ABOUT
the founder
Dr Claudelle von Eck
An experienced Executive and Non-executive Director, Dr Claudelle has served on numerous international and local oversight bodies and committees
Her
Background
An experienced Executive and Non-executive Director, Dr Claudelle has served on numerous international and local oversight bodies and committees. Her academic qualifications include a BA degree (Psych major) (Wits), Business Management Diploma (IAC), Master in Business Leadership (Unisa’s Graduate School of Business Leadership), MCom status (UJ), DPhil (Leadership) (UJ).
She is a Fellow of the IoDSA and a Certified Director. She is also a member of COMENSA.
Dr Claudelle is a well sought after keynote, panellist and moderator who aims to bring depth, insight and contribute to the success of your event. She is well versed in various topics related to leadership, governance and ethics.
Bring
depth
and
pizzaz
to your event
Executive
Coach
At an inflexion point in your life and need someone to walk with you through your transition? Dr Claudelle is an experienced holistic Coach and Mentor, who has helped many to make the necessary changes and take quantum leaps in their lives. One of her favourite mottos in life is: “We all have a purpose which was entrusted to us in order for us to make a meaningful contribution to the collective”.
As her schedule limits the number of one-on-one coaching and mentoring sessions she can take on, Dr Claudelle offers group mentoring sessions to subscribers from time to time.
Strategic Advisor
and
facilitator
Dr Claudelle is an accomplished strategist with a particular insight in change management, ethics and governance. Her area of specialisation is leadership, which was the focus of her doctoral thesis. In addition to facilitating exec and board strategy sessions, she is able to assist the leadership in raising the bar in key areas of concern, such as governance, ethics, board assessments, executive assessments, building strong teams and leading through change and uncertainty. Her level-headed pragmatic approach helps teams stay on track, take quantum leaps and craft compelling visions of the future.
In the
Media
SA is struggling with good governance
Internal Auditors must help rebuild South Africa
CFO Awards 2015
"A strategic inflection point is an event that changes the way we think and act."
— Andy Grove
Intel’s Co-Founder
Opinion Pieces
Outsourced morality
It is incumbent on each of us to constantly evaluate whether our moral compass is still pointing to our true north. We need to continually ask ourselves whether our actions are informed by our own beliefs that we carefully considered, before we concluded that they are fit to be used in our moral compass. How certain are we that we are not just believing what we are because those around us believe it? Or, that we are believing what we are because those who we have crowned with a halo believe it? Applying one’s own mind is paramount if we were to avoid the temptation of outsourcing our morality to others.
Know your rhythm
It is important that we work with our rhythm instead of against it. That is a sure way to increase our productivity. In the last number of months, I have started to notice that the number one issue I am dealing with among my coachees is burnout. Often that is because of a lack of understanding of what their rhythm is. We look after ourselves as leaders because we need to give those we lead the best version of ourselves. Selfcare is part of our leadership responsibility.
Silent collusions, groupthink and unbridled power
The word ‘collusion’ has its roots in Latin. The Latin prefix col-, meaning “together,” and the verb ludere, “to play,” come together to form collude. The related noun collude has the specific meaning “secret agreement or cooperation.” (Mirriam Webster dictionary). The Collins dictionary defines collusion as “to act together through a secret understanding, esp. with evil or harmful intent”.
On the face of it, it seems clear that there would need to be a conversation of sorts to reach an agreement to cooperate. The question that is plaguing me however is whether the need for a verbal conversation or written agreement is necessary to enter a collusion. Could you have two or more players playing together without any meeting, secret or not, and without a verbal or written agreement to cooperate?
Encouraging empathy in your organisation
The Covid-19 pandemic and related lockdowns around the globe has put a spotlight on the need for empathy. Many have been able to display great empathy, while others have been struggling. I suspect that those organisations that have typically been bottom line driven, would have found it a lot more difficult to deal with the levels of empathy required in dealing with employees who suddenly had to go into a mini diaspora, while dealing with the inevitable bereavement that accompanied the virus as it wreaked havoc.
Balance strength with flexibility
I have noticed an increase in conversations around agility across various professions. This is a natural consequence of the increase in volatility, turbulence, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in the environments organisations are forced to operate in. The upheaval caused by the pandemic has shown us all just how important agility is. Most organisations have found that they needed to adapt faster than they had ever imagined possible and some hard lessons were learnt in the process.
I have however begun to wonder whether we are not going to fall prey to overemphasising one organisational competence at the expense of other important components.
Be honest about where you are
The result of having to lead uphill, is that many of us tend to set our own needs aside and focus on what must be done. We must soldier on, a noble quest. Fighting for survival in an upside-down world. If not us, then who? In the process we tend to miss the signs that tell us that we are in trouble, at risk of running our own immune systems into the ground. And, in turn, increasing the chances that we are becoming walking risks ourselves. You are no good to the organisation when you are no longer your healthy self.
