Dr. Joy Ntetha
Deepening & Broadening: An Ubuntu lens to deepening the well-being of all
Session summary:
Recents results suggest that the truest nature of leadership is distributed and participatory (Harris et al., 2022; Wilson, 2016; Spillane et al, 2012; Gronn, 2012). This is a paradigm shift away from traditional views of leadership that are individualistic, one directional, and localized only at the top.
Ubuntu is an indigenous African philosophy that can be explained with the statement “I am because we are”, meaning that our identity is intrinsically interconnected with each other, and to nature (Tutu, 2002). Ubuntu inspired leadership helps us to frame leadership as a collective, shared, and servant based practice that is distributed amongst different actors and factors within a particular context where the dominant vibration to be achieved is harmony/synergy (Ntetha 2018; Bayat et al., 2016).
In the rising complexities of the VUCA world, an integrated and radical approach to coaching leaders is needed to broaden and deepen the intervention.
What if leaders weren’t coached in silos and were coached in the context of others? What if people were coached outside? What if people were coached in movement? What if coaching people in safe and intimate circles leads to faster results? What could coaching in nature teach us about the well-being of all things?
This session will unpack these questions through the underpinnings of an Ubuntu lens, using Coaching Outside, an coaching circles experiment that we’ve been running in South Africa at The Nomalanga Tribe as a case study.
Bio: Dr Joy is on a personal mission to humanize business and other spaces she influences and cares about. She is an award-winning Psychologist and a leadership enthusiast who believes in the power of leading together to generate holistic and shared prosperity. Until recently, she was the Chief of Staff to two CEOs at Deloitte Africa. Her unique approach to work is to co-create empirical solutions that borrow from science, culture, emergent practice, and lived experience. In 2021, she founded The Nomalanga Tribe, a startup focused on improving the holistic well-being of leaders in Africa, and plays the role of Chief Visionary and Healer. We are built on the simple belief that healthy people co-create healthy ecosystems, where all people within them can thrive. Dr Joy has taught and worked with leaders in the United States, United Kingdom, China, and the African continent across different industries and sectors. She is a life-long learner with many passions and vision to contribute to a bright future for Africa, her people, and beyond.