| responding to the challenge of skills
development |
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As a globally expanding high-technology company, our operations require a wide range of
skills, from highly proficient scientists and engineers, to lawyers, financial specialists and
artisans. Our current and future success depends on our ability to attract, retain and develop
highly skilled individuals. In South Africa, there is a recognised shortage of suitably skilled
labour, and it is a challenge to acquire the required professionals to help us sustain
Sasol's growth.
As the company grows, both locally and internationally, the need for the right technical and
managerial skills to ensure effective delivery of projects becomes increasingly acute. There
has been a dramatic increase recently in the number and size of Sasol projects, escalating
from about 160 projects in 2005 to about 380 projects in 2007. Recognising the nature of
this challenge, we realised in 2005 that the company required a more holistic and integrated
approach to developing and implementing structured leadership and technical training and
skills development initiatives. |
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| Our approach to skills development is informed by the following specific
drivers: |
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the desire for a fully performing workforce that delivers excellence in our existing
businesses; |
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the need for sufficient competence to support Sasol's growth strategy and to ensure stable
operation in all our plants; |
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the desire to ensure that Sasol's operations globally are implemented in terms of the
"Sasol way" of doing business based on an understanding of Sasol's values, leadership
philosophies and standardised processes and practices; and |
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providing a meaningful contribution to addressing South Africa's skills shortage and
unemployment concerns, by integrating skills development priorities within the company's
corporate social responsibility initiatives. |
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| Improving project execution abilities through Project TalentGro |
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| Our commitment to promoting skills development has been formalised into Project TalentGro.
This is a multi-pronged approach aimed at improving our internal skills development capacity,
expanding Sasol's operational support to grow key talent pools and influencing the external
skills development environment by participating in other initiatives and engaging industry
leaders. An essential part of this initiative is the realisation that Sasol business units need to
operate as interdependent entities; they cannot focus only on addressing the talent needs
of their own business units, but need to contribute to the growth demands of the group as
a whole. |
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| The project has four primary focus areas: |
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Stream 1 - Shaping Sasol's internal skills development capacity at all levels to meet the
demands of current businesses and the group's global growth ambitions. |
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Stream 2 - Developing critical and scarce competencies through pre-appointment
initiatives, aimed at ensuring that a pool of talent will be available to us when required
according to the capital plan. |
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Stream 3 - Effectively influencing the external skills development environment by
participating in government initiatives and engaging other industry leaders' skills
development to enable and enhance delivery of streams 1 and 2. |
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Stream 4 - Focusing on ad-hoc/quick-win opportunities that arise through the project to
enhance short-term delivery. |
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| In terms of our competency framework we are committed to building a range of different skills
sets, including the technical skills and knowledge required for "functional competence", basic
management skills, problem-solving and decision-making abilities, and capacity in terms of the
"Sasol way" of doing business. |
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| Promoting leadership in the Sasol talent pipeline |
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| In addition to ensuring the continuing development of our current employees, it is important for
us to secure a pipeline of new leadership talent. With this in mind we have instituted a series of
leadership development programmes that address issues starting with managing oneself and
managing others, through to programmes focusing on managing businesses and the enterprise
as a whole. At senior leadership level three programmes have been developed with the aim of
ensuring that future leadership needs are met: |
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Business Women in Leadership (BWL) - focusing on developing high-calibre potential
female executives; |
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Accelerated Leadership Development Programme (ALDP) - focusing on developing
candidates from previously disadvantaged backgrounds as potential future leaders; and |
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Accelerated Management Development Programme (AMDP) - focusing on developing
emerging managers, with a particular emphasis on diversity candidates. |
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| Four priority groups of employees have been identified for accelerated
development: |
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one hundred high potential functional managers; |
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professionals with high potential and technical talent; |
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diversity candidates in selected categories which are under represented;
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scarce resources and specialised skills. |
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