Author: Dr Jopie de Beer, CEO of JvR Africa Group For many, the title of manager or leader means that you earn a significant salary and have absolute control, while delegating the work to others. But, this is not a sustainable form of leadership, particularly not in the modern workplace. Leaders must be facilitators, people who can empower others, yet manage to maintain focus, discipline and respect. Successful leaders work harder and for longer hours than others in the company. They carry the ultimate responsibility for the success of the business. Real leadership is therefore not about the title, it is an incredibly important position of responsibility. Much of a leader’s responsibility comes down to how employees are managed. This is possibly the most crucial test for the quality of leadership in a company. Leader responsibilities in terms of managing people: 1. Acknowledge the impact your behaviour has on others in the workplace The behaviour of a leader serves as an example to others. If the leader procrastinates, is lazy, abusive, absent, arrogant, or corrupt, it will provide a model of behaviour that others will follow. The best leaders tend to show humility, productivity, fairness, respect and ethical behaviour, and they understand that they need to create a work environment where people can flourish. To be a good leader therefore requires so much more than technical skills. 2. Create an environment of care, fairness and respect Leaders who care about their people and who are as even-handed and fair as is humanly possible, more easily earn the respect of employees. Douglas McGregor’s Theory Y leaders believe that their employees are talented and have much to offer the workplace. These leaders create a much more positive work environment. Such a positive environment has a direct impact on productivity, creativity, and even interpersonal relationships. 3. Create an environment where people can learn This can be formalised learning such as internships, or being sponsored for training courses or qualifications. Valuable learning could however also result from practical and onsite learning, or articles made available on a company intranet, to mention just a few. In many workplaces there are ample opportunities to learn, particularly when employees use some of their own initiative to learn about the job, the company, the industry or projects. Good leaders are often good at storytelling and teaching. They play the role of coach, sometimes connecting their employees with others who can best teach desired skills. 4. Create an environment where people can innovate Innovation does not only refer to technological or disruptive innovation. Smaller innovations can also have immense value to the organisation. By creating an environment where employees can suggest changes and innovations to existing ways of doing work, can be of immense value. For employees to do so, they must feel confident that they will be “heard”. Their ideas need not always be accepted, but it at least needs to be acknowledged, respected, and considered. You know you’re doing a good job as leader when your employees feel safe enough to share new, untested ideas, even if there might be a risk of failure or rejection. 5. Create an environment of integrity and trust Trust cannot be demanded - it must be earned! Trust takes a long time to be established and it can be broken in a single irresponsible, angry or impulsive moment. Leaders cannot be successful if employees do not trust him/her. It takes consistent trustworthy decisions and actions from a leader to be trusted by employees. For people to trust the leader he/she must be honest, “keep their promises” and “do the right thing”. Once the leader is branded as unreliable, it becomes nearly impossible for a leader to earn trust from employees again. 6. Create an environment where consequences and discipline can be accepted The workplace is not always a positive and happy environment. Contracts may be lost; the economy may make doing business very difficult; or there may be corruption or sabotage. It is the responsibility of the leader to implement corrective actions when something in the business goes wrong.. Good leaders are able to fairly deal with consequences, hold others accountable, and through it all remain positive about the future. A leader is the person that must keep “everything together” whether it is the people, the product, the client needs, the need for governance, and of course the finances. The character of the leader and the quality of the decision he/she makes, creates the atmosphere within which people work. Leaders therefore have complex responsibilities, and how they conduct themselves has a big influence on the nature of the workplace. It is a big job! Are you still sure that you want that promotion? ENDS ABOUT JvR Africa Group: JvR Africa Group of companies consists of JvR Psychometrics, JvR Consulting Psychologists, JvR Academy, and JvR Safety. With its head office situated in Johannesburg, the group conducts business nationally and across Sub-Saharan Africa. They work with test developers, consultants and academic institutions all over the world, and support a range of development opportunities and host events around.
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Many employees dream of being promoted to the corner office and being a key part of the organisation’s success. In fact, few will decline an opportunity to journey there. Seasoned leaders can however attest to the reality that managing people is often the hardest part of their role and that there seems to be an abundance of examples of new leaders who are unable to reach the goals they set for themselves and their teams.
More than a third of SA citizens are millennials. Add to this the perspectives from a recent study about millennials in South Africa: almost 50% of the participants indicated that mentoring others is the most attractive aspect of leadership, and nearly 60% seek traditional management-track corporate careers (Universum South Africa). This means that young people are taking up leadership positions at an accelerated rate. However, as a Harvard Business Review article points out, between 20% and 40% of new leaders fail in their new roles. Dr Renate Scherrer, Managing Director of JvR Consulting, says the two main reasons for failure on the individual leader’s side is the lack of certain requisite skills and the presence of certain “undesirable” characteristics. “However, one will not only look to the individual for reasons, since a leader never fails in isolation. One also needs to consider the contribution the organisation made and the support it offered or did not offer.” Matching company requirements and individual aspirations It seems like organisations are often very good at appointing exactly the type of leaders they vow to avoid, those individuals who end up being the company’s Achilles heel. Future-fit organisations are also less hierarchical and offer fewer traditional career paths where the assumed way to self-actualisation and growth is to climb the corporate ladder. It is therefore becoming even more critical to appoint the right people into leadership. In order to do this, organisations need to map the basic requirements of the organisation. They need to be clear about the core components of their people strategy, what skills are needed to meet the organisational objectives, and align people decisions to this. Further to this, organisations have to measure current and future talent against these criteria and drill deeper than surface characteristics such as charisma, social skill and self-confidence to determine leadership suitability. Lastly, organisations need to then mobilise identified individuals to make strategic career decisions aligned to their own core values and strengths, and in line with the organisational intent. Promote to fail Scherrer says in many instances there is not enough time spent on the preparation phase of the new leader. They are simply put into the role and expected to know what to do. “Companies are not mindful enough to ensure that people, especially given the number of millennials in the workforce, are equipped for the roles they are chosen for.” Many people are still being promoted because they have a specialised skill and can deliver on key requirements. However, being promoted into a leadership position changes the rules of the game, especially with modern day requirements of needing to lead, connect and enable virtual teams to perform under increased pressure and stress. It then becomes the classic reality of “what got you here, will not get you there”, and critically important to also “manage” those undesirable dark side characteristics that may negatively impact leadership effectiveness. These characteristics typically manifest during times of stress and uncertainty. Accelerated and continuous development Once there is an awareness of certain shortcomings, development becomes a key requirement. Struggling and new leaders must be equipped with a personalised development plan – i.e. some people may benefit from coaching or mentoring, others from job rotation or formal coursesClear and structured development plans to which people are held accountable is a key requirement in this process. “Progress against the plan has to be carefully measured. There has to be a baseline and frequent and continuous assessment of progress, as well as brutally honest feedback.” By doing nothing to support new leaders, the company is doing something. It is setting them up for failure. It will cost them dearly. ENDS MEDIA CONTACT: Idéle Prinsloo, 082 573 9219, idele@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za ABOUT JvR Africa Group: JvR Africa Group of companies consists of JvR Psychometrics, JvR Consulting Psychologists, JvR Academy, and JvR Safety. With its head office is situated in Johannesburg; the group conducts business nationally and across Sub-Saharan Africa. They work with test developers, consultants and academic institutions all over the world and supports a range of development opportunities and hosts events around People Development in Africa, a cause they feel is extremely important to the future of our continent. For more information on JvR Africa Group please visit: Website: https://jvrafricagroup.co.za/ LinkedIn: JvR Africa Group Facebook: The JvR Africa Group - People Development in Africa Twitter: JvR Africa Group YouTube: The JvR Africa Group South Africa will be celebrating its annual Youth Day on Saturday, with the theme for June: “Live the Legacy: Towards a socio-economically empowered youth.”
Millions of South African youths have however, very little to celebrate. According to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) approximately 3.3million of the 10.3million young people aged between 14-24 years were not in employment, education or training in the first quarter of 2018. This implies that close to one in three young South Africans in this age group were disengaged with the labour market. More than 10% of the graduates aged between 25–34 years could not find a job, despite their education. The burden of unemployment is also concentrated amongst the youth as they account for 63,5% of the total number of unemployed persons. Lack of employability skills Dr Karina de Bruin, JvR Academy Managing Director, says these results are a “sad reality”, despite efforts over the years to improve the plight of South Africa’s future generations. “The education system focuses on subject and functional competencies. And that should indeed be the case,” she says. “One should be able to read, write, calculate, understand history, geography and science. All these subjects contribute to potential career and personal development.” However, a crucial element of career and personal development is employability and the skills that makes one employable. The employability skills listed by employers include: problem solving, initiative and self-motivation, coping with pressure, team work, ability to learn and adapt, valuing diversity and negotiating skills. “The education system is lacking when it comes to this aspect of employability. We should also not forget that the individual is as important in determining employability.” Responsibility for one’s own development De Bruin refers to a Malaysian study which demonstrates that “self-concept, participation in career development activities, and industrial training” play the biggest role in terms of the acquisition of employability skills. The first two elements are solely related to the individual. She says another aspect that should be added is self-directedness: taking responsibility for one's own development. Young people need to look for opportunities to develop their workplace and functional skills, but also to obtain behavioural competencies that will contribute to finding and keeping a job. “Employability skills are often overlooked when attempts are made to make the youth economically active.” Many people have become involved in youth initiatives, simply because it seems to be the right thing to do. There is a lot of talking, just to advance their own careers. “If we look at the huge numbers of young people who go untouched by many of the youth bodies, it is indeed unsettling,” De Bruin remarks. Small steps for future change “My philosophy in terms of people development has always been that you only need to touch one or two people... They go back to their communities and make a difference in the lives of those around them as well.” De Bruin believes simple and small changes is achievable to have meaningful long-term effects. One step is to infuse the education curriculum with employability skills development, another is to enhance communication channels between important role players so that everybody starts putting words into action. ENDS MEDIA CONTACT: Idéle Prinsloo, 082 573 9219, idele@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za ABOUT JvR Africa Group: JvR Africa Group of companies consists of JvR Psychometrics, JvR Consulting Psychologists, JvR Academy, and JvR Safety. With it’s head office is situated in Johannesburg; the group conducts business nationally and across Sub-Saharan Africa. They work with test developers, consultants and academic institutions all over the world and supports a range of development opportunities and hosts events around People Development in Africa, a cause they feel is extremely important to the future of our continent. For more information on JvR Africa Group please visit: Website: https://jvrafricagroup.co.za/ LinkedIn: JvR Africa Group Facebook: The JvR Africa Group - People Development in Africa Twitter: JvR Africa Group YouTube: The JvR Africa Group |
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