Tough at the top

Telecoms companies in SA are hanging onto their top talent, with Telkom, Cell C, Vodacom and MTN all reluctant to let go.

The problem with these types of restraint of trade agreements is that it stops that very talent from being used in the marketplace, where it is sorely needed. It prevents CEOs from providing much-needed advice to government, and the Independent Communications Authority of SA could certainly do with a bit of intelligent help, for example.

Wouldn't it be far better for the economy if people like Alan Knott-Craig, Jeffrey Hedberg and Phuthuma Nhleko were allowed to move on and use their talents elsewhere? Perhaps they could coach life and leadership skills, or lecture about telecommunications, or anything that would enable more South Africans to know how they do what they do.

Hanging onto these top-level people means they can't go somewhere else, and help build another empire that can create jobs and add to economic growth. It adds to the skills shortage, artificiality inflating it, because, while they are replaced, they cannot go elsewhere and fill another void.

Let's face it, mentioning the words “skills shortage” opens a can of worms. It's a heated debate, and one that is set to continue for as long as there are high levels of unemployment, and companies battling to fill vacancies because they just cannot find the right person.

The gap to find the right skills is not just at entry level, or mid-management positions; it's just as bad - if not worse - at the top of the pile. It is becoming more and more apparent that there is a shortage of capable leaders to take over from the current ones.

Black Management Forum president and labour DG Jimmy Manyi has repeatedly said there is no such thing as a skills shortage, calling it a myth that is being used as an excuse by companies that do not want to hire black candidates.

Wouldn't it be far better for the economy if people like Alan Knott-Craig, Jeffrey Hedberg and Phuthuma Nhleko were allowed to move on and use their talents elsewhere?

Nicola Mawson, journalist, ITWeb

While not everyone agrees with him, reader comments posted on recent ITWeb stories about skills shortages cite tales of those who have studied long and hard - and are unable to find a job.

It is a sad state of affairs, especially as the unofficial unemployment rate - the one used by unions as it also counts people who have given up looking for work and taken to standing on the side of the road instead - is almost half of that of the working population.

Allowing top-level staff to move on could help these young people because they could be trained, and given additional advice and guidance, even mentoring. This is exactly what SA needs, before all the knowledgeable people disappear into 'retirementville'.

The problem seems to be that there just is not enough talent at the top - and not enough people who can step into the shoes of those who have built the telecommunications and IT sector in SA since it started being liberalised in 1994.

The plethora of “acting” positions in SA brings this issue into sharp focus. Everywhere you look, there is someone “acting” as a CEO. The State IT Agency is a good example. It has been rotating top management since Llewellyn Jones' departure a year-and-a-half ago.

Jones left after only a year in the hot seat, and was preceded by a lengthy notice period from Mavuso Msimang, who left the agency in May 2007, to take up the position of Home Affairs director-general, which he is now giving up.

Cell C seems determined to hold onto Hedberg, who quit the top post almost a year ago, but was delayed in taking up a job at Telkom, because the mobile operator wanted to enforce its restraint of trade agreement.

Nhleko is the latest big name to decide to move on, but he has also given MTN quite some time to find a replacement for the CEO post. Nhleko's contract expires in mid-year, but he will stay on until as long as March next year to aid in transitioning between CEOs.

He has had a lengthy stint at the operator, being appointed in 2002, and certainly is knowledgeable about the industry. However, his decision to stay on a bit longer, while MTN looks for a replacement, indicates the company had not really considered he may want to move on, or that it needed a well-considered succession plan.

Retailers seem to get the whole succession planning thing right. Pick n Pay trained Nick Badminton to take over from Sean Summers, and Massmart did the same with Grant Pattison when it was time for Mark Lamberti to move on.

Failing to plan is planning to fail, they say. It seems the ICT industry could do with spending a bit of time thinking about this maxim. Instead, CEOs seem to move on and then carry on earning millions in a consultative role, at the same company.

Nhleko is likely to continue working for MTN in one capacity or another, as he and the company are exploring “other options for an ongoing association between Phuthuma [Nhleko] and the group post his service as president and CEO,” according to chairman Cyril Ramaphosa.

Vodacom has entered into a similar contract with its former CEO, Knott-Craig. This arrangement earned the company a bashing from the Sunday Times because the paper claimed Vodacom had not told shareholders.

Whether it did or not is neither here nor there. What matters is that the company seems to be paying Knott-Craig to essentially hold Pieter Uys' hand. MTN may well end up doing the same with Nhleko and his successor.

Both these situations could have been prevented. There is an argument for retaining key talent and knowledge, but there is an even stronger argument for transferring it within the company to the next generation of leaders.

Clearly, this was not done, and no plans were put into place as to what would happen if the CEO stepped down, or worse, was incapacitated and not around for a stint of hand-holding.

SA needs to act now if we want to make sure we can build a nation of leaders. It's not only a cost to cellular companies in continued “salary” payments, but an economic cost because the failure to plan for the top could strip us of much-needed competitive advantages in a world that is becoming more of a global village every day.

In addition, what these leaders know should be shared with the younger generation, so that we don't end up with a leaderless nation in which no-one has the skills to innovate, the courage to expand and grow internationally, and the mental agility to take advantage of opportunities that come around.