Connecting well with people; How we change; Africa’s gap with Western education

And so its December already. I hope you can slow down a bit and experience and enjoy the gift of life - as we usually only really do when we allow ourselves the time to stop and appreciate the beauty of nature or the people who give meaning to our lifes. Wherever I went in the past month I sensed feverish activity. What would a balanced lifestyle mean in our time? I guess it’s a privilidge to even think about the question since for most people on earth life is nothing more than day to day survival. One example is the Aids sufferer who, this World Aids Day - morning on 94.7, said that he wakes up every morning wondering if its going to be his last day.

Leadership

Our ability to lead well is directly related to our ability to connect well with people. The challenge is not to connect well with our friends – that comes more naturally. It is to connect with those we won’t choose to spend time with. And you definitely have them in your organisation – even your inner circle. The following pointers (adapted from John Maxwell) would help you to be a successful connector:

Realize that people are your greatest asset – of course we know it but do we live by it?
Make those who work with you more successful – easier said than done but it starts with the will to do it
See through other people’s eyes – this is a tough discipline to master but probably the most rewarding to connect with people
Consider people more than procedures – again a tough ask when things need to be done
Do “win-win” or don’t do it – sure, it requires time and energy to get there but the relationship is strengthened
Include others in your journey – it could imply being vulnerable!
Deal wisely with difficult people – that is: not emotionally

Development

When do people change? Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Life experiences tend to make us cynical about change in people – although at the same time we would not appreciate being told that we can’t change! According to Kurt Lewin change in people has the following phases:

• Disconfirmation - all forms of learning and change start with some form of dissatisfaction or frustration generated by data that disconfirm our expectations or hopes
• Learning anxiety - the feeling that if we allow ourselves to enter a learning or change process, if we admit to ourselves and others that something is wrong or imperfect, we will lose our effectiveness, our self-esteem and maybe even our identity
• Creation of Psychological Safety or Overcoming of Learning Anxiety - unless sufficient psychological safety is created, the disconfirming information will be denied or in other ways defended against, no survival anxiety will be felt, and, consequently, no change will take place
• Cognitive Redefinition - we learn that words can mean something different from what we had assumed; we learn that a given concept can be much more broadly interpreted than what we had assumed; and we learn that the anchors we used for judgment and comparison are not absolute, and if we use a different anchor our scale of judgment shifts
• Imitation and Identification with a Role Model - The mentor or big brother is often both a source of psychological safety and the role model to facilitate cognitive redefinition
• Scanning: Insight or Trial and Error Learning - the new mental categories are tested with new behavior which leads to a period of trial and error and either reinforces the new categories or starts a new cycle of disconfirmation and search.
• Personal and Relational Refreezing - new behavior must be to some degree congruent with the rest of the behavior and personality of the learner

Lots to think about both in respect of your own change and of those around you!? Bottom line, I think, is that while people – even ‘old dogs’ – do change, deep change is - to say the least - not comfortable and it takes time.

African Renaissance

The historical gap between Africa and the rest of the world with regards to Western education is quite astounding if you look at the following statistics (according to Lovemore Mbigi):

• When Zambia gained its independence in 1964 there were just 50 graduates and the country's president had only two years of secondary education.
• When the Congo gained its independence from Belgium in 1960 there was a total of nine graduates, and its first president, the gifted Patrice Lumumba, had only been to primary school
• When Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1974 there were eleven university graduates and the outstanding statesman, President Samora Machel, had had just four years of schooling. This was after almost 500 years of Portuguese colonial rule, which left only 2 percent of the population literate!
• When Zimbabwe gained its independence from British colonial rule in 1980 there were two black engineers and two black accountants
• South Africa gained its black democratic dispensation and liberation in 1994 with less than 50 black accountants and 100 engineers - this after nearly 400 years of white colonial rule.

The challenge to catch up with the rest of the world’s educational norms and standards was, and still is enormous. Africa’s literacy rate in 2000 was 60,6% compared to the 98,9% in Europe, 93,3 % in the America’s and 78,9% in Asia. In addition large numbers of the educated leave the continent for greener pastures. In some African countries, as many as 30% of their graduates have moved abroad. Some 30 000 Africans holding Ph.D’s are living outside the continent. Africa loses an average of 70 000 skilled personnel a year to developed countries.

Another enormous turn around challenge in pursuit of the African Renaissance dream.

I wish you a blessed, happy and peaceful festive time and look forward to connect again in 2006!

Kind regards