Take a pandemic that turned the world’s ways of working upside down. Now add to that a separation from a global organisation you’ve formed part of for more than a century. In 2021,Thungela Resources – a leading South African thermal coal exporter – did just that.
Lesego Mataboge, the company’s Executive Head of Human Resources, describes how a seamless change management process saw the business through a massive shift and come out shining on the other side.
“With the pandemic, we were already in the midst of a period of upheaval which we took to an altogether different level with our listing as an independent company on the JSE.
“Having a strong change management process was pivotal and, more than anything, we were determined to be there for our people. To be present. And that made all the difference,” he says.
Despite the challenges, Thungela’s people-centric strategy paid off and in just eight months, the company was named a
Top Employer in South Africa. While establishing itself as a standalone entity, Thungela knew it needed an aggressive change management process that would provide ongoing reassurance to employees and earn the team’s buy-in.
Mataboge unpacks some of the things that were prioritised as part of the change management plan:
It starts with culture: We always had a unique culture but there were a few things we wanted to change. We wanted to be intentional about what these changes would be and why. We took a deliberate approach. We looked at our values with a clear view to entrench these in our culture.
A culture of accountability: We want all people to feel empowered to do what they need to do. We don’t want micromanagement. We want our people to feel trusted to deliver on what’s expected of them.
An agile organisation: As a standalone business, we introduced a new level of agility – but never at the expense of rigour.
We want excellence: We want our people to go out and become the best they can be by seeking better ways of doing things all the time.
An entrepreneurial mindset: We want people to feel a sense of ownership; to have an owner mindset. A strong sense of belonging gives people the confidence to make decisions.
Keeping connected
“We’ve always had a family culture; there’s a feeling of togetherness. During Covid-19 and the demerger, it was critical for us to protect this. During our transition to an independent organisation, there were a lot of questions. People were excited, but also anxious. We were venturing into something new, and they wanted to know why. Plus, how it would affect them personally.
“As leadership, we needed to be visible. People needed to feel like they could connect with us. Like we were there for and alongside them. They needed to see us and speak to us. Of course, in lockdown, we couldn’t be present physically. So, we had weekly dialogue where the workforce could ask us any questions. A lot of these revolved around what the change would mean for our people. We needed to do a lot of reassuring.”
Keeping composed.
“People were taking their cues from us. We needed to be composed, confident and make it abundantly clear that we had a strong plan in place. “
Keeping up communication
“We also needed to own the message from day one. Negativity can spiral fast. It was critical we were vocal with constant updates, so people didn’t make up their own stories. We made sure we were upbeat and enthusiastic about the new chapter.
“We firmly believed things would be great; that our business had a strong future. That’s the narrative we shared and that’s exactly what’s happened. We let people know we were in this together.”
In times of change, if you’re good to your people, you can earn unimaginable loyalty in return.