In June 2003, Lance had the rare honour of being accepted as a speaker from 100's of applications worldwide, at both the ASTD (American Society of Training and Development - the largest training organisation in the world) Annual Conference in San Diego, and the Annual Servant Leadership Conference in Indianapolis, where he also represented South Africa at meetings of International representatives.

His interactive talk, "Servant Leadership In South Africa": Lessons for the World" was so well received that he was invited to be the keynote speaker (in an interactive 3 hour presentation) at the servant leadership UK conference in London in November. Due to unforeseen work and personal circumstances Lance's presentation was very ably delivered in his place by Benji Phangela, our longest serving associate. Feedback has been extremely positive, and we expect to continue our international engagements, presentations and workshops in 2004.

"95% of mine accidents are due to lack of compliance with safety procedures"

"If you haven't yet attended a (Asibonisane Safety Compliance) training session......look forward to it.....It's an eye opener, constructive to achieving a culture of compliance and really great fun"
"By the end of the workshops, Koornfontein had 131 and Douglas had 62 classified injury free days, an excellent result!"

- Douglas / Koornfontein Friday Flash 10 Oct. 2003

If you entered the Blinkpan Club near Witbank at the end of 2003, you may have encountered groups enthusiastically singing about safety. Reflecting BHP Billiton and Ingwe Coal's commitment to safety on their mines, almost 3000 employees and contractors of Douglas Collieries and Koornfontein mines - went through Lance Bloch and Associates' innovative 1-day Asibonisane Safety Compliance Programme at Olifants River Lodge in August where they enthusiastically bought into the process. Asibonisane was then rolled out to all in the 2 mines between September and November.

In an exciting, highly experiential process, the focus was placed on commitment to a safety culture via building strong multi-cultural teams, creating a sense of individual and team responsibility for safety, building a group vision and values towards zero harm. Highly valuable information was gleaned from all., about why, despite knowing the rules and regulations, safety compliance often does not happen. This was fed back to management and unions, who have started addressing many of the issues, which are more HR, communication and morale questions.

The success of the programme came out of a high level of participation not before seen in mine trainings according to Employee Relations Development Manager Pieter De Lange. This was reflected in the fact that 25 entries of high standard were received for the mine safety song competition coming out of Asibonisane. The cartoon characters of Asi and Boni were generated to continually reinforce the learning's. In addition, by the end of the workshops, Koornfontein had 131 and Douglas had 62 Classified injury free days, an excellent result.

"The feedback received from these 1-day workshops has been extremely positive and indicates a strong commitment by all to a new safety culture on our mines" - Christine Richards, Communication Manager, in the Friday Flash.

Driving with a blindfold is not easy at the best of times! Yet that is what was one of the skills required of top managers of Spoornet Strategy & Systems Department, on a Leadership Development workshop in the Waterberg.

IN addition, all approximately 260 members of the department were taken through a 3 day Building Workplace Community workshop, 20 at a time, at Orion Safari Lodge in Rustenburg, where we have an outdoor course built - including exercises such as the Spiders Web, The Great Wall (a 15 foot high wall which has to be crossed by all) and the Yellow Brick Road, a puzzle which tests teams' abilities to identify problems and learn from them.

Miriam Mkhwane, HR Manager, noticed that after the workshops - apart from a general increase in morale, departmental problem solving and enthusiasm - there were noticeable changes in self- esteem, with previously quiet and shy employees performing unexpectedly well in promotional interviews.

 Post-workshop ratings by employees: Approximately 80% Excellent, 19% Good, 1% Average

It took a helluva lot of courage for top managers at Lafarge Aluminates to face their fears and abseil down the quarry face into the waiting dinghy in the water below, maybe less so to raft down the gentle waters of the Vaal River above Stonehenge River Lodge. And then again in 2003, they faced the mighty Zambezi in Zambia, paddling past crocs and hippos, and river rafting one of the most exciting and difficult rivers in the world.

But it took more courage to spend a day dealing with longstanding issues that most companies usually cover up so as to not 'rock the boat'. This was the case too in the Lafarge factory in Richards Bay, where factory manager Pieter du Preez has seen many previously underlying issues resolved by the combined intellectual capital of workers, supervisors and management in the Umhlangano process. Whilst initially a bit laborious, the Umhlangano is enabling them to deal with people issues and perceptions that threaten production capacity at the plant. It has been amazing to see workers and artisans / supervisors, usually silent in meetings and divisive afterwards, starting to participate and interact fully in the meetings in a new spirit of togetherness.

 "Lance Bloch must be one of the leading trainers in Change Management" -Colin Oxley, MD, Lafarge Aluminates

A merger naturally produces a fair share of problems. Employees of the merging companies maintaining separate identities, conflicts over ways of working, fear of further retrenchments, perceptions of a leadership vacuum, low morale and disillusionment, poor and insufficient communication.

Syngenta, a merger of Zeneca and Novartis agro-pharmaceuticals, was no different. What was different, though, was that they decided to tackle the issues head on instead of ignoring them, and -in line with management's policy of working with and consulting employees- they brought in Lance Bloch & Associates to take their whole company, approximately 20 at a time, through a 2-day workshop in Rustenburg to build a new identity, corporate culture and sense of community.

Most mergers fail precisely because these "people issues" are not dealt with. One of the key tasks was to express and let go of old legacies, unhappiness and divisions so as to "cross the line" into the new company and its new values and cutting edge principles. Remarkable too was top management's openness to adopting every one of our recommendations made in a report back to them on all the workshops. One of the results was that a workshop was held at Mt Everest Lodge in Harrismith to build real unity and direction within their own team.

The team itself discovered the benefits of Umhlangano processes to deal with issues and build a new values-based culture, and agreed to run these throughout the company over a 2-day workshop.

A celebration for the new company and a "crossing the line" ceremony were held at the Brits plant in September, which included company awards and the whole company drumming together in harmony.

FEEDBACK: This highly successful programme had the following impressive results:

 Over a 2-day workshop 20 internal facilitators were taught to manage conflict and facilitate Umhlangano's themselves. In the year of these programs Syngenta SA had the best results and improvement of any Syngenta company worldwide.

 Cementing improving business results

 Building a new unified Syngenta culture

 Better motivation and attitudes

Ratings of participants from the whole company after the workshops: 71% Excellent, 27% Good, 1% Average, 1% Poor

Jenni Bailey, HR Manager at Syngenta, says: "After the workshops held over a 6-week period, there was a tangible change within the organization. The majority of interpersonal relationships have improved. The process of change within in Syngenta is ongoing but Lance has assisted in creating the momentum and giving us strategies for success. As a company we have no hesitation in recommending Lance Bloch to any organization needing to address change challenges."

"The workshops and Umhlangano's have enabled us to build enough trust and ability to engage with each other to enable us to start with World Class Manufacturing. This would never have been previously possible." Alan Smith, Factory Manager.

In addition, a visiting British Syngenta manager was absolutely stunned at the level of engagement, discussion and problem- solving evidenced by all at the Brits factory, when witnessing an Umhlangano facilitated by us.

White managers with brooms and hockey sticks in the middle of Soweto, catching trains and taxis, walking around meeting the people and sleeping cramped on floors in residents’ homes? All part of the highly successful Project Vuka within First National Bank Metro Delivery, where all 8 500 urban branch employees were taken through a change process that is still making waves nationally.

We were proud to be strongly involved, working directly as Senior Consultants under visionary consultant Mike Boon - previously CEO of South African based multi-national Group Africa - and his Vulindlela Network. Lance and Lolo Maka, were part of a six-member team that helped Mike select, train and coach 22 internal facilitators within FNB and also facilitated the many sessions scheduled to expose the entire workforce to the experience.

This was an exciting programme that created a national debate. Not only were there 2 full page articles about Vuka in the Sunday Times Business Times and commentary in the Star, but also excited interviews on national radio. Wendy Lucas Bull, in a Sunday Times interview, claimed that while morale as measured had been at “minus 5” before Vuka started, it now stood at 80%. Whereas before Vuka 90% of FNB staff were considering leaving and sales were declining, a record new transmission and cheque accounts were recorded in March.

Together with another initiative, it appears the workshops, together with the values-based follow-up Umhlangano process –in which “people issues” are tabled and resolved and a sense of community is built into each branch’s corporate culture – have enabled Inland North region (most of the old Transvaal geographically) to reduce internal fraud by 95%. Great results from a great programme!

RESULTS:

 Internal fraud reduced by 95%
 Record new accounts
 Morale up from –5 to 80%.
 “An overwhelming success” –Peet van der Walt, FNB Metro Delivery Chief Operating Officer
 Praise for “nation-building” and real transformation –Max du Preez in article in the Star and John Robbie on Radio 702