Decansos - “the makeshift roadside shrines that symbolise loss and transformation”. Courage - “will in extreme difficulty”.

Decansos and Courage both imply moral strength to nurture and persevere. Decansos - Spanish for resting place marking the spot where there has been a death - ressurection: rest within the very symbol of pain. In order to heal, we need to go back to a place of grief and loss.To do this takes courage - Decansos.

On the April 6th,2006 Tracy and I had the privilege of taking our Nedbank delegates to Robben Island to start the first leg of their Decansos programme.

The Decansos programme allows the delegates to revisit places of hardship or turmoil in an attempt to heal . While our basis is understanding and acceptance of the diversity of our country, the Decansos journey is a incredibly personal one.

Every person born of South African origin has a story to tell. Whether they fought in the struggle, whether they were conscripted, whether the threw a stone or were a consciencious objector …we all have stories, and all of them are powerful. The program is as much about understanding yourself as it is about understanding others and accepting others.

The Decansos programme started with us getting insights into the lives of those who work on the island. We chatted to Derek Basson and listening to him, to his childhood, his understanding of his motives, and feeling his pain and melancholy I was struck by his almost hopeful outlook for our future. In fact he challenged Tracy and I. As we drew our conversation with him to a close he commended Avo for the work we were undertaking to build bridges of understanding but he also asked us how we were going to reach out to others who had no platform to tell their stories. Yes, he was talking about all those who were conscripted, all those who were imprisioned for fighting the conscription campaign, and all those who were on the borders and in the security police. I, for one, stood in awe of that request. I had as yet not thought about the other side (being black and part of the struggle myself) or of the turmoil they must go through on a daily basis. I wonder where all those poeple are…who’s helping them heal? Derek told Tracy and I about a member of the security forces who had been on his tour, who broke down and cried who needed to tell his story. I was humbled that Derek, who had been imprisioned for fighting Apartheid, now saw the need to heal his former enemies. Derek felt his pain. If he can do it so can I.

This interaction set the tone for the program.

As I look through the arial pics of the island, I notice the airstrip. It forms a cross on the far side of the island. Very poignant. I suddenly realise that this place of banishment, of misery, of human frailty is for some many people a Decansos. Derek, Eugene , Lionel and so many others who live and work in their place of pain and difficulty find courage and hope by telling their stories.

That’s what this program is about: it is about making yourself vulnerable, it’s about stripping away the protctive layers that we have shrouded ourselves in and allowing ourselves to communicate with, and interact with, an unknown.

It moves beyond the theoretical basis of diversity, it moves beyond the clinical understanding of culture and it grapples with the heart of our pain. It allows us to display and interact with our fears and misunderstandings. It allows us to relate to, discuss and explore our interpretations of events and it allows us to acknowledge our fraility. It is perhaps one of the most difficult journeys one could take in your life time but it is for me the most worthwhile.

Too often we assume that because Apartheid is over and we are all basically nice people we should just understand our differences and just get along. If only it was that simple.

Our workplaces have become such a melting pot of cultures, views, opinions, and ways of being in and understanding the world that superficial acceptance just does not make for real team integration. By allowing our own vulnerability to show, by showing and eagerness to learn about others and accept them we build the strongest bridges of all.

It is really incredible that corporate companies like Nedbank are challenging and growing their teams by taking them on programs like ‘Decansos’. What they are effectively saying is : We want more for our people, our clients, and more for our country !

Well done Sharon Kersten !!

Every time I see what this program does for people I understand my role and my passion in this country.

By now you would have realised that AVO rocks, and I mean well and truly rocks. Not only do we have a kick-ass sales team, an awesome training team, and ubercool design team and two very sexy directors but we also have a new development team which is absolutely phenomenal !!!!

SAB tasked AVO with setting up a promoter curriculum to accredit all promoters who promote SAB products. Hanli our account manager (yes, the self same Zanzabari babe) set about recruiting 5 of our youngest team members: THE TADPOLES, to source the material, develop the course and develop the material. This included looking at SAB, who they are, what they do, their products and brands, consumers, markets, the legislation around alcohol consumption, managing difficult customers and other behavioural elements.

The phenomenal thing about our tadpoles is the fact that they are all full time students. So not only do they study, they work at Avo and they took up the promoter academy challenge. They were awesome. They presented the course to SAB and walked away with 5 bookings in the bag.

These are our youngest team members led by Hanli: Peter Pan and her merry band!!

Well done tadpoles, you guys are awesome.

PS : the tadpoles are: Tazzy, Carin, Carla, Nomsa and Fransie

For too many years the word ‘leadership’ has had a flavour and a halo that has been revered by gurus and business lay people alike. Thousands of books have been churned through the mill, and millions of people have worshipped at the alter of Leadership Above All Else. My personal favourite quote that epitomizes, for me, the leadership ‘era’ is this one: Managers do things right. But Leaders do the right things!

But it’s enough now! In all the ‘leadership’ noise, most companies have been guilty of neglecting their people who are really great managers. The skill of ‘management’ has been underrated and ignored to the point where, it seems, there are not a lot of people out there who know how to do it well. There are a lot of younger managers out there who have never been exposed to any training and development to enhance their management skills, although their participation in ‘Leadership Forums’ has probably reached an all-time high!
And the scariest thing of all for me is that stats are showing really clearly that although people join companies, they leave bosses, to the tune of 6 out of 10 resignations.
Managers are often promoted into their roles because of functional excellence, but these poor folk often have no idea how to take their game to the management level: it’s a very different skill!
2006 needs to be the ‘year of the manager’. It’s time to elevate the game and status of the manager, and help managers transform themselves into better managers of people.
Managing people well is all about figuring out their strengths and learning how to play to them as individuals, rather than putting people into neat little boxes and playing everyone the same.
Avo has spent 10 years helping managers to figure out how to connect to and build relationships with the people in their teams. Some of the blue chip companies we have worked with have been able to double their revenue in the space of a year, just by building real management capability into their management team. There can be no better sustainable solution than focusing on true management capability for continued success.

Avocado Vision has offered logistical and training support to the South African Breweries for the past nine years in their Sales Academy Programme. The Sales Academy is an intensive training programme for field reps. There are approximately seven academies a year. All elements are covered such as sales & distribution strategy, marketing strategy, trade marketing, brand development, consumers and personal development. Avocado Vision project manages the academies and provides training on the academies, in the areas of relationship-building, cultural fluency and team-building. Avocado Vision also project manages and trains on The Sales Management Leadership Programme which targets Sales Mangers and is held annually at the SAB Training Institute. We are busy developing a High performance Sales Academy with SAB as we speak…so watch this space!

Sales Academy

Sales Management Leadership Programme


Management Development ProgrammeOne of the most exciting leadership programmes on the South African Breweries annual training calendar is the Management Development Programme. This programme sees approximately 40 local and international delegates gathering at the SAB Training Institute to embark on a three week leadership journey. Avocado Vision project manages this exciting programme.  Avo was tasked to present a module on entrepreneurship and innovation on the MDP, that was creative, novel and above all, that would allow the delegates to laugh and learn. In collaboration with SAB and the UCT GSB, we designed ‘The Apprentice Challenge’ a programme tailored to challenge delegates to see if their learned, theoretical knowledge translated into real-world entrepreneurial and original thinking.