Kessels & Smit The Learning Company

Kessels & Smit The Learning Company has been my professional home for the past 4 years. This has been one of the most rewarding times for me – both personally and professionally. Working as part of this increasingly global learning network (we are now active in Holland, Belgium, Germany and the UK as well as in South Africa, with a wider network in eastern Europe, southern Africa, Asia and the US) means we have access to ideas and innovative practices that support and sustain learning and change in a wide range of organisations and communities. And we are also our own ‘laboratory’, as we work with our own internal changes and growing processes.

As an organisation without traditional structures, job descriptions or formal reporting lines, and without human resource policies, we find new and exciting ways to connect, provide feedback and support each other in our own learning. Kessels & Smit has recently been nominated as one of the top 10 innovative companies in the world!

In South Africa we are now a growing team, consisting of myself, Andrea van der Merwe, Mandy Barnes, Paul Keursten and Neliswa Fente, and we will soon by joined by Elsona van Huyssteen. Our work is very varied, taking us to universities, companies, NGOs and research institutes, as well as individual mentoring and coaching. We have been particularly excited to work closely over the past year with the University of the Free State, which is going through a major transformation process.

The opportunity to work with both large and small organisations from different sectors provides real richness and learning for us. In addition, we work increasingly on international projects and assignments, in which we work with our international colleagues to create innovative processes in areas such as HIV, corporate responsibility, democracy building and environmental sustainability. Our colleague Neliswa Fente is focusing a lot of her time and energy in thinking about the challenges and opportunities for young professionals in South Africa and globally.

In Johannesburg we have created an exciting ‘learning space’ at the Rosebank Fire Station, which we share with a range of other consultants and specialists – people working in the fields of health, local government, IT, architecture and so on. One of the people that works alongside us is Refiloe Seseane, who runs a dynamic organisation called 18Twenty8. 18Twenty8 supports the professional and personal growth and development of young women from disadvantaged communities, and has won a number of awards for its work. We will be finding ways to develop a close relationship between our company and the work Refiloe is doing.

Viva the great people of Egypt viva!

Apologies for the long silence in this blog! The last few months have been a busy time. I have been experimenting a bit with Twitter, where I have tweeted on a variety of topics, usually in quite a random way – experimenting with the medium. You can follow me on Twitter.

For the last few days I have been impressed by the resolution and determination of the people of Egypt. By holding firm, they have achieved their singular objective of ending the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak. They know well that the hard part lies ahead – building a new democratic system. It is hard not to see the coincidence between the birth of a new Egypt on 11th February and the release of Nelson Mandela 21 years ago to the day.

The change in Egypt raises much hope for wider change in the Middle East. At the time of writing, there is an upswell of protest also in Yemen, Algeria and Jordon. For too long the region has been ruled by kings, dictators and sheiks without regard for the will of the people. This lack of democracy in neighbouring countries has enabled Israel to avoid finding a lasting and peaceful solution to its relationship with the Palestinian people. A more democratic region will inevitably put pressure on Israel to find a new accommodation.