We reckon that 2018 will go down in South African history as the Year of the Summit… or should that be the Year or the Proposed Summit? It started with President Ramaphosa’s SONA speech in February, when he proposed an investment summit, with Deputy President David Mabuza talking recently of a gender summit, and several others have appeared in general discussion too.
We’ve not seen any dates for summits yet, much less the summits themselves, and we all just roll our eyes and carry on regardless… because that seems to be the South African way.
We talk lots, we even plan a bit – but we don’t take any action to fix the problem.
This was even highlighted by former President Thabo Mbeki at a Heavy Chef Educating Africa event where he spoke about how these “talk shops” impact our ability to take action and while our visions for initiatives within SA may be spot on, the follow through is often mired in talk with little action being evident. (The Former President talk starts at 01:38:46.)
We’re not here to criticise our government though – not today, anyway. But we are here to challenge you and your organisation on whether and how you put your words and intentions into action. Do you talk about what you intend to do … and then forget to do it because business gets busy?
In our years as a marketing and communications consultancy and in our experience as diversity and inclusion facilitators, we’ve seen so many organisations spend days and fortunes on crystallising their values statement, their mission, their vision …for those all to land up on beautiful posters in a boardroom somewhere, with no action taken.
There are a couple of issues that arise from that plan of (in)action.
Firstly, give these organisations some respect: we’d like to think that they embarked on the whole process of self-definition because they realised that there was a gap somewhere that needed to be addressed – a diversity gap, a communications gap, or even a gender gap. They probably gained some respect from their people for starting with the process.
But the second and more important issue emerged when they put those words up on a poster in the boardroom and did nothing to talk about them: a credibility gap (and that’s the kind of gap our government is displaying at the moment).
All the talking in the world means nothing if there’s no meaningful, responsive and responsible action, whether you’re a President or his deputy making promises that everybody knows you won’t keep, or whether you’re a business leader talking the talk, but doing nothing to have real and impactful conversations.
What can you do differently? Start by scrapping all the talk, and start to listen. Create safe spaces for uncomfortable conversations, because it’s only in those times and places where your people feel safe to bare their souls.
You’ll gain their trust by opening yourself and your business to this process, but then – here’s the crux of it – you’ve got to take what they say to heart, and act on it.
Act on it quickly, and meaningfully, or that damned credibility gap is going to return – and you’re unlikely to have a second chance at getting it back.
What are you doing to find out what’s really on the minds of your people? Have you ever created formal time to start real conversations, and then had the courage to act on their outcomes?
If you’d like to hear more about Hers&His and our Cultivating Connection: Co-Gender @Work program, and what else we can do for you, drop us an email.
More on this topic, and others of interest in our next missive.
‘Til next time. Ciao from Ingrid Lotze (Her) and Gavin Moffat (Him).
Watch what Michelle Neilson of Imperial Logistics has to say about our Presentation Skills Training.
Quoted: “All human beings deserve equal treatment, no matter their gender identity or sexuality.” Andreja Pejic
Watch what a couple of wonderful peeps from KWV have to say about our Presentation Skills Training.
