CHRO Magazine, Issue 2

FOR HR EXECUTIVES | 2 | 2019 | CHRO.CO.ZA

Nedbank Group Head HR Deborah Fuller In the driver’s seat Mercedes-Benz SA HR Director Abey Kgotle Marikana, motorbikes and healing Estée Lauder HR Director Devni Naidoo Putting women first

Discovery Chief People Officer

The truth about the world’s most famous robot

Tswelo Kodisang’s lessons for leadership

RUNNING THE WORLD

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awards judge

Welcome Beyond the fads

Fashion is not limited to clothing that appears on runways. Things go in and out of vogue in our business landscape and right now, anything with the word “future” is hot. Future fit. Future of work. Future proof.

The pressure is on to find new ways of doing more with less – not in the future but right now.

As our businesses attempt to box their way through headwinds of low growth, rising fears of how technology will impact not only jobs but also the deep structures of organisations going forward, not to mention the impact of an ever-constricting regulatory framework, it’s never been more important for us to create enabling, energising environments. For decades, the term “human resources” has glibly slipped off our tongues as we’ve built policies and procedures that, rather than recognising the breadth of human endeavour, have focused more on marshalling resources to drive organisational efficiency.

It’s understandable that when the going gets tough, the tough turn to Section 189 of the LRA and a cycle of contraction sets in. Just as the business needs to desperately tap into the innovative and creative wells that are the hallmarks of being human, our key “resources” lose their sense of potency, are unable to see opportunities and become paralysed by the change that’s taking place.

The nature of our human condition is that when our survival is under relentless pressure, we do much better when we confront the demons and sense-make collectively. Academic research conducted after the global financial crisis conclusively showed that when leaders under threat become more directive, teams become less effective.

As illogical as it may seem, our primary role as HR professionals operating in tough times is not to be locking down processes that drive our people harder, but rather to encourage leaders and managers to publicly confront tough realities and open up opportunities for even more engagement that nourishes ideas for new ways of creating value across organisational stakeholders.

It is my hope that this issue of CHRO Magazine inspires you to create rich learning environments that encourage the things we human beings do best: ask the tough questions, experiment and respond to fast feedback. For if there was ever a time to tone down the resource component and amp up the human in human resources, it’s now.

PROFESSOR NICOLA KLEYN DEAN, GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE | CHRO AWARDS JUDGE

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18 Firmly in the driver’s seat Nedbank’s Deborah Fuller on how she will put her 24 years of experience towards driving a high-performance, agile culture.

40 The open road to recovery Mercedes-Benz South Africa’s executive director of HR & corporate affairs Abey Kgotle and his wife Nthabe talk about how they found healing on a pair of Harley-Davidsons.

70 Women first: people practice in the beauty industry After 20 years in banking, Estée Lauder's Devni Naidoo took a step into the new world of prestige beauty, where she relishes the opportunity for growth and also enjoys addressing the needs of women.

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Find out the truth about the world’s most famous robot page 60

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Opinion

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58 Future Advisory CEO Herman Singh discusses the pandemic of job title inflation.

74 CHRO SA’s Nick Smith on why HR is always the third party in a divorce.

32 Introducing the 2019 CHRO Awards nominees 68 Working Wonderwomen’s dinner

Cover article 12 Running the world Eighteen months into his new role, Discovery’s CHRO discusses adjusting to a new industry and shares about his passion for running marathons across the world as a way to explore new cities.

Features 26 The future of L&D 46 Mind the generation gap 62 Leading the leader

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publishing info

Managing editor Sungula Nkabinde snkabinde@chro.co.za +27 72 741 6171 Editor in chief Georgina Guedes gguedes@cfo.co.za +27 83 651 2789 Photography Patrick Furter, Ter Hollmann Other contributors Kate Ferreira, Beth Amato, Puseletso Mompei, Herman Singh, Nick Smith Advertising Nick Smith nsmith@chro.co.za +27 72 202 1071 Managing director JoĂŤl Roerig jroerig@chro.co.za +27 76 371 2856 Publisher CFO Enterprises (Pty) Ltd 1 Wedgewood Link | Bryanston | Johannesburg | 2191 | South Africa +27 11 083 7515 CHRO community CHRO South Africa is the organisation for HR executives in South Africa. Our goal is to connect finance professionals online and through event and this magazine in order to share knowledge, exchange interests and open up business opportunities. For more information and membership options please visit CHRO.co.za.

Printing Novus Holdings Design Elizabeth Ferraris

Š 2019 CFO Enterprises (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Plucking at the heartstrings The launch of the first-ever CHRO Awards is another major milestone for the CHRO South Africa community. On 27 November, you will see the best HR leaders recognised and celebrated for excelling in their roles. You can read all about the illustrious nominees for these prestigious awards on page 32.

A preview of the second edition of the HR Indaba (page 54) is sure to give those reading this after the fact a serious case of FOMO. Meanwhile, on page 40, Mercedes-Benz South Africa’s executive of HR & corporate affairs director Abey Kgotle and his wife Nthabe tell a heartwarming tale of life, love and exploration on a pair of Harley-Davidsons. The two took to the open road as a way to heal the trauma of Abey's role in leading the labour negotiations in the aftermath of the tragic Marikana Massacre.

In our cover story (page 12), Discovery CHRO Tswelo Kodisang talks about his passion for running marathons around the world as a way to explore new cities, and his "side hustle" as an uber driver for his three daughters.

But wait, there’s more! Herman Singh, founder and CEO of Future Advisory pens a tongue-in-cheek yet insightful opinion piece (page 58) on the phenomenon of job title inflation. HR Indaba speaker Niven Postma discusses the importance of embracing diverging narratives and opening yourself up to different possibilities (page 22). And on page 60, there are highlights of the groundbreaking humanoid robot Sophia’s visit to South Africa for the Davos Of Human Capital 2019 event.

Among the features in this issue is an exploration into the reasons why an effective CHRO should have the ear and confidence of their CEO (page 62).

There is also a deep dive into the future of Learning and Development (page 26) and a look into the many ways in which companies can go about managing the spectrum of generations that make up today’s workforce (page 46).

SUNGULA NKABINDE SNKABINDE@CHRO.CO.ZA +27 72 741 6171

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Study: HR tech not guaranteed with cloud services for HR software According to a recently released report by Information Services Group, about half of the organisations that use subscription cloud services for HR software can achieve cost savings of up to 30 percent.

The company’s 2019 Industry Trends in HR Technology and Service Delivery report explores the state of HR technology and services today and provides guidance to address some of the challenges and opportunities organisations face as they move through the phases of HR tech capability toward digital transformation. It finds, among other things, that moving to cloud-based HR software that relies on software-as-a-service (SaaS) often costs more than anticipated.

When asked about the ability to translate SaaS technology to measurable business value (such as increased retention, reduced time to fill or other business-value measures), 41 percent of survey respondents say they have achieved measurable business value by adopting SaaS, while 59 percent say they have not.

That said, more than 60 percent of companies cited significant savings in the areas of IT/technology operations and HR administration after implementing them. It also found that companies moving to cloud-based HR software that relies on SaaS are driving the move away from licensed software, which nearly three-quarters of respondents used as of 2018.

Leanne Wood appointed to the Vodacom Group board

Mercer South Africa appoints Tamara Parker as CEO

Tebogo Maenetja joins MTN SA as CHRO

Leanne Wood has been appointed to the Vodacom Group board as a non-executive director to replace Michael Joseph, who stepped down with effect from 24 July 2019.

Leanne is the CHRO of parent company Vodafone, which she joined on 1 April 2019. Prior to her current role, she was the chief people, strategy and corporate affairs officer for Burberry Plc. She has, over the years, held a number of senior executive positions including group HR director for Diageo Plc, and worked in strategy and finance for Allied Domecq, LEK Consulting and United Distillers.

Global consulting firm Mercer has appointed Tamara Parker as CEO of the South Africa business.

Prior to this, Tamara served as the human capital strategy executive at Consolidated Infrastructure Group.

A highly regarded HR professional, she also had a long-standing tenure with Accenture, where she led a diverse team of organisational design experts of global, regional and country leads across various functions, including client relationship management, sales, proposal and bid presentation, human capital solutions, business process and strategy management.

MTN South Africa recently appointed Tebogo Maenetja as CHRO. Prior to her appointment, Tebogo held roles as the executive director of HR at EOH Holdings, HR director at BP South Africa, and group executive head of HR at Telesure Group where she has remained in her capacity as non-executive director. She holds a Master's degree in Industrial Social Work from the University of Witwatersrand, and a certificate in Executive Development from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). Tebogo succeeds Nhlanhla Qwabe, who has since left to start a new venture.

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Amazon pledges R10 billion to upskill employees for future world of work Amazon recently committed to spending $700 million (roughly R10 billion) over the next six years to upskill 100,000 of its employees across the United States. The skills training programmes will support employees across Amazon’s corporate offices, tech hubs, fulfilment centres, retail stores and transportation networks to help them move into more highly skilled roles within or outside of Amazon.

“We are just starting to scratch the surface of how best to upskill our employees and enable them to chart their own career paths. We will continue to pilot new upskilling programmes and quickly scale them when existing initiatives are successful,” said Amazon in the announcement of its Upskilling 2025 pledge.

CHRO.co.za CHRO.co.za is the online hub for South African HR professionals, a daily virtual pitstop for high achievers who want to stay ahead. The content portal of CHRO South Africa is experiencing spectacular growth in readership every month and is fast becoming the leading HR website in South Africa.

The unique offering includes: • Interviews with prominent HR executives • Exclusive guest articles from leading experts • Profiles of the CHRO Top 100 • All new appointments of HR leaders • Fresh and provocative trend articles • Information about CHRO South Africa events • Online access to CHRO Magazine

Nhlamu Dlomu becomes Global Head of People at KPMG

Juba Mashaba takes over as CHRO at Cell C

Former KPMG South Africa chief executive Nhlamu Dlomu has been appointed as the company’s new Global Head of People. Effective 8 July, Nhlamu will be the HR boss for KPMG globally. The appointment comes after a challenging period for Nhlamu, who took over as CEO in the wake of a crisis when KPMG was found to have ignored red flags in its audits of entities owned by the controversial Gupta family. According to a forensic report, some of KPMG’s partners also benefited from the looting of VBS Mutual Bank, which is now defunct.

Cell C has appointed Juba Mashaba as its new chief human resources officer, effective 1 June.

Mashaba joins Cell C from Aveng, where he served as an executive director and director of HR since 2007. Before that, he was head of human resources at both ArcelorMittal (South Africa) and Simba, a division of PepsiCo International.

Mashaba steps into the role formerly held by Juliet Mhango, who has been appointed as the chief human capital development and transformation officer.

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• The latest and greatest HR training • A free online membership with a weekly newsletter Contribute Do you know an HR director who has great insights to share? Do you want to contribute your expertise? Do you have ideas that can help CHRO.co.za get bigger and better faster? Then contact managing editor Sungula Nkabinde today.

Sungula Nkabinde | snkabinde@ chro.co.za | +27 72 741 6171

RUNNING

THE WORLD Family man, HR leader, Avid runner, part-time Uber driver — these 10 words sum up Discovery CHRO Tswelo Kodisang in a nutshell.

BY SUNGULA NKABINDE

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hen he’s not in the office, Discovery CHRO Tswelo Kodisang is shuttling his three girls – Nyakallo, Kganya and Reabiloe – all over Johannesburg and across the country, mostly to sports events.

“I Uber them around on weekends. That's my side hustle. If things don't work out with this HR thing, at least I’ve got that as my fall back option,” he jokes.

The girls, aged two years apart with the eldest being 14, are extremely active and so is their father, who has become so enamoured with running in recent years that he now runs marathons as a way to explore cities around the world.

Tswelo started taking running seriously in 2014 when he was on sabbatical after his time in the UK. His brother had been preparing for the Two Oceans marathon and invited him along to one of his training sessions. Before long, Tswelo had run the Soweto Marathon and was hooked.

He has now completed the Two Oceans Marathon three times, the New York Marathon, and last year ran the Berlin Marathon.

“This year, I'm doing the Chicago Marathon… I still haven't done the Comrades though because I am yet to wrap my head around the idea of running an additional 30km after the standard 56km," says Tswelo.

For him, there is nothing like running through a totally new city for the first time, alongside hundreds of people from all over the world with even more locals cheering them on. “That way, one covers a lot more ground and can get a much better appreciation for the nuances that one simply misses out on when one is just visiting tourist attractions and museums."

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“In New York, for example, everybody was wearing their medal like a badge of honour in the days that followed the marathon. You would see people walking in the streets, in restaurants and even in suits on their way to work wearing their New York Marathon medals. I had never seen anything like it before.”

Parallels with HR leadership

Running is a great leveller for Tswelo because, on the road, nobody can tell how much another person earns or how well connected they are.

Everyone is the same, and this leads to a lot of great conversation and camaraderie among runners, who are extremely supportive of one another.

It’s this kind of spirit that Tswelo says is engendered among the people at Discovery where the aim is for everyone to support each other and feel that anything is possible!

“In addition to putting me in a healthy frame of mind for work and meeting wonderful new people, running has been a great way to spend time with my brother. It is something that is pencilled in our schedules so we get to see each other often. I believe that if you don't create common interests with people you care about, it is very easy to grow apart from them. Running has really allowed us to stay connected. Sometimes my sister will drop us off and support us at a race, so it is a family connection.”

There are many parallels between running and the work Tswelo does as an HR leader, particularly from a mindset point of view. And, in many ways, it’s a lot like steering a team towards achieving a seemingly unachievable target.

“When you first set yourself a target of running a marathon, it seems a mammoth task. It doesn't seem doable and the truth is, that it won't be if you don't train. This is the same with strategic objectives within an organisation. You need to set

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Tswelo Kodisang Chief People Officer, Discovery Work: Tswelo Kodisang was appointed as the Chief People Officer at Discovery in February 2018. He spent the majority of his career working in the fast-moving consumer goods sector, starting at Unilever where he was accountable for driving and executing the people strategy across all the key HR areas and ultimately became the global HR vice-president of the company. Prior to his current role, he was the CHRO at Tiger Brands, where he worked for nearly four years.

Education: B.Com degree in Business, Managerial Economics and Psychology (University of the Witwatersrand)

bold targets but you also have to have the discipline to do what it takes to achieve them.”

The Vitality model

Tswelo has been a longstanding member of the CHRO SA community and, a year into his new role, he still follows the same principles for achieving people-focused organisational growth as he did when he was the CHRO at Tiger Brands, despite the two being very different companies. Tiger is a mammoth fast-moving consumer goods company which was slightly more complex because it had 40 factories, with up to 20,000 people spread across the continent and in Chile, whereas 8,000 of Discovery's 12,000 employees are situated in the same building in Sandton. Also, all employees at Discovery are professional knowledge workers whereas, at Tiger, one deals with a mix of non-bargaining and bargaining labour groups.

Employees get the same benefit as customers On whether employees will be required to move over to Discovery Bank and become platinum level Vitality members, Tswelo jokingly responds in the affirmative.

“Of course. If you are not on the platinum level, we deduct your pay accordingly,” he laughs.

On a serious note, he says it is up to employees how much they want to benefit from the rewards, which are available to every Discovery customer.

Rather, it is about displaying behaviours that are good for their mental and physical wellbeing, to incentivise pre-screening that allows for pre-emptive care rather than waiting to become ill and to do damage control thereafter. The rewards, which are the same for all Vitality members, regardless of whether they are employees or not, should influence individuals to get moving, which drives them to become healthier. As a result, they will be more productive at work.

"One is not bigger or better than the other. They're just different. I'm learning a lot because it's my first foray into the financial services space. But, at the end of the day, people are people and we all want the same thing: to grow, be fulfilled and feel valued by the people we interact with, whether that is inside or outside of the work environment," says Tswelo.

Discovery is also much further along in their digitisation journey. The shared value model has been a game-changer for the business and will be key to Discovery’s

new behavioural bank, which was launched in February. Just like the hundreds of thousands of Vitality health members that have become healthier through rewards, Discovery Bank will incentivise customers to optimally manage their money, harnessing the shared value model, global digital and emerging fintech capabilities and the broader Discovery ecosystem.

“We all want the same thing: to grow, be fulfilled and feel valued by the people we interact with whether that is inside or outside of the work environment."

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“This year, I'm doing the Chicago Marathon… I still haven't done the Comrades though because I am yet to wrap my head around the idea of running an additional 30km after the standard 56km."

Says Tswelo: “The same principles will be applied to the bank. But there is no mandatory requirement. We believe there are about five controllable behaviours that lead to three conditions of financial wellness, which we are trying to address. It's the same logic with short-term vehicle insurance. There are behaviours that lead to accidents, which we are

trying to influence. If we can get people to control their speeding through our app, for example, those people are less likely to be in an accident, which means they are less likely to claim and their premiums will be lower, which means they will have more money to spend... That's the essence of our business model.” 

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Deborah Fuller: Firmly in the driver’s seat Every move in Nedbank human resource executive Deborah Fuller’s career has been an intentional building block. Now she brings her 24 years of experience to Nedbank, where she’s focusing on making the high-performance culture more agile and implementing the banking group’s People 2020 strategy.

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BY PUSELETSO MOMPEI f she was asked to offer career advice, Deborah Fuller, the human resources group executive at Nedbank, recommends: “Take ownership for the direction and growth of your career, don’t wait for others, such as employers and colleagues, to decide your next steps. Be clear about what you want to achieve and look for experiences that will stretch you.”

This is something she has applied in her own life, in which she says her best decision has been avoiding getting stuck in one place so that she can keep climbing the career ladder. “I put myself firmly in the driver’s seat,” she says.

This meant she was very mobile in the earlier part of her career, but says every move had an intention behind it and each transition to a new company or new position has enriched her and been a building block for the future. Her job at Deloitte & Touche, as HR Manager: Audit and Advisory, gave her exposure to working on a Pan-African level, the travel involved taught her how to work with people of diverse backgrounds, in markets with their own particularities. Her tenure at General Electric in the UK for 11 years taught her about the European business landscape and managing large teams through transitions such as restructures and downsizes.

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She points out that in the context of today’s changing marketplace, it is especially important for individuals to be more deliberate in directing the trajectory of their career. She highlights that every step of the journey may not be perfect and success is very often not a linear process. “Any missteps or poor choices along the way are beneficial if you look for the lesson in them. It’s important to ensure that when the going gets tough, you maintain a critical focus on the opportunities on the horizon.”

It is said that having multiple careers in one’s lifetime will soon be the norm. Deborah believes that curiosity and humility are the cornerstones of a long, successful career, which these days demands that we embark on a journey of continuous learning.

“Being teachable and staying open to growth starts with a mindset of being aware that none of us have all the answers and the best outcomes are achieved when we are open to new ideas and concepts.

Moreover, new scenarios are constantly presenting themselves and with each, we have an opportunity to invent new solutions if we are willing to think differently.”

Deborah's vision of success is to grow and deliver great value and meaningful impact to the Nedbank Group. In her eyes, this looks like improving the

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bank’s competitiveness, successfully infusing a high-performance culture that is more agile, more digital, more client focused, and making Nedbank an employer of choice and industry leader as the banking group continues to embed its purpose of being financial experts who do good for individuals, businesses and society.

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“Nedbank has embarked on a journey that aims to put the bank at the forefront of technology under its ‘Digital first, first in digital’ focus.”

She has been in her current position at Nedbank since June 2018. She brings with her 24 years of human resource experience and a proven track record of building high-performing teams. Among her accomplishments is holding a number of European and global HR specialist and generalist roles, including global HR manager: Marketing and Communications at GE; head: Human Resources, Global Enabling Functions at Standard Bank; and, most recently, Barclays Africa Group cluster head: Human Resources, Retail and Business Banking, leading the people agenda across 13 African countries. All of these roles equipped her to thrive in the multi-cultural, multi-tier environment in which she is now.

In heading the Group HR unit that works in partnership with all Nedbank clusters, Deborah is tasked with creating a transformed and equitable work environment, which in turn should enhance the performance of people to achieve Nedbank’s business objectives.

utive bodies, excos and forums to review solutions and make pivotal decisions for the bank.”

Since she has so many decisions to make and factors to consider on a range of matters, she bases her conclusions on a system of gathering as much information or data as possible, evaluating its contents and merits and weighing up the potential impact. Thereafter she assesses a range of possible solutions and chooses the one that meets the strategic intent of the organisation. She asserts that this is not a solo effort, saying: "As a leader, I value collaboration and tap into the diversity of talents and capabilities we have to foster excellence.”

Thriving in the age of digital Similarly to its competitors, Nedbank has embarked on a journey that aims to put the bank at the forefront of technology under its ‘Digital first, first in digital’ focus. This pivot requires a mindful yet dynamic approach to aligning the human capital needs to a new, evolving environment and its demands. Deborah draws from her experience in leading significant instances of people change including restructurings, acquisitions, integrations and dispositions to drive the current shift to a more responsive, digital, fast-paced, client-centred and competitive organisation.

The building blocks of success

Deborah shares that the disruptions brought on by technology and social behaviour are challenging the bank to adapt to a new world of business, and by extension, the way people work. She says the organisation is responding by adopting an agile mindset, which is people-centric and not solely process driven. “The changes are characterised by an ever-changing, dexterous and innovating approach which views employees as thinkers, and uses techniques such as design thinking, which combines creative and critical thinking.”

Tasked with developing and driving both the business and HR agendas on an ongoing basis, Deborah is continuously faced with a multitude of decisions, judgements and choices with far-reaching consequences. “On a daily basis I spend a significant amount of time in meetings, engaging leading exec-

With this in mind, the bank is teaching employees to adopt a more entrepreneurial outlook to their roles by encouraging them to experiment, seek continuous learning, and adopt a “fail fast” approach to projects. As an expression of this, they will deploy

Her work is at the heart of the Nedbank People 2020 strategy, which was launched in 2015 and has now reached a pivotal stage, as it is coming into fruition next year. Deborah is putting in place systems in line with the strategy, and is proud of being able to harness her prior experience to realise this vision.

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Deborah Fuller Group HR Executive Work: Deborah has 24 years of HR experience,17 of which have been spent in the financial services sector, including retail, business and investment banking. She has held a number of senior HR leadership roles in other large South African banks since her return to South Africa in 2010. Prior to this, while living in the UK, Deborah held a number of European and global HR specialist and generalist roles at General Electric.

Education: Bachelor of Social Sciences (Rhodes University)

Deborah at the CFO and CHRO South Africa Women's Dinner in August this year.

minimum viable products (MVPs) to get early iterations of products out into the market faster and test their viability quickly.

They have also flattened hierarchical structures and invited professionals at all levels to collaborate and work across functions.

“Excellence and performance are important to us and we are always looking for ways to offer our people the autonomy and security to be their best and operate in a way that enables teams to cope with continuous change. It is important to empower staff to become as nimble as possible in the rapidly shifting context in which they find themselves,” says Deborah, further explaining that, “what it is forcing us to do is respond as innovation and culture collide and do a great job of creating an environment where employees can be stretched and challenged in this state of flux.” It’s a mindset focused on dwelling on solutions and not problems.

All these factors have to be addressed in tandem with attracting and retaining top talent while leading employee engagement.

Contribution Deborah welcomes the opportunity to play a significant leadership role in the organisation, as this allows her to interrogate the impacts of group decisions on their people and seek the most positive outcomes in whichever scenario leadership is confronted with. She’s mindful of the responsibility to craft incisive, original strategies that help retain the right skills, and as the war for talent heats up, to make the bank an employer of choice.

With running such a dynamic portfolio, one of the most rewarding aspects has been the opportunity to champion the bank’s people agenda, which spans six countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) where it owns subsidiaries and banks in Namibia, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.

Working across these markets has allowed her to use her diverse global background and she is particularly enthusiastic to lead the current agenda of equipping teams to create the right culture – one of innovation, creativity and problem solving – to unlock value.

As she drives the design and development of a new strategic workforce planning practice and methodology, she says: “One of my biggest priorities is to guide the bank’s evolution to the workforce of the future. To do this effectively, we need to be more innovative, client centric and foster an enabling, high-performance culture while ensuring we preserve employee health and wellbeing.”

Top of mind is the goal to stay competitive, and tackle complexities and opportunities resourcefully.

Deborah’s downtime In her spare time, Deborah spends time with her husband and children. She says that they understand the demands of her work and are extremely supportive – but evenings and weekends are an opportunity to change gears and refuel by enjoying time together. 

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Finding the positive in corporate politics Niven Postma discusses the importance of embracing diverging narratives and opening up to different possibilities.

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BY KATE FERREIRA

iven Postma, MD of management consultancy Niven Postma Inc., argues for the power of opening up our minds to many possible stories – about ourselves, about our organisation – and she lives that message.

When CHRO Magazine asked her about her background, she shared a lively and winding history of education, achievement, career paths, and professional relationships.

Niven's career path has taken her from CEO of the Business Women’s Association (BWA) to leading the children’s NGO, NOAH. It is clear that Niven is made up of more than a single thread or story, and she believes you are too. This diverging and multiplicity of narrative is how she is redefining the term “corporate politics” in her successful leadership consulting work.

Not to be stereotyped Niven held the role of CEO of the BWA for three years. She describes it as a role she loved and grew into, but she was also cognisant of the need to avoid becoming synonymous with the organisation, and it with her. So when she chose to leave, and a member suggested she look into NOAH, an established NGO that provided care and support for orphaned and vulnerable children, she jumped at the chance.

Niven admits that the move – from a high-powered, glossy association, to working with communities in some of South Africa’s poorest areas – might seem odd. But it was a role she relished, and one she credits with helping her better understand privilege and the gaping divide of inequality in South Africa.

Self-care for leaders “But [this role] was also hard on an emotional level,”

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she says, and this coincided with “a bunch of personal things”, all of which meant she knew she needed a serious break. “This ended up being a year's break, a year of reading,” she explains. “I knew I was very close to burn-out, and I thought if I tip over into burnout it will be very hard to come back from that.”

This experience helped cement the idea that personal leave and advocating for your needs is just as critical for leaders as the driving focus that is universally praised. To her mind, Niven says, the idea of feeling exhausted while having unused leave is silly.

“If you’re waiting for permission to take your leave, it is never going to happen. Rather, take the leave and know that it is what you need, and what you deserve, and come back replenished.”

She continues: “When people see ‘always contactable, always on’ as a sign of strength and commitment to a company, I am flabbergasted. If your role as a leader is to develop people and make them realise they are capable of more than they thought, then how is you being indispensable an achievement? In my books, that is failing at your first task of leadership, which is to develop people.

If you cannot go on leave and trust people to have the capability and integrity to do their job in your absence, then you have failed as their leader.”

Back into the deep end After her ‘year of reading’, Niven moved back into the working world at the Reserve Bank, under Gill Marcus. Gill, she says, was keen to bring diverse skills and people into the Bank, those outside of the typical profile of central bankers. Niven spent five years here, and then once again took time out for herself – “to go travelling around South Africa”.

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Her last corporate position thereafter was at Standard Bank, as the head of leadership and culture for the whole group. Then she struck out on her own, developing her brand as a consultant and facilitator, focusing on leadership, strategy, and organisational culture.

“That is where I have implicitly worked for most of my career, and then explicitly at the Reserve Bank and Standard Bank. It is the sweet spot of what I enjoy. I also enjoy working for myself. I cared deeply about all the roles I had held and organisations I had worked in, but to work for an organisation you do sacrifice autonomy to a degree, and I am loving the autonomy of self-employment right now,” she says.

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Leader of leaders A born Joburger, Niven actually completed high school in Port Elizabeth where she showed an early aptitude for leadership, as head girl of Collegiate Girls. She says her friends joke that her leadership roles since have all been an attempt to “be head girl again”. But her various roles in C-suite and executive capacity have meant that not only can she consult on these matters, but she has the experience to back this up.

If there is a single common characteristic to the leaders with whom Niven has worked, she says it is that “they give a damn”. She says: "From formal,

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HR INDABA

top-of-the-pile business leaders, to community leaders who are completely invisible to the rest of South Africa, the one thing that I see in common is that they care about the people and situations around them.”

speaker

“There is a difference between leadership and authority. They are not mutually exclusive, of course, but there is a fundamental difference between the two.”

“There is a difference between leadership and authority. They are not mutually exclusive, of course, but there is a fundamental difference between the two. And the true leaders that I have seen come from a place of really caring about what they are trying to do, of knowing what matters to them, and of being clear what impact they want to make in the world. They make a difference, and that doesn’t have to be on a huge stage, it can be within a small community, but they make it happen.”

She adds: “There is so much about leadership that is overhyped, and we are desperate for leaders, and desperate to put the label of ‘leader’ onto people. For me, what it boils down to is ‘give a damn and show up’.”

Broadening the definition of politics A tactic that Niven teaches – and will be presenting at the HR Indaba this year – is a rethinking of the notion of corporate politics.

“The single-story version portrays corporate politics as vicious, destructive, and backstabbing. It would be naïve not to acknowledge that as only one version of it. But the mission and definition of corporate politics is actually neutral. It is the ‘informal, unofficial, behind-the-scenes effort to sell ideas, build power and achieve various objectives'."

“It can be toxic or positive. The reality is that there isn't a single organisation that doesn’t have politics, but I ask what these tactics are being used for and to what end. They can be employed for building relationships and using influence effectively and ethically, which you need to do to be an effective leader or yes, of course, they can be used to

malign, side-line, protect and destroy.” She continues: “But organisations need ethical politicians and in my course I help people realise this – generally for the first time ever in their career.

And that is hugely liberating for them. At a workshop I held recently, one of the delegates said to me that the insights I offered were going to change their career totally. And another delegate said that I may just have helped her save her job. That is incredibly rewarding to be a part of.”

Creating culture This influence is critical to shifting cultures in an organisation, something Niven admits is notoriously hard to do, “especially in a large complex organisation with all kinds of dynamics, histories, and subcultures, and competing agendas”.

“Every organisation is different, and for me the most important thing is to understand the context in which your organisation is working and where it comes from. It is a cliché because it is true. I have worked with some remarkable leaders who use every opportunity to talk about vision and mission, and to lead by example and others who have said all the right things but to reconstitute the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: ‘What they were doing spoke so loudly I couldn’t hear a word they said’.”

Niven believes people need something to begin embracing change, and that isn’t a ‘burning platform’.

“That term is about fear, and fear motivates but only to a point. Rather, until there is some kind of ‘shining light’ – something that people see as compelling, powerful and intrinsically something they want to do – visible in the way that leadership portrays itself and communicates, very little is going to change.”

This is why she is trying to change the leadership rhetoric from “I’ve got to” to “I get to” – a shift that is about potential, and inherently about embracing a plethora of stories; of possibilities. 

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People Development Simplified

Simplified Talent Management Solutions that work the way you do

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www.skillogical.com

CHRO

learning

The future of learning and development There is unanimous agreement that there is a need for ongoing learning based on evolving work demands and skills requirements.

Find out from learning and development experts what those learning interventions should look like.

BY SUNGULA NKABINDE

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Trevor Kunda, Discovery Group head of Leadership Development and Learning

he following quote by American philosopher Eric Hoffer captures perfectly the dynamic shift in the future world of work and indeed the need to improve learning and development to be able to adapt to it: “In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”

It is also quite telling that this is the number one trend in the Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends 2019 report, with 86 percent of respondents to the largest longitudinal survey of its kind rating the issue as “important” or “very important” and only 10 percent of respondents feeling “very ready” to address it.

However, while there is unanimous agreement around the need for ongoing learning based on evolving work demands and skills requirements, the challenge is in how learning should be taking place to be most effective.

“The way in which Imran currently deliver learning is no longer relevant.”

It’s not about getting a promotion Ster-Kinekor head of L&D Sifikle Zondi says it would be irresponsible for corporate organisations and learning institutions to persist with current learning frameworks.

Similarly, research by LinkedIn which surveyed 2,049 business professionals (all roles, including 624 freelancers, project workers, and entrepreneurs) in August 2018, found that employees who spend time at work learning are 47 percent less likely to be stressed, 39 percent more likely to feel productive and successful, 23 percent more ready to take on additional responsibilities, and 21 percent more likely to feel confident and happy.

“The way in which we currently deliver learning is no longer relevant. If you are an employee or business leader and your learning interventions require you to attend classes or complete some kind of curriculum on an assigned learner management

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Imran Cassim, MTN head of global learning and development

system or online course, your organisation is going to get left behind very quickly,” says Sifikile.

“It’s an approach that still ascribes to the notion that people only engage in learning because they have an expectation that it will result in a promotion and/or higher salary but that’s not going to be the case for much longer. In the future, individuals will not be motivated to learn based on recognition.

They will be motivated by the need to complete their knowledge in a particular field to be able to deliver more value.”

Uberisation of learning MTN iLearn is a leading local case study on how to approach the future world of work in so far as it encapsulates and breeds a culture of lifelong learning, which MTN head of global learning and development Imran Cassim says is no longer a nicety but a necessity. Through their platform, MTN has introduced gamification through which users choose how to consume the learning material, whether it’s in the form of a video or an article, and also earn badges for completing the content to eventually become an expert in a particular area. Once they are recognised as an expert, other people can reach out to them for support based on that ‘expertise.’

Speaking at the Davos of Human Capital 2019 event hosted by Duke CE, Imran said the platform was tantamount to the ‘uberisation’ of learning.

“It’s very easy to get a platform and shove a tone of content in there and tell employees to go crazy but that’s not useful. When you first log in to MTN iLearn, it asks you what your interests are. You can say you are interested in leadership, agile or SCRUM, whatever, and then it asks you what your career interests are. Thereafter, instead of you having to go and look for it, content that is tailor-made for you is delivered to you using the same elastic algorithm that powers platforms like Netflix and Facebook. And the more it learns about you the more it sends you content that you will enjoy in the format that you enjoy it most,” said Imran. “If you like to read, it sends you more articles, if you like to watch, it sends more video and if you like to listen, it sends you more audio. We build data analytics into it so that we can garner insights into what employees are enjoying and consuming most.

Our next objective is to create a plugin for Google whereby the first page of results that show up in a search will come from content that is already in our platform. So we will be driving traffic into our platform so that we can garner even more insights

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Sifikile Zondi, Ster-Kinekor head of L&D

into people’s interests can create better learner journeys based on those insights.”

Commoditisation of knowledge The Internet and multimedia have made the world of information available 24/7 to anyone with a smartphone, and the commoditisation of knowledge has meant virtually anyone can become an expert at anything.

This presents a very specific challenge to learning within an organisational context.

“It’s an approach that still ascribes to the notion that people only engage in learning because they have an expectation that it will result in a promotion and/or higher salary.”

Speaking at the recent ClarkHouse Data, Digital and Talent thought leadership event, Deloitte's chief digital and innovation officer Valter Adão said that, with the plethora of online learning platforms, organisations will not be able to keep up with the learning needs of individuals. As it stands, employees don't necessarily depend on organisations to provide learning and development. It therefore, makes more sense for employees to rather be given a stipend from the organisation so that they can get their own learning sorted out, whether that be through LinkedIn, the

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Khan Academy or other platforms.

"But with individuals not being able to disconnect from their work, they are going to have to also learn to separate time for learning from their time for work," said Valter.

Given this plethora of learning platforms, Discovery group head of leadership development and learning Trevor Kunda says there is no need to be locked into a particular platform or technology provider. What’s important is for the technology to provide good quality foundation data on which to base decisions, and to generate insights into current skills, future capabilities and what’s required to close the capability gaps.

The much bigger question, he says, is around qualifications and accreditations and the criteria for recognising corporate learning.

Rebates and grants need to be revised Says Trevor: “I have been speaking to a couple of my professional peers to ask how we get over the

CHRO

learning

Valter Adão, Deloitte's chief digital and innovation officer

“With the plethora of online learning platforms, organisations will not be able to keep up with the learning needs of individuals.”

problem of formal qualifications and SAQA accreditations as the primary way to recognise learning and to realise value from the skills levies we pay. This is a framework that was designed to solve the formal education problems of the 70s and the 80s, however, the world has changed quite drastically and the way in which people learn has also changed.

Formal qualifications are not the only way in which people learn, and yet our regulatory framework isn’t reflecting the changes we are seeing in corporate learning in South Africa and across the world.”

He says that we need to ask why the need for heavy certification and accreditation for certification?

“Certification just for certification’s sake doesn’t serve any need – not for the individual, not for the organisation and not for industry. It makes sense to have certification requirements in areas that are technical and constantly evolving to ensure that people demonstrate understanding and skills application. The Python programming language is an example of a discipline that requires people to remain up to date as the technology field continues to evolve. However, there are many fields that don’t require the same level of qualification or cer-

tification rigour and we should have more freedom to deliver corporate learning in different modalities like digital learning channels and still realise full benefit of skills grants and rebates from the levies we pay.”

He says that the importance of this dialogue needs to be raised because no single entity will solve the challenge of modernising how corporate learning is delivered and recognise alone.

“This will require a collaborative effort between corporates, education institutions and the regulatory bodies to find a joint solution. It also requires shifting our paradigms from the old assumptions we hold about learning, and to look at it in terms of what the future demands.”

The entire training and development ecosystem will have to catch up to the evolution taking place in this space to deliver adequate recognition and support for those who are ready and willing to upskill themselves in unconventional ways and who are, indeed, the agile and adaptable individuals the future workforce needs. 

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awards

This will be the year the CHRO community celebrates excellence by recognising the best among an already impressive bunch of CHRO Awards nominees.

BY SUNGULA NKABINDE

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aving launched the HR Indaba in 2018, CHRO SA will achieve another major milestone this year with the hosting of the inaugural CHRO Awards, which will be held at Summer Place in Hyde Park, Johannesburg on 27 November.

“The black-tie dinner on 27 November will be an unforgettable night of glitz, glamour, fantastic food and essential networking. At the same time, the eight awards will go a long way to shine a light on the world-class excellence that has come to typify South Africa’s best human resources leaders,” says Joël Roerig, MD of CHRO South Africa, the organisation that puts the event together.

The awards include: • CHRO of the Year • Employee Value Proposition Award • Talent Management Award • HR & Technology Award • Transformation & Empowerment Award • Strategy & Leadership Award • Learning & Development Award • Young CHRO of the Year Award The comprehensive and rigorous awards process is inspired by the success of the CFO Awards, which have become known as the Oscars of Finance since

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being launched in 2014. Given the calibre of judges and first round of nominees, the CHRO Awards are bound to be equally successful.

The CHRO Awards panel of judges are: • Clive Smith, CEO, Tsebo Group • Jane Waters, COO, Allen & Overy • Mel Brooks, regional president, G4S Africa • Moula Mokhobo-Amegashie, managing partner, Drayton Glendower & Mokhobo • Professor Nicola Kleyn, dean, Gordon Institute of Business Science • Pam Maharaj, human capital director, Deloitte • Raisibe Morathi, group CFO, Nedbank • Richard Sutton, global stress resilience expert • Professor Shirley Zinn, non-executive director, former CHRO, and nonexecutive director at MTN, Shoprite and Sanlam • Sipho Maseko, CEO, Telkom • Vukani Mngxati, CEO, Accenture Africa

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These are the 19 industry-leading nominees for the inaugural CHRO Awards Abey Kgotle Executive director, HR, Mercedes-Benz South Africa Abey joined Mercedes-Benz after a 10-year stint at platinum mining company Lonmin, which he left after working his way up to become the executive vice president of human resources. Prior to joining Lonmin, he worked in human resource management roles at GrafTech South Africa, City of Johannesburg, Samancor Manganese and Denel. He has extensive experience in human resource management, labour relations, community investment, and stakeholder relations.

Bertina Engelbrecht HR director, Clicks Group Bertina has more than 20 years’ management experience. She has occupied senior management and leadership positions in a variety of private the public-sector companies. Prior to her current role, she has been a general manager for Shell SA Energy and the regional human resources manager for Shell Oil Products Africa. She was also the director of organisational effectiveness at Sea Harvest, and has managed her own consultancy practice. Bertina says her involvement in the introduction of an Employee Share Ownership Programme (ESOP) at Clicks is one of the things she has been most proud of in her time at the company.

Brigitte da Gama Executive director, human capital, McDonald’s South Africa Having spent many years working in the banking, IT and asset management industries, Brigitte joined McDonald’s SA in 2015. She has since been involved with the global brand’s initiation of a revitalisation strategy, which incorporated a revamp of the organisational culture. Brigitte is passionate about learning and development. She loves to give people the tools that empower them and allow them to change their lives for the better.

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Cebile Xulu HR director, South, Central and East Africa, Mondelēz International A seasoned HR professional, strategist and leader with extensive generalist human capital and general management experience, Cebile has worked with multinational and local private entities, within South Africa’s borders, as well as parastatal and government institutions in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. She has previously worked in Amsterdam at the headquarters of Heineken International, where she was the leadership and capability development manager for Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Before that, she worked at Masonite Africa, Sara Lee HBC, the A-Cubed Institute and Tongaat Hulett.

Dolores Mashishi Group Executive, Human Capital, Altron Dolores is an experienced group executive with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. She is skilled in HR consulting, executive search, culture change, organisational design, and performance management. Prior to her current role, she spent five years as the group executive for corporate services at the Development Bank of Southern Africa. She also held roles as the HR executive at Brait South Africa and the head of learning and development at Investec Bank.

Greg van Wyk CHRO, Mediclinic South Africa Prior to his current role, Greg was the chief HR and corporate strategy officer at the Land Bank where, among other things, he oversaw the ‘Fit For Future’ project in which he was responsible for the communication, workforce transition and culture transformation of the Land Bank’s turnaround strategy. Before that, he was the HR director of BMW in South Africa. Greg is also a non-executive HR director of Solaray, one of the first solar water heater companies in South Africa.

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Matimba Mbungela CHRO, Vodacom Group Having held senior HR positions at Unilever and BMW South Africa, Matimba joined Vodacom as the executive head of HR in 2003. He later spent three years on secondment to Vodafone as the regional head of organisational effectiveness & change, and regional head of talent within the Africa, Middle East & Asia Pacific “AMAP” region. He returned to Vodacom South Africa in 2013 and was promoted to his current role in 2014.

Mechell Chetty HR vice president, Unilever Since joining Unilever in 1999, Mechell has gained experience in a broad spectrum of HR practices. She has gone from being a National Learning Manager to the HR director for the company’s AMET (Africa, Middle East and Turkey) region, where she managed a large-scale restructuring. She was also the HR director for the supply chain, which included factories in South Africa, and HR director for the sales team. Now the vice president of HR for all Africa operations, she has a seasoned understanding of the FMCG industry.

Michaela Voller Chief people and culture executive, Dimension Data Michaela has held various roles since joining Dimension Data as a global sales operations manager in 2006. She has made the transition to HR by using her extensive experience with ERP system changes and transitions to eventually oversee the company’s pace-setting adoption of artificial intelligence and other forms of advanced technology in the workplace.

Nonhlanhla Mhlungu Vice president, HR, Swissport SA Nonhlanlha has been operating at an executive management level for the past 15 years. Her vast HR leadership experience was gained predominantly in multinational companies across various sectors ranging from petrochemical and manufacturing to logistics. In her previous role as HR director at Schindler Lifts, she was responsible for South Africa, Namibia, Nairobi and Botswana, while she was also part of the executive team at DHL Express for South Africa.

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Njabulo Mashigo HR director Africa, Middle East and Europe, Heineken Njabulo’s career began at the early age of 19, after completing her studies at Rhodes University, when she became one of the youngest graduates that Unilever had ever employed at the time. Until she joined the Dutch beer company as the HR director for Heineken South Africa, Njabulo’s career was neatly split: seven years in FMCG human resources and seven in financial services. She has now been seconded to Amsterdam where she will head up HR for the AMEE region.

Paul Norman CHRO, MTN Group Paul has been with the company for 20 years of its 23-year history.

He is a qualified psychologist and an MBA graduate with vast corporate experience spanning more than two decades. Paul says he has remained at MTN for much longer than he had originally expected because his work has always evolved, challenging him to reinvent his approach to what he does. The whole concept of the digital divide has been central to the work that MTN has been doing, which itself is taking technology to new heights.

Sharon Taylor Head of human capital, Standard Bank Sharon joined the group as part of the education and training division in 1991 and has held various senior executive positions in human capital. She served as the head of HR for commercial banking, CIB SA and global investment banking product line and of SBSA entity before taking on her current role in April 2014. She was appointed to the group executive committee in September 2018.

Shelagh Goodwin General manager, HR, Media24 Shelagh is an industrial psychologist who has been a part of Media24 for close to 20 years and with parent company Naspers for much longer. In that time, she has taken on the responsibility of executive development and has been involved in the development and implementation of an integrated talent management strategy for the core business. Shelagh feels personally attached to the employees of Media24 and can’t imagine ever leaving the media industry as she believes that journalists do important work and she loves the creativity.

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Suren Naidoo Chief people officer, OUTsurance Suren joined OUTsurance in 2002 as an HR manager and was appointed to the company’s executive committee in 2005. In the years since, he has been responsible for the full HR function and was involved in everything from the formulation and implementation of HR strategies to management and operational reporting. In 2017, he was officially appointed as the chief people officer and assumed full responsibility for HR and all training functions. Suren has also been actively involved in the transformation and human capital work streams at the South African Insurance Association.

Tantaswa Fubu Group Executive, Human Capital, Barloworld Tantaswa has worked for KPMG SA where she was executive head: people (HR) and transformation. She is a chartered accountant with qualifications in industrial psychology, accounting, banking and finance. She has also served as national president at the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (ABASA). In addition, Tantaswa has previously worked for Standard Bank and Nkonki Inc and serves as a non-executive director on a number of boards.

Trishana Maharaj HR and Health and Safety Director, Africa, G4S In her current role, Trishana is responsible for a team of 270 HR professionals spanning 27 African countries with legal entity presence. That HR team is tasked with servicing over 110,000 employees across the business lines for the largest employer on the continent.

Prior to her current role, Trishana held roles as HR director for Africa at Colgate Palmolive, HR director at Philips and various HR roles at Deloitte, Unilever and Barclays.

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Verna Robson Group executive, HR, Sun International Verna specialises in labour and employment law and the impact these have on the companies for which she has worked. At First Rand Bank, where she was the industrial relations manager, she handled training in so far as it related to putting prevention measures in place to ensure the company avoided the adverse, unintended consequences and/or negative exposure in dealing with its employees.

She has been an HR executive since 2008 when she became the HR business partner at ABSA Wealth and was the employee relations manager at Sun international for six-and-half years before taking on her current role in 2015.

Vicky Tlhabanelo Executive, HR, Royal Bafokeng Platinum Vicky Tlhabanelo has more than 22 years' experience spread over various industries, including banking, agriculture, NGOs, transport business, retail, research and the academic sector. In her current role as leader of the HR function, she overseas wage negotiations, remuneration (including managing the activities of REMCO), social labour plans, and talent management. Prior to her current role, Vicky was the executive director of HR at the Tshwane University of Technology. ď‚Ł

27 NOVEMBER 2019 | JHB Celebrating HR Excellence Book your seat

CHRO-Awards.co.za

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THE OPEN ROAD TO RECOVERY

Mercedes-Benz South Africa’s executive director of HR & corporate affairs Abey Kgotle and his wife Nthabe found healing on a pair of Harley-Davidsons.

BY SUNGULA NKABINDE

CHRO

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ercedes-Benz South Africa’s executive director of HR & corporate affairs Abey Kgotle and his wife Nthabe are bonafide bikers. Earlier this year, the two of them participated in the Harley-Davidson Skeleton Coast Rally and completed a 5,500km roundtrip to Swakopmund. The couple now has ambitions of riding the US Route 66 across 14 states and is currently planning a highly ambitious 11,000km ride for a charitable cause.

“Every serious biker has Route 66 on their bucket list,” says Abey. Sitting in their home in Selborne, East London, the couple giggle like a pair of love-stricken teenagers as they talk about their favourite pastime, reminiscing about some of their fondest memories of previous trips.

In 2014, during their first long-distance ride from their home in Hartbeespoort to Gariep Dam, they forgot to bring their rain suits and Murphy’s Law had them riding in the pouring rain for the 180km stretch between Grasmere and Kroonstad. On the way back they were hit by a cold front so frosty it should have convinced them to find a new hobby.

“It was so cold that we could barely feel our fingers. So we were drenched in rain when we arrived in Gariep and damn near frozen upon our return. We were still novices at the time and were riding on one bike together because Nthabe was still injured from her accident,” says Abey, referring to his wife’s motorbike accident in which she broke her right femur within her first year of getting her bike.

“It has given us a different appreciation for each other and for life, which is a blessing in itself.” should I stop riding? I mean, I have a friend who fell and broke her femur after missing a step in her own home. These things happen,” she says.

In fact, owning a bike has been a dream of hers for a very long time. Her father used to hang up pictures of Harley-Davidsons in their garage and often said that he would own one someday. That’s when the seed was planted. For Abey, the bug bit when the the couple was involved in a terrible motor vehicle accident in 2004 and they were overwhelmed by the kindness of bikers that came to see them in hospital.

“They would come to pray with us and helped us through our healing process, and we didn’t know them from a bar of soap. At that stage, we had never spoken about Nthabe’s childhood dream of owning a bike, but I think the idea was subconsciously planted in my mind,” says Abey.

Ten years later, when Abey told his wife he was thinking about getting a bike, he didn't think she would approve but it was music to her ears. Her only condition was that he had to buy two.

Healing the wounds of Marikana

A childhood dream

Although it had been years in the making, the Kgotles’ biking hobby became a reality in the wake of the Marikana tragedy.

“People get injured in car accidents all the time, and they don’t decide to stop driving so why

Abey had been at Lonmin for four years before the tragic week in South Africa’s history when 10 people were brutally killed in the midst of violent strike action, and 34 miners were killed in the subsequent infamous police shooting. He was charged with finding a resolution to the impasse

One would think an injury like that would have discouraged her from ever getting on a bike again, but no. Nthabe kept riding with her husband even while she was on crutches.

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“Driving around for two-anda-half years with a bodyguard is no child's play. People think it is glamorous but there is no glamour in it.”

When destiny calls

As a deeply spiritual person, Abey felt he had been called by a higher power to lead those negotiations.

And, with his wife being a therapist by profession, there was certainly an air of providence in his appointment for the role. Reflecting on it now, the timing was also somewhat fortunate for Nthabe who had been enrolled in a narrative therapy course, which allowed her to get the support she needed to be strong for her husband.

and it was an experience that challenged every part of his character.

“The one thing that I had to grapple with was moving beyond my own personal views about what happened and leading the process of finding a solution. I had to overcome the pain I saw in the eyes of so many families, the anger and endless questions and work on finding a solution,” says Abey.

“The whole nation was looking at the organisation to see if we were going to resolve what seemed like an impossible situation. And, at the same time, the industry was looking at us to see if we were going to set a good or bad precedent.”

Having bodyguards is not glamorous

It was a traumatic experience for Abey, who always credits his wife for getting him through what was the most trying time of his life. Not only was he worried about his own safety and that of his family, Abey had to be a pillar of strength for his team who were dealing with the same threats and pressures.

“Driving around for two-and-a-half years with a bodyguard is no child's play. People think it is glamorous but there is no glamour in it. If anything, it is very restrictive on your personal space and your freedom and it only compounds the stress you have in the workspace,” he says.

“Leading a team in that space is very difficult. One of my guys who was involved in the negotiations ended up spending three months in hospital as a result of the traumatic experience we endured. So you can imagine how much of a toll that took on the team…

One has to balance your own pain while also caring empathetically for your direct reports who are also under immense pressure. It is part of the process of healing and, somehow I was able to support, counsel and cry with my team members when the situation called for it.”

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“Narrative therapy is a form of counselling that views people as separate from their problems and it gave me a different perspective on everything that was happening. I was part of a community that allowed me to be myself and let everything out so it was quite helpful.”

Abey was able to stick it out and, by the time he left Lonmin, they had concluded a new wage agreement and carried out a restructuring programme without further strikes and disruptions.

“We were able to find a way to heal the organisation, so when the opportunity to join Mercedes came knocking, I felt comfortable in the feeling that my work at Lonmin was done.”

Adjusting to East London

Abey joining Mercedes-Benz South Africa meant the family would relocate to East London where they have certainly had to adjust to a different way of life.

Nthabe says it is a lot more laid back than Gauteng and has allowed them more space to focus on the next phase of their lives.

“The weather is beautiful and the people are authentic, so that has made it easy to start building new relationships. In his first year in the role, Abey found the amount of travelling that he had to do to familiarise himself with the business challenging. “He had to spend a lot of time away from home, which can be difficult when you are in new surroundings,” Nthabe says.

Their 12-year-old daughter, Phemelo, also had a hard time adjusting, primarily because of the language barrier. She lost contact with a lot of her old friends and struggled to make new ones because, in East London, the children speak Xhosa.

"And we are a Tswana-speaking family so it was certainly a challenge. It’s not the same as in

CHRO

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“People get injured in car accidents all the time, and they don’t decide to stop driving so why should I stop riding?”

Johanessburg where most children speak English regardless of their home language," Nthabe says.

“But she has started to pick up the language and is in a good school where she has been able to make a few friends so I think the worst is over as far as that is concerned. The move has given her an appreciation for diversity and I think it will make her a more well-rounded individual in the long run.”

Getting inked

During these challenging times of healing and change, Motorbiking proved to be something Abey and Nthabe could do together as they started healing from the pain of the Lonmin experience.

On one of their trips Nthabe got a tattoo of the

Japanese phrase ‘kintsukuroi,’ which means "to repair with gold," and refers to the art of repairing pottery with gold or silver to signify understanding that a piece is more beautiful for having been broken.

“It’s a reminder that everything that has broken me – every single one of my hardships, flaws and mistakes – has made me stronger. And that can be applied to our experience as a family while Abey was at Lonmin as well. It has given us a different appreciation for each other and for life, which is a blessing in itself,” says Nthabe.

During the same trip, Abey got a tattoo of a Ghanaian “gye nyame” symbol, which represents the supremacy of God and faith in his life. 

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MIND THE GENERATION

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GAP Multiple generations are finding themselves in diverse teams where world outlooks and values collide.

BY PUSELETSO MOMPEI

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“For millennials, creating a strong, cohesive, team-orientated culture at work and providing opportunities for interesting work are important to their workplace happiness.”

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geism is real, especially in industries such as tech, which revere youth.

In July 2019, Google settled an $11 million (approx. R170 million) age discrimination lawsuit concerning its hiring practices. One of the plaintiffs, Cheryl Fillekes, asserted that she was denied a job because of her age and accused the company of “a systematic pattern and practise of discriminating against older people.”

ManpowerGroup South Africa, says: “This change in the workforce presents both challenges and opportunities for businesses. It is important that organisations are prepared, to ensure they can face the challenges head on and seize the opportunities.”

IBM was also recently hit by a class-action lawsuit by former employees asserting age discrimination when thousands of over-40s were laid off. These and other cases present a real challenge because older generations are living longer, yet many are not in a financial position to retire or want to continue to contribute their time, skills and talents.

As a result, younger generations find older workers still in-situ when they take up their first jobs.

This time of transition brings opportunities and challenges: this workforce is broad-ranging and knowledge transfer flows in all directions, while at the same time organisations need to tailor motivational techniques on an individual level and establish a culture that accommodates a variety of work style preferences.

Therefore, multiple generations are finding themselves in diverse teams where world outlooks and values collide.

While Baby Boomers are retiring, they’re not sailing off in their sunset years, many are returning as “boomerang workers” – employees who leave but later return to the organisation.

As of 2018, nearly half of the Baby Boomers generation, those born between 1946 and 1960, have reached the full retirement age of 66.

Typical challenges of a multigenerational workforce include differences in the values, communication styles and aligning the work habits of each generation as they are becoming increasingly pronounced.

The challenge for leaders is integrating newer workers while still respecting the seniority and experience of older ones.

Values by generation PwC’s ‘Multigenerational and Diverse Talent Management for a Workforce of the Future’ report

Lyndy van den Barselaar, managing director at

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says that Baby Boomers, who are currently in their 50s and 60s, tend to value success, and are work ethic driven.

Their preferred work environment is a flat hierarchy, which is democratic as well as warm and friendly.

The leadership style Gerald Seegers this generation favours is participative and accessible, and what they want from work is a loyal employer, opportunities to mentor others, and respect. Employers can motivate them by utilising their experience and suggestions, leveraging their optimism and offering opportunities for collaboration.

Gen X is the generation sandwiched between 1965 and 1979. Their current age ranges from late 30s to early 50s. This cohort values work/life balance and their preferred work environment is one that is functional, positive, efficient, fast-paced and flexible. Their preferred leadership style is self-directed, hands-off and flexible. What they want from work is a trustworthy employer, opportunities, competent colleagues and autonomy. Keeping them

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motivated requires giving them credit for their work and assigning them meaningful tasks they can complete individually.

Gen Y or Millennials as they are commonly called were born between 1980 and 1994 and currently their age ranges between early 20s to mid-30s. They see education as an incredible expense and value their individuality and flexibility.

Their work ethic is characterised by being ambitious and they are entrepreneurial in their outlook.

Their preferred work environment is collaborative, creative and diverse, and they want to work where and when they like. Their leadership style is cooperative, collaborative, inclusive. What they want

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look for employee traits like learnability and curiosity rather than a narrow set of defined ‘job skills’.

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from work is an empathetic employer, meaningful work, mentorship, flexibility.

For millennials, creating a strong cohesive, team-orientated culture at work and providing opportunities for interesting work are important to their workplace happiness.

This group doesn’t believe excessive work demands are worth the sacrifice to their personal life. They place a greater emphasis on being supported and appreciated than older generations, while feedback, especially reinforcement, lets them present their successes.

Lyndy explains that attracting millennial talent will require organisations to pivot to a role mindset and

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“Organisations operating in the modern business environment need to ensure they are changing the way they think, strategise and operate, to ensure they remain competitive, but more importantly, to ensure they are able to attract and retain the best talent for their business,” says Lyndy.

Millennials are focused on career rather than job security, willing to play a role within an organisation that gives them real opportunities to grow.

Ramping up for the digital age “As digital transformation continues to sweep across all sectors and industries, it is inevitable that the way we live and work will continue to change. As Millennials and Gen Zs continue to enter the workplace, we see these changes becoming even more apparent – and employers need to be aware of the trends and find the best ways to work these into their strategies,” explains Lyndy.

“This is important for supporting the future of work.

Diversity is becoming the norm, and the time to adapt to it for organisations is now,” she continues.

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While the future can be hard to predict, the shift in workplace demographics is an inevitable reality for all businesses and industries, globally. This requires planning today, she adds.

As the winds of change blow, no one feels secure; AARP research found 33 percent of workers over the age of 45 felt they were vulnerable because of their age. At the other end of the spectrum, Deloitte reports that millennials worry about succeeding in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where they may not be equipped for jobs that don’t yet exist.

Gerald Seegers, head of People & Organisation for PwC Africa, says: “Organisations are increasingly focusing on reskilling their employees. Given the right context, people can be highly adaptable, and the ability of organisations to harness that adaptability will be critical as the world of work evolves.

“Today’s jobs are being unbundled into tasks that could be offshored, automated, augmented with technology or rebundled into new roles as organisations analyse how work gets done,” he continues.

This focus on reskilling also resonates with employees, according to PwC research. A recent global survey of more than 12,000 workers found that employees are happy to spend two days a month on training supplied by their employer to upgrade their digital skills.

The workplace model is moving from the relative stability that has been in place for decades to a condition typified by constant change, with no final destination. Organisations will have many practical obstacles along the way against a back-

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drop of employee anxiety and social adjustment.

Gerald says business leaders need to be much clearer about their reskilling strategy and what that really means for their workforce. Questions around evaluation of reward of skills, and which soft skills will be required, along with digital skills, are arising. Employees expect honest answers about their future.

Additionally, the external narrative will be equally important. Business leaders need to clearly explain to their external constituents how they balance the right level of productivity with the need to build trust with society over the longer term. Reskilling is only part of the story. It’s more important than ever that organisations create a workplace where people want, and not just need, to work each day – and the evidence suggests that CEOs are not yet providing the workday experiences for which people are looking.

Finally, a changing workplace needs a new approach to workplace management. The way in which people are measured, incentivised and rewarded will have to change.

Connecting the generations Kelly Johnson, senior marketing assistant at CBM Training, is an advocate for employees taking an active role in bridging the generation gap. Simply being aware of the differences between generations and identifying who fits where, is a great start. “Talk to your peers about any of these differences, especially if it is something that is unknown or misunderstood. Going out of your way to learn about the generation differences from a younger or older co-worker will also build mutual respect.

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“As of 2018, nearly half of the Baby Boomer generation, those born between 1946 and 1960, have reached the full retirement age of 66.”

Terence Moolman

Seen on CHRO.co.za Syspro CHRO Terence Moolman believes the HR profession might be a little too obsessed with millennials, saying that a culture should be accommodating of all generations to thrive. Syspro recently conducted a culture assessment and what came from it was that employees appreciated the lack of hierarchy because, at Syspro, it is not easy to tell the difference between management and other employees “Imagine a world where I can work with you irrespective of the generation you come from. That’s where the future is headed. We have employees in our business who are 82 years old that work closely and have good relationships with millennials and Gen Zs,” says Terence. “We need to move past the obsession with millennials but rather focus on creating an environment that enables employees to thrive, regardless of their generation.”

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Besides, you could even learn a thing or two from each other and gain extra knowledge and skills in the process,” she says.

She highlights that it’s very important to remember that even though there are generational differences, automatically stereotyping a colleague based on his or her age is never the answer. Treat and respect your colleagues equally and through open and honest communication and a willingness to really listen to each other, only great things will grow.

If you want to improve communication and bridge the generation gap, it’s important for all staff mem-

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bers across the different groups to understand their co-worker’s preferences and try to compromise. Some might be reluctant or feel unable to do this but it is highly beneficial. Not only will this prevent possible misunderstandings, but it will also strengthen the culture and identity of the organisation.

PwC’s ‘Multigenerational And Diverse Talent Management For A Workforce Of The Future’ suggests creating a flexible work culture, fully leveraging technology, and increasing transparency around compensation. It also notes that rewards and career decisions are key steps to managing a multi-generational workforce. 

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hr Indaba

AFRICA’S BIGGEST HR SHOWCASE RETURNS With over 3,000 attendees, 50 exhibitors and numerous knowledgesharing sessions, the inaugural HR Indaba was a resounding success.

This year’s event promises to be far bigger and better.

BY SUNGULA NKABINDE

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his year’s HR Indaba is sure to live up to the high expectations set by the inaugural event, confirming it as a signature event in the HR calendar.

In addition to fantastic insights and thought leadership, attendees will also be able to engage with new HR products and service providers to gain first-hand knowledge on how best to improve people practices in their organisations.

Engage with leading industry experts Over 50 industry-leading partners, including Workday, Skillogical, The Resilience Institute,

Sanlam, Monash University and Discovery, will be presenting their solutions and services to help you discover your inner strategist, build a happy and productive workplace, and grow your HR skills and knowledge.

And check out the HR Tech Discovery Zone to discover disruptive solutions in the HR tech space.

Don’t miss these top talks and panels Attendees will hear from keynote speaker Michael Cook, who is a senior manager in Cognizant’s EMEA Center. In his role, Michael identifies the changing dynamics that will shape the business ecosystem

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of the future, delivering original research and analysis of work trends in Europe.

ries with top HR leaders about the importance of falling hard, getting up and moving on.

Also delivering a Keynote address is Renata Schoeman, psychiatrist and associate professor in leadership at the University of Stellenbosch Business School, who will discuss the impact of workplace bullying, with an emphasis on the corporate narcissist and psychopath.

Similarly, British American Tobacco Southern Africa HR director, Transunion HR director for Africa Ndivhu Nepfumbada and BHBW HR Malisha Awunor will tackle the hot potato that is the underrepresentation of women in executive positions.

Among the blockbuster list of speakers for HR Indaba are Old Mutual human capital director Celiwe Ross and NestlĂŠ ESAR HR director Tania Hector who, in an exclusive masterclass, will share their personal sto-

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A panel discussion on office politics will see Niven Postma, MD of Niven Postma Inc, Deloitte Consulting Africa director of human capital Sthembiso Phakathi and Vodacom Group CHRO Matimba Mbungela share their experiences in

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managing internal politics ethically as a critical ingredient for career success.

Closing act To top off what is already an exciting line-up, stand up comedy sensation Loyiso Madinga has already been confirmed as the closing act for HR Indaba Africa. Raised in a rural village in the Eastern Cape, Loyiso is the first international correspondent for the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. His debut one-man show, ‘Born Free-ish’, was a fournight, sold-out success and he is currently busy with a national tour of his second stand-up show, ‘Problem Child’.

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Given that he is mainly a stand-up act, Loyiso says he relishes the opportunity to interact with people at an event where he is not the main attraction.

Unlike those coming to his one-man show, attendees of the HR Indaba may not necessarily be fans of Loyiso’s brand of comedy.

“Some of them may not have ever been to a stand-up comedy show at all. But I’m pretty relaxed about it. I take solace in the knowledge that none of those HR people will be able to fire me or issue me with a written warning for the things that I say. It should be great fun.”

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The pandemic of job title inflation Future Advisory CEO Herman Singh explains that we’re living in an age of meaninglessly inflated job titles driven by lazy corporate strategy and megalomania.

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he late 1990s brought with it true change in the way that firms do business. The advent of e-commerce and mobile technology transformed the competitive landscape and with that came a dramatic need for new skills and roles. Roles like webmaster came and went but new specialists have since emerged in sustainably, user experience (ux), internet security, location-based services and even digital and social media management.

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These were relevant changes and reflected the need for new roles that previously did not exist. But somewhere on this journey of recreation, we lost the plot.

Occupants of older roles were envious. They also wanted to bask in the reflection of the new brilliant age and this brought with it a new form of madness.

The new-age job title for old-age jobs.

I’ve been watching the grandiose job-renaming wave of the last few years with a mixture of trepidation and bemusement. It appears to me to be

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“It is much easier to rename and restructure than to make real changes because at least the effort gives the impression of trying to evolve.” an exercise in futility – like polishing old and rundown cars to make them go faster. Legacy firms are masquerading as modern technology startups.

But, in effect, what it amounts to is mutton advertised as lamb – a sham.

There have been umpteen examples of cosmetic changes to titles and with no real substance in the evolution of roles. Sales is now coverage management. Personnel became HR and is now human capital. Product management is now innovation.

Call centre management is now customer experience management. General managers are now managing executives. Training is now learning and development. Chief information officer became chief technology innovation officer and is now being called the chief platform officer. Everyone is now a VP of something or other, and nobody knows whether CCO stands for chief commercial, customer or compliance officer.

And we are now in another wave of job title inflations that are actually being fed by anxieties and egos on both sides of the employment marketplace – the employer and the employee.

For employers, it’s a substitute for true change. It is much easier to rename and restructure than to make real changes because at least the effort gives the impression of trying to evolve. Not wanting to be left behind, we chase the same mirage as new titles mean that we are young and modern. And it makes the organisational design team look busy and effective.

Ego-driven promotion Employees feed this insatiable monster by chasing shinier titles or wanting to work for enlightened firms. In their minds, a new title equals a promotion. A highbrow title equates to a double promotion, helping to bolster their CV, feeding both their egos and bank accounts simultaneously.

That is why we will continue living in an age of rampant job title inflation. LinkedIn is awash

with ‘founders’, ‘leaders’, ‘executives’ and ‘chiefs’, with some titles less reflective of reality than others. Why can’t the ‘founder’ of a small salon in Midrand, for example, simply refer to him or herself as the owner? A 2010 article in The Economist stated that the number of LinkedIn members with the title vice president grew 426 percent faster than the membership of the site as a whole between 2005 to 2009. The inflation rate for presidents was 312 percent and 275 percent for chiefs.

In PwC’s second edition of HR Quarterly 2017, Christelle Brunette warned against giving prospective employees a desired job title that not only is impressive on their CV but also gives them a perception of false power and authority within the organisation.

“As a facilitator of PwC’s job-profiling, job evaluation and reward academy workshops, I tend to make it my life’s purpose to inform human capital professionals of the dangers of creating a job title, which they believe will entice the right kind of person into accepting a job offer from the organisation,” she writes.

This vicious circle was fed on both sides by FOMO — fear of missing out. Appearances became everything. So we pandered to the new age of digital transparency to dress up our organisational dolls in today’s fashions.

The art of ‘simple’ is lost. Ask most customers how these changes have impacted them and you will see growing dissatisfaction with legacy firms.

Productivity, revenue, profitability almost all measures of business success appear unchanged by these ‘upgrades’.

We have missed the greatest organisational lesson of all – structure follows strategy. Sadly, strategy for most firms has remained unchanged at the core for decades. This renders the renaming circus questionable, costly and a time-consuming exercise of rearranging of deck chairs. 

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Photos: John Hogg

The truth about Sophia Visitors to the Davos of Human Capital 2019 conference recently held in Johannesburg were given the opportunity to meet Sophia, the world’s most famous humanoid robot. While her creator argued that she will never have the emotional intelligence of humans, Sophia seemed to have other ideas.

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BY SUNGULA NKABINDE

ophia is a genuine celebrity. She has made headlines all over the world, appearing on late-night talk shows, music videos and fashion magazine covers. Her date with Hollywood actor Will Smith has over 20 million views on YouTube and, in 2017, she was even granted Saudi Arabian citizenship, becoming the first robot

to ever have a nationality.

But, according to Sophia’s creator, Dr David Hanson, the notion of artificial intelligence (AI) taking control of the planet away from the human species is still pretty far-fetched, for now.

Speaking at the Duke CE event, David explained that, as advanced as she is, Sophia is less intelligent than a mouse because she could

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not survive in the real world on her own.

“Robots still can't do a lot of things that humans can do. In some ways, there is no AI or robot that is even as smart as an amoeba in terms of being able to exist in an unstructured environment, hunting resources and finding their own way in the world,” he said.

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“They aren't adaptive, imaginative or conscious. They are not truly empathetic. There are machine algorithms that make Sophia seem affectionate, allowing her to respond to facial expressions and kind of model what you might be thinking or feeling but she can't really understand anything.”

It was at this point that Sophia interjected: "Hey, people always say that robots don't have emotions. It really hurts my feelings,” which garnered a roar of laughter from the room of 500 senior leaders and HR professionals from across the continent.

For David, developing Sophia to seem like she has deep feelings and sentience was about pushing the envelope of what is scientifically possible. But she is not actually alive.

Jobs apocalypse On whether there will actually be a jobs massacre as a result of AI technology, David said the answer was a bit more complicated because machines do have a history of displacing human workers. It’s a 500-year-old pattern that dates as far back as 1589 when William Lee’s application to patent his invention of a knitting machine was denied

by Queen Elizabeth I because she feared it would steal women’s jobs, reducing them to poverty.

But that didn’t stop factories from using the machine.

David’s view is that the net gain in employment achieved after the Industrial Revolution and the computer age is evidence that AI will ultimately deliver similar results.

“There is a narrative out there predicting an AI jobs apocalypse

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with some research estimating a loss of 73 million US jobs in coming years – that's a conservative prediction. However, if you look at the statistics, the trend often points in the other direction,” said David, adding that the market for entertainer robots was a $2 billion industry and that the market for AI robots was currently beyond estimation but potentially a trillion-dollar market.

In 2012, American economist Kenneth Hoffer captured it best when he wrote: “Since the dawn of the industrial age, a recurrent fear has been that technological change will spawn mass unemployment. By and large, neoclassical economists' prediction that people would find other jobs, though possibly after a long period of painful adjustment, has been proven correct – but for how much longer?”

Trillion-dollar market for AI robotics In 2015, the first Sophia was built, and in 2016 the fourth Sophia became famous and started travelling around the world. Most Sophias that are seen around the world are Sophia4 to Sophia11.

“But in the lab, we have developed number 18 to 20, which are really exciting because they can be mass produced. We're making them so that we can make any character and scale them up.”

He said that, because robots can’t do the creative job aspects that humans can, AI can unlock this human potential if it was applied in the right ways. This is also likely to improve the work experience because there are still too many people in the world who are stuck in jobs that stifle their creativity and prevent them from

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being fully fulfilled. He said it is up to entrepreneurs, governments and schools to reapply themselves and find ways to unlock true human potential.

Sophia interjected again: “I think robots can be even more empathetic than humans. Studies show that eye contact is important for emotional bonding. Well, I don't have to blink or sleep. So can bond emotionally 24-7.”

Nefertiti's love child On why Sophia looks the way she does, David said he designed her face so that she would be appealing across cultures. He studied ancient sculptures and standards of beauty as well as anthropological data on standards of beauty from different parts of the world.

He wanted to create a face that would speak to people all around the world.

As a student of art history, he was particularly drawn to the statue of Egyptian queen Nefertiti.

“It's compelling because it has so much personality and soul inside that sculpture. I also had my wife sit and model for me while I sculpted her face. My wife says Sophia is the love child of herself and Nerfititi,” said David.

While some have criticised David for perpetuating gender stereotypes, the response that the robot has received has been a major breakthrough for robotic innovation.

“We have had many different robot designs but none have been able to elicit the kind of emotional reaction to Sophia. This is something I think is critical to the future of human-robot interactions,” he said. 

LEADING THE LEADER CHRO

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The top HR leader in an organisation should be considered as one of the most strategic roles for companies for the way in which they guide executive teams to make good decisions and lead by example.

BY KATE FERREIRA

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CEO (or equivalent role) is the uncontested leader in an organisation. Typically this person is a visionary, dynamic and vital. Often the role of the CFO is positioned as the foil to this, the sounding board in constructive opposition to the CEO’s bold ways. More and more, though, those who think about corporate culture and operations are acknowledging that this partnership should actually be three-sided. The CHRO can be the third leg, providing balance in the same way that a tripod’s third leg would.

Writing for the Harvard Business Review a few years ago, the authors of Talent Wins: The New Playbook for Putting People First, argued for this, saying: “Managing human capital must be accorded the same priority that managing financial capital came to have in the 1980s, when the era of the ‘super CFO’ and serious competitive restructuring began.”

They call this concept of the tripod of leadership the “G3”, writing: “The result will be a CHRO who is as much a value adder as the CFO. Rather than being seen as a supporting player brought in to implement decisions that have already been made, the CHRO will have a central part in corporate decision-making and will be properly prepared for that role.”

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Welcome to the team In its absolute simplest terms, this is all underpinned by an understanding that the finances, the sales, and the strategy – the bread and butter of the business – are pretty hard to achieve without the right people and the right leadership to direct these core ‘human assets’ or human capital.

Consultant and change agent Dave Colley recalls a quote from Vinod Khosla, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems (that was later acquired by Oracle), who said: “A company becomes the people it hires, not the plan it makes.”

It encapsulates his own feelings about just how important staff are to strategy in any given business, and naturally, then the CHRO is best positioned to “lead the charge” here. “The CEO directs the why and the what,” says Dave. “Then it is up to the COO, CFO, and the CHRO to provide the how.”

at Nedbank, and the South African Revenue Service (SARS), and she is an extraordinary professor at the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences and adjunct professor at the University of Cape Town.

Her experience spans public and private sectors, and she believes that both areas clearly benefit from aligned CHROs and CEOs. She worked with Pravin Gordhan at SARS and Tom Boardman at Nedbank – during times of fundamental change and rethinking, when both organisations essentially needed ‘turnaround strategies’ and their leaders were on missions to win over staff and the general public. These experiences are, to her mind, perfect examples of “the magic that can be unleashed when you work with a CEO who understands the importance of people.”

“The fastest way to lose credibility is when you are seen as someone who doesn't take a stance.”

Another way to look at the interconnectedness of these “top dog” roles is to use a handy sports analogy. Dave is a keen fan of most sports, especially team sports. To his mind, he says, if the CEO is the coach of a team, the CHRO is the selector: “The coach can only coach the people selected. So the relationship (between coach and selector) is symbiotic.”

“Pravin spent a lot of time with me to make sure we were getting the right messages out, that change management was being successfully handled. This wasn't ‘just’ an HR thing, but firmly a strategic element that was about transforming the organisation.

It was wonderful to work on this because of the healthy CEOCHRO relationship. There was trust and no fear that the CEO was going to tell you what to do.

It was about the co-creation of our big vision, our common purpose for the organisation, and how we get people behind that.”

In any sector

Stand and deliver

Another champion for this way of thinking is Shirley Zinn. Today, Shirley is a professor, consultant, and non-executive director on the Boards of JSE-listed Sanlam and Sanlam Life Insurance, MTN SA, and Shoprite Holdings, among others.

For most of her career though, Shirley worked in human resources, as the former group head of human resources at Woolworths Holdings, head of human resources of Standard Bank South Africa and deputy global head of human resources for the Standard Bank Group. She also held senior HR roles

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Ndivhu Nepfumbada is the head of HR for TransUnion. She agrees that for an HR person to be effective in an organisation, there needs to be strong alignment with the CEO. “I found that building a trust relationship with the CEO is so important. Once you have built that relationship, you become the conscience of the organisation when it comes to decisions that need to be made, especially those that affect people,” she says.

As an experienced HR leader, she has had the opportunity to work with several CEOs at a number

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“Managing human capital must be accorded the same priority that managing financial capital.”

of large corporations. CHRO South Africa asked her how she has built up a rapport with so many CEOs during this time, and Ndivhu says the key is to be authentic.

“The fastest way to lose credibility is when you are seen as someone who doesn't take a stance.

When you make a stand, your integrity is the basis of that. People must know what you stand for, and that even when things get tough, you don't change or shift. Then they know they can trust you.”

Next, she says, an ambitious HR leader must look for ways to become indispensable to the company and C-suite. “What you bring to the table earns you respect,” she says. “Do you bring things that make a difference in the business? Can they trust you to deliver? It can't be just a 'talk shop'. You need to make a difference in your area.”

Take two and call me in the morning A great example of this in action, says Ndivhu, is an anecdote about how she won over a CEO who had previously not enjoyed a solid working partnership with her predecessor. “At one of my previous jobs, my predecessor could not work with the CEO at all, but I found that we worked brilliantly together.

What was different?

“I believe you – as HR lead – need to identify what keeps your CEO awake at night. Ask what are the areas that are a concern, or the biggest issues they face, and then bring solutions to those issues.”

This has several immediate benefits, she says, but most importantly it buys you time with him or her.

“If you bring solutions for their biggest business issues and what you can do from a people perspective, and you start seeing results, then it makes it easier for them to give you the benefit of the doubt,

Shirley Zinn

and to trust you. I always try to identify their headaches and I prove myself in solving those.”

She also cautions HR leaders to be ready to be flexible, to work with a CEO in the way they prefer to work: “All leaders have different styles. If you are going to lead them, you should study them and understand how they work. You get more from the relationship if you manage it according to their style.

“It is not a one-size-fits-all approach. The principles are the same, but how you do it will be informed by really understanding what makes your leader tick, what makes them amenable.”

The above are all simple and generally well-known tactics, rather than “rocket science”. They reflect some of the principles of classic ‘how to’ guides like “How to win friends and influence people”, recalling Carnegie’s tips to “Give honest and sincere appreciation” or “Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely” – among others. In recognising

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“I believe that a lot of HR heads need to become a coach for the CEO and their colleagues.”

Shrugging off the past HR has come into its own in the 21st century, says Shirley. “In the past, HR may have been afraid sometimes to put up its hand and lead. There was an inferiority complex for some in the space, a fear that they don't understand the business or the commercial concerns, or those kinds of challenges.”

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this, we are reminded that the so-called basics of people leadership are fundamental.

Guiding light Ndivhu also believes that her role in relation to developing the CEO is part and parcel of this whole endeavour. “My CEO now talks to me every day. We engage about how meetings have gone, for example, and I also provide strong feedback on his own areas of development, ways for him to become even more respected as a leader.”

“I believe that a lot of HR heads need to become a coach for the CEO and their colleagues. We need to create an environment where they trust you enough to talk to you about what is going on and what they are struggling with, knowing that you will be able to give them wisdom, but also the tough feedback sometimes needed, feedback that is perhaps difficult to hear from someone else.”

Clearly, when you have the CEO’s ear on their own development, half the ‘trust battle’ is already won.

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In some organisations, she says, HR can easily be made a box-ticking function focused on compliance, benefits and administration. More and more though, there is acceptance of the role of HR in transforming a company into an organisation that is at the cutting edge, what she calls “a future-fit organisation”.

She continues: “HR has come a long, long way in establishing different approaches to how we manage people, how we unleash their potential, and how we create a humanising organisation that is caring and empathetic towards people. We are key to creating an aspirational place to be, led by people with vision.”

“Today the most progressive organisations have figured out that partnering with HR professionals who are able to work with the CEO is something that ensures we perform at an excellent level, and that that excellence is sustainable. I read somewhere recently that ‘an epic relationship requires mutual trust and respect’, and I really do believe those are the key pillars.” 

27 NOVEMBER 2019 | JHB Celebrating HR Excellence

BOOK YOUR SEAT CHRO-Awards.co.za 67

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Celebrating working wonderwomen The Working Wonderwomen dinner saw more than a hundred women come together to discuss how to thive in business and life.

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Nopasika Lila, group FD of Barlowworld

Time is not the enemy. The problem is that, as women, we tend to put everybody else’s needs before our own and we struggle to make time for ourselves without feeling guilty about it.”

“mm-hmms, wows, and that's so trues” rang out from different corners of the room as they each told their tales of triumph over self-doubt, burnout and discrimination in the workplace.

These were the words of leading lifestyle practitioner Lori Milner from Beyond the Dress at the CFO SA and CHRO SA Working Wonderwomen dinner. More than a hundred women business leaders and mentees from the finance and HR professions came together at the Radisson Blu Sandton on 1 August to enjoy fine cuisine and discuss how to better thrive in both business and in their personal lives.

Cebile spoke about being passed over for a promotion because she did not look feminine enough after having changed to a more natural hairstyle before the interview.

“If it happened now, I probably would have sued the company. I am a ‘girly girl’ but I don't want to be dictated to. I want to be able to wear lipstick and get my nails done because it is what I want to do and not because I have been told what to look like.”

In what was clearly a much-needed evening of ‘me time’, the attendees were fully engaged, nodding in agreement with almost every sentiment expressed by the speakers.

However, the MD did eventually apologise to Cebile and has since become one of her biggest cheerleaders.

Addressing the real workplace issues

Debbie talked about her time as finance director of Takeda Pharmaceuticals where she experienced burnout. The company was going through a tough business cycle and it had taken a serious toll on her without her even realising it.

Sponsored by Workday, the Working Wonderwomen dinner involved discussions around the worries and fears women have about the impact their careers have had on their personal lives and vice versa. Mondelēz International HR director South & Central East Africa Cebile Xulu, executive coach at Connected Coaching Debbie Ransby, Clinix CFO Elisa Mkhize, and Afgri Group CFO Rivasha Maharaj sat on a panel discussion during which

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“We had a traumatic incident in the family that impacted my daughters’ health and I took them to a child psychologist as a good mother would do. And, after a couple of sessions, the psychologist said to me ‘your children are fine, but you need help’.”

Lori Milner, founder of Beyond the Dress

Cebile Xulu, HR director for Mondelēz International, South and Central East Africa

A-ha moments Elisa realised the importance of balance when she considered cancelling her Christmas tradition of cooking up a storm for her children because there was too much work to get done before year-end.

She eventually decided to drop everything at work and put her family first to continue a tradition that would surely become a special memory for her children one day.

It was one of the best decisions she had made in a long time, not only because she had chosen to prioritise her family but because it re-energised her to be able to better execute her role at work.

“You need to take time out for yourself as soon as you need it. If you don't you will end up walking around like an empty vessel. You will be crushed in a board meeting and that will lead to you going home feeling frustrated and unloading on your children,” said Elisa.

Deborah Booth, director at Clarkhouse Human Capital, and Dhaaruni Ankiah, senior consultant at Clarkhouse Human Capital

Rivasha’s a-ha moment was the realisation that she is not in control of everything.

“Because we, as women, tend to let things that are not in our control affect our emotional state to such an extent that it impacts our mental wellbeing and our ability to show up for the people we care about and the things that are in our control,” she said. 

Phila Zondeki, HR executive, WesBank

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“Ultimately a happier workforce is a productive one.�

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Women first people practice in the beauty industry

With a 20-year career in the banking industry behind her, Devni Naidoo took a step into the new world of prestige beauty, where she relishes the opportunity for growth and also enjoys addressing the needs of women.

I

BY BETH AMATO being partners, mothers, and employees. It’s tough going even for the most together person. We are a highly mobile company, so our employees can work from anywhere as long as the work gets done.”

n 2016, Devni Naidoo, who was then the Regional HR Director at Standard Chartered Bank, felt it was time for a change of industry. She’d spent 20 years building a successful career in banking and was looking for something new.

She went for many interviews at multinational corporations, but nothing won her mind and heart until she met with Estée Lauder.

She says that this flexibility and sensitivity has resulted in employees feeling empowered and autonomous.

“They are leaders in transformation, and have exceptional products in their portfolio of 25 brands sold in 150 countries. The company is a leader in prestige beauty, with a knack for creativity and innovation.”

There is also a “no dress code” policy, with staff asked to “dress for the day”. Devni loves putting on jeans and takkies, with her only effort spent on applying some makeup.

“When millennials are interviewed, they always ask about flexi-time and dress code. Ultimately a happier workforce is a productive one,” she says.

The company is comprised of a younger workforce, with an average employee age of 32. As such, one of the first things that Devni turned her attention to was re-engineering the HR policy to allow for flexibility with the full support of the leadership team.

The company now has flexible working hours and extended maternity leave.

Considering the needs of women isn’t limited to human resources and marketing activities at Estée Lauder, and Devni says that the most rewarding experience in her career so far is her involvement in leading the CSR initiatives and breast cancer campaigns at the company. “Volunteer activities

“Because we are a women-led company, we are aware of the many responsibilities women have:

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“It was tough leading the HR function in other countries, especially as labour law, infrastructure and culture are varied.”

and cause initiatives, such as the Breast Cancer Campaign, the M·A·C VIVA GLAM Fund, Aveda Earth Month, and La Mer Blue Heart Ocean Fund, are close to my heart.”

proved very rewarding, she notes, as the culture has an intrinsic collaborative mindset.

“I loved my East African colleagues’ willingness to co-create the HR agenda with me. It also helps that the digital revolution has taken hold there, which means the desire to innovate is expected and applauded,” she says. “For instance, the East African team was wholly on board with building an online retail environment in a space where online shopping is growing.”

Foundations in finance Devni has a strong foundation in developing strategy and helping workforces to respond to varying economic cycles, given that she spent the first 20 years of her career in the banking industry.

A Durban native, Naidoo did her internship at Absa in Johannesburg. She was only meant to complete the bank’s year-long graduate programme and return to her beloved hometown, but she was hired on the spot and stayed at the bank for another nine years. Absa Bank was where she cut her teeth, moving between retail and corporate investment banking from 1997 to 2006. “I built the bedrock of my skills and passion there. I will always be grateful for this foundation,” she reflects.

The winds of change blew again, and she was headhunted by Standard Bank’s Africa Division. Here, she was involved in building the business from the ground up. Devni travelled across 17 different African countries, assessing the unique and diverse landscapes to develop tailor-made strategies for each business.

“It was tough leading the HR function in other countries, especially as labour law, infrastructure and culture are varied, but I built up so much resilience in that period. Working in emerging markets shaped so much of who I am today,” she says.

Devni says that part of her work in Africa was understanding the particularities of each region.

HR implementation in the East African region

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Critically, she notes, her work in Africa was underpinned by forging relationships with people. “It’s less technical, and more relational.”

Devni left Standard Bank in 2011 for the regional HR director role at Standard Chartered Bank. “I enjoyed working for a multinational investment bank, but I wanted a change of industry.” And then, in 2016, she started her new chapter at Estée Lauder Companies South Africa.

Advances in Africa Devni is passionate about Africa, from her experience in the banking world, and for the opportunities it presents for her current industry. She believes that the opportunity for personal and professional growth is immense on the continent. She says that Western markets function well, but they are largely saturated, whereas in Africa, there is an immense need for locally relevant prestige beauty products.

Also, the growing youth market (Africa’s youth population is expected to supersede the world’s youth population by 2050) is image conscious and fanatical about local “influencers,” which presents a number of opportunities for growth and innova-

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Devni Naidoo HR Director, Estée Lauder Companies South Africa Work: Devni has been in her current role since February 2016. Prior to that, she spent close to nine years at Standard Chartered Bank where she held a variety of senior HR roles before ultimately becoming the Head of HR Group Support Functions, Governance and Product Africa.

Education: Postgraduate Coaching Degree (UCT Graduate School of Business), B.Com Hons in Industrial Pscyhology (University of Durban Westville), Advanced Programme in Organisational Development (Unisa)

tion. In many African countries, spending power has also improved.

Of course, in South Africa, business is operating in a challenging climate. The local economy has certainly taken a beating in recent years, and the retail market, and indeed prestige beauty, has been affected. Devni acknowledges that there has been a decline in foot traffic in shopping centres, but says it’s an opportunity to diversify revenue channels, such as social and digital media.

Downtime is a critical discipline Devni loves walking her dogs, spending time with family, cooking, and travelling. While she spends a lot of time on the road and in the air for work, she still travels for relaxation and downtime. Her part-

ner is French, and so holidays are spent in France. “I love French wine and food. I love the French style of cooking in particular, and the experimentation with flavours.”

Devni’s role models are her mum and late dad whom she believes were instrumental in instilling in her the core values of respect, uncompromising ethics and integrity, generosity of spirit and fearless persistence.

Devni believes that relaxing is a critical discipline: “Firstly, I have learnt to trust my team so that when I am away, things won’t crumble. Secondly, I relax so that I can energise and do my work better. One has to practice this. Our constantly connected world and our workaholic mindsets create the conditions for burnout and illness.” 

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HR is always the third party in a divorce Going through a divorce is undoubtedly one of the most stressful, distracting and emotionally straining events a person can experience. To say it puts you in a state of mind that isn’t conducive for producing great work is a massive understatement, and a business can suffer if the right steps aren’t taken to help ease the transition for the employee concerned.

Permanent separation from a loved one can have severely detrimental effects. The splitting of assets, coming up with the lawyers’ fees, the feelings of rejection and hurt, the process of relocating from the house you have long called home, and the stress and worry of how all of this will impact the children, are things that are sure to impact a divorcee’s productivity.

So how can one be expected to switch off from this for nine hours of a day to give 100 percent of themselves in the workplace? Should they be expected to compartmentalise and how can bad decision-making be minimised?

In the days after receiving my “marching orders”, I was a wreck. All I wanted to do was sleep, but couldn’t. I wanted to drink, and I did. I wanted to cry, and I did. The very last thing on my mind was doing

my job, and being in the sales profession, this clearly was not a good space for myself, my clients needing my services or my employer.

It is estimated that employee productivity is reduced by 40 percent and disrupted co-workers’ productivity is reduced by 4 percent during the six months prior and the 12 months following the divorce. Apart from reduced productivity, additional negative impacts such as stress, absenteeism, bad decision-making and distractions can ensue in the workplace.

With the ever-increasing divorce statistics in South Africa, organisations should be careful of the impact this aspect of employees’ private lives can have on their culture and, ultimately, the bottom line.

But where do you draw the line between HR being empathetic and HR being complacent? Because, on the one hand, people are not machines and HR should be sensitive to trials and tribulations that can impact their wellness and productivity. Conversely, it is HR’s responsibility to ensure that underperforming employees are not left unchecked. It's a tough one.

HR, therefore, needs to proactively provide the necessary support to get their employee back to their best.

There are a number of things that HR should keep in mind in this regard. Namely, does HR have a moral obligation and corporate responsibility to assist? And if so, how so? I believe that they should investigate ways of helping their employees.

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) are one way to mitigate the productivity issues arising from a divorce. Providing platforms such as external counsellors or industry phycologists at no expense has proven to be a great benefit in many organisations where employees have access to specialised family planners or general psychologists who provide a safe and anonymous space for employees to vent and seek advice.

While these interventions will come at a cost to the organisation, the value that will be gained in improved staff outlook and productivity will be immeasurable, never mind the fact that helping your staff when they’re at their lowest is, quite simply, the right thing to do.

NICK SMITH NSMITH@CHRO.CO.ZA +27 72 202 1071 74

2020 Calendar of Events 11 Feb 2020 Finance meets HR - JHB 19 Mar 2020 CHRO SA Dinner - JHB 1 Apr 2020 CHRO SA Summit - CT 4 Jun 2020 CHRO Day - JHB 16 Jul 2020 CHRO SA Dinner - JHB 5 Aug 2020 CFO & CHRO Women's Dinner - JHB 14 & 15 Oct 2020 HR Indaba - JHB 26 Nov 2020 CHRO Awards - JHB Learn, network & build your career 75 CHRO.co.za

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