The power of diversity

The power of diversity

Reading time: 1:45secs

Humanity is furious – mostly with itself. We’re intolerant of our power of diversity. We tell ourselves stories about one another based on our individual and collective suite of evidence-free biases. This is creating an angry, polarised world.

Organizations have an opportunity to harness the immense power inherent in our collective humanity.

The benefits of a high-trust, diverse team are vast. Employing people from disparate backgrounds introduces an assortment of perspectives that promote creativity and productivity.

But a diverse team isn’t necessarily a high-performing one. In fact, Harvard has shown that if diverse teams aren’t actively managed for inclusion, they can underperform homogenous ones.

For diverse teams to be effective, there needs an entrenched culture of trust. Trust bolsters teams through challenging times. The celebration of difference engenders a belief that there’s care for everyone’s personal success.

The power of diversity

By contrast, a low-trust team constantly seeks evidence to prove why they can’t trust. Often individuals of the minority group are targeted. This is a totally pointless strategy, that, left unchecked, will ultimately drive the team into mediocrity.

People need to be comfortable with bringing their unique perspectives to the table. For that to happen, the environment needs to feel inclusive.

No amount of BBEEE legislation can make an individual believe they’re a valued member of a team. Neither do fancy, off-site team-building events with smooth-talking facilitators, or the obligatory Heritage Day wearing of traditional garb to the office.

Belongingness stems from seemingly insignificant daily actions that demonstrate tolerance and kindness – when no one is looking.

Very few organizations manage to shape a culture of genuine inclusivity where a person can unashamedly flourish as themselves.

The power of diversity

Diverse teams bring an assortment of perspectives to the table.

Most companies naively follow mainstream labour laws, empowerment codes, HR practices, generic CSR programmes, and hopeful community outreach programmes – as a sole means of demonstrating care for their people.

Transformation of a heart and a mind takes place at an individual level. It requires genuine intent.

If you’d like to release the potential of diversity in your company, school, or organisation, we can help you do that in an authentic, amusing, and poignant way.

We’ll demonstrate the power of diversity where our human prejudice comes from and how, as individuals, we can find the best in our fellow human beings.

Our programme addresses diversity from four standpoints:

  • the lived experience of a black medical professional,
  • a real-life example of how diversity can work,
  • human biology – why and how we are like we are,
  • how everything begins with trust (a Harvard Business School model)

Contact us for a conversation about your specific needs.

Wildebeest

Last month Renias and I helped a game reserve start a leopard habituation project in the Waterberg. A Tracker Academy project to track, find and form relationships with leopards. For the benefit of ecotourism lodges in the area.

During the day we tracked leopards. In the evenings, we made a fire, braaied our food and chatted freely.

Our conversations spanned several topics, and in his usual manner, Renias introduced humour at every possible juncture. He loves making people laugh! And I thoroughly enjoy the banter.

We spoke in both Shangaan and English.

It struck me that the spirit of our conversations is unique. In stark contrast to the hostile tone of the current national conversation. Especially between people of disparate cultures.

Just before bed, Renias reminded me of lions we’d watched hunting a wildebeest at Londolozi.

We had been talking politics and I sensed he had something important to say.

Whilst sprinting for its life the wildebeest glanced back at the fast-approaching lion – at exactly the wrong moment. Causing the animal to crash into a small tree.

The obstacle gifted the lion the extra split second it needed. Ultimately killing the poor wildebeest.

Although macabre, Renias’s theatrics in acting out the scene was very entertaining. Please watch the video if you haven’t seen it yet.

Metaphorically speaking, Ren wants South Africans to know that we should not look backwards. Otherwise, we will be killed.

It is true that if the wildebeest had not looked back, he may still be alive. But equally, his rear-guard vigilance alerted him to the danger in the first place.

Perhaps he looked backwards once too many times?

But something bothered me about the story’s message. I reflected further and realised that for many people the past still haunts them.

It’s not so easy to just drop emotionally charged memories. Above all, trauma.

Renias’s message is that we should rather focus on the now. Build relationships now. Contribute to the country now. Instead of dwelling on the past or fearing the future.

Easier said than done.

I have noticed a trend where white people avoid talking about the past. And black people (and those affected by apartheid) demonstrate the need to address our common history.

One group feels guilty and/or fears retribution. Whilst the other desires acknowledgement and reparation. Both are expected human responses given the circumstances.

The problem is that no ‘side’ will give an inch. Consequently, attitudes have begun to harden – driving us even further apart.

It may be wise to suggest that we collectively engage with both the past and future. The old adage of ‘the tyranny of OR versus the genius of AND’ comes to mind.

The question is, how?

Buy our latest book called Changing a Leopard’s Spots

Renias and I advocate for ordinary people to intentionally form meaningful cross-cultural relationships.

To create interpersonal bonds where logic, empathy and being authentically you, can flourish. As it turns out, these are also the main drivers of high-trust relationships.

As a country, we must focus on the only moment that really matters – now.

Perhaps then we have a chance of survival. A chance to escape the charging lion of the eventual demise of our beautiful country.

What can you do today to improve the state of our relationships?

Read our latest book called Changing a Leopard’s Spots

Build a Nation

Build a Nation: Choose one person

Reading time: 3.25 minutes

“If you are not good, we are not good” – Renias Mhlongo.

Most South Africans have little or no financial resilience. No savings that they can access.

To build a prosperous nation, individuals (citizens) need to improve their capacity to consider other people’s perspectives and circumstances. More actively.

Almost half the country’s households depend on some form of social grant. And we cannot rely on government to fill this gap. Even the wealthiest countries are under tremendous pressure.

Covid-19 has also had a polarising effect on most societies. Consequently, our relationships are more frequently defined by intolerance and mistrust.

We urgently need a unifying force.

Here’s a true story to illustrate the point…

I was 19 years old when I began working as a safari guide at a private game reserve.

Apart from being able to speak English, and a few basic bush skills taught to me by my grandfather, my ability to conduct a safe and entertaining wildlife safari experience was limited.

Given my lack of skills, my job was not safe.

The head guide had noticed my rawness and inexperience. So he paired me with one of the most competent animal trackers on the reserve.

Enter Renias Mhlongo.

This made all the difference.

Renias had twelve years of professional tracking experience. He’d also spent a lifetime immersed in the wilds of the South African Lowveld.

The two of us were like comparing AB de Villiers (a top international cricket player) with a kid who plays club cricket.

Renias decided to teach me about the bushveld – the birds, tracks, plants and the subtleties of animal behaviour. Every single game drive was an education. More importantly, his lessons were delivered with a spirit of generosity.

One afternoon I asked him why he thought he needed to constantly teach me.

‘Because if you’re not good, we are not good,’ he quipped.

For the first time, I saw us as a partnership, a unit that I could be proud of. I realised that Renias wasn’t going to settle for mediocrity. He wanted us to be excellent.

Over time we developed a shared sense of purpose. My skills improved and before long we were inundated with requests to take people tracking.

He taught me his language and in so doing revealed his essential self. Learning to speak Shangaan is unquestionably one of the most enlightening things I’ve done.

A deeper connection formed when I could converse with Renias in his language.

He needn’t have expended all that energy, but he felt compelled to travel outside his comfort zone to help me.

Twenty-five years later we still work together, thriving from a life based on wildlife tracking.

So, what’s my point?

There are many stories of hope emanating from the Covid-induced financial disaster. Generous accounts of NGO’s providing lifesaving resources for vulnerable people.

But there’s another possibility awaiting us; one that lies beyond conventional philanthropy. One that connects us individually and energetically.

It fosters inclusiveness. It provides one with an opportunity to take part in a transformative relationship – a rarity in a world currently afflicted by intolerance and indifference.

Renias and I believe it’s time we start to meaningfully engage our less privileged countrymen.

What does this mean?

There are somewhere between 7.5 to 20 million working-class people in South Africa. If just ten percent committed to sharing a skill or knowledge to enhance another person’s life – ordinary citizens could play a significant role in curtailing poverty and facilitating wellbeing.

Choose one person. Someone whose life may be materially improved by an ongoing learning intervention. Undertake to teach something.

Whether it be an art, science, leadership, sport, technology, trade, language, gastronomy, or a culture. Mentor someone.

This is a long-term investment in another human being. Where payback is realised through shared identity, deepened relationships, and earning potential for the mentee. In a land that needs it desperately.

We’d like to invite all those with the means to share value. To actively participate in nation-building.

The result?

A country with a chance to develop greater levels of tolerance and inclusiveness. And perhaps even economic self-sufficiency for a few desperate people.

If you are good, we are all good.

Choose one person.

Book Alex and Renias’s keynote presentation called the Power of Relationships. It provides the keys to unlock the latent potential in diverse working relationships.

 

“In an extremely entertaining presentation Alex and Renias tell how people from vastly different backgrounds, cultures and beliefs can forge powerful relationships. Crucially, they demonstrate how cohesion, and pure bottom line profit flow from the quality of the relationships within any team, organisation, and country.”
Ian Thomas, South African Hall of Fame Speaker

 

 

 

 

 

Alex And Renias Blog

By Renias Mhlongo | Translated by Alex van den Heever

Renias Mhlongo was born in what is today the greater Kruger National Park. As a young boy Renias was responsible for 17 head of cattle; protecting them from lions, hyaenas and leopards resident in the area. His father’s rule was simple – come home with all the cows or not at all. Today Renias is recognised as one of the best wildlife trackers in the world. Alex van den Heever, his friend and colleague of 23 years, sat down with Renias to hear his thoughts on diversity and transformation in South Africa. Together with Alex, Renias has spoken internationally on the “The Power of Relationships” – their motivational presentation.

Here Renias offers 10 practical ways in which business leaders may improve their intercultural relationships and realise the power of diversity. The points below were translated by Alex. Renias’s home language is Tsonga.

10 Ways to Create Diversity & Transformation in the Workplace

  1. Demonstrate a willingness to engage

Sometimes we need to go out of our way to demonstrate, in practical terms, a willingness to engage someone from a different culture. For example, learn to greet in their language. At work, managers should know the important ceremonies held by his/her staff, such as the (Hluvula) ceremony which marks the end of a mourning period. Of key importance here is the act of seeking to sincerely understand. You will be surprised at the response to showing genuine interest in people – their jobs, their children and their particular life situation. Not only will this earn you respect but also deepen your understanding of fellow South Africans.

  1. Share knowledge

In this fiercely competitive world there is a tendency to hold onto knowledge and skills, often as a means of survival. If we are to build a transformed and productive country, we need to break this scarcity mentality and share. In fact, we have little choice – South Africa needs for its ordinary citizens to be active in developing the skills of those less fortunate. If every South African reached out meaningfully to someone in need, even just one person in your lifetime, it would not be long before we experience positive results.

  1. Learn the language

It’s really simple; you cannot hope to fully understand a person from another culture (or language group) unless you learn their language, or at least attempt to do so. Again, the emphasis is in the trying.

  1. Make use of public transport

This provides an informal opportunity to engage with ordinary South Africans, to understand their plight, for example, why people who use taxis are often late for work. Unless you have travelled on a train or taxi, you do not have the moral high ground to make comment to those who do use public transport.

  1. Visit their Homes

Try to visit and stay at the home of a person (work colleague or associate) from a culture different to yours. This is simple but profound. Productive relationships are formed when you understand the life story of the person you are dealing with – and this is what you will gain when you immerse yourself into someone else’s life at their home. The power of solidarity that comes of this simple act cannot be underestimated.

  1. Share meals

It is a globally recognised fact that sharing food and drink brings us together. This is fundamental in developing relationships in Africa.

  1. Share the company vision

Few managers and business leaders take the time to share information of the company’s performance (unless forced to do so). Workers want a greater understanding of how the business functions, the challenges it’s facing; the successes, the shortcomings, its financial situation, and the company’s vision. Again, the mere act of sharing these insights causes staff to feel validated and important. It binds them to the organisation.

  1. Do not generalise

South Africans love to generalise; to assign a label to someone or something they do not understand. Judging generalisations are borne of fear and intellectual laziness. Remember that everyone is an individual with a unique set of life experiences which shape their behaviour; even the taxi driver who cuts you off in the traffic.

  1. Personal Conduct

We often estrange people unknowingly. So, learn what is considered to be disrespectful behaviour for the various cultures with which you interact. And don’t be ashamed to share the same of your culture. Equally, learn what is regarded as culturally respectful, not just politically correct. For example, your office cleaner may be a highly respected member of his/her community and therefore should be greeted with a certain reverence and term. Find out. Your staff will be delighted that you took the effort to engage and demonstrate a public show of respect. Speak up if there are issues to be dealt with. Even the most sensitive, difficult conversations can be held if the message is delivered from a position of “I want to help this relationship”, as opposed to “I want to be right”. We all have the right to air our views, but do it with calmness, respect and factual accuracy.

  1. Search Yourself

Take a moment to delve deep into the shadows and find where you hold prejudiced thoughts and feelings. We all have them. If not acknowledged, this hidden intolerance will become evident when you least expect it. And people notice the very subtle, yet obvious, acts of bigotry.

To book Renias and Alex and hear them tell their true story, click here.

 

Cultural Diversity - Keynote Speakers

The two speakers from very different backgrounds have come together to share their motivational talk, “The Power of Relationships,” reports www.motivationalspeaker.co.za

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Johannesburg, S.A.)–Though the system of Apartheid ended in the early 1990s, its impact can still be felt in modern South Africa, where racial, cultural, and class differences are still often perceived as barriers between people. Two friends and colleagues who have utterly broken down those barriers, Alex van den Heever and Renias Mhlongo are now sharing their story, “The Power of Relationships,” with the goal of helping others overcome obstacles to communication and friendship.

According to www.motivationalspeaker.co.za, the motivational presentation tells the true story of Alex, a white game ranger, and Renias, a black tracker and inheritor of the Shangaan pastoralist tradition. In working side by side and sharing a love of wildlife and animal tracking, a friendship developed between them despite their racial and cultural differences. In order to get to know each other well, they taught each other their own languages. “Learning Shangaan has made such a difference in my ability to understand Renias and where he comes from,” Alex commented.

The presentation also details the two men’s encounters with each other’s cultures. First, Alex visited Renias’s village, Dixie, where he was treated as a VIP guest. “In the 1990’s I thought that the villages were dirty and full of crime,” Alex commented, “but I experienced a level of generosity and a level of humanness I had never experienced before.” Renias then joined Alex for a trip to London, his first trip out of Kruger Park and his first encounter with a large European city. A thrilling story about how Renias saved Alex from a leopard attack demonstrates the immense trust that developed between the two men.

“Our goal in sharing our story,” said Alex, “is to inspire others to open their minds and learn how to actively participate in diverse teams. We want to show that it’s possible to build a deep trust and a productive friendship with someone from a different culture, and that diversity can be a source of strength.” The speakers emphasize that their story is not meant only for South Africans, but for international audiences.

In addition, they hope to offer simple steps to get rid of their own prejudices and meet others on an equal footing. According to Alex, simply being willing to listen to and try to understand another person’s experiences is the first step in breaking down the barriers of racism. To learn more about Alex and Renias or to book them for a presentation, visit motivationalspeaker.co.za

About Motivationalspeaker.co.za

Alex van den Heever and Renias Mhlongo have worked together for 23 years, conducting safaris and training wildlife trackers. Their work has taken them to many countries in Africa, Australia, South America, and North America, and their story has been featured in several TV news documentaries. Their long friendship and working relationship represents the breaking down of racial barriers and serves as an inspirational model for the multicultural society of South Africa. They perform their cultural diversity presentation for corporations and businesses trying to learn and grow together in South Africa’s unique cultural and historic landscape.

Media Contact

Alex van den Heever

1st Floor Oxford Gate Hyde Park Lane
Hyde Park, Johannesburg, Gauteng 2196
South Africa
Telephone: 013 735 5653
Email: alex@nns.co.za

Website: www.motivationalspeaker.co.za

DISSOLVING MY RACIAL PREJUDICE

The question of racism is a big one in South Africa at this time. It gets wide ulturaloverage in the news when a Durban estate agent says something disparaging about the people on the beach-front, or two Cape Town motorists fight it out over a parking place using abusive language; or the Premier of the Western Cape says something historically questionable and inappropriate. I have witnessed these outbreaks of nastiness with some disbelief and sadness because I have had the privilege of experiencing multiracialism from a different perspective, in fact a unique perspective which I enjoy telling people about.

I was born in the Knysna provincial hospital in 1975, about the time South Africa was at last allowed to watch television and it was in the year before that a generation of black children rose up in Soweto in violent protest about the government’s insistence that they should be taught in Afrikaans.

My great-great grandfather’s name was Daniel Petrus van den Heever otherwise known as “Oom Daantjie”. He was a Member of the Cape Parliament who led the charge for the introduction of Dutch (which of course later became Afrikaans) as an official language in that August house in 1882. To celebrate this achievement, a Taal (Language) Monument was erected in Burgersdorp (his constituency) in 1893. The monument is in the form of a statue of a woman, apparently modeled on Oom Daantjie’s daughter, and one wonders about the significance of its gender (perhaps simply aesthetic). British soldiers beheaded the statue during the Anglo Boer War, but it still stands today, headless.

In 1995 I started working at Londolozi game reserve in Mpumalanga as a guide taking tourists on safari. I was paired with a man called Renias Mhlongo, 13 years my senior. He was to be the tracker and the two of us were to conduct safaris together.

Motivational Speaker Background Alex Renias

Renias was born in a mud hut under a Jackalberry tree situated in what is today the greater Kruger National Park. Although the responsibility of the safari lay with me as the guide, it was clear on the first afternoon game drive that Renias was in total control. As a clueless 20 year old, I was fortunate that Renias ‘adopted’ me, and kept our guests and me safe in the bush. I have come to know Renias as the most ecologically literate person I have ever met, and he will surely be remembered as one of the greatest wildlife trackers in our country. That afternoon in 1995, a two-decade long relationship began – a mentorship for which I am deeply grateful and which has shaped my life fundamentally.

In that time I have had the privilege of sharing many experiences with Renias, taking safaris, trailing dangerous animals, travelling to other countries teaching wildlife tracking skills and presenting our story to whomever was prepared to listen. The relationship has allowed us to enjoy a hugely fulfilling life doing exactly what we love to do.

In the early years of our relationship I would frequently experience waves of shame and guilt, horrible emotional surges whenever Renias spoke of his family issues, his financial woes or the education of his children. I kept telling myself that I had nothing to do with the past and the ills black people faced during the time I was a boy. I reconciled with myself that I had no responsibility for any of that. Yet this did nothing for my emotional state. To compensate for my culpability I found myself getting unnecessarily involved in Renias’ personal matters – always trying to fix what I perceived as being wrong. When I ask Renias about this today, he tells me that I was only trying to make myself feel better.

Renias and I were culturally very far apart, but on the journey of dissolving one’s prejudices one comes to learn that race and culture do not define the essence of the human being. As most of us know, in South Africa there exist gross generalisations of culture that creates widespread intolerance by both blacks and whites. To combat this in ourselves Renias believes the mere act in seeking to understand, sincerely, another person’s culture or belief system is a powerful first step to dismantling the bigotry currently at large in our country.

In 1998, I spent my first weekend at Renias’s village, Dixie, in rural Mpumalanga, which in hindsight was a momentous event in the overall development of our relationship. In three days I learnt more about Renias’ life than I had in the previous three years of knowing him. According to him this was a crucial moment in our relationship, and if I had not gone, the bond may not have grown as it has.

Over the years Renias taught me to speak Tsonga, his home language, which created an opportunity for me to access a degree of understanding of him and his family.  Similarly, I taught Renias to speak English so that he may understand me better. Language separates us, even accents do, and having learnt an African language I am convinced South Africa would experience a fraction of its racial issues due to simple misunderstanding and misinterpretation. I am always astounded by the goodwill I receive when I speak to people in the street in their own language.

After years of mulling I came to the cold realisation that my guilt was less about my responsibility for Renias and more about how I had benefitted materially from apartheid.

The lopsidedness of the situation bothered me – I had enjoyed vastly more ‘Western oriented’ resources growing up. I went to a good Model C school, received the best nutrition and ultimately had access to a network of influential people who could guide me. People tended to give me opportunities simply because of my appearance, my education and my ability to communicate well. On the flip side, Renias was never given the opportunity to go to school, (instead he was responsible for his father’s cattle herd); he experienced extreme hunger regularly and knew no one who could help him. When compared to my African counterparts, being born white gave me an unassailable lead in life. Even though apartheid is officially over, its effects are still present today, particularly in rural parts of the country. I am a first-hand witness to the fact that South Africa is still producing Renias-type childhoods.

In my Land Rover one afternoon on our way to a conduct a motivational presentation I felt compelled to acknowledge and apologise to Renias for the roles we as whites had played directly and indirectly in the injustices that took place under apartheid. I told Renias I was sorry. I apologised for what white people have done and because I wanted to deepen my relationship with him.

Later, when I asked him about the apology he said: “I felt an ease come into my heart. And I felt much more comfortable with you.” He continued to say that the wounds of apartheid were still there in every black person. He said that little acts of prejudicial behaviour by whites is noticed and keeps the wounds festering. Renias believes if whites acknowledge and say sorry it will give that wound a chance to heal.

Since the day of my apology a sense of lightness and freedom has entered our relationship. To say it unshackled us from the past may not be correct, but it certainly had a significantly positive impact. A sincere apology is one of the most profound human interactions one can have.

Nation building rests with the actions of civil society. It is apparent that our current crop of politicians lacks the will to facilitate integration in order for us to experience the true power of diversity. If I consider in the microcosm of my relationship with Renias the effort the two of us have put in, South Africans have a lot to do if we are serious about building a thriving, transformed, free country.

Renias recommends that white people try the following to get the best out of their black counterparts:

  1. Demonstrate a willingness to work together.
  2. Share information and knowledge.
  3. Focus your energy on skills development, even with one person.
  4. Don’t hold back; speak if there are issues to be dealt with.
  5. Learn an African language and seek to understand black culture properly.
  6. Make use of public transport like taxis and buses.
  7. Make the effort to visit and stay with black people at their homes.
  8. Share meals and laugh together.
  9. Give workers a greater understanding of how the business works, the challenges it’s facing, the successes, the shortcomings, its financial situation, and the company’s vision.
  10. Do not generalise – remember that everyone is an individual with a unique upbringing and set of experiences.
  11. Show an interest in peoples’ jobs, their families and their particular situation.
  12. Learn what is considered to be disrespectful behaviour in black culture, and share the same for white culture.

Try to find in your heart where you hold prejudiced thoughts and feelings, as these come out in subtle ways, which are noticed by blacks.