by Paula Quinsee

We live in a world where we glorify professional stress, extensive work hours, extreme dedication. We live in a world where saying ”no” to extra work is seen as a weakness. As a result you end up over-worked, exhausted, traumatized… which you then simply call ”the price of being successful’’. As my colleague Bogdan Manta says, ”Balance is not something you find; balance is something you create.”

Did you know that since February 2020, the average Teams user saw a 252% increase in their weekly meeting time? No wonder mental health and well-being is so topical and the Great Resignation is a real concern for many organisations.

Your people don’t want to come back to the office, it’s just not worth it anymore.

We recently hosted a Leadership Event for RMB on cultivating Psychological Safety in the workplace and the power of human connection for 170 leaders that are focused on taking the business forward. Employees have realized that they want their personal sense of purpose to align with that of their organisation, and they want an appropriate physical and digital environment that gives them the flexibility to achieve that elusive work–life balance.

So how do employers try and meet their needs while at the same time deliver on their objectives and goals? It’s all about the employee experience…and right now a lot of employees are exhausted, overwhelmed with their personal and work hours blurring, questioning what work means to them, and thinking through their options.

We’re also seeing a rise in the risk of burnout. Did you know it can take on average 2-yrs for someone to recover from burnout?

If you are expecting people to come back to the office to sit behind a desk and work, think again. They can do this from home.

People’s needs have changed. They want:
– time to connect
– access to decision makers
– mentoring
– time to be creative and innovative (i.e. robust discussions)
– to have constructive feedback
– open and transparent communication
– their voices to be heard
– to embrace being human

And they need you, their leaders to demonstrate this and to lead by example.

What employee experience are you creating within your organisation and do your employees feel the same way or is it perception vs reality?

Get in touch here if you would like to know more about these sessions and how we can help you create and positive and inspiring experience for your staff.

Warmly
Paula

by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department

“People want to know that the person leading their [company] is tough enough to bring them through, but they also want to see that the leader gets it, understands how anxious, confused and worried about the future they are.”

…from the great book ‘Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons’ by former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Head of the WTO, and exactly captures what we as leaders need to show in the coming months (possibly year) as events across the globe, inflation, possible Stagflation as we discussed (here) and especially the war in Ukraine and supply chain disruptions, continue to impact our countries and communities.

Prices of all goods and especially food heading skyward is never fun but especially for our employees, many of whom support their families and communities. The pain will just continue to get far worse before it gets better, not least because with western central banks raising interest rates aggressively, the days of cheap money that could be put to work investing in Africa are gone. This will impact our employees and our communities like never before and if this inflation combined with a lack of external investment starts to slow economies (which is highly possible probable), so companies will start to go bust which in turn will impact further. There are major structural defects in our business world that the supply chains of three years ago plus high tide of large amounts of cash from low interest rates hid – now the tide is going out (as supply chains clog and interest rates rise), so it is getting tougher and tougher. This is real and it is happening now.

As Cornell University economics professor Chris Barrett states (here): “It’s kind of a perfect storm. It’s not just a matter of food prices are going high. It’s food prices are going high at a moment when many places are already crippled by the challenges posed by COVID, by political disruptions elsewhere, by droughts and floods and other natural disasters…And there’s only so much that people can take before they grow displeased with their political leadership if it’s failing to take care of them. So, unrest is, unfortunately, increasingly likely right now.“

…and indeed not only is there a high correlation between unemployment and especial youth unemployment and unrest, there is also a very high correlation between high food prices and unrest, (see our previous article here).

In that article we also highlighted the US’s inverted yield curve and explained what this meant (higher interest rates ahead) and ended by saying “Now is the time for Lionesses to show strong leadership, their usual high levels of empathy and the foresight that whilst hoping for the best, we prepare for the worst.”

– Easy to say, but how can we do that in practice?

Over the past few weeks we have been looking at some of the great male business leaders of our time and we recognised that if we put these leaders on a pedestal then it is no surprise if business and investment decisions are made with a ‘strong pale male’ benchmark in mind. It is not a shock therefore when businesswomen force themselves into being something that the market and investors expect – a carbon copy of Steve Jobs (but in a skirt), completely missing the point that the strengths (including Empathy) that these incredible businesswomen bring to the table are exactly what is making them successful, allowing them to break into their particular markets and solve incredibly difficult problems.

As Jacinda Arden, New Zealand’s PM said in an interview with the NY Times (here): “One of the criticisms I have had over the years is that I am not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe because I am empathetic, it means I am weak. I totally rebel against that. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong.”

With that in mind, perhaps finding a bit of your inner Steve or Elon, might not be such a bad thing…As usual, everything in balance – please, this is some heavy duty personality you are bringing on board!

Ben Horowitz gets us ready for this in his brilliant book called: ‘The Hard Thing about Hard Things’: “There may be nothing scarier in business than facing an existential threat.” Indeed. So often we try to pretend that certain threats are not real, it won’t impact us, it’ll hit other industries, and so on…

But are you really ready to roll the dice on this one?

If you do happen to get hit hard by any of these hurricane force issues, then the first thing you will find as Ben says (and he calls it “the best CEO advice ever”):

“…NOBODY CARES.

When things go wrong in your company, nobody cares. The media don’t care, your investors don’t care, your board doesn’t care, your employees don’t care, and even your mama doesn’t care. Nobody cares. And they are right not to care. A great reason for failing won’t preserve one dollar for your investors, won’t save one employee’s job, or get you one new customer. It especially won’t make you feel one bit better when you shut down your company and declare bankruptcy. All the mental energy you use to elaborate your misery would be far better used trying to find the one seemingly impossible way out of your current mess. Spend zero time on what you could have done, and devote all of your time on what you might do. Because in the end, nobody cares; just run your company.”

Wow – that hit right between the eyes!

When there are ‘existential threats’, Ben looks to leaders such as Steve and Elon calling them ‘wartime leaders’. So what is the difference between a wartime and peacetime leader?

Peacetime CEO

Wartime CEO

Culture

CEO defines Culture

The war defines the culture

Structure and Protocol

Follows this

Blasts this apart to win

Large Advantage?

CEO knows what to do to push any advantage.

CEO is paranoid and assumes this is just luck or a one off.

Current business opportunities?

‘Broadens through encouraging creativity and contributions across a diverse set of objectives.’

‘Generally the company has a single bullet, which must at all costs hit the target.’

Detail

Can allow teams to grow through learning from mistakes.

‘Cares about a speck of dust on a gnat’s arse if it interferes with the prime objective.’

Position

Behind the lines directing his teams and troops.

In front and leading.

…well there goes any thoughts you had of taking the occasional weekend off! But seriously, that covers the decision making we have to do and the focus required, but central to all of our businesses are our people and as this worsens, so they will suffer, worry and look for leadership. They will start to run on empty as the weight of their responsibilities become too large and your company will become their last refuge, perhaps their last hope as they look for some stability.

This is visualized best through the truly impactful 78 funnels of Pavlo Makov, Ukraine’s famous artist. These funnels are mounted in such a way that an initial stream of water into the top funnel divides into 2 funnels, then into 3, into 4 and again and again increasing as it moves towards the floor. As it makes its way down the triangular arrangement, its flow weakens until eventually there are just single small drops of water out of each funnel as it reaches the bottom. This is aptly called ‘The Fountain of Exhaustion’ and can be seen here.

Our employees will start (if they are not already) feeling this exhaustion from the worries that start to mount up about home, family, community and of course as businesses struggle, whether your business will even survive. This is where your leadership comes into its own. While you are making the tough decisions as a ‘War Leader’, recognize that many employees will have no idea what you are doing or why you have made such decisions. Although each and every decision cannot be explained, discussing the overall strategy and direction of the business as you navigate the rocks that are now coming to the surface as the tide goes out will be essential.

Communication is key.

With no apologies for our late night reading material, we came across the definition of Stress from a paper by Achim Peters, Bruce S.McEwen and Karl Friston in Science Direct (here):

“…the essence of stress; [is] uncertainty…What is uncertainty? What does it do to us? What are our resources to master it? Mathematically speaking, uncertainty is entropy or ‘expected surprise’. The ‘free energy principle’ rests upon the fact that self-organizing biological agents resist a tendency to disorder and must therefore minimize the entropy of their sensory states. [Yup – we didn’t understand that either] Applied to our everyday life, this means that we feel uncertain, when we anticipate that outcomes will turn out to be something other than expected – and that we are unable to avoid surprise.”

So there you have it, uncertainty breeds stress and the more uncertain issues or ‘funnels’ each of us have, so the less energy or ‘water’ we have to fight this, hence the ‘exhaustion’.

Of course this also applies to us as well, our businesses will collapse if we as leaders overload, as Melanie wrote this week (here):

“I was reading through my morning news recently when an article on managing entrepreneur stress caught my attention. It quoted the famous saying, “You can’t pour from an empty cup,” meaning that when we get really stressed and are heading for burnout, we are not helping ourselves, our businesses, or our employees. As hard as it is right now, trying to keep our businesses going through these tough times, taking care of ourselves is also imperative. It is essential to dedicate time to ensuring we stay healthy, calm, energized and focused. We will need all of these attributes to get us through this situation. So, no matter how much work there is to do, how many challenges you are dealing with, you need to also recharge yourself at the end of each day. Remember that as an empty cup, you are no use to anyone. You have a responsibility to yourself, the business and your employees, to manage your stress levels and take care of yourself. The calmer you are, the better you will be able to make the necessary decisions to steer your business forward into the future.”

Amen to that.

Stay safe.

Wanting to grow produce is something that is either in your blood or it is not. It’s always been part of Raymond Koopstad’s make-up. Through perseverance he is now an export producer of deciduous fruit in the Witzenberg district, earning the respect of his peers. Gerrit Rautenbach paid him a visit.

Raymond Koopstad’s journey into agriculture took many turns, but strategic partnerships made it work splendidly. Eventually. Raymond and his wife Mary’s farming on La Vouere near Ceres in the Witzenberg Valley began in 2003 when they purchased the 110ha farm with government LRAD funding in the 30 member La Vouere Trust that consisted mostly of family members.

With funding from the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, the Trust planted their first peaches in 2004. Although the project was successfully mentored by Adrian Wolfaardt of Verdun Estates near Prince Alfred’s Hamlet, some difficult years made them realise that the business model was not sustainable.

“We either had to sell the farm or grow in a new direction,” explains Raymond. In 2015 Raymond and Mary bought out the other shareholders and parted on good terms. A new company, La Vouere (Pty) Ltd, with Raymond and his immediate family as shareholders was established.

At the same time Witzenberg PALS was launched, a private initiative by a group of commercial farmers in the Witzenberg district that wanted to reach out to black farmers to assist with the successful transformation of the fruit industry. The project’s objective was to form commercial partnerships with black farmers offering mentorship, training, linkages with the market and other support systems to successfully grow their businesses. It was at PALS that Raymond met his previous mentor’s son, Peter Wolfaardt.

“Because of my relationship with his father I approached Peter and Georgina Hewitt about our plans to restructure the farm. We eventually formed a partnership on both the production and marketing levels.”

The partnership is called La Vouere Stonefruit (Pty) Ltd with La Vouere (Pty) Ltd as the majority shareholder that provides the water and the land and the minority shareholder is Verdun Estates that provides mentorship, marketing, packing infrastructure, technical and administrative support. Peter and Georginia helped Raymond with water and soil analysis, budgets as well as orchard and variety planning.

“Our family has been farming in this region for decades and this is the first time we have established a business relationship with someone outside our family. We are excited about the future of this business partnership and see this as a potential template for future agricultural partnerships aimed at promoting land reform,” Peter said.

Raymond also received a grant from the Western Cape Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Project Allocation Committee (CPAC), managed by Hortgro.

“This well-timed and helpful capital injection meant excellent infrastructural upgrades. We were also granted Jobs Fund funding and were able to plant 15 hectares of mostly export variety nectarines in August 2017,” Raymond explained.

“The trees have grown very well and we had our first harvest in November 2018. Verdun Estates packed and marketed the fruit through their established marketing channels, such as Stems, a South African Stone Fruit supplier to premium local and international markets and programmes with local retailers.”

Their farm is 110ha in total and during 2017 they established 15ha with a further 4.5ha in 2018, topped by an additional 7.9 ha the following year, bringing the total to 38 ha. Most importantly, this expansion created jobs in the area.

They did not plant any new orchards in 2020-’21 as they were waiting on new varieties to be released and also to mature the 38ha of plantings. It was a rough four years in establishing the new development.

“Some local skeptics frowned when we started planting these orchards while it was so dry but as the trees have received the water and nutrition they needed to be established successfully,” Raymond said.

“The harder I try, the luckier I get,” goes the famous Gary Player quote. “So, it was in 2022 that an extra piece of land with very good water became available,” Raymond explained.

“But the only way to afford it was to finance it. My partners, the Wolfaardts have been dealing with FNB for a long time. Their good name and connections were key to the outcome of this transaction. With the newly acquired water we were able to plant an additional 18 ha of stone fruit. Which in turn resulted in more jobs.”

Yet again proof that all good farming businesses have partnerships at their heart. At the Deciduous Fruit Industry Gala awards in 2019, Raymond Koopstad received the New Generation Award for his exceptional performance and intelligent decision-making as a new entrant to the deciduous fruit industry.

“Koopstad is living proof of what can be achieved when beneficiaries of land reform who are serious about agriculture are provided with solid partnerships and adequate support,” the judges stated.

For a few years Covid-19 derailed the Gala awards, but it was back in splendid form on 31 March this year. This time Raymond Koopstad won the Value Chain Breaker Award for his success in the export industry.

“Through hard work and dedication La Vouere is now a farm exporting deciduous fruit of note, especially after recently extending the operation with an additional 18 ha stone-fruit development. Which in turn resulted in more job opportunities,” noted the judges this time.

“I am privileged to work as a farmer in the fruit industry. The agricultural sector and the fruit industry are well positioned to drive inclusive economic growth, food security, job creation and better social cohesion,” was Raymond’s response. All proof that Raymond is not only here to stay, but he’s going the full distance.

Julie Khamati, Programme Assistant

While Sub-Saharan African governments acknowledge the value of education attainment for all as a driver of economic and national development, school related gender-based violence (SRGBV) continues to be a continental barrier to access and participation of learners in school (African Union 2020). Despite being recognized as places of personal development, learning and empowerment, schools often perpetuate some forms of violence and discrimination particularly with a bias against girls. According to UN Women (2016), 246 million children are subject to various forms of gender-based violence in and around the school every year. This is exacerbated in conflict and post conflict situations and for minorities and vulnerable learners. Some of the common forms of SRGBV include bullying, corporal punishment, and sexual harassment (UN Women, 2016). Worldwide, at least one in ten girls between the ages of 13 and 15 is likely to experience sexual violence and boys within the school are likely to experience severe corporal punishment (UNESCO, 2017). Millions of learners live in fear of physical abuse disguised as discipline. In addition, millions of learners face significant barriers reaching school everyday both in rural and urban areas and this affects their overall class attendance. For example, in some countries ‘boda-boda’ riders tend to prey on school going girls and engage in transactional sex for basic needs such as sanitary products and meals (Education News, 2022).

Efforts have been made globally to address SRGBV with schools acting as violence prevention centers (UN Women, 2016). The African Union, through its Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016- 2025 (CESA 2016 -2025) under pillar 3, champions for the need to eliminate any forms of violence within the school and training setups. Further, the Gender Equality Strategy for the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (GES4CESA) developed by FAWE on behalf of African Union exemplifies the commitments to curbing SRGBV in learning institutions.

Understanding contextual differences in African countries is key to preventing and addressing SRGBV in education institutions. Recently, FAWE developed a mirrored approach manual in response to a global call to prevent, respond and adopt mechanisms to stop SRGBV. The manual draws strongly from best practices documented under FAWE models including the Gender Responsive Pedagogy and Tuseme “Let’s Speak Out1.” Given FAWE’s understanding of the African context, the manual recommends solutions and preventive measures relevant to the context. The FAWE mirrored approach SRGBV manual is two-fold and as such, targets both school administrators and learners, and aims to strengthen their capacity to identify, prevent and respond to SRGBV. Lastly, it also offers monitoring and evaluation tools that are instrumental in tracking the effectiveness of measures put in place in schools to prevent SRGBV.

Addressing SRGBV calls for concerted efforts from different partners and FAWE continues to spearhead interventions that aim to eliminate all forms of violence in schools and promote access, enrolment, and performance of learners in school.