Conversations HC 2020 and beyond 12 th October

Conversations: HC 2020 and beyond 12 th October 2018 Sandton

Who is Ntombi Langa-Royds • 56 year old Black African woman • Mother to a 29 yr old and a 17 yr old • Wife, Mother and Mother in Law, Daughter, Friend, Sister etc. • Holds 2 legal degrees • Holds NED directorships in various companies • Attempted Entrepreneur • “Student and observer of Life”

Why are conversations important? • Understanding • Alignment • Growth • innovation • Misunderstanding • Misalignment • Stagnation and integration • Downward spirals

Changing world: Keeping up with it? What is the true impact of this revolution and do we need to worry about it? • Financial services • Insurance industry • Education sector and curriculum • 4 th industrial revolution • Climate change and its effect on day to day lives • Scarcity of water • • Bitcoin Bankable market Insurable items Importance of analytical skills. . Careers of the future

…Stir in Complexity Growing workloads Analyst and investor expectations No cushion of surplus talent 24/7/365 demands New technology, new tools Information and cognitive overload Breathless pace of business Ongoing restructuring Uncertainty, time, ambiguity Blurring boundaries What’s next? ! Regulatory pressures Everything flows, nothing stands still. The only constant is change. - Heraclitus

We Need New Strategies to Engage Talent Old: Acquire and Retain New: Develop, Deploy, Connect “Buy” talent and keep in seats “Engage” by focusing on what matters Develop Building capabilities to achieve personal and business goals Deploy Develop Creating experiences to perform to full extent of Deploy abilities Engage Retain Acquire Connect Cultivating networks of high-quality relationships Organizations that focus on these 3 things “acquire and retain” talent

Encourage productive conversations • • • More than active listening Generate awareness about how language – Influences learning – Creates or shuts down energy Ongoing performance conversations – Leaders as coaches – Ongoing, not episodic – Avoid “Judgment Day” – Integrate mentors—not just boss Emanate Fridays and the energy that stirs Tap into social media networks and learn what drives them The performance of our organizations depends on the quality of our conversations. - Hubert Saint-Onge

Stimulate networks of high-quality relationships • • Social Network Analysis – An x-ray of the way that work gets done • Who goes to whom: For knowledge? For advice? • Who trusts whom? • Who holds things up? – Awareness is first step – Orchestrating change based on insights is harder Personal network tools – Networks of high performers richer and more diverse across – Functions – Hierarchy – Race and gender – Places network analysis in hands of individual to • Understand own networks • Compare networks to those of high performers • Create strategies for strengthening networks

Design physical space to foster connections • 70% of learning occurs through informal interactions • How to organize people to stimulate learning and performance? – Physical layout has big impact – Often takes a back seat to systems and technology • Group people around strategies and projects, not departments • Provide a mix of space – Formal areas for teaming and collaboration – Quiet space to think and reflect – Informal areas to relax and converse q NB this may mean the end of the traditional office space

Communication “Communication is the glue that binds various elements, coordinates activities, allows people to work together and produce results” Human resource management in South Africa, 2006 “Two Monologues do not make a dialogue” Jeff Daly actor and writer

Why communicate at all? Even more important today because: • • Companies are larger and global Mergers occur very often Global diversity and presence occurs more frequently Management styles have moved from strictly authoritarian to more collaborative styles Labour market more integrative and is not territorial specific Market and product mixes more varied. Improves Human connectivity! Fourth industrial revolution and technology

Things to remember about Conversations • Remember that the conversation is the relationship. • We effect change by engaging in robust conversations with ourselves and others • Each conversation we have…… either enhances those relationships, flat-lines them or takes them down. Fierce Conversations by S. Scott 2002

Fierce Conversations “ When you think of a fierce conversation, think passion, integrity, authenticity, collaboration. “ “Think cultural transformation!” “Think leadership!” Fierce conversations: Susan Scott, 2002

Fierce Conversations (an option) 7 Principles exist according to Susan Scott: 1. Master the courage to interrogate reality: No plan survives its collision with reality and reality has a habit of shiftingmarket and economies change at work and at home 2. Come out from behind yourself into the conversation and make it real: When the conversation is real the change occurs before the conversation is over. 3. Be here, prepared to be nowhere else: speak and listen as if this is the most important conversation you will ever have with this person. It could be!

Fierce conversations 4. Tackle your toughest challenge today: Burnout doesn’t occur because we are solving problems it occurs because we are solving the same problem over and over. The problem named is the problem solved. 5. Obey your instincts: Don’t just trust your instincts – obey them! Tune in! Pay attention! What we label as illusion is the scent of something real coming close. 6. Take responsibility for your emotional wake: The conversation is not about the relationship; the conversation is the relationship

Fierce Conversations 7. Let silence do the heavy lifting: Memorable conversations include breathing space. Slow down the conversation so the insight can occur in the space in between.

Tips about Conversations • Life is curly. Don’t try to straighten it out! Change is the most significant constant in our lives today! • The traditional practice of annual strategic plan sessions( booze ups!) is a thing of the past, rather teams must get together quarterly to answer the question “what has changed since we last met? ” • “The corporate nod” is a significant realitywatch out for it!

Tips about Conversations(2) • Remove the word ‘but’ from your vocabulary and substitute it with the word ‘and’. • Conversations are best launched when there is a well defined idea offered as a spring board for everyone's thinking and discussion. • When someone takes up your invitation to challenge your strongly held opinion, resist the temptation to defend your idea immediately. Adapted from Fierce Conversations, Susan Scott, 2002

Tips about conversations 3 • Relationships are important in conversations • Relationships are hard work but they are easier when we can talk to each other • Complexity is enhanced by generational, gender, race, sexual orientation and all the other “ isms” in our lives • Remember that this is synergistic and makes it more interesting…. All the same is boring! • Difference is great because it opens the door to learning and a different conversation/ experience/opportunity

Tips about conversations 4 • We all wear multiple hats • We need to remember that we are all on the same journey… of survival • Gratitude is an important part of the process. • Listening is a skill… if you don’t use it you loose it!

So the question is what are the conversations we should be having? • Conversations about the future and what it holds • Conversations about where we can be stretched the most and therefore grow the most in the given time • Conversations about what I didn’t get right in the last cycle and what I have learnt as a result • Gratitude conversations daily….

What are the skills we “may” require? • • • Listening vs hearing Engaging vs Telling/imposing Empathy vs sympathy Openness vs rigidity Agility vs complacency Hunger for learning Humility vs arrogance Assertiveness vs conformity Fluidity vs Clear largely defined, structured purpose

Intonations in Language • And vs But • May vs Must • Never vs Possibly • I vs Us/them NB Inclusivity, transparity and openness are the key!

Quotes from Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela “ What counts in life is not the mere fact that we lived. It is the difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lived”

In the end: “Life is short so enjoy the ride and don’t fill it with regrets. ”