Diversity key at Old Mutual

This is the last part of the interview that began in last week’s edition of the Women in Leadership series. Dr Moreen Mudenda (MM), an industrial and organisational psychologist and change management consultant, speaks to Gloria Zvavanhu (gz), the managing director of Old Mutual Company.

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DM: At the 2022 IPMZ conference, you spoke about the importance of building an organisation with an entrepreneurial culture. Is this the direction you want to steer Old Mutual Insurance in terms of culture?

GZ: I believe every organisation should aspire to have entrepreneurial-minded employees. This means people who are innovative, have good business acumen and run their roles/portfolios with full ownership and accountability as an entrepreneur would do with their business.

Aligned with having an entrepreneurial spirit, the two most fundamental values for our culture at Old Mutual are accountability and responsibility.

Accountability is critical and its importance was illuminated during the pandemic because the shift from the 8-5 physical presence meant focusing on monitoring of the deliverables virtually. Therefore, employees have to be responsible to have time-bound deliverables. The other Old Mutual values such as respecting each other as team members; fostering diversity; ensuring fairness internally to each other and externally to our clients are also important. Overall, the importance of culture must be embossed in the strategy.

MM: What influences your decision-making process regarding critical issues?

GM: I am fact-based. I like data to give me insights. I feel blind if I can’t get information to help me make decisions. The decisions I make must be aligned with a strategic vision and value system. My “litmus test” is that a decision I take today must withstand the test of time long after I am gone.

Being a situational leader, I consider the situation by regarding the people and process impacts; consulting others, and tap into the different views of people. In my consultations, I am mindful that I will still need to make the final decision, so my mind is good at separating the meat from the bones in whatever advice I get. I use wisdom led by faith to make the right decisions as I strongly believe my steps are ordered by God.

MM: Describe some organisational barriers that may hinder women’s leadership progress.

GM: The biggest barrier I see is not embracing diversity. Organisations must see the value of having diverse views, whether on gender lines or otherwise, it brings multi-dimensional thinking.

We as women who are fortunate enough to be entrusted with leadership must be able to open doors for those who follow along the journey by demonstrating our capability to lead and sending the proverbial “elevator down” to get others.

There are also internal psychological barriers that we as women face, for example, by being apologetic or second-guessing ourselves. This year’s International Women’s Month theme on breaking biases was such an eye-opener for me.

I realised that most of the barriers are smokescreens and also at times glass in nature and just need a few people to break them and the rest will follow.

MM: What can organisations in Zimbabwe practically do to break down some of these glass ceiling barriers or create a conducive work environment for women to thrive?

GM: Human resource management and organisational leaders have a lot to do to open our minds to female empowerment through conducive equity policies. This is exemplified at Old Mutual Zimbabwe, where the group’s executive management team is gender-balanced. Furthermore, at Old Mutual Insurance and across the group, we have junior executives and junior MDs in the various businesses, thereby embracing diversity from other perspectives such as age. Ultimately, it falls on leaders to break the barriers, and for me, it is beyond gender equity and more about diversity and embracing our differences.

MM: What is your viewpoint regarding employees’ mental health and its impact on the well-being and productivity of the workplace?

GM: During the pandemic, I realised more seriously the importance of being mindful of mental well-being matters. Mental health, post-Covid-19, became very important because a lot of social issues arose from the shifts in the ways of doing things that the pandemic brought. Among other things, I strongly believe that the pandemic affected the mind more than it affected the physical (and I am not downplaying the physical effects either, as I lost my father due to Covid-19 complications). That loss in itself was devastating. Anyone who ever buried a loved one lost to Covid-19 understands the mental impact on the family.

Speaking for women, we have to be aware of other mental wellness issues such as post-natal depression, the effects of menopause and other hormonal changes that affect the mental and emotional well-being.

To address the mental health concerns at Old Mutual, we have counsellors available to the staff through the employee wellness clinic. We also have an on-site gym to promote physical health.

Additionally, as leaders, we must refuse to subscribe to the view that “it is lonely at the top” because we must be open to having support and close people we can turn to when the need arises. When I joined Old Mutual, I was allocated an Old Mutual buddy to help me settle into the group and my vulnerability circle also hand-held me through the transition.

MM: Regarding your personal wellness, how do you de-stress?

GM: I meditate, pray, exercise and vent to my vulnerability circle. When I am most stressed or challenged, I exercise even twice a day to maintain my sanity. Exercise is a good drug.

MM: Given your passion for mentorship, describe programmes you have implemented for young women aspiring for management and leadership positions.

GM: As part of the Fortune 500 Global Women Mentorship programme, I was mentored by a woman in the United States, who was the president of a major financial services firm. She opened up my mind to giving back and being selfless, which was the essence of the mentorship programme.

This philosophy was implemented during my time as president of ICAZ (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe), where I spearheaded the Women Chartered Accountants Network to develop, profile and promote female accountants, including mentoring the upcoming ones.

I also mentor groups of 10 to 15 people at a time on soft and leadership skills and I have just started leadership coaching.

I was taught that the mark of a true leader is developing more leaders and I am aspiring to do that.

MM: For the next generation of leaders, what are the essential business competencies that they should have?

GM: They must be emotional capitalists, no doubt. Know and manage yourself first, then use that prowess to know and manage others. This, together with other soft skills such as communication, will become increasingly important.

Technical abilities are and should be taken as foundational or confidence-building blocks. Critical thinking skills are imperative in a world where some tasks will and are being taken over by machines.

MM: How may business and tertiary institutions enhance their collaboration to adequately prepare the next generation of leaders?

GM: The introduction of the aforementioned soft skills in tertiary education will be very useful. Guest lecturing by experienced leaders should be used by tertiary institutions to bring practicality into the theory taught.

The industrial attachment programmes by tertiary institutions is a brilliant collaboration.

It, however, requires fine-tuning in the areas of monitoring and feedback to meet the intended purpose.

MM: What are you most proud of?

GM: a) Personally, not being apologetic about my faith as being core to my identity is important to me. I am also happy that I have invested in myself intellectually, mentally, and emotionally and continue to do so

The positive impact that I have (hopefully) had on my family and circle of influence.

Finding my life purpose, my ‘Ikigai’ as the Japanese would put it, and thriving daily to live within it.

1. b) Professionally, I am happy to have served in various roles over my career as an executive or non-executive director. My professional footprint makes me proud and demonstrates that what the mind can conceive the mind can achieve and also that your background should never be a barrier or an excuse. I am particularly proud to be leading an Old Mutual Insurance company and being part of a giant financial services Group in Africa. I am proud of having represented and continue to represent the accounting profession in Zimbabwe at both the local, continental and international levels. I am proud of the coaching, mentorship, and inspiration I have offered and continue to offer to others.

MM: What do you want your leadership legacy to be?

GM: That I created a ripple effect on women and young leaders whom I developed as future leaders and instilled confidence in them no matter the background they came from. Importantly, that I lived by the principles of excellence, integrity, and faith.