An exciting feature on the calendar of events which transpired as part of the Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Living Values Framework launch included Leading Culture Sessions with Joyce Lebelo, Managing executive-Growth Enablement/Culture and Strategy which was held online and at the Hotel School, Ritson Campus on Thursday 20 July 2023.
Mrs Lebelo is a Managing Executive, Growth Enablement/Culture and Strategy at LRMG. She is deeply passionate about enabling the development and performance of people. She has spent her career partnering with business leaders and teams to achieve strategic objectives and performance measures across a number of industries. She is a citizen of the world and her lens is broad, inclusive, and aligned with a fundamental belief in the powerful performance that can be achieved through connected and competent people.
Her presentation entailed leading culture sessions to inspire students to embrace DUT values, principles and behaviours, bringing the Living Values Framework to life through behaviours. Also, she gave DUT students some tips on how to embed the DUT culture in their daily lives.
She further spoke to academics and support staff, providing them with tips on how to lead culture successfully and embed the Living Values Framework.
Facilitating the event was Mr Avhatakali Nenungwi, Director of Organisational Development and Talent Management at DUT. He welcomed the DUT community to the event, introducing the guest presenter, Mrs Joyce Lebelo, to the audience.
“We have invited an expert in leadership and culture to assist us in our journey and the living values framework journey. As you all know, this week was a very special week. This is a week where we officially launched our Living Values Framework. By now our Living Values Framework has become part of our vocabulary. Let me present our expert Mrs Lebelo who will give more insight into the Living Values through her presentations,” he said.
Lebelo aligned her presentation to the DUT Living Values of Transparency, Honesty, Integrity, Respect and Accountability as well as adopting its principles which are; Fairness Professionalism, Commitment, Compassion and Excellence.
“What we’re going to talk about is the values in the context of our own cultures and our beliefs. But it’s important that we understand how it all comes together here at DUT and how important each person’s contribution is,” she said.
She then shared some videos and stories about how culture shows up and what experiences she had to help the DUT community understand what their roles are in driving the culture change here in the institution.
She explained that everybody has a part to play. She also shared some empirical research and data because this is an academic institution. She then spoke of the greatest researchers and ‘thought leaders’ in leadership over the last 25 years.
“His name is Jim Collins, and the book that he wrote that most people are familiar with is called Good to Great. In that book he talks about commitment first and what leaders have to do.
We’re all leaders. You are leaders in this journey, you are the leaders of culture change as much as everybody else in this institution,” she stressed
She further relayed that Collins speaks about level 5 leaders who are good at inspiring people to follow with them.
“The Level 5 leaders inspire people to follow a cause, and therein is all the difference. So what he’s saying here is that good leaders and people inspire us when they give us the reason why we do what we do. So it comes back to the values that DUT offers our society, how education and the quality of education is being improved by DUT. It’s making us more competitive. It’s making us more competitive globally. So he’s talking about Level 5 leadership, which means that level 5 leaders at the top of the leadership tier and they are the most successful and they’re the most inspirational,” she said.
She then went through DUT’s values which are Transparency, Honesty, Integrity, Respect, and Accountability.
“So if values are the what we do as a function of what we believe principles are how we do it; and values is a key part of it like an enabler for strategy and purpose,” she said.
She then spoke on the context of how culture and how it is driving what one does, what one says, how one achieves.
“So when we start doing things differently, they are going be some people that don’t do it. Our responsibility is to encourage them to come along and that’s the responsibility that we carry when we want to make things better for everybody,” she said.
She also delved into Transparency which means relevant information, actions and decisions are communicated clearly among DUT people through the best and most suitable channels in a timeous consistent, open and inclusive way. Another value she spoke on was on Integrity which she mentioned is a difficult one.
“You as the real custodians of change because you guys are agile and young and you can see things differently. We need that perspective. We need your voice and respect,” she said.She then looked at Empathy, saying that it’s like a superpower. “So empathy is really an emotion that allows us to walk in the shoes of other people. So for example, this morning when I was coming here, it was starting to rain a bit and I saw people running and trying to get undercover. So in that moment I could reflect and think about your what if you on your way and you don’t have an umbrella and it’s cold. So in that moment, I couldn’t empathise and think about what it’s like for someone else. Now sympathy is different. Sympathy is when you feel bad for someone else, right? So when someone passes away, we say we send our sympathies condolences, right? That’s the words that we use. Empathy is when we remember or allow ourselves to feel what it would be like if we lost a loved one. So empathy is a superpower now. If you can experience what other people are going through, I think empathy is something that we can demonstrate to understand and pause and think,” she said.
She stressed that she wanted the DUT community to be proud of this initiative.
“If you look back on this time and you’ll remember that you were part of this change and you were part of what made this institution; when you’re gone and your family members or your neighbours are coming to the institution for study purposes, you will reflect on this time,” she concluded.
Giving the closing remarks, Mr Nenungwi said that each and every person in their own, small way can make a difference. “If we change the small corner that we exist within, it will make a huge difference in the rest of the country and the rest of the world as well. We are so grateful that you attended. We hope that we’ve planted a seed that will grow. They will be nourished and create something amazing going forward in the future,” he said.
He also thanked Mrs Lebelo for giving her time and expertise to come to DUT and share her knowledge and hoped she could come back for a second time to present again.
Pictured: Guest presenter, Mrs Joyce Lebelo and DUT’s Director of Organisational Development and Talent Management, Mr Avhatakali Nenungwi, at the Leading Culture Sessions.
Waheeda Peters
