Profile of Mariane Vorster

Mariane Vorster

Mariane spent 14 years with Deloitte where she was involved first in the accounting field. She then progressed on to business consulting and later to human resource development. Since leaving the corporate world, Mariane has established her own consulting and coaching practice. Her passion and focus is on providing strategic, leadership development, concentrating on the transfer of skills and knowledge. She has drawn on international thinking and combined this with an African approach to humanism to produce leadership development programmes that are relevant to the South African context.

Her passion lies in increasing the value of individuals in organisations, both from the perspective of their humanity and in terms of the institutional knowledge they represent. This process requires changes from the traditional ‘command and tell’ approach to leadership to coaching styles where the potential of every individual in the organisation is recognised and released.

As a coach, Mariane prefers to work with people who are on the brink of a breakthrough to a new and unique level of thinking and performance. This radical change can be accelerated by the presence of a challenging ‘mirror’ ion the form of a coach, and a space where individuals are able to access their personal genius.

Mariane has both taught in and run a coaching school. She is currently the treasurer of COMENSA (Coaches and Mentors of South Africa) is part of the Bridging Gaps Coaching Consortium, an organisation of coaches involved in transformation work within organisations. They are at presently involved in an 18 month project at a leading KZN hospital.

Mariane’s qualifications include; ACIS (accounting), MBA – Cardiff Wales, and MComm in leadership from Natal University. Mariane completed her initial training in coaching under the Metaskills Institute in 2002 and since has completed a variety of programmes including Accessing Personal Genius, Diploma in Coaching through The Coaching Centre in Cape Town and Spiral Dynamics with the international authors of the work.

Other things you might want to know

Masters of Business Administration, University of Wales, 1999

Dissertation: Factors that influencing the successful implementation of information systems in a heath care environment.

The teaching methodology was traditional with exams.  It taught me how to get through lots of data and to store information smartly so that I could access it again. 

Masters in Commerce Strategy and Organisational Dynamics, Leadership Centre, University of Natal,  2003

Dissertation: Laggards, Learners and Leaders in Diversity in South Africa.

The research showed that South Africans had learnt tolerance but not acceptance.  The teaching methodology in this degree was action learning.  The approach used in research was qualitative.  The foundation of the Learning Centre work is in systems thinking.  I learnt about chaos and complexity, systemic thinking and the value of being totally open minded in research.  You never know what you find when you realise you will do not know it all. 

Diploma in Coaching

One of the saying we have as coaches is that you cannot take anyone where you have not taken yourself.  To develop as a coach, you have to go on a personal journey.  I have been amused by watching myself constantly finding new ways of seeing and being.  And the journey is not over.

Clients

We learn from every interaction.  What follows below is what I leant from my clients.  A special thanks to you all.

“Box clients”.  These are the clients that store their accounting data in a box all year and deliver this with a smile and say “here are all the details – make the financials”.  What this taught me is that not everyone cares about the detail and records.  However, if you want to be in business, you have to get this right.  I help people get over the barriers to doing this by creating simple, manageable systems that help them and their accountants.  I turn data into information.

“Sugar industry” I have worked with sugar cane farmers setting up their record systems. At Illovo I spent a year setting up performance management at 8 mills and head office. I was involved at SASA in an organisational design project.  I set up the accounting system for Cane Growers in their service line where they do the accounting for several farmers.  I coached a senior management team at NCP, the alcohol producer.   

“IT systems” In the late 80s and early 90s many businesses were introducing computers for the first time.   Clients often turned to their accountants for guidance.  I could press one more button than anyone else so I became the computer “expert”.  I got involved with setting up accounting systems.  What we then found was that computers drive new processes and that people’s jobs needed to change.  So I became proficient in organisational redesign and IT system selection.  This was also my first introduction that real people run systems and that you ignore their feelings, fears and desires at your peril.

“Forensics”   I have often felt that if we could harness the ingenuity of the criminal portion of minds of ordinary people, we could be the greatest country in the world.  During this stage I lost my naivety about people and take a firm approach to risk management in businesses.  This is often one area that is overlooked as businesses grow and owner managed businesses often find themselves the victims of the less scrupulous. 

“Government” In the days of two capital centres in KZN, we attempted an organisational redesign project.  This assignment taught me a great deal about government and the complexity of the concept of readiness for change.  A project at the Knysna Municipality exposed me, at the initial stages, to the comprehensive plans of the government in developing and expanding local municipalities’ service delivery.

“Business Process Reengineering”  In the late 90s businesses were looking for any way possible to increase profits and reduce costs.  This included automation, centralisation, rationalisation and so on.  Most of this work was done in the manufacturing sector.  This was difficult work as many people lost their jobs.  My learning from this period is that organisations should  be looking at the logic of their structure and procedures all the time so that there is no need for revolutionary change.  This is how I teach clients to work today.