Three of South Africa’s brilliant business, private sector, and entrepreneurial minds gathered at the GROW Annual Leadership Summit 2022 to share their expertise and experiences with the attendees made up of GROW’s clients, who are the Founders and CEOs of mid-sized established businesses.
Each presentation echoed the same theme: how to coach your team to succeed in business, develop your leadership skills and be motivated and inspired.
The capability of the leaders and the leadership team determine the extent of growth possibly within the business. Business leaders are tasked with the responsibility of establishing goals, motivating other members of the team and exemplifying the company’s ethos and culture in whatever they do. However, regardless of how well a leader performs in their role, there is always room for the leader to grow in their leadership capability and capacity.
About the GROW Annual Leadership Summit 2022
The GROW Annual Leadership Summit 2022 is a high-impact hybrid leadership Summit built on the importance of growing your leadership skills. The Summit provides a platform for pioneers and visionaries in their respective fields to lend their insights and experiences to topics such as purpose-driven leadership, innovation, turnaround strategies and scaling entrepreneurial excellence.
This year’s event, which was hosted at the Bryanston Country Club, Johannesburg, brought together dynamic key speakers from a variety of fields for a full day of inspirational content, networking, and practical solutions to assist business leaders in capitalising on opportunities and rising above challenges.
In line with the 2022 Summit theme of leadership, businesswoman Zipho Sikhakhane, an investor in Scaling Businesses, member of the GROW coaching team, Matthias Roberg, and South Africa’s top extreme adventurer Peter van Kets, spoke on key topics including how to coach your team to win in business, how to grow your leadership skills, and how to stay motivated and inspired despite daunting challenges.
Sharing Their Expertise
The first speaker of the day, Zipho Sikhakhane, a weekly business columnist for the Sunday Times and the first black South African to earn an MBA from the prestigious Stanford University in the United States, shared her insights on the critical role of business leaders and stressed the importance of authentic leadership.
According to Sikhakhane, all forward-thinking business leaders are challenged daily to consider how they can become better leaders. One of the most difficult challenges that business leaders face today is breaking down barriers and evolving while remaining true to their own authentic leadership identity. “Artistic balancing is required when deciding where to grow and which new opportunities to pursue”, says Sikhakhane.
“Getting it right has never been more difficult, or more vital. This is especially true in today’s business climate, where intense pressure necessitates innovation that goes beyond incremental improvements. To be a successful leader, you must be courageous and decisive, capitalise on your strengths and recognise that businesses thrive when leaders are interconnected with their coworkers.”.
Matthias Roberg, who has been a member of the GROW coaching team for the past six years, was the second speaker of the day. Matthias has been extraordinarily successful in assisting individual business leaders and teams to develop their own and collective leadership effectiveness. Over the past two years, Roberg has developed GROW’s Scaling Management Teams program, which enhances the ability of individual managers and management teams to scale their businesses effectively.
Roberg spoke about the art of learning how to coach your team members to unleash their potential, emphasising that coaching managers are always the silver bullet for creating and sustaining a culture of high performance and development.
“Coaching is no longer a specialised field; to be an effective manager, one must also be an effective coach. In a fast-paced, highly competitive, technology-driven business environment, the path to success is to cultivate high-performing teams and provide them with the resources and latitude necessary to achieve greatness. High-performing teams require a leader who is both a knowledgeable manager and a compassionate coach,” says Roberg.
Peter Van Kets, who has rowed across the Atlantic, raced unassisted to the South Pole, and circumnavigated the Southern Hemisphere along the Tropic of Capricorn without the use of motors, concluded the speaker lineup by relating the many lessons he’s learned as an adventurer, to a business leader’s ability to persevere in a turbulent and harsh economy.
Speaking about survival, courage, perseverance, passion, loneliness, tenacity, grit, teamwork, and the will to win, Van Kets explored the many challenges leaders face, as well as the importance of work-life balance, which he believes is essential for happiness in the workplace and throughout life.
“My journeys have taught me that every person, inside and out, is marvellously crafted. Better than we could imagine, but only if we force ourselves to step outside of our usual routines and comfort zones. When we overcome our limitations, both mental and physical, we can achieve results beyond our wildest dreams. When we rise above adversity, we get a glimpse of our true greatness as humans. And as leaders, it’s our responsibility to instill in our teams the confidence to know that they can accomplish anything so long as they have the right processes in place,” he said.
“Something must motivate one to keep going, and that something is, in a word, passion. Our ability is powered by our passion. Find out what drives you, because following your passion will give your life meaning, and surround yourself with others who share similar passions.”
The Role GROW Plays in Leadership
The Summit also served as a reminder to business leaders of the importance of solid leadership coaching.
One of the many benefits of partnering with a business coach is improved leadership. Focusing on and improving leadership allows businesses to transform their way of working and success, while still reaching the overall desired goals and objectives initially set out.
Over the years, GROW has identified that the success of a business is directly dependent on the effectiveness and ability of its leader. Therefore, GROW’s tried, tested, and successful, GROWth Formula includes a leadership component.
‘You the Leader’ focuses on guiding leaders to take active steps toward growing their abilities and incorporates the following aspects:
- Personal mastery
- Courage and confidence
- Inspire followers
- Trust and let go
- Precise thinking
- Creative leadership
The success of your business, or the area in the business that you lead, will be dependent on your level of effectiveness, which is determined by your leadership ability.
Whilst skills and dedication are required to be effective in your role, these don’t allow you to multiply your efforts by leading a team or group of people.
