The Founding Leader

Avidity - lead with energy. Our slogan and brand identity stems from our understanding of leadership and the importance thereof. Avidity believes leadership to be a service to others. There is power in helping people get excited about what they do, and inspiring and motivating them to unleash their full potential.

A leader is the one in charge, the person who convinces other people to follow. A great leader inspires confidence in other people and moves them to action. Therefore, A leader is the head guy or gal, the one running the show (Vocabulary.com, 2017).

According to Investopedia (2015), leadership refers to “the ability of a company’s management to make sound decisions and inspire others to perform well.” Leadership is, of course, subjective. But its foundation stems from one thing: the ability of an individual to establish a following among other individuals or teams.

Every leader has his or her, own style and strategy, which varies based on different influences and external factors. An organization is based on the foundation of an operating system. Each employee is assigned a role that contributes to the successful running of the business system and the responsibility delegated, as well as assists the brand in fulfilling its mission.

While most businesses adopt a traditional hierarchal structure, as depicted in the diagram on the left, where the CEO gives clearance on all major decisions that need to be made within the organization.

The positions occupied within the organization are ranked according to importance and those at the bottom, are secondary to those at the top. The business structure is then grouped into departments according to the functions that they carry out. Heads of Departments will ensure that the employees that fall within their scope carry out the necessary tasks required of them according to the stipulated brief or job description. The structure is generally classified into three management groups - upper level management, middle management, and lower management. However, as effective as hierarchal structures are, collaboration involving all employees is less evident.

Modern organizations such as the Wok Box and its sister entities have started to lean towards flatter structures were one person is at the top and everyone beneath reports back to them. This structure facilitates greater communication and independence encouraging staff involvement and improving overall team moral.

While Avidity scrutinized and assessed what it takes Mr. Beatt to lead a string of successful business entities we could not help but stop and marvel at the sheer magnitude of what it would have taken our late President Mr. Nelson Mandela to reshape, persuade and change an entire country through his magnanimous, revolutionary and transformational leadership style.

In the words of Mr. Beatt – founder of the Wok Box and subsidiaries – “A true leader does not create followers, they create more leaders” (Beatt, 2017). This saying holds true to Mr. Beats’ leadership style and structure across his business entities.

Avidity found that the Wok Box maintain a fairly horizontal structure of leadership and strive to empower employees at every level to be independent. They strongly believe in the power of transparency, as Mr. Beatt says he believes that sharing more information with the entire team allows them to make aligned strategically driven decisions that, in turn, enhance performance (Beatt, 2017).

Mr. Beatts business leadership team responds to the goals and strategies of the company. Each member of the leadership team has a function within company activities and overseas how they are carried out.

The Manager of Wok Box – Gift has worked for Mr. Beatts different stores for a total of 10 years. He has learned and progressed through the ranks to now be fully accomplished at running the Wok Box.

Mr. Beatt similarly puts his trust in Part owner and Manager Zen Beatt of SW1. Zen is the son of Mr. Beatt and is like his Dad a qualified chef. With emphasis placed on customer service and satisfaction Mr. Beatt holds his staff responsible and encourages them to flex their creative muscles. The Chefs are given full reign to test and develop ideas while the managers are also encouraged to conceptualize more innovative consumer-centric dinning ideas. Members of staff are seen as “team leaders” in their various departments and roles they are highly inspired by Mr. Beatts passion to succeed. Internal stakeholders at the various entities have given testament as to the hugely positive influence of Mr. Beatts leadership.

Manager of The Wok Box

Head Chef and Kitchen staff

Manager of MILK

Manager and waiters @ The Wok Box

A head chef, headwaiter & head barman are team leaders in their respective departments. Each one is held accountable for the standard of work produced within that operation. Due to the warm climate that is inspired by following a great leader the staff are happy, dutiful and exude a sense of pride as they perform tasks to match Mr. Beatts expectations. Mr. Beatt holds regular update meetings that encourage the specific team leaders to emulate a similar sense of leadership practice by serving the client first rather than the focus of just selling for a profit.

By shared vision, value and honesty the teams within the entities work hand in hand to contribute to the success of each organization.

There are many different leadership styles found within businesses today. These may include:

• Autocratic leadership; this is an extreme form of transactional leadership, where a leader exerts high levels of power over his or her employees. People within the team are given few opportunities for making suggestions, even if these would be in the team or organization’s best interest (Anon, 2017). Hitler is a good example of an autocratic leader.

• Democratic leadership; Although a democratic leader will make the final decision, he or she invites other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process. This not only increases job satisfaction by involving employees in what’s going on in the organization, but it also helps to develop people’s skills (Anon, 2017). As was the style of our late president Mr. Nelson Mandela.

• Laissez-faire leadership; This phrase means “leave it be” and is used to describe a leader who leaves his colleagues to get on with their work. It can be effective if the leader monitors what is being achieved and communicates this back to his or her team regularly (Anon, 2017).

• Task-oriented leadership; A highly task-oriented leader focuses only on getting the job done, and can be quite autocratic (Anon, 2017). A teacher or lecture can be seen as a task-oriented leader.

• Transactional leadership; This style of leadership starts with the premise that team members agree to obey their leader totally when they take a job on: the “transaction” is (usually) that the organization pays the team members, in return for their effort and compliance. As such, the leader has the right to “punish” team members if their work doesn’t meet the pre-determined standard (Anon, 2017). Similarly a project manager sits in place to oversee and maintain the success of a job.

• Transformational leadership; A person with this leadership style is a true leader who inspires his or her team with a shared vision of the future. Transformational leaders are highly visible, and spend a lot of time communicating. They don’t necessarily lead from the front, as they tend to delegate responsibility amongst their teams. While their enthusiasm is often infectious, they can need to be supported by “detail people” (Anon, 2017). As previously mentioned our late President Mr Nelson Mandela was the epitome of this style of leadership.

• Charismatic leadership; A charismatic leadership style can appear similar to a transformational leadership style, in that the leader injects huge doses of enthusiasm into his team, and is very energetic in driving others forward (Anon, 2017). While the word charismatic can be easily adapted to the Church a Pastor is a good example of this style of leadership in the way he is able to lead a congregation.

Mr. Beatt acknowledges that leadership is a driving force behind any business, and it takes creative thinking and a clear vision to turn your business into the success you desire it to be. Avidity discovered Mr. Beatt employs a mix of both democratic and transformational leadership.

He is successful in his ventures as he has primary knowledge of the business workings and how best to exploit situations to gain competitive advantage, however he trusts his employees and encourages them to be part of the betterment of business. Mr. Beatt also ensures the highest standards are maintained by having the last say and sign off. However while democratic Avidity have sensed the nature of his transformational leadership during conversations with employees. He has encouraged growth and developed both his son Zen and Manager Gift over the years. By growing them he is able to trust and hand over duty.

We found Zen to be a more relaxed Laissez-fair leader within his restaurant SW1 as he works along side his fellow chefs. He does play close attention to detail but is however trusting of the standard the team works to achieve.

Gift of the Wok Box however we found to have more of a task orientated style of leadership, being high strung and a flamboyant personality Gift ensures his delegates are performing as instructed to avoid miscommunication from the top down and to ensure all workings of the Wok Box are upheld.

While their leadership styles like the people vary there are key elements that are aligned in order to always ensure the best possible end result.

Innovation calls for a different type of creativity: team creativity (Adair, 2007). All organizations should act as teams; the effectiveness of innovation in the workplace requires a team effort.

“Without real commitment from the top, real innovation will be defeated again and again by the policies, procedures, and rituals by almost any large organization.” -Anon

Its always been a risky task for organizations to make creative processes a priority as they don’t necessarily create short term success, but rather build organizations over time, which to many organizations may seem trivial at the start. Traditional roles of leadership have also changed and shifted towards a more open minded, collaborative approach. Organizations today need to use innovation as a key driver for their business to sustain future growth, and it starts with top-level management.

Adair (2007) states that leaders need to encourage a climate of innovation throughout their entire organization to ensure team effort and involvement. In order for this to happen they should take the following steps into account;

• Introduce organization; It reduces confusion and introduces formalities into relationships;

• Delegate the work to specialized teams; Work in collaboration (both internally and externally);

• Get the balance right between freedom and order; Innovation does not happen by chance; it must be planned;

• Learn from everyone! Innovative organizations outside your scope of work may just hold the secrets for you.

An organization that is driven by a Leader that thinks out of the box and places value on innovation there is a greater chance of the people below learning from and mirroring the innovation culture. On the flip side if an old school autocrat with a deep sense of traditional management helms an organization, lower level employees will be stumped and innovation may very well be snuffed out.

A true leader in her field, Oprah Winfrey has been reported by Forbes to be one of the greatest female Leaders of her time. Her Leadership philosophy prioritizes people, vision and values. As a result Miss Winfrey has been able to lead hundreds of thousands of people of mixed races around the Globe. Within her organization she is often quoted as saying she knows what best shoes she should wear for her show but her team are the real stars in the background. By giving them the green light to showcase her to the world in the best way she entrusts them within their roles to come up with the best platforms and solutions to air her messages. Miss Winfrey although belonging to the older generation has allowed new age techs to constantly adapt her messages to suit the digital era. Constantly upgrading and growing her holdings she inspires change and growth within her teams.

The numerous leadership styles display key characteristic that all future leaders should employ. With the above in mind, we can further examine The Wok Box’s leadership innovation culture and how Sean’s leadership style influences, cultivates and encourages innovation within his organization.

Chef Sommaih stated “that when asked to relocate to South Africa with his young family he did it with excitement, as he trusted that Mr. Beatt would have the power to change the course of their lives”. Now settled in SA they are enjoying life here and are a dual income earning home. Sommiahs wife is employed full time as a masseuse at Milk.

Mr. Beatts Leadership has led to the growth of not just industry but of people. The longstanding relationships that have been cultivated within the entities as well as the good climate attest to a great leader. Mr. Beatt believes he knows a fair deal about flavors but together with the knowledge of his entire team “the Wok Box, knows a lot”. It is this collaborative innovation culture that causes ideas and stirs for not just the next great meal but also the next great entity. With the successful string of Wok Box, Green Parrot, SW1 and Milk – Avidity believe an innovative leader like Mr. Beatt can take a good idea and make it great.

Thank you.

References;

• Beatt, S. (2017). The Wok Box.

• Beatt, Z. (2017). The Wok Box.

• Mokuene, M. (2017). The Wok Box.

• Vocabulary.com. (2017). leader - Dictionary Definition. [online] Available at: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/leader [Accessed 28 Apr. 2017].

• Leadership, 1. (2017). 11 Ways to Define Leadership. [online] Business News Daily. Available at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3647-leadership-definition.html [Accessed 28 Apr. 2017].

• Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: http://you will no doubt use some of the leadership styles featured below, at least some of the time. [Accessed 1 May 2017].