Tuesday 10 November 2015

Professional Speaker, Siphiwe Moyo releases his new book, #StagnationMustFall


Why do some people seem to progress in their lives and careers and others don't? In #StagnationMustFall, career development specialist Siphiwe Moyo explores this question. He suggests 50 mindset shifts that are necessary and provides 50 practical lessons that you can apply immediately to progress in your life and career.

Some of the lessons in the book include:

  • Width without depth will limit your career progress
  •  Learn the language that has weight in your organisation
  • Work yourself out of a position
  • Use the exit and return senior strategy
  • Use the downgrade to upgrade strategy
  • Go horizontal to go vertical strategy


Release date: 19 November 2015

To pre-order, please email Ofentse on the following email address: ofentse@siphiwemoyo.co.za.



Friday 3 July 2015

A call to join the Public Sector

Many people have been complaining about the level of political grandstanding that is happening in our Parliament lately. There are concerns that while politicians are busy shouting at each other, we are not, as a country, dealing with the serious challenges that we have. We do have serious challenges in South Africa such as unemployment (particularly youth unemployment), poverty, inequality, the slowing economy and many more.

Look, this is my view: political grandstanding is part of the game. That is what politicians do and it is not about to change. What would make our country succeed though is having skilled people, who are camera shy working behind the scenes to make the country work. I believe, for example that ordinary Members of Parliament, the so-called backbenchers should not be aspiring political leaders. The ruling party and opposition parties should appoint technocrats and administrators who will work while their leaders are competing for media attention.

The same applies to Government. Ministers and Deputy Ministers are politicians. They will continue to do what politicians do. We can’t change that. What we need is the professionalization of the civil service. From the Director General, Deputy Director Generals, Chief Directors, and Directors and all the way to the lowest position, we need people who have skills.  We need people here who do not necessarily have political ambitions. We need professionals who can just get on with the job. Of course, professionals need an environment where they will be given enough autonomy to do their jobs. Politicians need to give professionals space to do that. They need an assurance that they will not be made scapegoats when politicians have messed up.

One of the biggest challenges we have in our country though is that the skilled professionals want nothing to do with the Public Sector. Many of my educated, middle class friends wouldn’t be caught dead working for the State. Here’s my question then: if all the skilled professionals are not interested to work for the State, who will? I will tell you who will. The people, who are unskilled, politically connected and low ranking politicians who could not make it to the list of Parliament or any similar lists will do it. The problem with those people is that, at the core, they are politicians who are probably bored with office work. They will collect their salaries at the end of the month but will not add much value.

We need skilled professionals to join the Public Sector desperately. Will you consider working in the Public Sector? Your country needs you.

Regards,

SM.

Monday 1 June 2015

Are you connecting with your team?

Ten Ways to Improve Your Connection Skills:


According to the Center for Creative Leadership, weak connection skills hold many managers back from becoming effective leaders. They base this on a recent book written by Michael Lee Stallard. I thought I would share with you these ten tips to facilitate connection adapted from Stallard’s new book:



1.    Recognize varying connection needs. Learn about the people you lead and be flexible in how you build connection with them.

2.    Be present in conversation. Give people and the topic your full attention.

3.    Develop the ability to empathize. When someone expresses an emotion, it’s OK for you to feel it too.

4.    Develop the habit of emphasizing positives. Look for ways to acknowledge excellence in the work — and in the way people go about their work.

5.    Control your tone of voice. People react to the delivery of your message before they hear its content.

6.    Negotiate with the mindset to solve a problem rather than to win. A competitive mindset can lead to disconnection and distrust.

7.    Provide autonomy in execution. Don’t micromanage, but monitor progress and be available.

8.    Learn and apply the five languages of appreciation. People respond to different types of recognition. Gary Chapman and Paul White’s book, The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, is a great guide.

9.    Apologize when you make a mistake. Own up, tell people you’re sorry.

10.         Develop social skills and relationship skills, and recognize the difference between them. Social skills are important for casual interactions, but relationship skills create deeper connections with fewer people.

SM

Friday 30 January 2015

I won’t give up on the vision of a non-racial and non-sexist South Africa!


The easiest thing to do when incidents such as what happened at a Curro school yesterday happen, is to throw our hands in the air and declare that “we knew that this Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s rainbow nation thing was a farce” or “the vision of a non-racial and non-sexist South Africa died with Mandela”. The easiest thing is for all of us “to go back to our people” and to our comfort zones. It is so tempting to give up on the vision of a non-racial SA, it really is but I refuse to give up. Not because I’m some motivational speaker who is forever optimistic. Not because I’m some naive apologist who thinks there are easy solutions to our past but because the alternative is frightening. I get discouraged often but I will fight on. Aluta Continua!!
Siphiwe Moyo