Africa Executive Leadership Series

Teach For Zimbabwe team travelled to Rwanda on 23 April 2023 for the Africa Executive Leadership Series workshop. The Senior Program Director for Africa, Vonesai Muhaso gave the opening speech encouraging all the participants to be prepared to contribute as well as learn from the workshop. In her words, she said, ‘we believe everyone is a leader; live and breathe leadership; we are a system that builds into a bigger system; identify and be comfortable for who you are; find where you fit in the system; you are here to be empowered as leaders to become a stronger part of the system.’

Below are the sessions that the team took part in and the lessons learnt from the sessions:

Self-Awareness

• It explored individual weaknesses and strengths
• One should be aware of personal skills, knowledge, values, traits, image and motives.

Self-management

• It is only when you are aware of yourself when you can best manage yourself.
• Do not neglect yourself
• Do not abandon yourself
• Create awareness of others
• Create relationships
• Embrace ubuntu; I am because we are, we are therefore I am.

Key personal leadership codes

• Be impeccable with your words
• Do not take anything personal
• Do not make assumptions
• Always do your best

Top qualities necessary for leadership today and the future

• Strategic thinking                                                                      
• Team builder & manager
• Problem solver
• Integrity
• Emotional intelligent
• Critical thinker

Emotional Intelligence

• Studies have shown that the success of business or organisation is highly dependent on emotional intelligence
• High IQ fizzles as the task becomes prolonged and complex
• Emotional intelligence is resilient and endures
• Both IQ and emotional intelligence help in the development of the other.
• Take deliberate steps to grow your emotional intelligence for the development and success of the organisation

Values

• We explored personal values and organizational values
• We explored the what values work and what does not
• Do not abandon your values
• The organisation has 6 values and there is need to refine some of the values
• There was a suggestion to add other values such as 
• Accountability
• Integrity
• professionalism

The Board

• It was suggested that the board have ownership of the values and strategies of the organisation.
• They would have ownership by reviewing and understanding them and approving their adoption by they organisation.
• They should also show their ownership by trekking the implementation of the strategies and the upholding of the values.
• It was also suggested that the board be made up of experts representing each function of the organisation.
• A common way of nominating suitable board members is to advertise the positions.

Communication

• 27 April , a session on communication was conducted
• It was emphasized that communication is important for leadership
• Its required for comminating the vision mission, vales and goals of the organisation
• Its required forgiving instructions
• It’s required for giving feedback.

These are the main sessions that were discussed during the 1-week stay in Rwanda. Before the team left for Zimbabwe, they had a tour of the Genocide Memorial Site in Kigali to see the final resting place of the victims of the genocide.