Board Impulse Thoughts (BIT) – A little BIT for everybody

53rd Board Impulse Thoughts with Moloko E. Komane? and her views and assessments of the upcoming and last 12 months.

1. Which were your biggest learnings over the past 12 months?

In the past 12 months, as we continue to take lessons from the impact of the pandemic and its aftermath; from remote working to returning to office, followed by great resignations as we are slowly adjusting to the post-pandemic new normality. The biggest lesson for me is how the new ways of working has now removed the borders between countries and the oceans between continents as the remote working culture that was brought about by the pandemic has proven ?that people can work from anywhere and any countries, it catapulted us into the future work environments that we were slowly heading towards

Working in a different country was not that simple in the past; one had to obtain a working VISA and incur high travel, relocation, and accommodation costs but now; people can easily work for organization in other countries without the need to relocate. This migration results in the employment market being highly competitive as organizations are no longer competing for talent from only within their borders.

?2. What are the benefits of a diverse board composition?

The main advantage of having a diverse board is that it represents the population that the organization serves and that it enables for the success of the transformation strategy to achieve a diverse workforce, where every group of the population (the customer base) is represented in decision making forums across different levels.

?There are many benefits derived from a diverse organization including but not limited to a higher competitive advantage, improved performance, innovation, increased attendance rate and low staff turnover rate. Diversity increases the accessible range of perspective, style, knowledge, and insight that can be brought to bear on complex organizational problems and needs therefore, it is beneficial for organizations to have a leadership team and a board that is representative of the diverse market it serves.

For any Transformation strategy to success and the organization to enjoy the above-mentioned benefits, transformation has to start from the Top, at board level where policies and strategies are decided. The organizations that see the true value of diversity formulate strategies in regard, put in place measurables targets and track progress because they know how those measures will translate into the business successes. And it all starts with a diverse Board composition

3. What are your observations on executives over the last 12 months, did they change their habits and attitudes?

My observation is that the Executives are changing their habits and attitudes, especially in the past 2 years. The pandemic forced us to do things differently and some changes were radical. For example, organizations that used to measure performance based on the number of hours they see their people on their desk had to change when people worked from home, there was an accelerated shift to start measuring contribution based on output.?

Change is the only constant in life and if you are not changing, you are not growing and if you are not growing then you are dying.

4. What do you expect from 2023??

I expect to see continued change in the way we do things, especially as more millennials enter the workforce. It takes a different approach to lead millennials who are more concerned about the values of an organization and its impact on the environment and society.?We will possibly see the great resignations continuing into the new year due to the flexibility to work from anywhere and the Employer Value Proposition becoming even more important as we continue to compete for talent in a highly competitive labour market.

Moloko Komane is passionate about everything African.? She is a HOD for CII Business Advisory at Multichoice Africa Group, with a track record of building functions that are suitable for Insights-led organizations. She is also in the roles of Founder & CEO for Tibane Estates, a property investment start-up that aims to solve for the shortage of student accommodation in South Africa, and an Executive Director for Strategic African Women In Leadership organization for women from the African continent who believe in the idea of “Lifting as you rise”.