Management team visited SEIFSA members across South Africa to share the Federation’ s future vision and strategy and to focus on what could be expected in the 2014 wage negotiations. It was during the roadshows that Mr Nyatsumba noticed that Health and Safety( H & S) Manager operated at the same level as the Executives.
“ So, I promoted her to the position of a Safety, Health, Environment and Quality Executive( SHEQ), making her the other Black member of the SEIFSA Executive Committee( Exco). After I had promoted the H & S Manager to the position of SHEQ Executive, Operations Director Lucio Trentini made me aware of another young Black professional, Tafadzwa Chibanguza, who was a Junior Economist at the time, whom he felt had worked hard and deserved a promotion to the Manager-level position of Economist. After engaging with Tafadwa, I realized that Lucio was right in recommending him for a promotion and I duly promoted him.”
Change had to come
As a result, Mr Nyatsumba appointed Rajendra Rajcoomar Chief Financial Officer, who would play a strategic role in helping to turn the Federation’ s financial position around. He also felt that it was critical for SEIFSA to have a lawyer on board, and he created the SEIFSA Legal Division, headed by qualified Legal Services Executive Bridgette Mokoetle, who is an admitted attorney. The position of Communications Manager was also created to raise the SEIFSA profile.
Other priority areas for Mr Nyatsumba when he took over were to have a vision for SEIFSA.
Another important thing that Mr Nyatsumba realized within the first month of joining the Federation was that SEIFSA was managed more like a family business than a professional services company.
“ There was no sense of urgency; there was no commitment to generating revenue and, as a result, the organization was in a deficit, signaling a need for a strategy aimed at turning the financial situation around, among others,” he said.
This meant that the Federation’ s relaxed culture had to change. Mr Nyatsumba says that the change started with bringing on board the right individuals with appropriate qualifications, skills and experience to help turn the organization around.
“ We had to bring the right calibre of people on board. When I took over, there were only three people with degrees, yet people occupied high and strategic positions in the Federation. If the SEIFSA ship was really to be turned around, we had no choice but to bring qualified people on board,” he said.
“ Together with SEIFSA Executives and Managers, we agreed, through strategic planning sessions, where we wanted to take SEIFSA. What remained for us was to agree on our vision and mission, to change the Federation’ s slogan and come up with a three-year turn-around strategy. All of these were done and the bulk of the strategy was implemented successfully.
“ In addition, I established a formal SEIFSA Executive Committee( Exco), made up of the CEO, the Deputy CEO, the Operations Director and the Divisional Executives. Until then, operational decisions at SEIFSA were made by a three-member‘ Directorate’ made up of the CEO, the Deputy CEO and the Operations Director.
Up until my appointment, the SEIFSA Board( which was called the Executive Committee) was a critical decision-making platform, even for some operational issues. This means that I had to put governance structures in place that put boundaries on what the Board could do and what it could not do. I was fully in the role and I had to exercise authority that goes with the role. Therefore, there had to be a clear distinction between the roles of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee, as is required in terms of Corporate Governance. The Legal Executive also became instrumental in drafting key policies that had previously not been in place.”
Within the first month of his appointment, Mr Nyatsumba also abolished the clocking system after discovering, to his shock, that grown men and women had to clock in and out of the building.
“ I was shocked that the clocking system still existed in 2013. I didn’ t like it; I chose to trust
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