Page 56 - CAO 25th Ann Coffee Table Book

SIPHIWE MOYO
PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER, FACILITATOR, ADJUNCT FACULTY & MC
29 September 2022
Keynote address delivered at the 2021/2022 Annual General Meeting.
It just so happens that my topic is linked to George’s, which is ‘You are the Difference’. William James’ code is ‘What you do makes a difference because it does’. I want to inspire you and want you to remember that each one of us makes a difference in someone’s life.
Imagine this. It is the early 1990s and I am growing up in this very dodgy place in the south of Johannesburg called Orange Farm. It is good to see people admitting
that they know of Orange Farm because normally people act as if they have never heard of it. Once people grow up, they do not want to be associated with these places. They even change their accent. It is befitting that a person from an informal settlement can speak to this august audience because for me it signifies the kind of difference that you can make.
The world of work has changed quite significantly in the past three years or so of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the business school environment in which I operate, we use the acronym ‘VUCA’ to describe the volatility of the world. So, ‘V’ in VUCA stands for ‘Volatility’.
We are no longer able to predict some of the things we used to be able to. ‘U’ stands for uncertainty. We live in a world that is uncertain. We are unsure of what is going to happen in the next year or so. There was a time
that the world was quite certain and you would know exactly what you are dealing with. You would know how the economy is doing. Since the COVID pandemic things have become less certain.
‘C’ stands for complexity as the world has become complex. ‘A’ stands for ambiguity. In other words, things no longer mean what you have become accustomed to them meaning. They might mean something totally different. So, we say the world really has become ‘VUCA’.
While we used this acronym before the pandemic, right now, it is even more fitting. This is the world we have to deal with. When we are dealing with this kind of world, these are some of the things that we need to think about?
Working throughout the pandemic took a toll on all of us, including leaders and staff. Indeed, it has been exhausting. Those of us that have to return to the workplace have to think about a few things. We have become used to working alone, to sitting and chilling in
our pajamas, saying “nothing from my side,” some of us for the whole day.
We are still dealing with the headwinds. The electricity supply is unstable and we are also dealing with the challenges and the pace of organisational change. We have never dealt with as many changes as we have had to deal with in the past three years and many people are bewildered and don’t know what to do. Generally, as human beings we prefer predictability and order that give us a sense of stability. Dealing with so much change, especially when it is not incremental but radical by nature, overwhelms people. They say to themselves: “What can I do? I am just one person. The problem is too big to tackle, the competitors are too good, the world’s problems are just too many.” This stops them from doing things that they can do.
When you get overwhelmed you feel paralysed. There are many things that we cannot do anything about, but also certain things we can address. However, too many
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