By Oiva Angula
22 November 2017
An award ceremony was held at GZ Sentrum in Windhoek on Tuesday for the 2017 ICOPE Leadership Development Programme of Telecom Namibia.
The programme, which was divided into 5 modules, ran over five months with two days of formal, instructor-led training per months.
At least 124 middle managers completed a leadership development programme of¬fered by the Emergence Learning Academy. They were awarded certificates of competency after successful completion.
“The teaching was practical at all times and so were the actual assignments that were done by each of the five groups at the end of the programme,” said Prof. Sakkie van de Merwe, Managing Director of Emergence Learning Academy.
“The standard of work delivered throughout the programme was of high quality, the engagement by the candidates with each module was exceptional and the final presentation and indication of the understanding and implementation of the lessons learnt, well demonstrated,” added Prof. Van de Merwe.
The programme is intended to help the middle management to assimilate both the way of thinking and the capabilities required to support their transition into more senior leadership roles across the organisation, as well as assuming the mind-set of an adaptive leader who can navigate Telecom Namibia through a rapidly changing volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous business environment characterised by intense competition, technological and regulatory changes.
In line with Telecom Namibia’s goal of cultivating and sustaining leadership at all levels by creating a company of leaders, the aim of the programme is to accentuate and refine the leadership capabilities of Telecom Namibia’s leaders whilst delivering increased individual and organisational capability while supporting the drive to enhanced sustainability.
Last year, 32 senior managers completed the leadership development programme which was cascaded down to middle management this year as Telecom Namibia has put in place a deliberate leadership development programme to introduce fundamental concepts and skills to help team members become high-performing leaders.
Theo Klein, Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Namibia, expressed the expectation of the leadership development programme by saying, “At Telecom Namibia, we are now entering another period of massive change and it will be up to us to groom future leaders, to lead the organisation through this”.
“It is only by creating an environment of innovation, an environment for new ideas, to value employees’ work, equip all with the right tools and foster transparency that will be enable us to embark on the road of transformation that we can ensure sustainable growth for the organisation,” Klein said.