Exclusive Interview With Barbara van Heerden – Executive Coach

“Coaching is change management one person at a time”. Jenny Mc Nulty. Regarding coaching, she specialises in business leadership coaching but can work within any organisational context. Her personal passion is leadership coaching to equip leaders to effectively lead multi-cultural and cross-cultural teams. She follows a strengths-based leadership coaching model that enables leaders to harness their strengths in such a way that their weaknesses become insignificant. She successfully concluded of a PhD in Leadership Coaching Towards Intercultural Competence in 2016. Working across cultures is often seen as a problem to be solved rather than an opportunity to be explored. She is also an experienced programme and change manager. She has led large-scale programmes in corporate South Africa over the last 25 years and has worked in five different African Countries - Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Swaziland.

Barbara van Heerden, Executive Coach

Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.

I was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa and have an identical twin sister. I have enjoyed a long career in the financial services sector with the last 25 years as a programme and change manager delivering large scale programmes some spanning 3 – 9 years. I have acquired 5 degrees studying part-time including a PhD in Leadership Coaching Towards Intercultural Competence.

From an early age, I had a fascination for different cultures probably because of growing up in one of the most culturally diverse countries on the planet. I was the top history student at high school as studying history touches on studying different times and how different cultures showed up. I finished high school with half colours in academics.

The truth is I just love learning. I don’t want to sound like a nerd, but learning has enriched my life more than any other pursuit. I want the t-shirt that says “so many books, so little time”. As recently as last year I completed an IQF accredited course for coaching using the enneagram and am currently studying coaching for positive intelligence based on research from Stanford University in the USA.

My sport of choice is hiking and am passionate about walking in nature. I have summited the Drakensberg – the highest mountain range in South Africa – three times and have completed numerous 5-day hikes all over South Africa. Being in nature also includes a love for swimming in rivers and lakes and I swim regularly in a lake on the estate in which I live.

My hobbies include playing the keyboard, singing in a community choir, reading, doing tapestry and mosaic.

I have two rescue dogs from Cape Dachshund Rescue and their names are Bonnie Bon Bon Delovely and Chocochino!no!no! We of course love walking together.

My adopted son, who is Sotho, and his family live with me. His wife and sister in law are from Zimbabwe. Kyle and Kim have a daughter, Grace and she is 18 months old and the sunshine in my day

What is your business name and how do you help your clients?

My business is Nzou Global Leadership Development. Nzou is the Shona word for elephant. I have chosen the elephant as my logo because one finds both female and male positive leadership role models in herds of elephants, and, my roots are in Africa. My business helps business leaders develop into Jedi master leaders able to inspire and lead their organisations into an uncertain future. What kind of audience do you target your business towards?

My ideal customers are business leaders who are serious about their personal development. Leaders who understand that ongoing personal leadership development is a journey and not a destination. Leaders who are serious about inspiring followership and in making meaningful contributions to changing the world for the better. Leaders who see success as more than increasing profits and shareholder value. Leadership is not only about competence but also about character. Leadership is not only about success but also about significance. Leadership is not only about financial gains but also about delivering real value to customers. Who inspires you to be the best that you can be?

I am inspired by so-called people leaders who understand that they can only create meaningful change in the world through collaboration epitomised in the lives of Gandhi, Mr Nelson Mandela, and Bishop Desmond Tutu. I am also inspired by my own teachers and coaches with whom I have been privileged to learn and grow. In particular, my first leadership coach Ms Jenny McNulty who was generous and abundant in sharing her knowledge and insights and equipped me to lead organisational change.

Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.

During the completion of my PhD I coached 7 Executive leaders from 5 different African countries regarding the learning of intercultural competence. I have successfully coached 3 leaders in BP in Angola and a leader born in Djibouti working in IFC a division of World Bank in South Africa. ”For 6 of the 7 candidates, the goal of learning intercultural competence was achieved with direct business benefits being achieved. Please visit my website for a relevant case study. I also created a coaching model and framework that can be used by other coaches. I also created a cultural orientation framework best suited for business leaders based on other cultural orientation frameworks Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.

At the end of my Honours in Clinical Psychology I was very disillusioned with the psychology profession who seemed to view everyone as broken or sick. I then attended a leadership development programme at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and was introduced to leadership coaching as a coaching client. This experience had such a positive impact on my own learning journey that I pivoted my learning strategy towards coaching and have found such fulfilment in this work.

Visit my website for more info!

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