Author: arnesenandassociates

It is suggested that older people won’t cope with the 4^th industrial revolution. Well as a 60 something I say bring it on!

For example, I can’t wait to have a driverless car and to wear eye glasses that have a built-in screen and earphone. I look forward to not having to bother with renewing my driver’s licence and remembering everyone’s name!

My Dad was born in 1911 and lived through the first and second industrial revolutions [and 1^st and 2^nd world wars] and he certainly never got stuck in the past. I don’t plan to either. Contrary to what some millennials may think, as a proud baby-boomer, I am part of a generation that loves a challenge. So, bring on the AI-robots, bio-engineered devices and Apps for everything imaginable – I welcome them with open arms.

What makes me so confident is in the end, I have two things that are simply irreplaceable; my ‘common sense’ and my imagination.

These two factors are my armour and my weaponry that I will use to take on and conquer the 4^th industrial revolution. Not only do I plan to conquer 4IR [everything has an acronym now] I plan to leave a legacy so stand by here I come.

 

John Arnesen

john@arnesenandassociates.co.za

Linkedin

Recently, I was reminded about how in the 80s, the conversation in the boardroom was often about productivity. I do think over time it has lost its significance and has dropped off the priority list.

I looked for any current articles of significance on the topic, and came across the article in Harvard Business Review – Great Companies Obsess Over Productivity, Not Efficiency; Michael Mankins – March, 2017.

I believe the author has a very valid argument suggesting a significant paradigm shift.

Thinking particularly about South Africa; I would love to see public, private and non-profit organisations putting productivity back on the boardroom agenda. What excites me is the shift away from efficiency discussions about headcount, rather to how to make each employee more productive.

In closing, I am not suggesting efficiency isn’t important – it is – but so is productivity. Both should be on the agenda.

We can start conversations in all the ‘worlds of work’ [public, private and non-profit] that look to getting people to be the most valued and appreciated component of the organisation.

For a deeper conversation on productivity please email me: john@arnesenandassociates.co.za

The Minister of Higher Education and Training recently presented the 2017/18 department budget to parliament. He is responsible for all post-school education and training. This includes both public and private providers at ‘college’ and ‘university’ level.

This responsibility includes 26 public universities and over 100 [relatively small] private providers offering degrees. It also includes 50 public technical and vocational colleges, community colleges and speciality colleges. In addition, there are also over 100 private colleges.

The minister is also in charge of the 21 SETAs and while not validated, it is estimated that there are up to 4000 small providers serving SETA skills development needs.

Within this context, he has the unenviable job of presenting a ‘balanced’ budget.

Typically, there are 4 major players in a democratic society; Government, Business, Labour and Civil society. In summary and from my perspective; Government is calling for more funds to be directed to national skills needs, Business is demanding much more value from skills levies, Labour is not allowing any possibility of staff optimisation at public institutions and Civil society simply says ‘fees must fall’.

Based on my own interpretation on the 2017/18 DHET budget these are the ‘big’ line items:

• Universities – R41,9bn
• NSFAS – R10,1bn
• TVET colleges – R 7,4bn
• Community Colleges – R2,2bn
• SETA levies – R16,6bn

If we make the simple assumption that all the NSFAS funding also goes to universities that means approximately R52bn will be spent on university education in 2017/18. The number of students in the public university system is estimated at just under 1 million. If we assume 1 million students, then the government contribution per student is R52 000. As such, it is understandable that universities need to charge a fee as well.

My other observation and more worrying concern is the mismatch between expenditure at university level and college level. The budget for TVET and Community college plus 50% of SETA levies and assuming another R2bn to speciality colleges, is approximately R20bn.

If we have a skills challenge in SA; is it correct that R 52bn goes to universities and R 20bn to colleges?

I don’t envy the minister, his advisors and the department officials, however I do know that the status quo is not doing the job!

It’s time for significant change. I wonder if the major player will put their constituency needs aside and do what’s best for SA. I sincerely hope so….

Its Oscar time again. The nine movies up for an Oscar are all very different. However, they all relate to extraordinary bravery in one form or another.

Bravery in the face of enormous adversity.

These movies [each very different] are all certainly very entertaining. However, far more importantly, they are also inspirational, motivational and educational.

We all face challenges every day. These challenges can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Regardless – they are still obstacles to overcome. Overcoming them is the true test of character.

So what is character? In my view it’s the sum of a person’s habits, attitudes, values and beliefs. If these are all well-founded and strong there a very few challenges a person can’t face.

Leaders in particular are challenged every day. They are constantly faced with tough decisions. And more often than not don’t have too much time to make the call.

Extraordinary leaders always know what to do… They intuitively know what’s, right, fair and just.

When I think about all of this, two words come to mind:

Transformational and Mindful.

Extraordinary leaders are brave leaders. They continually drive transformational change while at the same time remaining mindfully grounded.

South Africa needs an abundance of extraordinary leaders to face its challenges.

Are you up to it?

For more information, email john@arnesenandassociates.co.za

 

 

Yourdictionary.com defines counterintuitive as something that goes against what you believe would be logical, or something that goes against common sense.

So why would you challenge something that is logical or common sense.

We probably have all read or heard about comfort zone and resistance to change. Part of the brain’s function is to keep us safe. To do this it builds up a set of values and beliefs that become your personal frame of reference [comfort zone]. The brain then continually reinforces those values and beliefs until the ability to step out of the comfort zone is ‘resisted’ by the brain. The brain automatically works against anything out of the box [counterintuitive].

That is not a problem in a stable environment.

However, in the world that we live in; rapid and accelerating change is the order of the day. What is ok today won’t be tomorrow.

While your brain works automatically to create order and structure to keep you safe, it is not helping you continuously adapt to new ideas often not logical or good common sense.

Next time something doesn’t seem to fit what you think is ‘right’ take a step back ask yourself am I being closed to new ideas… And if you keep checking yourself, you will train your brain to ‘keep an open mind’. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.

For more information, email me at john@arnesenandassociates.co.za

Do you know the difference between a professional body, a trade association and an education provider? They are three very different types of organisations.

Here’s a simple guide to help you make sure you are on top of this question.

 

1. A Professional Body

A Professional Body has the primary goal of ensuring a standard for the sector it represents. They can be statutory and non-statutory. That standard is a ‘guarantee’ of competence of the duly designated members of the professional body.

The standard typically embraces 4 Es: Education, Experience, Ethics and Exam.

For example, to be a designated a Certified Financial Planner [CFP] as conferred by the Financial Planning institute [FPI], the applicant requires to have:

• Completed a nationally recognised, cognate NQF 8 qualification and agrees to a commitment to CPD going forward [after being awarded the CFP designation] – E1
• Have 3 years relevant and properly logged experience – E2
• A track record of no unethical behaviour and a commitment to a clean record going forward – E3
• Have successfully completed the professional body designation related Exam/s [assessment/s] – E4

The professional body will set and monitor the criteria for the 4 Es. This is the essence of what the professional body does.

Note: A professional body [in terms of the legislation and regulations of the NQF Act] cannot be a registered and accredited provider of part or full qualifications.

 

2. A Trade Association

A Trade Association is in the simplest of terms, a body set up to serve and protect it’s members. Trade associations are not established in terms of any overarching education legislation.

For example the FIA is a trade association for independent financial advisors.

Most of the FIA’s day to day work goes into getting the best ‘deal’ for its members from the product providers such as Liberty, Old mutual and Sanlam as well as ensuring that any legislation initiated by the FSB is not detrimental to the members.

They also do training but a trade association is not registered or accredited and in most cases aims to help the members run their businesses more efficiently. Often an independent financial advisor is a CFP as well as a member of the FIA.

 

3. An Education Provider

Finally, a registered and accredited [R&A] education and training Provider [neither of the above] is an organisation set up in terms of relevant education legislation to offer a qualification [or part thereof] that is registered on the NQF.

Providers [in simple terms] can either be a [R&A] school, college or university – or in some cases school and college and other cases college and university.

There are government funded and run providers, Public providers and Private providers.

UMALUSI is the legislated Quality Council for all schools [NQF1-4: schooling certificates Grade 9,10,11 and 12]

The QCTO supported by SETAs and more and more SAQA recognised Professional Bodies is the Quality Council for all Colleges [Trade and Occupational qualifications: NQF1-8]

The Council on Higher Education [CHE] is the Quality Council for all universities and private higher education institutions. [Certificates, Diplomas Degrees and post-grad qualifications: NQF 5-10]

 

If you need further clarity on any aspect of the above, please contact me on john@arnesenandassociates.co.za

 

I constantly hear that there is a leadership crisis in South Africa. If this is true, the big question is; can this crisis be addressed?

If yes, I guess the next questions are; who are the poor leaders, what are they doing wrong, and how can they be corrected? What then comes to mind is:

Who are the good leaders, and what makes them good leaders?

As I tried to dig into the essence of this problem, I discovered that everyone I spoke to was able to point out poor leaders and good leaders. When I explored further, it became clear that the general view was a good leader did something over and above good management.

In other words, a person could be a good manager but still be a poor leader. This is probably not a surprise.

What also was supported is that management is about operations, i.e. planning, organising, directing and controlling, and that one can learn management skills. For that matter, people can go to college or university and gain a qualification albeit a certificate, diploma, degree or post graduate qualification in Management. And, if they apply the management theory, principles and practices taught – they certainly will be better managers…

But when I asked the question about leadership in comparison to management, the answer was [in the vast majority of cases] that leadership was about a person’s habits, attitudes, values and beliefs, as opposed to ‘teachable’ management theory, principles and practice.

So if this is true, then what are the good leader’s habits, attitudes, values and beliefs [HAVB]? How do we establish the HAVB gaps in poor leaders and then more difficultly; how do we change and improve these poor leader’s habits, attitudes, values and beliefs?

Cleary this is not an easy task. However, it is not impossible. Building a new set of leadership HAVB is a process. And if a process is a “sequence of interdependent and linked procedures which, at every stage, convert inputs into outputs. which then serve as inputs for the next stage until a known goal or end result is reached”, then this will take time and effort and not happen over night.

For more information and ideas on how to build good leaders contact: john@arnesenandassociates.co.za

The well-known PESTEL methodology of doing an environmental scan is a simple and yet potentially powerful tool in organisation strategy development.

However, its weakness lies in the depth of thinking that underlies it. What I believe adds significantly to the value of the PESTEL process is to try and think through the focus area from the perspective of great South Africans.

Taking each focus area in turn and keeping your own situation in mind, this is the suggested approach…

The P in PESTEL stands for politics. In my view, South Africa’s greatest politician was Nelson Mandela.  So when considering the political challenges and opportunities facing your organisation ask the question; “If Nelson Mandela was here what would he say?” I am sure the answers would be more thoughtful, mindful and useful.

The other letters in PESTEL stand for E – economy, S – society, T – technology, E – environment and L – legal.

In each case pick a great South African that you truly admire and ask the question:

“What would he/she say?”

My other SA greats are: Ec – Trevor Manuel; S – Desmond Tutu, T – Elon Musk, Ev – Heila Lotz-Sisitka and L – George Bizos.

While it’s impossible to ever have all these great people in the room, it is possible to try and think about the challenges and opportunities of your organisation through the eyes and minds of these great South Africans. I also propose you choose your own SA greats that work for your organisation to really get the most value out of this process.

For more insight into practical and effective strategic thinking and implementation contact john@arnesenandassociate.co.za

The world Happiness Report for 2013-2015 lists the following countries in the top 10- Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Switzerland. South Africa is ranked 116[1].

So what?

The importance of happiness was highlighted in a recent Harvard Business School (HBS) webinar led by Neil Pasricha Director of the Institute for Global Happiness. Neil proposed that a happy team is 31% more productive. Their sales increases by 37%, their creativity is 3x higher and happy people live 10 years longer[2]!

If this is true, then surely leader managers should see happiness as critical to business performance.

Neil went on to suggest 5 ways to achieve happiness (you only need to practice1):

• Brisk walks in nature – 20 minutes per day
• Keep a journal – 20 min per day
• Random act of kindness – 5 per week
• Meditate – 10 minutes per day
• Recall gratitudes – 5 per day

I actually do think it’s that simple….

Why do you and your teams give it a try?

[1] http://worldhappiness.report/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/03/HR-V1Ch2_web.pdf

[2] http://globalhappiness.org/

I have had the privilege of hearing Clem Sunter speak in the 1980s about scenario planning and on a number of occasions since then. Scenarios are potential future (5-10 years) outcomes and in most cases they suggest a range of possible outcomes. Scenarios, once agreed, also signal strategic options that could be considered to, as far as possible, achieve the preferred scenario.

Yesterday (about 30 years later) at the SAIFM 2016 summit he again inspired me regarding the value of scenario planning as a way coming to grips with future possibilities.

While the future is always uncertain, there is in almost all cases a high road and a low road scenario.

And while I don’t subscribe to blind positivity, I do think that by embracing optimism and hope as core values and focusing energy and strategic thinking on the ‘high road’ can be very energising and contagious.

Clem advised that to develop sound scenarios you need to identify the big things (he calls them flags) that could or will change the future. Some of the big things he spoke about were, climate change [its getting hotter], ageing populations [we are getting older].

Not sure where to start? Try using the PESTEL framework to kick-start your scenario planning conversation.

If this has peaked your interest and you want to read more, please go to http://www.mindofafox.com/site/home.

If you want to have a conversation about scenarios, please email me at john@arnesenandassociates.co.za