I recently received an anniversary reminder for my first year as the President of IIBA-SA! Time truly flies when you're having a great time. While most people would describe me as unflappable, the thought of taking on this responsibility initially frazzled me.
The responsibilities turned out to be the coolest, but also my hardest yet. At every turn, you are tested to suspend your interests for the greater good. This journey has taught me a great deal about the value of a "leadership coalition," a concept I first encountered from Prof. Pieter Steyn, Principal & Founder at Cranefield College during my studies.
Like it is with innovating, you can be brilliant on your own, but you cannot lead alone. A strong and intelligent leadership coalition is essential to devise the right strategies, challenge your decisions, and, most importantly, translate these strategies into action. I feel incredibly privileged to have this kind of support in my leadership coalition, lovingly dubbed "Igniters" as they are the driving force behind the chapter's ignited success. Think of them as a superior version of the Avengers.
Our Igniters are all volunteers – they receive no compensation, sacrifice personal time, negotiate for better outcomes with partners, and do all of this in the name of serving the community with their talents. They are an amazing group of individuals.
Importance of Recognition in the Chapter
One of my priorities, as a leader, is to recognize and reward effort. This is why we have an internal policy on volunteer recognition at monthly and annual periods. This policy also guides our approach to global awards. It's one thing to be selfless, but for this selflessness to go unrecognized it is a failure of leadership. The Igniters, and by extension all volunteers in the chapter, deserve a clear process of recognition for their exceptional service. As Napoleon once said, "Give me enough medals and I'll win you any war." I think our volunteers deserve more medals, not less.
I always encourage my team to publicly and privately recognize volunteers who go the extra mile. It's officially awards season at the IIBA, and we are eager for the opportunity to be assessed as a Chapter and to put forward our candidates for the Volunteer Awards. Stay tuned for your chance to participate in nominating individuals who have made outstanding contributions to serving our community last year (assessment period: 1 August 2023 - 31 July 2024).
Whatever the outcome, I firmly believe that we have some of the hardest-working servant-leaders in the IIBA universe. I am immensely proud of them all.
The Chapter Engagement Portal is now live!
One of the highlights this year was transitioning to the Chapter Engagement Portal (CEP) – a platform that consolidates various disparate IIBA platforms into one. I'm pleased to report that we've successfully migrated to the CEP as part of Cohort 2.
What I find most exciting about the CEP are the real-time leadership reports, the instant publishing of events on the chapter and IIBA's site, and the easy website builder. This has allowed us to create a new chapter website that is visually stunning, intuitive, and responsive. If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, visit southafrica.iiba.org and share your feedback. Based on the insights from Google Analytics and the numerous emails we've received, everyone seems to love it and finds it as functional as we do. And yes, this is my first time sending this newsletter on the CEP.
#BASummitSA
The #BASummitSA conference planning is progressing smoothly. We have just completed the call for papers process, and the track chairs are working diligently to evaluate your submissions and make necessary trade-offs. Best of luck to all, and I can't wait to see the final program soon.
The #BASummitSA offers a unique platform for the chapter to showcase the talents of international and local thought leaders. The #BASummitSA also presents a pristine opportunity for other businesses to partner with the chapter to promote their business, sell goods, and showcase their services to a captive audience over three days of powerful content and networking.
Thank you's
I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of you for your messages of encouragement and advice over the past year as President. Serving the Southern African community has truly been the privilege of my life.
Chat soon,
Tshepo Matjila | Chapter President
