINGFUL CHANGE LEADERSHIP
e theme for this year’s Black Excellence Awards in the Western Cape is perhaps an opportunity to discuss a leadership model that represents Ubuntu-driven leadership that can be understood within the organisational framework. is leadership model must be one that delivers meaningful change. In short, Ubuntu-driven leadership must be meaningful change leadership, leadership that is both e ective and responsible in bringing about change. What becomes meaningful, and what needs to change may vary. ose who lead and those being led must agree on what that means for them.
Our intention here is simply to propose a leadership model that may transform our country’s leadership culture. Every institution, organisation, department, business, and community-based group has a role to play. e BMF’s role is to develop leaders who can deliver meaningful change that will lead to socioeconomic transformation. In simple terms, we seek to live in a country that has addressed the injustices of its past, particularly the economic injustices visited upon the black
majority, and which o ers an equality of opportunity for all its people.
Meaningful change leadership is outcomes-based and rooted in African servant leadership. It is our interpretation of what Ubuntu-driven leadership looks like in the 21st century. Its theoretical foundation is servant leadership because it promotes performance alongside the wellbeing of stakeholders. Ubuntu-driven leadership is not a novel idea, however, we have not spent enough time spelling out what this means in the organisational framework in terms of inputs, processes, and the intended outcomes. We hope this can be the rst step in doing so.
What we need are leaders who, in service of others, are only interested in delivering meaningful change to those they serve. Exercising leadership in the service of others is the foundation for meaningful change leadership. In service of others, meaningful change leadership can be identi ed by the following leadership behaviours. • A spirit of solidarity: leaders who are engaged and encourage collaboration. • Compassion: leaders who are empathetic job resources, and engage members and society authentically. • Innovation leaders: leaders who encourage co-creation and experimentation.
• Empowerment and responsibility:
leaders who nurture proactivity, self-con dence, and accountability. • Humility: where “success” is not personal, but something greater than any individual leader. • Dignity and respect: leaders who appreciate everyone’s contribution. • Accountability: leaders who nurture a culture of accountability and ethical behaviour. From these leadership behaviours, we can build high-performance organisations. Organisations that can learn and innovate with improved stakeholder and member engagement, organisations where the noise about things that do not matter can be crowded out. It is a leadership model that is people-centred and welcomes change through an innovative, lives of South Africans. e disconnect is o en because our leaders focus more on the inputs rather than the outcomes. is o en leads to an ine cient allocation of resources. While a lot is said to be done, there is very little to show for it. Leaders who are focused on achieving meaningful change, ask the right questions of where time, energy and money is being spent.
We seek to live in a country that has addressed the injustices of its past, particularly the economic injustices visited upon the black majority, and which offers an equality of opportunity for all its people.
collaborative culture and meaningful conversations. We can learn to listen to understand, rather than to cancel. We can develop a leadership culture that seeks to serve socioeconomic change and growth, rather than just personal professional advancement or material gain.
Leaders are o en in positions of great in uence and power, which can be used for both good and evil. How leaders chose to exercise this power and in uence can have exponential consequences for those they lead. South Africa’s young democracy has seen both sides of this coin. While we have seen many examples of leadership in our country that has brought about meaningful change, they have been too few and far between to become what drives our leadership culture.
THE PEOPLE MUST COME FIRST
e BMF calls for a leadership that can guard against “misleadership”. Built on the principles of Ubuntu, meaningful change leadership can help us develop meaningful change agents – leaders who are e ective and responsible, people-centred, ethical, accountable, and who empower others. e meaningful change leadership model proposed here only seeks to translate what we mean by Ubuntu-driven leadership into leadership behaviours we expect to see and the outcomes we hope to achieve by adopting it. By focusing on people and the quality of their life, and how that can be transformed, we can deliver meaningful change.
It doesn’t matter how many symposiums or indabas we hold or attend, or even how much money we spend in trying to grow the economy and on social programmes if we are not bringing about meaningful change in the
HOPE
As we celebrate black excellence on 25 March, we hope to consider how we can transform our leadership culture as well. We hope we can engage in the leadership behaviours needed to respond to the current leadership crisis. We hope that what we have presented here is useful in de ning a leadership model for South Africa that can bring about meaningful change for our people. We hope that this event and our discussion here can remind us of the Ubuntu principles that were part of our “who we were” for so long. We hope we recognise that these principles are still useful and can be applied to our leadership story.
No matter where that story is being told, be it in business, in public service, civil society or community groups, we all need to be more deliberate about bringing about change. It is our view that the leadership behaviours we have described here, built on the principles of Ubuntu, give us the best chance of achieving our objectives.
INNOVATIVE PHARMA IS HELPING TO FUTURE-PROOF THE ECONOMY
e pharmaceutical industry is a key contributor to skills development, job creation and economic growth, says Bada Pharasi, CEO of the IPASA
Bada Pharasi
South Africa remains trapped in a cycle of high inequality and slow job creation, says the Innovative Pharmaceutical Association South Africa (IPASA) in its recently released Footprint Study. With an above global average services sector, an estimated wage wedge between the higher-earning unionised public sector workers and their private sector nonunionised counterparts, and enrolment at tertiary level lagging signi cantly, the South African labour market su ers from skilled labour shortages, the study nds. ese lead to a structural mismatch between education and the skills needed by private-sector companies. is, in turn, leads to growing unemployment, compounded by the subdued pace of reform and growth in South Africa.
IPASA and its member companies share a vested interest in the future prosperity of the country and seek to address some of these skills and employment challenges. e direct positive impact of innovative multinational pharmaceutical companies (IMNPCs) on the lives of South Africans is highly signi cant, but the knock-on e ects on the economy are o en even greater.
Apart from researching and developing lifesaving medicines, South African innovative pharma industry o ers the country many other bene ts. ousands of jobs are created, training and knowledge are shared, the economy is strengthened, and investment is secured, says IPASA’s Footprint Study.
CONTRIBUTIONS THAT STIMULATE THE ECONOMY
“ e development of medical innovations is not the only contribution made by South Africa’s innovative pharmaceutical companies,” says Bada Pharasi. “ e contribution that IMNPCs make extends beyond the realms of research and development of medical treatments, and includes contributions that stimulate the local economy through employment, taxes, skills development and technology transfer.”
The first major contribution is through direct and indirect employment, and a commitment to growing local capabilities. The study reveals that, in terms of human capital and knowledge building, the industry and supply chain develop and employ more than 14 000 people, with IMNPCs speci cally accounting for over 4 700 direct jobs in the country, 70 per cent of which are highly specialised in the form of professionals such as physicians, pharmacists, biologists and veterinarians, and those in the fields of management, finance, sales, communication and HR, among others.
“The contribution that innovative pharmaceutical companies make extends beyond the realms of research and development of medical treatments, and includes contributions that stimulate the local economy.” – Bada Pharasi
The industry also employs highly educated individuals who hold master’s and doctoral degrees. Employing these highly quali ed individuals is an opportunity to retain national talent while addressing the issue of structural distortions (skills, sectors) in the South African labour market. rough programmes that include core pharmaceutical knowledge and management content for executives, IMNPCs are maintaining investment levels in human capital, thus creating long-term impact on national capabilities.
Additionally, innovative multinational pharmaceutical companies signi cantly contribute to indirect job creation through manufacturing and distribution partners and other providers. e growth in sales, especially in the retail pharmaceutical market, is also a critical vector for the development of the national network of pharmacies and the employment that sustains that network. e Footprint Study estimates that over 9 400 jobs have been indirectly created on account of participating innovative multinational pharmaceutical companies in 2019. e study also shows that as much as R5.5-billion is spent in support of knowledge-sharing initiatives, comprising clinical research, healthcare programmes, training, and social responsibility initiatives. “ e industry also invests signi cantly in developing its South African workforce with active talent management practices and formalised career pathways across a range of disciplines,” says Pharasi. “A very high proportion of the workforce is receiving skills development, providing a long-term enhancement of the South African economy,” he continues.
A REGIONAL KNOWLEDGE HUB
Innovative multinational pharmaceutical companies are increasingly looking at South Africa as a “regional” hub for managing pan-African commercial operations and centralising functions across the region. And in fact, according to Footprint Study, South Africa leads the world in the number of health partnerships with IMNPCs and is increasingly seeing the benefits of being a regional knowledge hub.
“By encouraging this high value-adding sector to base their regional headquarters here, the socioeconomic bene ts will be disproportionately greater than the local South African market value, with enhanced employment, knowledge transfer and investment value into the country,” says Pharasi. A sizable portion of the regional revenues generated by IMNPCs is being led by senior and regional management from operations within South Africa; roles that would otherwise be based in other countries.
Many research-based pharmaceutical companies have used technology transfer to improve a country’s ability to use innovative medication through strengthening the expertise of the local scienti c and medical communities and, where possible, working to improve the health infrastructure. e rewards to companies transferring pharmaceutical technology can be reputational or commercial, or both. To date, investment in knowledge transfer projects by IPASA member respondents was estimated at R82-billion, according to the study.
ABOUT THE IPASA
The Innovative Pharmaceutical Association of South Africa (IPASA) was formed out of the need for a credible, respected association to engage with stakeholders in both the private and public sectors. IPASA comprises numerous research-based pharmaceutical companies and focuses on building an environment for sustainable access to innovative healthcare to address unmet medical needs in the country.
“In summary, it is important to reiterate that innovative multinational pharmaceutical companies contribute to direct and indirect employment, especially for a highly educated workforce, and are strongly committed to developing local capabilities in the services sector. is further bolsters the economy and makes the country attractive to investors.
“Educating the broader public about the true nature of the pharmaceutical industry’s contributions to skills development and employment in South Africa is crucial to its future long-term success. Society must be made aware of the role the industry plays beyond simply providing health-promoting medicines. The contribution of innovative pharma to South Africa is invaluable not only in terms of healthcare, but also in the upliftment of people and the advancement of the country as a whole,” Pharasi concludes.
➔ Scan this QR code to go directly to the IPASA website.
For more information:
www.ipasa.co.za
