Sthembile Ngwabi, HR manager at the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) almost missed her calling to the field of HR. Yet having realised that working with people was where her destiny lay, she’s forged a fulfilling career that continues to offer new insights and challenges.
While initially wanting to be a doctor and applying to medical school, Sthembile had an honest conversation with herself. “I asked myself, is this really what I want to do? When the answer was no, I asked myself what I was interested in and what I would enjoy.” Having always been the person in her group of friends who gives advice, the supportive friend, she decided to register for psychology.
While she began her studies in clinical psychology, she later decided to major in industrial psychology. “I was quite intrigued by that, because it still has the element of psychology and human behaviour, but it’s more focused on the workplace, which I found very interesting.” After graduating, she began her HR journey as an intern.
Making the move from Durban to Gauteng for her internship, Sthembile was intrigued by her chosen career. “What I found interesting about HR was that it bridges the gap between the individuals and the business. So, you support the individuals in the business, but you contribute to the success of the business as well.”
Throughout her career, Sthembile is grateful that she’s always been an HR generalist, without specialising in any specific area of HR. From recruitment to performance management to labour relations, she currently manages the HR team at SAQA, and reports to the company’s senior HR manager.
Continuous development
“Learning and development is a huge part of what we do,” Sthembile says. “It's about lifelong learning. So, we, as HR, have a huge responsibility to ensure that our staff is consistently learning so we prioritise training through various interventions. We also have a bursary scheme for our staff who want to further their studies.”
Having had the opportunity to contribute to HR-related changes beyond improving staff skills and giving them the opportunity to learn, Sthembile has supported changes to streamline operations and enhance the employee experience. “When I joined SAQA in 2019, we were still doing our performance management manually using Excel spreadsheets,” she recalls. “One of my main tasks was to automate the performance management process, along with other processes as we move away from doing things manually.”
She therefore implemented Sage’s performance management module to ensure this process was automated, more efficient and more accurate, which greatly boosted efficiency. She also had to manage some employee’s resistance to this new system, which is where her change management skills kicked into gear.
Change management is a significant aspect of her job, Sthembile says. “People are afraid of change, they feel threatened by it, especially if it impacts their day-to-day work. They feel that they're going to be disadvantaged in some way.” She’s navigated such concerns by taking people along the change journey from the very beginning.
“Explain why the change needs to take place, the benefits of the change, and then take people along so that they feel like they are part of the process and not that it's just being imposed on them,” she says. “It makes a big difference. I think that’s one of the key lessons that I’ve learnt as we continue to manage changes in the organisation.”
Understanding your staff
In terms of being an effective leader, Sthembile says that what she believes to be the most important quality here, empathy, is often overlooked. “You want to be the boss and to throw your weight. People tend to think that a leader should be authoritarian, but I think it’s important to relate to the people that you’re leading.”
She advocates working with one’s staff, really understanding them and demonstrating this understanding. “I found that it brings out the best in people when they feel understood and seen, when they feel that they are valued in the organisation even if they’re struggling with certain things. It’s important to take them along with you and show them how they can learn and grow. Oftentimes people just need that guidance and then they tend to then become more receptive to feedback and to become more engaged.”
Communication is also vital when it comes to managing people, Sthembile says. “People don’t know what they don’t know, so you need to be able to communicate your thoughts, to give people feedback in a manner in which they’ll be able to receive.”
Talking is just as important as listening when it comes to communication, she adds, as it is never a one-way exchange. “You must allow people to give their input, to feel heard. If you have good communication, that resolves a lot of issues, because you’ll find that a lot of issues in the workplace are, in fact, rooted in communication.”
Sthembile is excited by new projects within the organisation including a recent structural overhaul to foster more efficiency. “We are also working on a new remuneration strategy and on our succession planning, because we believe in growing people from within the organisation instead of hiring people from outside,” she adds.
“We have a lot of talented individuals within the organisation, and we want people to feel that they have opportunities to grow within SAQA.” This starts with SAQA’s internship programme, from which they’re hoping to absorb talent and encourage their growth within the organisation.
Sthembile loves travelling – especially to Vietnam which she says is truly beautiful and has the friendliest people. When she’s not jet-setting, she enjoys quiet time, either tending to her rose garden or enjoying a good book.
Having gone through a self-help book obsession, she says that the book that made a tangible difference to her life was Atomic Habits by James Clear. “It's one of those practical books about identifying and unlearning bad habits. Once I started putting that into practice, my daily routine improved, and I found myself being more productive.” It’s a practice that she continues to implement in her current role.
