Cape Town, 27 Aug 2018
Women are pioneering ways of driving sustainable business in the hyper-connected and digitised world within which we live. And they are doing this through an innate skill, robust vulnerability.
IEIT Cyberlogic Group COO Annabel Mead and Group CFO Lise van Schoor, along with Eset Southern Africa CEO Carey van Vlaanderen, hosted their clients at a Women in Business event, with the topic: Mastering energy in the age of digital burnout. The morning was set up as a retreat where considered luxuries, beautiful food and thought-provoking stories were shared.
Guest speaker Dr Ela Manga, integrated medical doctor and author, shared the fundamentals of robust vulnerability in the workplace. How do we use our femininity in the very male dominated tech environment to grow, learn and influence? Using this concept, she framed the importance of it in the business environment. Dr Manga set the context with her insights on how women can sustainably manage their energy and prevent burnout if they are aware of how one responds in times of stress, noted Marisa Lloyd, Chief Energy Coach at IEIT Cyberlogic.
"We find that in times of stress and depletion, people react in various ways in which they think will assist them to manage the current situation, where, in reality, these reactions are counter-productive," said Dr Manga. These coping mechanisms include acting in a silo mentality; we withdraw and separate ourselves from the very people, teams and support systems on which we need to rely. Having the silo mentality in today's demanding working environment contributes to lack of focus, energy and productivity. It is in these very moments when we need to open ourselves up and discuss with our colleagues ways of living more authentically in the workplace."
After the keynote address, we opened a panel discussion on how to make robust vulnerability a consistent reality in the workplace. Female leaders in tech industries, ranging from robotics to engineering, engaged the audience by sharing their personal journeys.
As leaders in the technology space, IEIT Cyberlogic and ESET Southern Africa saw this as not just another women's networking event, but the opportunity to create a hyper-personalised experience which would allow women to engage authentically and share real experiences of how to succeed in the world of business today.
As host of the event, Lise van Schoor, Group CFO of IEIT Cyberlogic, gave a brief overview of IEIT Cyberlogic: "In April last year, IEIT Holdings acquired Cyberlogic and merged it with its other MSP interests to form a new national and international MSP. Over the past year-and-a-half, we have really focused on aligning the cultures and energies of the people in our group. Customer experience and service underpins everything we do at Cyberlogic, and great service only comes from a well-balanced team."
Van Schoor explained the importance of investing in our greatest asset, our people. "Fifty percent of our senior management team are women and the same demographic is represented on our executive team. Part of our people strategy includes deploying extensive resources into our Cyberlogic Flow programme, including the introduction of an energy and performance coach, who is available to all our staff to use as a sounding board for their professional and personal growth, and who runs all our leadership development programmes for us."
The IEIT Cyberlogic Exco has taken a long-term view on this programme. "People don't just change overnight," noted Mead, it requires consistent engagement touch points and fresh initiatives to shift and realign mindsets. We came to the realisation that our approach would not be for everyone, and had to accept that as we move along this journey, some would move on, some would find their flow and unlock new opportunities, and new people would join, adding to and enhancing our balanced culture of high performance."
"Many companies just don't get that one-day employee workshops every quarter are a waste of time, and if you truly want results and to improve the lives of your team and your clients, you have to work at it every day," noted Mead and Van Schoor.
"This is a game changer for any business. And it shows: we were voted the number two MSP Mentor in South Africa, and this year we made it onto the top MSPs in the world list."
IEIT Cyberlogic partnered with ESET for the event. ESET is celebrating 30 years of global innovation and 15 years in South Africa, and is IEIT Cyberlogic's preferred anti-virus and security supplier. "ESET has made huge strides in the South African market to tailor their product for our specific needs. Cyberlogic is also very proud to have been named the number one National ESET MSP Partner this year," concluded Van Schoor as she closed off the event.
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