Making a difference matters

“Ralph Penning talks about his working life and philosophy and reflects on the state of the Third Sector in Aotearoa New Zealand”

As Brendon Ward, CEO of the Australasian Society of Association Executives so aptly put it in his foreword to The Future of Associations by Omar Soker: “From the beds we sleep in to the clothes we wear, the cars we drive on the roads and bridges we travel on, the design and construction of the offices we work in and the homes we live in, to the professional services we access and the charities we benefit from, there is an association working hard to improve products, services professionalism, public policy and ultimately society”. It is this area in which I spent much of my career and that I recommend to my successors as a deserving employment and deployment sector.

In reflecting on a working life well lived, I regard myself as a pioneer, who charted many of the career options that are confronting first entry job seekers in the gig economy, in which temporary positions will be increasingly common. In this environment organisations contract with independent workers for short-term engagement. This trend is well underway and unstoppable. Artificial intelligence and robots are poised to replace a good chunk of today’s workforce. The future favours individuals, who are mathematical and scientific enabled, whereas those of us with linguistic artistic inclinations are at a distinct disadvantage in competition for fewer opportunities. With 70,000 newly trained and qualified entrants to the New Zealand job market each year and growing, it is relevant to reflect on their career options and opportunities. Many will not fulfil their dreams and be able to take full advantage of their acquired learning, unless they are proactive in their preparations. More worrisome are the survey-based statistics of 60% of the workforce being disengaged and unfulfilled in their present positions. Unfortunately, little attention has been paid to the Third Sector consisting of non-governmental organisations, public benefit charities and membership associations representing a wide variety of interests and occupations as meaningful places of employment. At the time of writing there are 60,000 plus volunteer driven entities registered in New Zealand. This sector deserves attention in its long-term need for governance and management competent participants. Its main distinguishing feature is the ability to not only meet financial requirements, but primarily make a difference. From the outset I took the decision to divide my life to achieve both objectives. The following observations may assist undecided recruitment prospects on their journey. The non-profit sector is a people business. It calls for creativity, initiative and good inter-personal skills; and to a lesser degree for technology driven participants. It is an equal opportunity employer with strong female participation both at governance and chief executive level and offers flexible work arrangements.

Speaking from experience as a long-term employer and management mentor, I rate the prospects for employment in any form based on a set of essential credentials. My first impression during a pre-employment interview is based on the applicant’s enthusiasm, state of preparation, presentation and inter-personal skills. Well suited candidates usually stand out from the crowd with an early identified inclination and fit that is people centric. Part-time employment of any kind after school hours and during holidays indicates a willingness to work and handle several responsibilities. Where a degree is on offer that is not discipline specific, I am not too concerned about the choice of papers leading up to it. The inherent credits I am looking for, are the ability to think creatively, reason and source information. I regard every subject pass that is relevant to the job on offer as a bonus. The ability to communicate in excellent English, both verbally and in writing is essential, as are competencies in the use of social media and web based communications. Special interests, even of a recreational nature, are relevant. Participation in competitive sport, regardless of success, also matters. Last, but not least, volunteering of any kind beyond the call of duty is a good recommendation. Moreover, can the interviewee offer any credible referees in support of her/his candidacy? My own career path may provide some of the answers to these recruitment questions. I speak from first-hand experience as an employee, portfolio contractor, career association executive and non-profit volunteer board member.

Every career has a beginning and an end. To be fulfilling and rewarding, calls for a certain amount of research and planning with a strong element of being in the right place at the right time. The workplace has undergone a virtual revolution over the past twenty years and is continuing to change with greater emphasis on intelligence work. Traditional organisation structures are overtaken by an unstoppable move towards greater flexibility in human resource utilisation. Up to 30% of the workforce are already part of a “gig” economy, meaning that an increasing proportion of the working age population are engaged in some form of independent, on-demand work. Greater reliance on automation and artificial intelligence will drastically change many occupations and professions and with it, how we prepare to meet the demands of the workplace of the future. In part this is reflected in my own career development and I dedicate my experiences to the next generation of aspiring young adults in search of opportunities in the application of their talents and acquired learning.

I had the advantage of a good secondary education with remarkable role models to draw on. Certainly, there were influencing factors from my father in particular, who was very challenging and sowed the seeds that gave me direction. I also had the benefit of trusted employers, colleagues and clients over the years, who provided splendid examples. Much of my early success is attributable to a particular service club. At the time of my joining the JC organisation (Junior Chamber of Commerce) I was in a business career in Pretoria, South Africa. My interest in collectable books brought me into contact with a supplier, who happened to be the Chapter President. He could see a close alignment of my values with the JC philosophy, which made me a suitable membership candidate. He invited me to come to a branch meeting, which I did. At that particular meeting I met a number of kindred spirits and became acquainted with the projects they were working on, which I found very appealing. JCs gave me the chance to experience a good governance model that enabled orderly succession; the JC organization used the American Legislature Rules of Order in the conduct of their meetings. The JC Chapter membership consisted predominantly of business savvy and professionally qualified individuals, who were good role models. There was a strong presence from the Jewish business community, who adhered to an obligation called Tikkun Olam¹ in which you have to perform acts of kindness to improve what you see missing in the world. It requires you to do charitable deeds, which are intended to have wider ramifications beyond your immediate sphere of influence. This found visible expression in some the projects the JCs were engaging in.

I was transferred by my company at that time to one of the satellite cities of Johannesburg and with it I transferred my JC membership; and again I found a very buoyant Chapter in the city of Boksburg. We set ourselves some ambitious objectives, in respect of running projects that would have wider meaning and implications. This applied in particular in a country like South Africa under apartheid with enormous disadvantages for the black population. One area we identified, was the economic development of black traders in the African townships. Quite a lot of negotiation with the police and other regulatory authorities was required to gain access to our students. We finally received approval to go at night into townships to conduct basic small business courses. In the process of the project’s implementation I got to know the insides of Soweto and Mamelodi from many visits. To me this was a very meaningful project, because we were able to observe the deprivations of black South Africans under separate development. On the positive side we were able to take some remedial action in enabling the course participants to work more effectively in serving their communities, particularly in commerce and retailing. It had a twofold benefit for me in gaining a better understanding of the other side of South Africa, from which I was largely separated as a white citizen. In the course of the project we enriched the opportunities of the participants with our business skills training in a future majority ruled country.

There was very little entertainment of any substance in Boksburg. So we surveyed the local community, mustered the necessary resources and drew on our organisational ability to stage a variety concert as a fund raiser. It produced a substantial surplus, which we could apply in running our charitable projects. The remarkable thing about JCs was the ability to ‘think big’. It gave us access to a human resource, who were better equipped, with many in well qualified positions and professions. It enhanced our ability to draw on this collective strength with a better understanding of the world around us. I was co-opted to the chapter committee during my second membership year. The JCs followed the American prescription in allowing the national President Elect to appoint his governance team. Following his assuming the national office, I was invited to join the President’s team in the Project Research and Implementation portfolio. This opened several doors in contacts with agencies of the State at an early age. To enable me to commit the time required to fulfil the responsibilities of this portfolio, my employer released me from full-time duties for the duration of my year-long term in office. The JC experience contributed to my career development with a twofold benefit of practical business and governance training that met the JC founding principles of Leadership Training through Community Service. It laid the foundation for my later career in the non-profit sector.

Putting the JCs to one side, there was another career enhancing element, because the company I worked for at that time, Hudson Tyre Company, had an understanding with the Dale Carnegie organisation. Younger executives were given the opportunity to be sponsored to undergo the Dale Carnegie Programme, which contained elements of what translates into ‘do not do to others that you don’t want to have done to yourself’. The programme contained a strong element of human kindness and understanding in accepting other viewpoints and diversity. I was able to develop inter-personal skills, build and maintain relationships with an acceptance that we are not all the same, but share common interests and experiences. From a personal perspective it can be construed to be more attuned to the world around us and the people who live in it. That was the key element in my personal development. The book and Dale Carnegie best seller How to win Friends and Influence People should be prescribed reading in preparation for meaningful employment or business success.

Another organisation that I can recommend from personal experience is Toastmasters as a grooming environment in a social setting to develop good interpersonal and presentation skills. While technical understanding and competence weigh in heavily in employment generation, being able to communicate effectively at all levels will play a greater role in career development. Toastmaster clubs can be found in many countries with the additional benefit of facilitating friendly relations between members and countries.

My first work experience arose from my friendship with a fellow boarder, when I attended Pietersburg High School in the northern province of South Africa, while my parents were in Europe. Her parents invited me to spend several school holidays on their farm or in their town house at Naboomspruit in the maize belt of the Limpopo Province. It gave me the opportunity to work in the Springbok Flats Garage, which held a John Deere agency. This experience came in handy in my subsequent career. During my second term of Christmas/New Year employment my manager and her commercial teacher husband decided to go on an overseas vacation and leave the workshop foreman and me in charge. With the exception of a minor misjudgement on my part everything went smoothly. It occurred in the form of an attractive female representative, who persuaded me to buy advertising space in an unknown publication. On later reflection it was not a good purchase. When the invoice arrived after my boss’ return, she questioned me with “What did she look like? There was not much more to explain, and she undertook to undo the transaction on the grounds of my inexperience.

I lost my father when I was sixteen years old. He died very suddenly and there was no preparation for this event. Under normal circumstances, I probably would have gone straight to university after matriculating to study languages and archaeology. Due to the circumstances, and particularly in support of my mother, it was considered more appropriate for me to find my way into a paid position that would give me time to contemplate and also to determine which way I really wanted to go. Being able to reflect on a career choice and the preparation leading up to it, applies to many young people, who have little perception of the prevailing work environment and how they can structure themselves to build a career.

With the assistance of a family friend, who was a senior public servant, I was offered a cadetship in the Public Works Department in Pretoria. As chance would have it, they placed me in the legal section, which gave me a good introduction to construction contract law and the compliance that goes with it. This experience contained elements of commercial law, which was useful in my later professional development. I stuck to this for two years, when I came to the realisation that I was not really cut out for a public service career. In those days jobs were not plentiful. Under such circumstances it would not have been prudent to leave the civil service, which provided a lot of security, for something that was more risky and commercially orientated.

One of my colleagues was from Namibia and, like me, had a good working knowledge of the German language, which I had acquired during a four year stint at a German Grammar school. He came into the office one morning and informed me that the BMW master franchise dealership was offering a cadetship vacancy for somebody with German language proficiency. My previous employment in the retail motor trade, during term breaks while still at school, gave me the winning edge for the position. I also had to pass a perception test to see whether I had any technical abilities. As part of my induction I worked in the various departments of the organisation over a six year period and ended up as the manager of the Spares and Accessories Division. We supplied the whole of Southern Africa. Club Motors was a member of the Motor Trade Association and from time to time I attended meetings in the place of our general manager. This gave me an early introduction to an industry organisations and its role in the national economy. Not unexpected, after six years with the same employer, there comes the time when other opportunities beckon.

Through my business relationships, particularly in the purchasing area, I was known to the directors of a firm of tyre and battery merchants, who worked exclusively in the Pretoria area. They invited me to join them with an allocated territory at my disposal. I regard myself as a people person with a liking for selling things, which featured prominently in automotive spares and accessory marketing. The following couple of years were probably the most prosperous time of my life. There was an incentive bonus attached to my salary and I repeatedly won the monthly sales competition. I got to understand the wider dimension of motor vehicle maintenance out in the field and on the road, including trucking operations. Although the hours were sometimes long and arduous, the money was very good and compared favourably with my previous management position.

I owe much of my success to the influence and encouragement of first wife, Monica Nel, who was a school teacher. She said after a given time in my new job “Can you see what you are doing as a career option? What qualifications have you got to carry you into the future?” I relied with “I really enjoy this work and am good at it”. She responded with “but it is not something you can do for any great length of time; yes you can move up in the organisation, but is this something that you really want to do for the rest of your life?’” And I had to admit “well, perhaps not”. Then we did a bit of a reality check and she said “What have you done in the past that really interested you?” After reflecting on my career to date I replied, “Well, I liked the legal side of my public service position, and that is something I could possibly build on to”. Following my wife’s prompting I commenced extra-mural studies to qualify as a Chartered Secretary with majors in both law and accountancy, but needed a practising work environment in an approved firm.

In my relationship as a maintenance provider to the automotive industry I had acquired the account of the Walls ice cream company, a member of the Unilever family, which is well known in Australia and New Zealand as Streets. The branch manager sat me down one day and over a cup of tea enquired into my further career plans. We continued our conversation at a following visit. It soon became obvious that he saw some potential in me and was prepared to offer me employment. We talked it through, and he said to me “Well, you haven’t got much accounting experience, but you have business nous. I am looking for a branch accountant, and from what you have told me, you have leanings towards the legal side. We operate a financial reporting system that does not require a general skill set. Does this fit into your career plans?” It could not have been a better fit. So I joined T Wall and Sons in Pretoria; and within a relatively short period I was promoted to Head Office in Boksburg on the East Rand.

Outcomes achieved: It taught me the value of good advice and the importance from time to time to reflect and make adjustments for the better.

Crunch Time

To me this was a very progressive step, but as sometimes happens, there are ups and downs with advantages and disadvantages attached. I was told to assume transitionary control of a newly acquired competitor business unit and was put in charge of a major distribution centre of theirs in a neighbouring town. It required that I had to travel between Boksburg to Springs every day. I was given quite a specific brief, which meant that I had to bring that particular branch into line with the Walls operating prescription. If necessary I had to lay-off staff, who were not considered to be adaptable for a continued role with T Wall and Sons. That was a very harsh lesson for me to learn. Here was I, a no-body in my late twenties, and I had to tell somebody, who had spent most of their life with that company that they were no longer fit for purpose. As could be expected, this job involved long hours and great responsibilities. The assignment also coincided with my having to sit my final professional examinations to qualify as a chartered secretary. My wife was teaching full time, and she said to me “You have to take a hard decision”. She could see that I would not be able to be sufficiently prepared if I continued working at the current pace. She said, “I tell you what, you surrender your position and I will maintain you for a period of three months with the expectation that you pass”. So she would go off to work and I would sit at home and study full-time. I can still remember that there was a play- ground across the road from our house and I could hear the children’s voices from a distance. But in spite of the detraction I made the grade and qualified at my first attempt to become a chartered secretary and was admitted to membership of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries.

There was no chance of being re-employed by Walls and I had to find a new position. Again, it was a matter of being in the right position at the right time. We were visiting Pretoria to see my mother-in-law, when I ran into a former classmate from secondary school in Pietersburg, who was the general secretary of the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut (Federation of Afrikaans Chambers of Commerce). He remembered my ability to write good essays with an expectation that I could apply my linguistic skills in a position that he was trying to fill. My expected role was twofold; they were looking for a secretary for their Motor Trade Chamber, which I fitted excellently. It also entailed working on a monthly Afrikaans language publication, which was directed at their members in the retail motor trade. Obviously I had a disadvantage in lacking experience in the latter regard. Notwithstanding this shortcoming I was invited to meet with the editor-in-chief, who said to me after a lengthy interview “I think you can do the job, because we have tried several people with journalistic training, who didn’t understand the motor industry.” So with a lot of support I grew into the position as news editor of “Motorhandel”. Apart from sourcing editorial material and preparing the publication for print, I enjoyed being a committee secretary, which drew on my ACIS qualification (Associate Chartered Secretary). It was my first part-time appointment in a membership association executive position.

The main income source for the publishing side of this business association was from selling advertising space, as the magazine subscription was linked to membership. A subsidiary company, managed and staffed in Johannesburg, operated for the purpose of selling advertising for the magazine. When the manager of that company decided to leave in order to establish an advertising agency, it created a vacancy for somebody to succeed him. So again, my previous sales experience in the motor industry and English language fluency came in handy. I jumped at the opportunity, because it also entailed an improvement in income. On top of my salary I received an overriding commission on all advertising revenue produced by three sales representatives. The new role also gave me the opportunity to travel regularly to visit our bases in Cape Town and Durban as well as manage key accounts. With established client and advertising agency contacts to my credit and referrals arising, I found myself on the much-wanted list in my next career move. My predecessor, now established in his advertising agency, rang me one day to announce “We have taken a strategic decision to open a branch in Pretoria. Would you be interested in helping us to set up and manage it?” The parent company was Adverkor, but we named the new agency that I managed Markad (Pty) Ltd to avoid conflict with a competitor by the name of Adverto, which was also a member of the Pretoria Afrikaanse Handelskamer (Chamber of Commerce).

During my term of employment with the Federation I was also quite active in the Pretoria branch of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators in the elected position of Honorary Secretary. When I made the move into marketing communications I became founder member and secretary of the South African Institute of Marketing Management. These were the two professional membership organisations that provided me with the practical experience in voluntary sector administration at executive level that I was able to build my career on when I came to New Zealand.

The time came to put South Africa behind me and my wife and I were seriously considering leaving the country. At that particular career stage I managed a marketing communications company and my spouse was a school teacher. Of our two young children one was a pre-schooler and the other had just started school. We just felt that with the prevailing and unfolding political situation we could not see a future in South Africa. Unfortunately, this has been borne out by subsequent events. I had at one stage been politically active, serving a term as branch secretary of the ruling party. It gave me a good insight into the Westminster democratic system and how to function within it. It taught me to appreciate that political action does not always achieve the desired outcome and how to influence it with the right connection from the inside. We decided that the better option was to leave the country and find a new domicile in which we could make a contribution.

Like many South Africans competent in the English language, we were looking at countries within the British Commonwealth. Our choice of New Zealand was influenced by a fellow JC and former South African, who had returned temporarily to spend time with his aging parents. During his stay he introduced us to a number of other New Zealanders, who gave us a very good introduction and acted as excellent unofficial ambassadors for the country. This gentleman said, “If you want to consider New Zealand as your destination, I would be happy to play an intermediary role. Let me see what I can do for you.” A few months passed after his return to New Zealand before we received a message from him, in which he said “There is someone I know very well; he is a Chartered Accountant in public practice and also happens to be of Dutch origin. He is prepared on my recommendation to sponsor you to New Zealand.”

On the sea voyage from South Africa I became acquainted with a fellow passenger, who was a director of General Motors Holden. Learning of my track record with BMW, he asked “Why in heaven are you going to New Zealand? We could do with your experience in Australia”. I explained the trouble some people had gone to in order to get us there and being committed to honour the arrangement. He gave me his business card before disembarking in Sydney and said “In case you change your mind, give me a call during your stopover to pursue my offer”. Apart from never having gone back on my word I also felt disinclined to return to corporate for-profit employment.

My first impressions of Australia arising from landfall in Fremantle, Melbourne and Sydney on the way to Aotearoa resulted in an affinity that has been strengthened over the years on many visits. Since my daughter and son made Perth their permanent home I developed a special relationship with Western Australia as a preferred destination.

In those days the immigration regulations were very tight, but in hindsight were the right way to facilitate settlement. It required that we had to meet strict criteria, which we were able to comply with. It was a sunny 1st of May when we stepped off the Oriana in Auckland. We were greeted by a welcoming party including relatives of New Zealanders we had met and befriended in South Africa, our sponsor and his family.