by Anusha Mariemuthu
Are you shifting paradigms, changing behaviour, and making valuable long-term strategic contributions to the economy or are you just transacting on your scorecard on an operational level to achieve the required points in your organisation?
Is your organisation a good corporate citizen who continuously contributes towards South Africa’s progress as a country, economically and socially through empowering communities, small businesses, individuals and creating jobs?
Companies must understand that economic transformation is a national economic priority, and that B-BBEE (Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment) is every South African corporates’ responsibility.
A company’s transformation initiatives at a high level needs to focus on the below broad areas
- Ownership : Ensuring that equity are made available to black communities and assisting them access financing/ funding to fund their equity.
- Skills Development : Empowerment through education and creating opportunities for previously disadvantaged employees and youth, through accelerated skills development programmes (learnerships, apprenticeships, internships, bursaries and employment opportunities).
- Employment Equity: Employees must be afforded the opportunity to advance their knowledge, skills and abilities in order to be promoted. This process should be linked back to Talent Management and Succession Planning and not tokenism. Employment Equity and your employees should be viewed an integral element of a company’s overall transformation strategy for the removal of the economic legacies of structural inequality.
- Procurement : Procuring goods and services from South African black-owned enterprises, who are EME’s and QSEs while working with them to develop their businesses.
- Responsible sourcing: According to the International Chamber of Commerce is “a voluntary commitment by companies to take into account social and environmental considerations when managing their relationships with suppliers”.
- Small business Development and Communities : Investing in communities, in black entrepreneurs and in projects that support small business growth and development thereby stimulating economic growth
So how do we start doing this?
Before you even begin this journey, chose a good change management model , like ADKAR to enable your business transformation to take place.
The first step is to establish a B-BBEE related Organisational Transformation Strategy, that is aligned to your business Strategy. Talk to business through their Profit and Loss (P and L) and show them how transformation makes good business sense. Below is a high level view of how this journey in your business should look like. Create a road map for a successful Transformation journey , by showing people how to make this transition as a company together.
- Shared Vision: Within your company, co-create and establish a Shared Vision for an organisational transformation related to B-BBEE.
- Establish leadership over the process and ensure ownership, responsibility and accountability is in place so that your people can make this happen.
- Knowledge is powerful and an enabler: Create capacity in the Leadership and support functions by sharing information and ensuring that they acquire the required level of knowledge and skills to be able to implement the organisational transformation vision (Use Change management programmes, like ADKAR to achieve this).
- Ensure Ownership is shared by key individuals in strategic positions across the business by ensuring that they have B-BBEE related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and that these individuals cascade responsibility into their respective areas in order to ensure accountability can be held.
- Good Governance: Align all related operational governance which will empower and enable all related business managers to support the implement the organisational transformation process. Create an effective monitoring, measurement and reporting structure to ensure accurate visibility is achieved and maintained allowing for effective performance management over the process, show progress on the B-BBEE objectives and to manage the associated risk.
- Ensure the transformed organisation is maintained through periodic assessments of the levels of compliance with the Compliance Framework and the progress of the company’s B-BBEE Score.
Lastly, keep your people informed (through townhalls, performance reviews, newsletters), get feedback and tell them how this journey is proceeding. This will keep them engaged and energised to make it a success. Make B-BBEE Transformation part of your company DNA.
More importantly, keep the passion.
Anusha Mariemuthu is a passionate, seasoned Transformation and Human Resources professional with a myriad of experience that spans across all pillars of the scorecard. For more information on our B-BBEE consultancy services, contact us here.