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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

How will human abilities stand out in an AI-driven future of management? As a psychologist in management, I have always felt confident in my ability to understand and navigate human dynamics, something that seemed beyond the reach of machines. However, I was intrigued to read that an AI algorithm on Google’s DeepMind had helped people with disparate and conflicting opinions find common ground while discussing contentious social issues. The machine came up with statements that 56% of participants found reflected the views in the group and reduced divisions better than statements of human mediators. While this AI experiment isn’t yet headed to our offices, it marks an interesting milestone. AI’s potential for consensus-building may not be too far from everyday use, as technology continues to develop rapidly. We’ll likely see similar capabilities available through common apps soon. So, what will be left to human intelligence and judgment? The answer is still uncertain, but with AI evolving quickly, we would do well to stay updated on emerging capabilities. Will AI Lead to Job Loss? It’s likely that AI will replace some roles, as new technologies have done in the past. However, if history is a guide, AI may also generate new jobs. Technological advancements, such as personal computers and spreadsheet software, have previously shifted employment from workers with specific skills to those with other, often higher-paid, skills. Today, it’s more common to see someone replaced not by AI alone, but by someone skilled in using AI effectively. A study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that technology’s impact on jobs often depends on whether it augments or automates existing roles. The researchers noted that technologies that augment human work tend to create jobs, while those that automate tasks can reduce them. At present, AI often augments rather than replaces jobs, especially in management. Many professionals, myself included, are using AI tools to improve productivity, and I haven’t seen management positions lost to AI yet. However, as AI continues to evolve, the landscape may shift significantly. Making Work More Engaging with AI The 2024 Microsoft and LinkedIn Work Trend Index , which examines AI’s impact in workplaces, reinforces the view that AI can make jobs more engaging by reducing tedious tasks. In their research, over 90% of those who regularly use AI reported that it helps them manage overwhelming workloads and increases job satisfaction. The study also found that 75% of knowledge workers now incorporate AI into their tasks, almost double the rate of six months ago. Interestingly, many leaders say they would hesitate to hire candidates who lack AI skills. This trend has led to concerns of ageism, with some employers screening out older applicants who they believe may struggle with AI. The Risk of AI for Certain Job Functions Yet, while AI can make certain aspects of work easier, it may also shift the nature of tasks. Automation sometimes removes more interesting parts of a job, leaving behind repetitive tasks. For instance, robots in manufacturing have reduced physical demands but also made some jobs more routine. Similarly, drug-dispensing machines in hospital pharmacies have allowed pharmacists more time for patient interaction, but pharmacy assistants may now find their roles reduced to machine operation. On balance I am positive about the impact of AI on our lives, and in any case, we arenot going to stop it. So let’s make friends with the bots and hope they’ll let us manage them. Jonathan Cook, a counselling psychologist, chairs the African Management Institute. This is adapted from a column for Business Day, originally published on 29th October 2024. ( https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2024-10-29-jonathan-cook-how-will-ai-affect-managers/ ) If you’d like to read previous columns in this series or ask Jonathan a question please visit www.africanmanagers.com/jonathan-cook