In my last column I argued that wellness at work requires creating a healthy workplace, and not just sending staff on wellness programmes. Afterwards someone suggested I should include more practical guidance. So what should we do? Legislation makes every manager responsible for the physical safety of their staff – ensuring that the kettle cord is not frayed, that the air-conditioning is not pumping out germs, that those engaged in risky tasks use appropriate safety equipment, and so on. These are relatively easy to monitor and describe in the big poster on the staff room wall, but mental health precautions are more difficult to pin down. The World Health Organisation’s guidance on mental wellness boils down firstly to training managers to recognize and respond to people experiencing emotional distress. They should learn interpersonal skills like open communication and active listening, and how to foster better understanding of how job stressors affect mental health and can be managed. Secondly, staff should be trained in mental health awareness and how to reduce the stigma associated with mental health problems. Thirdly, there should be interventions to refer individuals for treatment if needed, or preventive activities like “leisure-based physical activity”. That’s all important, but I think the real magic emerges from an organisational culture that deeply values the humanity of each person. A key insight is that managers are not only responsible for their own behaviour, but for how their teams interact too. If one of my team is bullying another, or two are unable to work together, that is my problem. I have to deal with it as urgently as I would if the internet went down. If I can’t handle it myself, I need to call in an expert, but remain just as engaged, so I understand how to ensure the solution continues. This is difficult without a culture in which people show respect for each other. Managers should be trained to blend the two great requirements for performance: demand and acceptance. Focusing equal attention on task and people is leadership 101, so we may forget that each new generation of leaders has to learn it afresh. I confess I am repeatedly surprised when I come across managers who have little appreciation of the need to understand the humanity of their staff, and of well-meaning trainers and coaches who seem to believe that just being nice to everyone will get the job done. Sometimes deep respect emerges as direct and robust feedback to someone who knows they could do better – provided the criticism is filled with evident respect and a genuine interest in the person’s growth and success. The point is that this cannot be achieved in the space of one conversation. It needs months, if not years, of patient insistence on respect for the humanity of every person, so that when those robust conversations take place, the underlying assumption is that we all want the best for each other. Achieving that is the amazing magical sauce that makes exceptional performance become common place, while bolstering mental health. People become healthy when they feel deeply respected and supported in doing tasks that have meaning for them. The tone has to be demonstrated from the top. The top team should set aside time, at least annually, to review the humanity of the company. What are we doing that demonstrates what we say about caring? What can we stop doing that contradicts it? This can be informed by a survey of staff perceptions. Staff perceptions can be frustratingly different from management’s perceptions and intentions, but far rather discover what they really are thinking. For most of us, wellness arises from believing we are treated with deep respect. Jonathan Cook, a Counselling Psychologist and Chairman of the African Management Institute. If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit  https://africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook

Feedback at work conjures delight for some and terror for others. Those who look forward to hearing what others have to say about them probably have experienced feedback for learning and growth, while those who dread it may have only had to give and receive feedback in the context of performance problems. I recently ran a session on giving and receiving feedback for aspirant heads of independent schools. We focused on affirming strengths, using a new online questionnaire recently developed by Thornhill Associates. Each participant had elicited stories from their close associates describing when they had been at their best and what that demonstrated about them. We human beings are notoriously poor at reading our impact on others, so it was affirming for participants to hear when their peers recognised the same strengths as they recognised in themselves, and to discover strengths their peers saw that they might not have seen in themselves. The feedback gave them clues about how to draw on their natural strengths in leadership positions. I remember very well the impact on my own career and happiness early in my management journey when my team used a team roles questionnaire to let me know that they saw me as adding value through creativity. What a relief that was! I had been trying hard to meet my own stereotyped expectations about what a good team leader should do; but they gave me permission to express my strength and let others take on the other roles where they were better than I. Giving and receiving feedback would have a much better reputation if we thought about it as affirming the impressive capacities that we all have in different ways. We don’t fear hearing what people like about us! But of course we really crave to hear the other side too. What are the gaps I need to fill to become a better manager? And how do I actually come across to others? That is where the full 360-degree feedback questionnaire comes in. It allows people to identify both strengths to nurture and areas for improvement. Unfortunately we tend to notice the bad news far more than the good news. One participant in the workshop described skimming quickly through all the positive stuff in a 360 report she received, so she could focus on identifying the gaps she needed to work on. She sounded strong enough to cope with that approach, but some people may be damaged by failing to notice the nine affirming comments while only seeing the one critical comment. That is why professional facilitation of 360-degee feedback is important. Not only do strengths affirm us, but they also provide clues to how we can go about addressing the gaps. We can use what we do well to address the things we don’t. Extroverts can learn to ask questions, and thus use their natural sociability to learn empathy.  Introverts can use their listening to make connections and use that to be empowering leaders. At a deeper level, mature leadership requires integrating our best selves with what Carl Jung called our shadow selves. These are not just gaps in ability, but aspects of ourselves we want to reject, overcome, or hide from others and ourselves. It’s the bad stuff we project onto others to avoid facing in ourselves. It contains the demons that derail careers. Facing our shadow is hard work, best done in conversation with a skilled helper. Doing justice to the shadow would take us way beyond the scope of this column. But it is essential work if we are to achieve the maturity and stability required for effective leadership. And we won’t have the courage to begin until we have accepted our strengths at the deepest level and lost our fear of knowing ourselves. Jonathan Cook, a Counselling Psychologist and Chairman of the African Management Institute. If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit https://africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook

This Column was published on Business Day on 20 February 2024. Business needs effective governments to provide the infrastructure on which to thrive. Logistics (including roads, rail, and ports), energy, and communications (including internet access) are all vital. The poor quality of infrastructure in many African countries increases costs, putting African businesses at a competitive disadvantage relative to their global peers. This in turn deters investment. That is self-evident, but two World Bank economists, Justice Tei Mensah and Nouhoum Traore, have recently dug into the data and calculated the impact of providing infrastructure. They looked specifically at how providing high-speed internet influences foreign direct investment (FDI). The staggered connection of submarine cables to African networks between 2000 and 2012 enabled them to observe the impact on local economies and changes in FDI between 2003 and 2018. They found that the arrival of high-speed internet connectivity is indeed associated with increased frequency and size of FDI and that this is associated with increased business activity. This is concentrated in the services sector, and particularly finance, technology, retail and health services. These are internet-dependent sectors. There was no effect on manufacturing or construction.  They then looked further and found that complementary infrastructure such as roads and electricity amplify the effects of internet connectivity on FDI. Their point is that infrastructural provision works best when provided as a bundle rather than in isolation. “For instance, in the absence of reliable (and affordable) electricity, uptake and utilisation of digital services will be constrained even with the best of digital infrastructure.” They also provide evidence that access to the internet increases citizens’ access to information and therefore the demand for accountability from government. This improves governance and reduces the risk to potential investors. Increased internet connectivity also allows African companies to access new markets. They looked primarily at internet access, but I imagine that if they looked at other infrastructure provision, particularly when bundled with complementary infrastructure development, they would find a similar effect on other sectors like manufacturing and construction and on SMEs, which thrive on increased economic activity. That is inspiring for government and reminds us that large infrastructure projects are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. They should be planned accordingly to have maximum impact on economic activity. The Lobito Corridor looks to me like a project where this can be implemented. At its core is the rehabilitation of the rail link from Zambia and the DRC to Lobito in Angola. It entails cooperation between the three governments concerned, international partners, the EU and US, big business, notably in the form of mining companies, and agencies such as the African Development Bank. The EU and US motivation to support this may arise from competition with China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiatives that have almost wrapped up the supply of minerals needed for electric vehicles; but it is very much in African countries’ interests to ensure that extracting and exporting minerals is accompanied by holistic development of local industry. This should be supported by complementary infrastructure like feeder roads, energy, digital access and practical policy support for local business. Ironically the need for the Lobito Corridor has been accentuated by South Africa’s failure in rail and ports. South Africa has unusually good infrastructure, but by allowing it to deteriorate, the authorities are not just inconveniencing people, but killing jobs and livelihoods throughout SA and even in neighbouring countries that have accessed markets through SA ports. Interrupted electricity supply, collapsing rail routes, and inefficient ports have led to huge lost opportunities in industries as widely diverse as coal mining and fruit farming. One might wish for careless politicians and officials to be charged with economic treason for the impact on the nation’s viability.  But let’s celebrate progress and look for ways to provide an integrated infrastructural foundation for the continent’s growth. Jonathan Cook, a Counselling Psychologist and Chairman of the African Management Institute. If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit  https://africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook

Which countries in Africa provide a healthy environment for entrepreneurship? It is notoriously difficult to collect accurate data. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) reports on 49 countries, but the only African countries included are Morocco and South Africa.  On the 2023-24 overall GEM National Entrepreneurial Context Index (NECI) score, United Arab Emirates is way out in front with a record score of 7.7, followed by India, Saudi Arabia and Lithuania. Morocco comes 30th with a score of 4.3. South Africa comes a dismal 47th with 3.6, above Venezuela and Iran, and just below Brazil and Guatemala. Now researchers at the Alan Gray Centre for African Entrepreneurship (AGCAE), a new and ambitious team at Stellenbosch University, have just created the African Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Index (AEEI). This seeks to correct the problem with all such surveys, which is that the quality of data across Africa is generally poor, making it difficult to analyse. AGCAE director, Phumlani Nkontwana describes their goal as being a “data hub of hubs”. Their website contains the admirably cautious statement that “this is the first public version of this index. Treat the results with caution as we have had a lot of deliberation and discussion on data quality, data availability and data sources. See this version as a conversation starter and a minimum viable product to improve and build on.” The AEEI consists of seven components, each building on multiple data points: Governance, Culture, Support, Finance, Infrastructure, Market access, and Human capital. They had enough confidence in the data from 27 countries to include them in their inaugural table. Mauritius tops this list as most friendly to entrepreneurs. South Africans might be surprised to find their country comes second, with a strong financial sector and relatively well-developed infrastructure, but poor support. I need to dig deeper into the data, but I think “support” refers both to the fragmented efforts of entrepreneurial support organisations and to the work government departments do on the ground. Then come Tunisia, Morocco and Cape Verde. Of the major economies, Egypt is 8th, Nigeria 13th, Kenya 17th, Ethiopia 21st, and Tanzania 22nd, with Uganda and Zimbabwe at the bottom. I think Kenyans in particular would be surprised and disappointed by that score. Kenyans see themselves as entrepreneurial. Kenya scored particularly poorly in support, market access and finance, and had no areas of special strength. The purpose of the researchers is not just to report, but to learn and encourage ecosystem players to improve the conditions that help create new businesses. I hope this will stimulate honest reviews of the present and courageous ideas for the future. I was encouraged to hear the AGCAE team talk about data in the context of things needed to encourage business. Too often we tend to collect data only to report, and neglect the essential task of learning from it to improve what we do. This applies as much at the microdata level of firms and agencies as at the macrodata level of economies. I was also encouraged to hear about getting out into the field to see what it is like to do business on the ground. All statistics can lie, but the lies told out of context by abstract data are difficult to discern until one leaves the office to look and talk to the people actually trying to run businesses on the ground. A final thought: Start-up indices are useful but I’d also like see a stay-up index. What helps firms stay in business? Everyone knows that new companies create the most jobs; but they are also likely to destroy the most jobs, because so many of them fail. I wonder whether keeping existing firms in business would be a more efficient use of resources than trying to push people into creating new businesses. Jonathan Cook, a Counselling Psychologist and Chairman of the African Management Institute. If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit https://africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook

Accountability is a popular word at present. It represents many people’s solution to the crisis in service delivery, corruption and general lack of responsibility in public service. When there are no consequences the temptation grows to enrich ourselves or to get away with doing less than we might. Some people have enough self-respect and learned responsibility to remain accountable even when no one notices. We should all be like that, but for most of us sustained accountability requires both rewards and punishments, underpinned by transparent assessment of performance. Accountability is also key to success in business. Rewards are easy to administer when the outputs are clear, such as in sales, which are measurable and frequent. It is more difficult when the outputs are less obvious. Executives may be incentivised with share options in the belief that return on equity in the company as a whole is the best measure of how well they perform, and because it is aligned with what the owners value. To try to reward specific CEO decisions is impossibly complex and in any case misguided – it is the executives themselves who are generally in the best position to gauge what actions will lead to company performance, and even they often get it wrong. The crucial exception is dishonesty. The board has to trust the CEO, so any lack of integrity is inexcusable. It is for roles like this that accountability has to be an internal attribute and not just controlled externally. Many decades ago the psychologist Frederick Herzberg argued that external rewards tend to capture and then replace intrinsic motivation. People begin to focus on the pay and forget why they took on the job in the first place. Then sadly as soon as the rewards are withdrawn or lose their value for the recipient, motivation falls off. That is what has happened in the public sphere. Politicians have for too long enjoyed rewards without consequences. It’s a tragedy – not just for the country, but even for them. Some may have amassed fortunes at our expense and seem to be living the good life we aspire to. But at what cost to their true selves? Their intrinsic motivation has been captured by the attraction of extrinsic rewards. It’s very easy. You may point out correctly that among them are those who are natural crooks and just delighted to be rich. But what about the many who entered public life with the highest motivation, only to find themselves degraded and ashamed, or if they have remained committed and honest, disillusioned by the rot all around them? What a waste of great human potential and idealism. The result is that more crooks and fewer committed servants are attracted to public service. Let’s rescue them. When we vote, don’t vote for someone who has been shown to be dishonest, however much you agree with their manifesto. You can’t trust them. You can’t trust them to do what they say they will do, and you can’t trust them with your taxes. Look at their lives, their humility, their strength in the face of temptation, their record of conscientious service, and elect people who represent the nation we wish to be. Meanwhile we have to help create intrinsic accountability. So our engagement has to extend beyond a vote once in a while. We need to be active citizens who track performance and shout about what we discover, especially when it’s good. Even when it seems no one is paying attention, let’s keep the noise up. At least we will hear each other, and discovering we are not alone, gain courage to keep insisting that this country belongs not to the powerful few, but to all our people. This land is our land. Let’s own it. Jonathan Cook, a counselling psychologist, chairs the African Management Institute.   This is a coaching columns for Business Day, published on 30th April 2024 ( https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2024-04-30-jonathan-cook-elect-accountable-people-who-represent-the-nation-we-wish-to-be/ ). If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit https:// africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook

There is almost a week still to prepare for Earth Day on 22 April. This year’s theme is planet vs plastics. Big companies can afford sustainability managers to direct their environmental efforts, but small business owners have to rely on their own ideas and very limited time. What can we do? Firstly, is it worth it? Small people and small businesses may feel that reducing our miniscule carbon footprint is far too little to be worth distracting us from important businesses imperatives. But there is more to it than our own small saving, and there are good business opportunities in environmental responsibility too. Business owners may be able to influence the commitment of all their staff, their customers and their suppliers, and maybe even the wider community. That adds up. And yes, it is important. Climate change is possibly the greatest existential threat to humanity, with a specially big impact on Africa. Even a small, token contribution is worth making. Begin with your own team. When you meet, raise awareness about environmental issues and encourage employees to share ideas. Online sites provide mountains of material that can be used in workshops and for distribution. Most of us know about conserving energy and water, but it is still worth distributing material for those who have not yet heard. More helpful might be to discuss practical ways to reduce the big carbon contributors, like transport, as in driving to work alone. We can’t prescribe, but we could also help people make conscious decisions about how much meat they eat, how often they discard usable clothing or other consumables, and how to avoid single-use plastics. We can set the example by providing reusable glass water bottles. Creative activities can generate enthusiasm for saving the planet and build team spirit. For example, giving a prize for the greatest reduction in the carbon footprint at home would encourage team members to learn about carbon, its mitigation, and how to measure their own contribution. As a company you have probably already implemented recycling, changed the light bulbs and fixed the taps. The high cost of solar power looks different when we consider the efficiencies of never having to stop work for a power outage. The capital cost to run heavy electric machinery on solar may be prohibitive, but for those of us who rely on computers for work and to communicate with customers, a small system that just powers the router makes a huge difference. We can do without the kettle for a few hours, as long as we can access the internet. Next we can reduce waste and recycle. Think about sustainable packaging and reducing single-use plastics. Can you install rainwater tanks? Environmentally sensitive cleaning materials can reduce the pollution that is ruining our water supplies. Can you influence customers? Many large retailers have made a virtue out of necessity by advertising their recyclable packets and packaging. Even my Woolies roast chicken came in a recyclable grease-proof packet. UCook collects your used carton, insulation and freeze bags when they deliver the next meal kits. Explaining to customers why you are taking these steps generates good will and spreads the message. What about suppliers? Big suppliers probably already have their own sustainability programme, but smaller suppliers might benefit from discussing how together you could reduce waste, improve packaging, and use sustainable materials. Maybe even invite them to your staff training on sustainability. Sustainability clauses may or may not make their way into your contracts with suppliers, but a friendly conversation will achieve more in practice for most people who are interested in your business. Among suppliers, don’t forget contract staff and service providers, including gardeners, cleaners, and professional service providers. Every person educated about the environment is another source of information into the wider community. Jonathan Cook, a counselling psychologist, chairs the African Management Institute.   This is a coaching columns for Business Day, published on 16th April 2024 ( https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2024-04-16-jonathan-cook-there-is-still-time-for-small-business-to-prepare-for-earth-day / ).   If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit https:// africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook

When I was a young manager, I did not consider mental health to be a management matter, even though as a psychologist I was aware that mental health problems can arise at work. In the unlikely event that a team member might show disturbing symptoms, the responsible thing would be to refer them to an appropriate professional, as one would if someone showed symptoms of heart failure, for example. But the incidence of mental health problems is increasing and we are more aware now of the physical and mental health consequences of the stresses people face both at work and at home. When they arrive at work, our people sometimes bring with them the most incredible challenges from dysfunctional homes and collapsing communities. At work we should do our best to reduce the toxic effect of excessive workloads, unclear or conflicting work roles, unsafe or poor physical working conditions, violence, bullying, and discrimination. If we ignore mental health concerns we are risking ignoring a substantial risk factor in our businesses. Putting up a cheerful poster in the lift proclaiming, “Don’t worry; be happy” doesn’t really do it justice. But the “Don’t worry; be happy” protagonists do have a point. We have begun to recognise that dealing with mental health at work should go beyond a merely reactive approach. Managers can create a healthy environment that not only responds to individual sufferers, but actively promotes good health for everyone. An organisational culture that deeply values the humanity of each person is one of the best work-based contributors to great mental health. This is good for business. Think of the advantage brought by healthy, happy, and collaborative colleagues. Health is thus clearly a management matter. There is a confusing multiplicity of mental health awareness months, but May seems to be widely recognised around the world. The theme for Mental Health Awareness Month this year is “Movement: Moving more for our mental health”. As the British Mental Health Foundation puts it, “Moving more can increase your energy, reduce stress and anxiety, and boost your self-esteem.” Exercise is usually touted as the single best contributor to good physical health, but promoting it for mental health illustrates that good health does not fit neatly into professional silos. Human beings are integrated organisms, and our physical, mental and social sources of health are all inextricably connected. That makes sense, because the healthier I am, the more likely I am to be happy. And the happier I am, the more likely I am to enjoy good relationships. And to complete the cycle of physical, mental and social health, the better connected I am to others, the healthier I will be physically.  A great example of this is provided by emerging research findings about loneliness. We know loneliness is associated with depression and with earlier onset of dementia and maybe Parkinson’s disease, and now researchers are apparently finding that there are changes in the brain associated with loneliness. Staff should be trained in mental health awareness and how to build both their own and their colleagues’ positive coping methods. It’s also important to reduce the stigma associated with mental health problems so that those with problems can get help before they damage their careers. Managers can be trained to understand how job stressors affect mental health and how they can be managed. They can learn interpersonal skills like open communication and active listening, and how to recognize and respond to people experiencing emotional distress. As the World Health Organisation points out, decent work provides a sense of confidence, purpose and achievement, an opportunity for positive relationships and inclusion in a community, and structured routines. As managers, we have the opportunity to help our teams grow in health. Jonathan Cook, a counselling psychologist, chairs the African Management Institute.   This is a coaching column for Business Day, published on 14th May 2024 ( https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2024-05-14-jonathan-cook-employees-mental-health-is-a-management-concern/ ). If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit https:// africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook

Variety is one of life’s extraordinary design features. It both arises from and leads to evolutionary innovation. Who could possibly have sat down at a drawing board and imagined from scratch a rhinoceros, elephant, giraffe, warthog and dung beetle and then let them all survive in the same conditions? Nature exceeds the imagination in a spectacularly bizarre and wonderful display. This unfolding diversity allows organisms to adapt in unpredictable ways as the environment changes. I read that the peppered moth in England is yellow with darker spots. But when the industrial revolution covered the environment in soot, pale moths were predated heavily while dark-coloured moths survived and became predominant. Now with pollution under better control, cream-coloured moths stand out less and are making a comeback. We humans too are particularly varied. We come packaged in small and large bodies, short and tall, with all grades of skin colour, and amazingly, possessing unique fingerprints and irises. We have minds containing an infinite variety of capacities, memories, ideas, and intentions. This variety has survival value. Because of differences, we avoid all rushing down the same dead end, helping us to survive as a species. So far. We use words usefully to explain and respond to the differences that we discover in each other. Words like “friendly”, “suspicious”, “powerful”, “generous”, “conservative”, “radical” help us make sense of our relationships. Words entail categorising. That is necessary and useful, but when, under pressure of competition for limited resources, we turn these categories into labels carrying differing value judgements, we soon stop enjoying diversity and begin defending against it. We create competing classes of people who conform in our minds to “us” or “them”. And history teaches us to fear “them”. It’s a short step from there to exclusion, propaganda, conflict and war, as is currently emerging all over the world. After World War 2 humanity recoiled from the hideous inhumanity inflicted on innocent people by those who considered themselves the most civilised and educated nations on earth. We learned that no one is immune to the deadly virus of ethnic, religious, ideological, gender or nationalist exclusiveness. In shock, the world recoiled from two hideous world wars and created institutions and enshrined values intended (rather naively, as it turned out) to ensure “never again”. Yet just eighty years later, here we are again. We have forgotten the horror unleashed when we make enemies out of those who differ from us. We are slipping inexorably into increasing xenophobia and genocide. It is becoming fashionable to celebrate autocracy, as long as the autocrat is one of “us”, and to dismiss the institutions of liberal democracy that were designed to include all. Indeed, some are tempted to use these very institutions to exclude “them”. What a failure of the human spirit. In future columns I want to write about the gift and the threat of diversity in managing teams at work. In our small way, managers are given the opportunity to guide our people to appreciate variety as a magnificent and necessary part of life, and to learn how to avoid triggering a path to destruction. This is needed at the level of nations and even at the level of neighbours. We can contribute to both by applying mutual respect at the level of organisations. Meanwhile, South Africans go to the polls tomorrow. Elections provide a stern test of our ability to respect those who differ from us. Maybe even more important than who wins will be how both winners and losers allow themselves to work together for our common good. If you are voting tomorrow, I pray you will support those who know how to share the future, and not those who build their support on excluding others.   Jonathan Cook, a counselling psychologist, chairs the African Management Institute.   This is a coaching column for Business Day, published on 28th May 2024 ( https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2024-05-14-jonathan-cook-employees-mental-health-is-a-management-concern/ ). If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit https:// africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook

One nonfinancial ratio that could be added to the financial ratios we all track is the ratio of external to internal priorities. Priorities that reach outward include anything to do with customers or clients, market positioning, and products and services; those that reach inward include organisational structure, operational processes and policies, systems, staffing and accounting. Both are essential and work best when kept in balance. Too frantic a focus on outward-facing priorities can seem mission-focused and exciting, but without internal support, can lead to over-reach, service failures, collapse of capacity, and death by explosion. Too bureaucratic a focus on internal-facing priorities may seem responsible, but can lead to slowing down, losing purpose, inability to respond quickly to changes in the business environment, and death by implosion. This ratio is a concept rather than a number, and clearly is not as precise as financial ratios. But it is important to keep in mind, particularly during a period of rapid growth. There are several places to look for signs of the balance. One is in the agenda and amount of time spent in meetings. Are we focused more on what we are doing with customers/clients or on how we organise ourselves and relate to each other? Another is how we allocate resources, such as how the budget is decided, what the tech spend is for, and the number of executive and staff positions created to do things for customers, versus internal processes. Then we could consider what the executive team focuses on and what we measure and celebrate. Of course this should be a false dichotomy, as organisations ideally organise internally to reach externally; but we have all seen companies lose balance, so it’s a ratio worth tracking. Evidence that the ratio is too external is pretty obvious. People burn out, staff make recurring mistakes, customers complain about failures in product and service, and foreseeable problems take us by surprise through inadequate planning and budgeting. Evidence that the ratio is too internal appears more subtly in signs like slowing down, hanging on to merely good products or processes that could be replaced by better ones, recruiting staff for external-facing roles who are clever in maintaining processes rather than hungry to grow, lacking courage to grab opportunities for fear of failing, not being prepared to look beyond KPIs to tackle a wonderful opportunity, because of the need to report formally at the end of the quarter. These are not signs that are easy to spot, so one of the CEO’s duties is to stand back and think about the balance. Like keeping balance while walking, balance in an organisation is never static. It requires continual, often unconscious, adjustments. To change the metaphor, the driver needs to avoid either setting out in an unroadworthy vehicle, or fussing so much over the vehicle that they forget to drive towards the destination. I have been writing in recent columns about managing diversity of many different kinds, and this is another example. Some people (such as Operations and HR) should love an internal focus, while others (such as Marketing and Business Development) should have a passionate external focus. But their effectiveness is determined by their appreciation of the contribution of others. The CEO conducts this orchestra in a way that allows individual contributions to shine, while ensuring harmony and mutual support. If people in Operations create onerous processes that kill initiative, they are out of tune and killing the company. If people in Sales refuse to follow policy or report their prospects, they expose the company to potentially terminal mistakes or liability. We need each other. One key job of the leader is continually to demonstrate the value of difference and require the team to support and celebrate those others whose contribution complements their own. Jonathan Cook, a counselling psychologist, chairs the African Management Institute.   This is a coaching column for Business Day, published on 9th July 2024 ( https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2024-07-09-jonathan-cook-looking-both-outward-and-inward-helps-businesses-to-thrive/ ). If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit https:// africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook

How do leaders create a shared sense of identity, given that most workplaces are highly diverse? It’s an important concern, because a staff complement that is divided along demographic lines presents almost limitless opportunities for conflict. Members are not going to contribute to a shared loyalty if they feel that their ethnic, religious, political or any other identity prevents them from identifying with their diverse colleagues. Business leaders need to create a sense of belonging as “us” that is even more salient than the divisions imported from outside. Leaders foster this shared identity through a mission that resonates with their followers, with symbols, traditions, stories and heroes that represent the soul of the organisation. They may also define “us” in terms of competencies and even processes that make us stand out from the competition. The greater the diversity in the organization, the more prominent the message needs to be. Leaders need to be very careful to avoid language and events that might unintentionally seem to define the company in terms of one, usually dominant, set of members and exclude others.  Group identity can be fostered at all levels. For example, it’s currently an opportunity facing the government of national unity in South Africa – can we all be persuaded that we belong together and should work together in overcoming the challenges we face as a nation? I find the current Kenyan protests really interesting. The youth seem from the outside to have transcended identity politics in the form or ethnic rivalries that have plagued Kenya and so many other countries. If that is true, it’s a bottom-up rebuke to their national leaders. Next door in Rwanda the recent election has illustrated a top-down approach to imposing a single national identity on a country that suffered their dreadful genocidal violence thirty years ago.  It can be lost. National identity was once a strength of the USA, but that has fallen apart spectacularly in recent years to the extent that some commentators murmur about civil war. Nations with multiple ethnic, linguistic and religious identities may have histories that include searing memories of fighting each other, and so cannot draw on much of what defines more homogenous peoples. We have to create shared symbols like the flag and anthem, shared heroes like Mandela and sports teams, and shared ceremonies or holidays. We create them to forge a national identity that would not otherwise exist. Nelson Mandela provided an extraordinary example of how symbols can be harnessed. Until Mandela wrought his magic at the 1995 World Cup, celebrating the springboks would have been very alienating for large numbers of South Africans in Mandela’s core constituency. He courageously opened the door to transforming the springboks into a unifying team by donning the captain’s jersey and forcefully calling on the ANC youth to support the team. By itself that would not have been enough; it required wise leadership from captains and coaches over the years to take us through that open door and create what has become a unifying rather than divisive symbol, and part of our shared national identity. Wise leaders recognize that we all need to belong to a community that we can identify with and that feeds our need for acceptance and significance. Leaders who can transcend their own limited, exclusionary loyalties and create a shared identity out of diversity create robust oganisations, communities and nations. How leaders help us to find each other in diverse organisations can be a proving ground for the wider challenge across the globe. As we rapidly develop the capacity to destroy ourselves in new ways, this skill of creating shared identity with a transcending loyalty will increasingly become a condition for our survival as a species.   Jonathan Cook, a counselling psychologist, chairs the African Management Institute.   This is a coaching column for Business Day, published on 23rd July 2024 ( https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2024-07-23-jonathan-cook-creating-shared-identity-is-a-condition-for-survival/ ). If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit https:// africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook

I have long been intrigued by the interplay between ordered structure and exuberant energy in human activities. When we have wonderful energy without the discipline of structure, the energy can be wasted in unsustainable ventures. We lack good rules.  On the other hand, when rules and procedures dominate every aspect, we lose the flexibility and initiative to tackle new problems and seize emerging opportunities. This stifles creativity and alienates our most innovative members. These are bad rules.  Effective leadership, therefore, requires finding a balance between the two—entrepreneurial energy and solid structures. Good rules should empower both, providing enough structure to guide action while allowing room for creativity and growth. Channel Energy Without Stifling Innovation The challenge is to optimise these two poles: structure and energy. Administrators and auditors have the patience to read and understand the rules that govern our industry and company. They create internal rules, policies, processes, forms and permissions to prevent fraud and embed standard solutions to recurring problems. We listen closely to them, but take care not to put them in charge. A rule-bound CEO may work in a very stable, highly regulated industry, but would lack the leadership spark most companies need to survive and thrive.   Similarly, we deeply appreciate the energy and innovation brought by the creatives in our team; but in most cases, it would be suicidal to put them in charge. They need channelling and discipline. Finding this ideal balance that suits everyone is probably impossible in practice, so we have to give each side of this dilemma equal emphasis, and continually correct course as our company veers towards one or the other side. A Rugby-Inspired Leadership Lesson There is a good analogy in a sport like rugby. Good rugby players need to know the laws very well, or they will be penalised and give points away to the other side. Good rugby players also need to learn the skills of handling the ball, scrummaging, tackling and making carries. They practise, practise, practise on the field and spend hours in the gym bulking up their muscles.  But when the time comes to play, it would be disastrous to focus their minds on what the rules tell them they must not do, or concentrate on implementing each skill. The laws need to be in the back of their minds, and the skills need to have been overlearned so that they are automatic. Then the players can let themselves go and enter into the game with the single-minded focus on winning. The rules are not the game, but they enable them to play the game safely and effectively. Rules Guide, but Leadership Drives Success Similarly in our organisations, the rules are not the business. The auditors and ops people need to make sure that we all know the ethical and process rules of the company, and we need to implement consequences that motivate everyone to abide by those rules. The training people need to ensure that we all master the behaviours needed to work effectively. Managers, coaches and mentors should encourage each member to practise these behaviours till they become automatic and deeply embedded. But abiding by the rules and having the necessary skills is not doing the job. They are threshold competencies without which we cannot get onto the field, but the distinguishing competencies that allow us to win are different. They come from the passion of wanting to do a good job and achieve results – the equivalent of winning the match. The task of a manager is to call each member forward to do their job with single-minded passion. This is where leadership comes in. Leaders ensure that their followers know and obey the rules and are appropriately skilled, but then they focus on energy, direction and teamwork to achieve the extraordinary. At work as in sports, results come from the team losing themselves in the pure enjoyment of playing well. Good rules enable that; bad rules inhibit it. Jonathan Cook, a counselling psychologist, chairs the African Management Institute. This is adapted from a column for Business Day, originally published on 1st October 2024. ( www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2024-10-01-jonathan-cook-good-rules-bad-rules-energy-and-leadership/ ) If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit www.africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook

Once upon a time, a bright young person launched into a career full of promise and maybe some foreboding… Nothing captures the human imagination quite like a story. In his book The Storytelling Animal Jonathan Gottschall suggests stories make us human. “We are, as a species, addicted to story”. We read stories and have them read to us; we listen to podcast stories; we go to movies and watch hours of television to catch more stories. Commentators entice us to watch sports by building on the personal interest stories of the competitors.  Humanizing History and Values Through Storytelling  One of my best memories of teaching the MBA was introducing the classes to each other’s versions of South African history. Needless to say, the versions differed hugely. We came to realise that what influences us now is not so much the facts of what happened in the past, which are in any case difficult to establish. What influences us are the stories we tell now about the past that make sense of the present and direct our efforts to create the future. The storyteller influences us by creating a reality in our minds. Leaders make use of this all the time. Business schools teach courses on storytelling as a valuable leadership skill. Stories of past heroes or villains are always fun at staff gatherings, and they convey meaning and values in a way that bald mission statements cannot.  CEOs who are not raconteurs themselves do well to give the floor to storytellers, as kings once had minstrels sing the ballads of their heroes, creating a sense of identity and inviting the next generation to continue in the glorious tradition. Storytelling Influences Behaviour Change Owen Eastwood is a New Zealander who has drawn on his mixed Maori and British ancestry to advise companies and sports teams on how to build winning teams. One of the many stories in his book, Belonging: The Ancient Code of Togetherness , describes how coach Vern Cotter helped the French rugby team Clermont Auvergne overcome their inability to win a final. For three years they dominated the preceding matches, only to lose in the final. He traced it back to 50 BC when the local chieftain, Vercingetorix, led a successful revolt against Rome. He was eventually defeated by Julius Caesar despite a heroic last stand, and as a result, became a powerful folk hero representing courage and strength even as a loser. Frankly, I’m as sceptical as you probably are that this glorious and heroic defeat created the losing mindset of a rugby team two thousand years later; but the point is that Cotter used the story to turn around the players’ psychology. He told a new story and created rituals such as each player sharpening a replica of Vercingetorix’s sword after training sessions. With this growth mindset, they went on to win the title at their next attempt. Using Storytelling to Engage New Employees Storytelling humanizes corporate cultures and offers a framework that helps new hires make sense of their new working environment. Beyond that, it helps them feel included and connected from the onset, thus increasing their engagement. Each month when I meet our new recruits, I tell the story of how the African Management Institute came into existence and what values inspired us. I’m resolved now to make more of this storytelling opportunity and imbue our history with the flavour of “Once upon a time . . . ,“ while inviting the next generation to write the new chapter. Returning to our opening paragraph, how does your own story continue? What do you choose to write as the next compelling episode in your career? It’s never too late to change the plot or add a new story when you retire. If you lead an organization, what is its story? And what do you choose to be its next chapter?  Can today’s tasks become an adventure story rather than just a succession of logical decisions and routine activities? Can you imbue work with mythological power for yourself and your followers? Jonathan Cook, a counselling psychologist, chairs the African Management Institute. This is adapted from a column for Business Day, originally published on 2nd September 2024. ( https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2024-09-02-jonathan-cook-we-tell-the-stories-that-create-both-past-and-future/ ) If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit https://africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook