Matlhogonolo Mponang

How do you look back at your professional journey traversed thus far? Could you share some of the

experiences you've had

that really stick out for you? Also, what are your key learnings?

My professional journey is one that I have curated with intent. I am transformational in nature and so I have never had one role longer than 4 years. I go into an organization and disrupt it positively and then move on. I get bored by normalcy and have never been able to do business as usual work. Mediocrity is simply not my thing. I don’t do coasting and surviving on the sidelines. The day I feel like not getting up to work is the day I resign. I like to see the impact of my work in the lives of the populations I serve. I like to improve on the argument of the organizations I choose to work for. I choose where I want to work and with intent, I pursue opportunities there. I am past the point of applying for roles I am not headhunted for and I am headhunted on a weekly basis. And I do not say this to brag. It is a statement of fact.

I love my current job. I am not moving anytime soon because it is an amazing place to work with so much content and I am a content junkie. I consume knowledge by the minute. I am not good at small talk. If you cannot dialogue in an elevated fashion I book out and switch off. So I cannot occupy spaces that do not challenge my own assumptions. I am a learner and can only work for people that are invested in my exposure, so that I in turn can do the same for others. I delegate to the point of abdication because I want those I leave behind empowered, well informed and enabled to take after me. I am also a doer, so I do not do well in spaces of verbose architecture. I think that the world is full of empty talk.

We need to DO. I have walked away from talking boardrooms that do nothing. I do not want my legacy to be that of failure and so I run away from inertia faster than Nigel Amos can run a race. I also cannot survive environments where I am not able to speak my mind. My expression of self is true freedom and so I cannot work in spaces where I am expected to grin and bear it. That would not be me and it would kill me. Like literally I would die a silent death.

I was a junior manager at 26 years at Botswana Telecommunications Corporation and from that time I set my sights on ExCo level roles. I managed to get into an ExCo team at 28 at the Local Enterprise Authority and when Tebogo Matome hired a new ExCo team and relegated us to middle management positions I left.

Matlhogonolo Mponang

I understood that it was not personal. It was needed to get him and his organization where he wanted it to go and it was his right to shape it as he did. Grateful as I was and still am for the exposure he afforded me the organization ceased to serve my purpose. It stopped deserving the privilege of my time. We often feel that we are being done a favor by being kept employed but no- we choose where we go and we should. I have never looked back. I have hired so many people that I spotted as talent and most of them are ExCo in many organizations across industries- I consider that to be my greatest professional achievement- the uplift of others to get to the places that many are told they will never get to and to sit in chairs around tables that were in the past reserved for those with social connections.

I consider myself the voice of the slave and downtrodden. In me is an abiding belief that anyone from anywhere can be anything they choose to be. I am passionate about social justice and have been vilified for my stance to go against the grain. Some within the media in particular have attempted to present me in a prism that only they can understand but I will never change. Anyone can write whatever fiction they want about me but I am going to stay focused on that which is bigger and better. I am proud of the fact that I open doors to ALL. That is the greatest marker of my career. I actively fight against the notion that certain spaces are for certain people. I abhor that notion and am immediately dismissive of all things elitist.

The problem is that most organizations fail to realize that engagement is a conversation. It is about listening to understand- as we say at De Beers. People do not want much but to be listened to and heard. The actions that leaders take after hearing what is troubling employees define the culture of any organization. There is a need to also engage employees when there is nothing wrong. HR professionals need to envisage the future before it arrives and proactively put in place programs that address what is coming before it does. Take flexible working- at De Beers we have been doing it for years. The current working from home arrangement because of Corvid 19 is giving us fresh lessons and is shaping our thinking as we imagine the evolving world of work. That being said most employees never really feel that they are adequately engaged- especially those employees who have never worked anywhere else except where they are working. People without comparators are often the most despondent. I can also tell you this for freesome employees are just intrinsically unhappy individuals who will fault find their way through any attempt to engage. Those glass half empty type people are constant complainers and you have to be able to identify them and accept that nothing will ever be good enough because they will always be blinded by their own sense of entitlement.Those are the individuals who have done the same thing in the same role for years. They are disengaged by their own attitude and blame the world for their immobility. Then there are those who see the art of the possible in everything that has value- even before the value is evident. Those are the high flyers. The talent. The water walkers who do not wait for doors to be opened for them. They open those doors for themselves and they are eternally grateful for what they are given and create new opportunities within whatever reality. Those are individuals I support always because they create favor for

Business leaders and HR teams spend countless hours and a lot of money on employee engagement initiatives—even then, why are so many organizations ineffective at improving engagement levels?

themselves. What are some of the common mistakes that you see large organizations repeatedly make in understanding the new workplace dynamics?

The refusal to evolve because of leadership that does not embrace change. I do not understand how leaders are allowed to stay at the helm of organizations for longer than 8 years in one role. We all reach the parameters of our own understanding and kill organizations by refusing to create space and move on so others can come in. That being said I have worked with great leaders who have led organizations effectively in spite of having been there for more than 8 years- simply because they embrace change and are forever seeking fresh talent and allowing the talent to work.

Organizations are also killed by those people who refuse to accept new thinking and new ways of doing things. Those people who negate progress kill organizations. Those people who are incapable of learning and taking direction from others- even as they lead. Leaders should also be able to follow. Another killer of organizations is having too many people who overstay. After a while they become blockers to anything they do not know and will frustrate anyone trying to transform the workplace. Organizations that refuse to adapt die. Look at organizations that are non inclusive and have no diversity. They mutate to death and they start eating themselves like bacteria is the lotion they wear.

Matlhogonolo Mponang

What would your piece of advice be to HR leaders who want to build a strong business case for technology investments?

The problem is when specialists think of themselves within their specialty and not within the context of the business. When people ask me what I do I tell them I sell diamonds. There is no aspect of any business I have ever worked in that I do not understand. To be effective as a specialist you have to work towards the attainment of the organizational goals. You should not view yourself as supporting the business. You are the business. Any business is about the bottom line. You have to look at opportunities for new revenue generating channels whilst lowering costs. Any HR Professional who cannot read financials is not worth their grain in salt. Continuously seeking fresh talent and bringing it in whilst keeping the talent you already have is key to ensuring an active commercial environment which is robust. Critical thinking is key and ensuring that one is able to consume data in a manner that aids business decisions which delivers the end goal of the organization. If there is a professional- in whatever specialty who needs a business case for technology infusion within any business they should be fired. I cannot relate to the question. I choose not to work in places where the leadership needs to be convinced of the self evident. That being said- you have to demonstrate how the technology investment will create efficiencies and bring about profits. Business leaders want to spend money to make money- and nothing else. If it is technology infusion for the sake of it and it will not create efficiencies and lean and mean ways of doing things

What would you like HR professionals to do better in terms of understanding the language of the business? How can they sharpen their business acumen to better align workforce strategies with business goals?

then it is not needed.

MATLHOGONOLO MPONANG

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

WHAT TOP TRENDS ARE YOU TRACKING IN THE HR SPACE AS WE HEAD INTO 2021? ALSO, ARE THERE ANY THAT CONCERN YOU?

I do not follow trends. I create them. Right now my thing is space creation. I want to be able to come into spaces where there is need for talent mobility and to see it happen. I am big on digital learning and development solutions which are self driven. I live in a world where I see something in my minds’ eye and work actively to see it happen. It is usually around the bettering of a life. Intentions bore me, they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I do not intend, I DO. I do not do well in dark spaces and so the conventional punitive and non trusting cynical view of people that some HR people who are stuck in the personnel days tires me. I have fired HR people who work against the agenda of uplifting others. And I remain unapologetic about it and would do it again.

I also believe that the creation of digital teams who work across global timelines in virtual global teams is the best way of responding to this very VUCA world we find ourselves in. Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous is VUCA- and it is not new thinking. Lastly I want to see the world morph towards the wisdom of the crowd. It is important to see ourselves in others and to have empathy for those we serve. At the core of what HR professionals do is service. Service to mankind is service to God. As Tasha Cobbs sings- My God has been faithful, and with every breath I will sing of his goodness.

Central to my ethos is a strong belief in the Almighty. We all need to believe in something greater than ourselves. I am very confident in my own abilities because I work hard. I put in the time. I stay informed. I am hugely aware of the fact that all that is nothing without my belief in the Lord because my own life is a testament to the fact that God lives. I am nowhere lost to where I am going. I do not need to cower and to dim my light and lower my voice because I am unapologetically progressive and am about nothing but the elevation of others. That ethos has taken me somewhere- though nowhere near where I am going.

| P A G E

Mrs Matlhogonolo Mponang joined De Beers on 1st March 2018 as Senior Human Resource Manager. She was then appointed to act in the position of Head of Human Resources on 8th May 2018. The Diamond Trading Head of Human Resource portfolio is a Midstream ExCo role. The De Beers Midstream comprises of the following companies that cut across different geographical locations: Namibia Diamond Trading Company, Diamond Trading Company Botswana, De Beers Global Sight holder Sales, De Beers Sight holder Sales South Africa, and De Beers Auction Sales- Singapore. Ms Mponang was substantively appointed to this role effective 1st September 2018.

Ms Mponang most previously served as Deputy Executive Director- Corporate Services at Botswana Accountancy College where her portfolio spanned Finance and Procurement, Human Resource Management, Integrated Facilities, Information Communication and Technology, Marketing and Communications, Student Affairs and Quality Assurance.

Subscribe for more content: www.perekofoundation.org

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ms Mponang has a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and is a seasoned HR professional who has operated across multiple industries and at all levels in government, non- governmental organizations and now within the private sector. She writes and to that end has had a social commentary column in both “Lapologa” Magazine and “The Weekend Post” newspaper. She is a Transformational Speaker and is also the founder of the Tshiamo Gotlhe Mogapi Foundation- a social development vehicle which works with children and youth throughout Botswana.

Ms Mponang has served on the Westwood International School Council as Deputy Chairperson and H.R Committee Chair; on the Water Utilities Pension Fund as Chairperson of the Fund. She has further served on the Botswana Medical Aid Fund Board, the World Young Womens/ Christian Association Council, the Okavango Diamond Company Board, the Pula Medical Board and has been the Chairperson of the Botswana Karate Foundation. She currently sits on the De Beers Holdings Botswana Board and on the Botswana Open University Council Human Resources Committee and also on the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA) Human Resources Committee. She is married with three children.

- EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW -