Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes kicked off the HR Indaba 2024 with a powerful keynote address.
Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes delivered three core messages to HR professionals on how to drive high performance by fostering a vibrant culture, as the keynote speaker at this year’s HR Indaba.
During his talk, Jorge shared vital insights for executives seeking to lead change in their organisations, emphasising that a CEO’s role extends far beyond leadership.
“The first thing is that one cannot separate culture from a high-performance organisation and from delivery,” Jorge said. “Secondly, as a leader of an organisation, you need leaders at every single level, and in so doing, have custodians of culture throughout the organisation. The third message from me is that one has got to measure what matters. So as a leader, you’ve got to have metrics that talk to this.”
Jorge urged leaders to rethink traditional HR policies, saying, “I think organisations need to start shifting towards what is required in today’s times versus what were the rules of the past. For instance, let’s look at the historical leave policies. Are we really saying it is practical for people to work for 330 days and then take two weeks off and come back fresh? I’m not saying unlimited leave is the answer, but rather that one has to start somewhere and iterate continuously to see what it is that your organisation is going to require.”
Leading from the front
Jorge also stressed the CEO’s responsibility in safeguarding company culture and fostering an environment where employees and the business can thrive.
“Culture is an everyday thing, and organisations make the mistake of saying the culture is in the policies and not actually doing anything tangible about it. Culture is something that keeps going, and it is a neutral function. Every single person in the organisation plays a role in culture. Some help shape it; others help with creating the parameters and what the metrics and measurements are. All of us have to act it out, have to live it, but you have to do it every single day.”
Reflecting on the importance of leadership in shaping culture, Jorge posed a thought-provoking question: “When people say the culture is bad in an organisation, what does that mean? Is it a reflection on HR? It’s the whole organisation, and yes, admittedly, the fish rots from the top. So if it doesn’t happen that way at the top, you kind of have a problem going throughout the organisation.”
Measure what matters
Jorge emphasised the importance of measuring what truly matters in an organisation.
“You’ve got to measure what matters, so you’ve got to have metrics that talk to this,” he said. “If you measure clocking in and clocking out, that’s what you’re going to get.”
He further highlighted that a great culture cannot be separated from a sustainable, high-performance organisation.
“Sustainable is over a period of time, not at the cost of something else. Anyone can deliver a short-term result. In fact, large organisations suffer from this because you report results too regularly. Every quarter, you’ve got to go to the market and talk about stuff. So you kind of have to make that short-term commitment and at the half-year interim, you’ve got to do the same thing, and so you start compromising values. Be careful what you measure.”
Jorge concluded his talk by reminding HR leaders that their workforce is, first and foremost, made up of human beings.
“It’s because human beings at the core, if they feel trusted, if they feel that they belong, if they feel valued, if hierarchy is not an issue, if someone with a voice at the seat at the table can make a contribution to the business, irrespective of job title or hierarchy – then they belong. Then they feel valued and they feel like they’re adding value. And when the organisation performs, they say, ‘That’s my company, and I did that.’”
