Dr Dumisani Magadlela explores how leaders and managers can nurture and grow their teams purposefully, in what he characterises as the fast-changing world, through Ubuntu-informed coaching and ways of connecting and relating. He provokes us to consider our human potential and progressive spirit in this ever-changing world:
“My stance on emerging realities is to be a little more positive, rather than merely underlining the real limitations imposed by the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity, brittleness, anxiety, nonlinearity and incomprehensibility of fast-paced changes” (p14)
His quest is to address “how to engender genuine human interconnectedness” (p1), and the book “offers ways to consciously connect with people in mutually enriching relationships” (ibid) to build the “desired high-performance and value-adding cultures” (p4). He means to challenge our “established patterns and practices of human connection” (p4) and he presents alternatives through the consideration of Ubuntu. In the book, Dr Magadlela distills what Ubuntu means in terms of management and coaching practice. The book is practice-focused and based, and it aims to be a practical resource.
In the beginning of the book Dr Magadlela shares his intellectual and developmental journey as a transformational coach. He discusses his internal conversations between African and Western frameworks, in particular the complementariness between Ubuntu, Gestalt psychology, and systems perspectives such as Integral theory.
“Over time, my own thinking and practice from my upbringing, and my coaching practice and human relationship management, have all been influenced by reading and working with these relatively new Integral maps” (p7).
He talks about his “dance” between Ubuntu and Integral Frameworks. Perhaps he could have shared more on this dance with the reader.
Dr Magadlela shares his organisational stories and those of three other coaches. Along with these stories he shares various tips, tools, exercises, and reflection questions for leaders and managers. He writes these in an easy, conversational style that makes these accessible – as the book is meant to be a “quick and easy read” (p4). Most importantly, he makes it practical and achievable. In this way, he invites the reader to join him in appreciating others and our shared, interconnected, and diverse existence:
“I have grown to appreciate the multifaceted nature of human connection, and the various lenses we use to look at, perceive and try to understand our complex worlds of human coexistence” (p6).
