The Key Takeaways From Talent Agenda Series East Africa 2020

The 5th annual Talent Agenda Series East Africa Conference will take place in Nairobi from the 8th-9th September 2020. Thanks to the success of 2019 we have already registered more than 75 delegates from 15 of the regions leading brands. By re-booking now these delegates have benefited from a 50% discount; confirming their passes for only $550 each, and only $2,500 for a team ticket, which includes up to eight passes.

To re-book just follow the link below to contact our Management Executive Geoffrey Silwizya.

Conference Presentations

Trust in Leadership

This session was powered by the insights from the Careers in Africa Employer of Choice study. It explored what African professionals think about their senior leaders and what they expect from future leadership. The key takeaways were:

• Over 70% of east African professionals surveyed trust in decisions made by senior leadership

• 50% feel that leaders need to do more to develop future leadership in the organisation and understand employees’ general concerns

Optimising The Employee Experience: A Look Ahead To 2020

This session was powered by the Talent Agenda Series East Africa platinum partners, Willis Towers Watson. Delegates explored best practice for employee experience  study and learned how to change their employee experience immediately. Attendees discovered that:  

• Improving the employee experience is key to increasing financial performance

• Kenya in comparison to the African average excels on certain indices but falls well short of world class standards

• Need to ensure basic goals around purpose, reward and people are achieved

HR Tech Expo

This session was powered by the Talent Agenda Series East Africa silver partners EABL.  This best practice case study explored how HR professionals could utilise technology to elevate the employee experience. This session showed that:  

• Appropriate technology is an enabler of productivity and a facilitator of a great employee experience.

• Value of technology solutions should be targeted on removing trivial stresses that sour the employee experience

• How can we introduce simple resolutions which are easily accessible and understandable?

Creating Extraordinary Results through Changing your Company Culture

This topic was presented by British American Tobacco and LVCT Health. These sessions focused on best practice demonstrated by brands who have changed their company culture for the better. The key lessons were:

Employee Wellbeing: Going Past Solely Benefits

This panel discussion was powered by Willis Towers Watson and focused on the wider impact of mental health and employee wellbeing as part of the employee experience.  Key learnings included:  

• Emotional wellbeing is not a key focus in East Africa

• 1 in 4 East Africans will suffer from a mental disorder at some stage

• Organisations, insurance providers and the government have a responsibility to find suitable wellbeing solutions

Show Me The Money

This session was powered by the insights from the Careers in Africa Employer of Choice study.  The session explored what African professionals think about their rewards and extended packages.  

• The Employer of Choice survey showed that over half of professionals feel they are not compensated fairly by their organisation and do not believe that their pay is as good as other organisations

Developing a Strong Employer Brand

This session was presented by Sandeep Madan, CEO of  Scanad, part of WPP  Scangroup. This session  explored how HR Professionals can develop and maintain a strong employer brand. This session showed:   

• The importance of a strong employer brand in talent acquisition and retention cannot be underestimated

• Strong brands tell good stories which emotionally connect employees to their overall employer brand

• Brands should reflect their people, product and culture

OUT WITH THE OLD, BRING IN THE NEW

This session was delivered by GCC Associate Rekha  Kent, Director of Redstone Consulting. The session focused on our reactions to change, why change often fails, and how we can make successful organisational changes.  Key points from this session included:  

• People have a natural discomfort to change; yet without change a business will not survive

• Communication is the foundation of a successful change program

• Leaders should introduce programs one step at a time and continuously celebrate milestones

Rethinking Diversity and Inclusion: Moving Beyond Gender

This session was delivered by Angela Gachui, Founder/Principal of 3LB Associates. This session explores diversity and what it brings to  organisations and  identifies steps to becoming more inclusive in the workplace.  Key points in this session included:  

• The diversity conversation is often limited to gender, race, age and disability

• We need to include indices such as education, thinking styles, religions and personal life experiences in our conversation

• There is a proven business case for diversity. Research shows that diverse teams are 35% better in their performance

• To be more inclusive, we need to change our mindsets, de-bias our environment and monitor progress using analytics

Employment Law 101: How will the New Amendment Affect You?

This session was presented  by Rosa Nduati-Mutero, Partner of Anjwallah and Khanna LLP. The session focused on the recent changes in employment legislation in the region and how they are affecting HR and business leaders.  Key points in this session included:  

• Kenya: The Kenyan Law Reform Commission has proposed introducing the Employment Amendment Bill which will impact HR procedures

• Key areas to be affected include dispute settlement, working hours and leave

• Tanzania: the Tanzanian Parliament is considering limiting the amount of professions, expatriates can be involved in

• Uganda: a bill protecting the rights of casual and domestic workers is being drafted

• HR professionals need to understand these changes to avoid being negatively implicated

Future Proofing HR

This session was led by Timothy Oriedo, Founder and CEO of Predictive Analytics.  

Focused on what is driving HR challenges, the session explored the recent evolution of HR, and how HR leaders can stay relevant and position themselves for career growth and success. Key points in this session included:  

• People analytics will be a game changer in ensuring organisations remain effective

• To meet data requirements, executives need to educate themselves and teams on the basics of artificial intelligence and machine learning

Personal Leadership: Understanding the Why?

This session was delivered by GCC Associate Angie Garcia Forner, Founder of Garcia Forner Consulting. The session explored leadership agility, focusing on the impact that agile leadership has on organisational performance.  This session showed that:  

• To provide the type of leadership that will spearhead change, we need to assess our own personal leadership styles

• Improving your ability to anticipate change, generate confidence in your team members, initiate action and evaluate results