In collaboration with Business Engage and the 30% Club, Gauteng Women in Insurance (GWII) hosted a LeaderWalk on 7 November, with main sponsors Innovation Group, MNK Re and iTOO, and co-sponsor Garrun Group.
In this leader walk-themed Intentional Leadership: Strategies for Career Growth and Impact, Nyimpini Mabunda, a sought-after thought leader, executive coach, keynote speaker and panellist gave guidance to future leaders on the strategies, tactics and plans to accelerate their career growth and leadership impact.
Mabunda currently holds several leadership roles, including as chairman of Schindler South Africa, independent non-executive directorships at JSE listed real estate business Octodec, financial services group Lombard Insurance and soft drinks manufacturer Bevco, jointly held by Ethos and Nedbank Private Equity.
Why does growing others matter?
The presentation showed that one of the proven effective ways to accelerate your career growth is by growing others. Mabunda unpacked aspects of this from his own experiences – shared examples and provoked the room to reflect on how they are leading others and opportunities to improve.
Why does growing others matter? “All organisations want the best talent, but talent is identified, recruited, retained, developed, and nurtured by people already in the organisation, mostly People Managers (“Bosses”). As such, those who invest in their team members and get the best out of them can attract the best talent even from within the company as people want to work for the best employers and managers,” he said.
“Armed with the best talent that is motivated, your high-performing and united team delivers great results that earn you recognition and promotion. Inspired and highly engaged team members are loyal, they become part of your lifetime ambassadors, enhancing your reputation long after they stop working for you,” continued Mabunda.
“When your team is doing great work, this frees you up to do bigger stuff while your ‘day job’ is managed by your delegates. Higher level work shows capacity and leadership maturity, earning you bigger roles. Because you have team members who are capable and doing well, the organisation is easily able to promote you (suppose you are delivering your KPI’s) as they know one of your team members is ready to take over. The lack of a suitable successor can make you stuck in your current role for longer, slowing your growth,” emphasised Mabunda.
But is this what happens in reality?
“Not quite, as a lot of managers frustrate stars in their teams as they feel threatened, more so if those stars are in diversity-designated groups and the manager is not. Many people managers do not make time to coach their teams, mentor them, or get to know them, they are too busy chasing P&L, making presentations for boards, exec and some simply do not have the skills as they grew based on functional excellence, not people leadership skills,” he added.
Many organisations, according to Mabunda, do not overtly reward the HOW of results but the WHAT, so people don’t care much about great people management as it’s now a bonus criteria.
“So, what? Let’s unpack the role of having an amazing boss in delivering performance and whether that can meaningfully add to one’s career growth,” he said.
Reflections for the panel
•Do you believe that working for a good boss matters for your career?
•How would you describe a good boss?
•Are you a good boss? How do you know?
•Do you think being a great boss matters and can help your career growth? Why?
•What are some of the things that helped you become a better, more effective people manager?
A discussion
We thank our table hosts (below) for accepting our challenge to facilitate discussions:
1.Cornel Storm, Executive: Technology, Innovation Group (Pty) Ltd
2.Fisokuhle Charlotte Nkosi, Product Head: Professional Indemnity Underwriter and Team Leader, iTOO
3.Kishan Vanmali, Underwriting Head: Professional Indemnity, SHA Risk Specialists
4.Lesley Kruger, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, MNK Re
5.Marcel de Klerk, Managing Director, Innovation Group (Pty) Ltd
6.Portia Mogale, Managing Executive: Human Capital, Sanlam Corporate
7.Rev. Paul D Ray, Director of Business Development, MNK Re
8.Tono Pinillos, Chief Financial Officer, Garrun Group
9.Tove Sithole, Head: Talent & Brand, iTOO Special Risks
10.Vanessa Kleber, Head Corporate Risks, Leppard Underwriting
In the feedback session, all the table hosts agreed with the comments that Mabunda shared.
Thank you
Thank you to all the delegates who attended this event, we hope that the session inspired you, as a leader, to focus on workplace diversity management and winning work behaviours. Thank you to our main sponsors Innovation Group, MNK Re and iTOO, and co-sponsor Garrun Group for making this event possible.
