| Thobile Dlamini | |
| I look for opportunities to deepen my understanding and insight | Often |
| I believe that people are more than their work and I am spiritually emotionally and socially considerate | Consistently |
| I take time to think about work and the changes happening around us | Often |
| I see how the work done today affects work that may be required tomorrow | Consistently |
| I consider and discuss how decisions and actions could affect other work groups | Often |
| I share information and listen to others to make better decisions | Consistently |
| I pay attention to local and international current affairs which impact our business | Consistently |
| I take time to understand the rest of our business | Consistently |
| I look for ways to improve our business processes and for reducing siloes | Consistently |
| I am very aware listen really well and notice important clues that are not obvious to others | Often |
Please provide examples of how you demonstrate systems thinking and sense-making ability in your career (Approx 100-300 words) | |
| People may forget what was said, but they will not forget how they were made to feel. This belief guides my leadership and reflects a commitment to integrating spiritual, emotional, social, and cultural intelligence with technical and commercial capability. Leading teams in South Africa also demands sensitivity to our history and its ongoing psychological and systemic impact. While grace matters, it must coexist with accountability and performance. Stepping back as a leader is essential, as it is easy to become consumed by the everydayness of operations. My EMBA journey created the space to reflect critically on my leadership practice. I realised that although our strategic intent was to compete effectively in the hospitality sector, my hands-on style had drawn both myself and my management team too deeply into execution. Critical work such as environmental scanning, sense-making, and future positioning had been sidelined, leaving the organisation more reactive than anticipatory. To address this, I introduced structured monthly management sessions designed to move us out of day-to-day pressures and into strategic reflection. Framed around cultivating a culture of curiosity, these sessions enabled us to surface bottlenecks, interrogate cost drivers, explore revenue opportunities, assess competitors, and strengthen cross-functional collaboration. The result was clearer information flow, fewer silos, and a leadership team that now sees itself as system stewards rather than operational firefighters, identifying risks and opportunities earlier and responding with greater alignment. The hospitality industry consists of an interconnected ecosystem where disruption in one area quickly cascades across the guest experience. Through my time in the industry I have strengthened my systemic thinking, sharpening awareness of cause and effect across security, front office, IT, food and beverage, housekeeping, and finance, and informing process design that anticipates downstream impacts. I learnt early on that shared understanding was fundamental in pursing a common goal. Upon joining UCT, I identified that financial reports excluded managers with limited financial acumen. By redesigning reporting and integrating guest-experience analytics, I strengthened accountability, improved cost control, and enhanced service quality. We live in a time of globalisation and remaining attentive to global and local trends is essential. Shifts in digital platforms, consumer expectations, and operating models continue to reshape our environment. I listen for subtle cues, draw on intuition informed by experience, and treat uncertainty as a teacher that deepens insight and supports long-term strategic thinking. |
