October 18, 2005
By Ndaba Dlamini
PILISIWE Twala-Tau, director of the City of Johannesburg's Region 3, is undeniably a role model of workplace leadership. She is buoyant and oozes confidence - and made it to the final six of the 2005 Boss of the Year Award.
Twala-Tau, nominated out of a total of 283 candidates nationwide, emerged as a finalist after undergoing a lengthy and gruelling judging process.
She was nominated by a member of her staff and seconded by two other people in her department.
"I qualified as an entrant and went through the difficult interview process. I am glad I managed to convince the judges that I could be one of the ambassadors for the award."
The Boss of the Year Award is in its 16th year, and is sponsored by Transnet Foundation. It is organised by Dictum, publishers of Career Success magazine and is open to people in leadership positions nationwide.
Judges were looking for a person who had a knack for growing employees in terms of skills and personal development, Twala-Tau explains. They sought a person who demonstrated his or her management aptitude to employees and also made the employees feel part of the organisation.
Twala-Tau says that what people have to understand is that people in management positions did not start off as managers and directors. People have to be developed to realise their potential in life and that is what the award is all about - growing employees.
"Employees have to be treated as equal because times have changed since the apartheid period when employees where regarded as simply 'employees'."
Twala-Tau started her career at management level when she was working for the Greater Pretoria Metro in 1996 as director for economic empowerment. She says when she applied for the post, she had "never smelt management before", but through believing in herself and hard work she managed to pull through.
Six months down the line she applied for a position as executive officer for economic development with the Johannesburg Southern Municipality Local Council - and landed the job.
Twala-Tau fondly remembers her "pet project", the Hector Pieterson Museum in Orlando West, Soweto. "That was my first project for the City where we developed a mere stone commemoration site into one of the top tourist attractions in Joburg."
Besides the R16-million Hector Pieterson project, she also worked on the Bara-Link, Kliptown and City Deep development projects.
"All these development projects required people management skills, that is, being able to deal with people and acknowledging that people are different and come from different backgrounds."
Twala-Tau speaks highly of several people she has worked with who have progressed in their fields - she clearly has a gift for spotting talent and potential.
She sees it as a mission to show people "somebody cares for them".
Success for Twala-Tau has not come on a silver platter, though. She has worked hard academically and, among a string of qualifications, has a Bachelor of Commerce degree, a certificate in local economic development, and a post-graduate diploma in public management under her belt. She is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in public management.
She is married to the City's mayoral committee member responsible for finance, strategy and economic development, Parks Tau.
Twala-Tau is determined to play an even more meaningful role in leadership. "There is a general notion that many local governments are not doing well. I want to grow the capacity that we have in the country at all levels in terms of developing human resources."
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