25 Feb 2024

Coaching and mentoring play key roles in improving performance in the workplace.

Addressing the 2024 Botswana Prisons Services Senior Officers conference in Francistown recently, Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) director, Ms Gaone Macholo said the practices built confidence, developed new skills and improved motivation.

Ms Macholo explained that they also provided a valuable opportunity for feedback and constructive criticism.

Lecturing on the topic, Coaching and Mentoring, Ms Macholo stated that important platforms in Botswana could be broken down into three key areas: project delivery, service delivery and people management.

Project delivery, she said, entailed the ability to complete projects on time and within budget while service delivery referred to the quality and efficiency of services provided by government.

People management refers to the country'’ ability to attract, retain, and develop talent, explained Ms Macholo and added that public service continued to perform below expectations during the on-going two-year National Transitional Development Plan.

She said during the first quarter of the plan period, public service only achieved 2.3 per cent of its targets.

Ms Macholo said, there had been no notable improvement in 2024 with a current performance rate of five per cent as of January.

“This shows that the public service is making no progress towards meeting its goals,” she added and highlighted the importance of coaching as a tool for driving performance.

Ms Macholo said organisations or institutions that implemented the mentoring and coaching programmes had seen better results than those lagging behind.

This suggests that mentoring and coaching can be powerful tools for improving performance and achieving desired outcomes, Ms Macholo said.

Chief of staff in the Office of the President, Mr Boyce Sebetela said high performance culture could not be achieved without team building.

Speaking on building a high performance culture through strategic leadership, Mr Sebetela explained that a high-performance culture in the workplace referred to a work environment where employees were motivated, engaged and productive.

“It is characterised by a shared commitment to achieving goals, focus on excellence and willingness to take on challenges. In a high-performance culture, employees are empowered to contribute to the organisation's success, and the organisation provides resources and support needed to achieve this,” said Mr Sebetela.

High-performance culture he said started with individual employees and was about each employee bringing their best to work every day, taking ownership of their work and being accountable for their results.

He said when individual employees performed at a high level, it could have a positive impact on the overall culture of the workplace, qualities needed to achieve a high-income economy for Botswana by 2036.

Mr Sebetela said a high-income economy required a highly motivated, engaged and productive workforce and a high-performance culture was essential for creating this environment.

“Without this culture, it will be difficult for an economy to achieve the high levels of innovation, productivity and growth needed to become a high-income economy,” he added.

Mr Sebetela said key areas of high performance were people, customers, internal processes, and finance and further stated that organisations needed to invest in their people, deliver value to their customers, have efficient internal processes, and make sound financial decisions to achieve high performance.

Focusing on those areas, he said, organisations could improve their overall performance and achieve their goals.

He therefore, said a strategic leader was essential for creating a high-performance culture because they set the vision and direction for the organisation and align resources with its goals and inspire others to achieve results.

Without a strategic leader, it is difficult to create a culture of high performance, Mr Sebetela said and explained that a mindset change was necessary for leaders who wanted to create a high performance culture.

He implored the leaders to move away from the traditional mindset of command and control and embrace a more collaborative and empowering approach by trusting and empowering employees to make decisions, giving them the resources they needed to succeed, and creating an environment where people could learn and grow. ends