Reflections and Insights on Leadership Competencies in Botswana: Lessons and Experiences for African Managers

Abstract

In Africa, leadership crisis stalls many organisations from realizing their goals and holds back people from attaining their dreams. Yet African culture is rich with experiences which draw from the wisdom of traditional leadership, with its emphasis on communality, hard work and kindness as emblematic in the spirit of Ubuntu (Botho) (van de Colff, 2003) an African philosophy which inculcates compassion and integrity. This paper reflects on insights of leadership practices in some of Botswana organisations to appreciate the challenges they face in steering the leadership pedestal and their impact in fostering organizational success. The role of leadership is examined against a set of attributes and functions. For example, articulation of vision, staff welfare, customer care and more importantly the extent to which leadership contributes towards social justice and equity is considered. The study was conducted in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana, based on exploratory mini practical survey. This involved unstructured personal interviews with industry leaders’ from private, public and non-governmental entities, to understand their roles as leaders and explore issues that preoccupy them and appreciate the challenges they face. Key findings from this research are the realization that the intersection between scholarship and practitioners provides a powerful mediatory process of reflection for leadership learning, more especially in transformation. Leaders who reflect are constantly imagining the vision of their organisations and ways of actualizing it.