“An Ever-Expanding Network”

“Anita facilitated a Strategic interaction between our newly formed Exco. The session far exceeded my expectations as it was both formal yet relaxed and resulted in a cohesive Team with a solid base. I was particularly impressed with her capacity to be flexible and allow conversations to reach their logical destination without being a slave to a time clock. Anita is a professional with wide experience and this flows easily into relevant discussions. This session was, in my opinion, the best I have experienced and I would highly recommend the process as well as Anita the facilitator. “

We have worked with Anita Craig for nearly 4 years in developing a Leader Training Program on Recognition. This is original work in South Africa and much needed in the corporate workplace. Recognition meets the intrinsic psychological need for appreciation of individual efforts. This, in turn, engages hearts and minds, strengthens the employer/employee exchange relationship and creates a mutually beneficial cycle of positive performance with measurable outcomes. Achievement Awards Group focuses on performance improvement initiatives in Corporate South Africa. An important part of Performance Improvement is Recognition. Over 30 years and many client applications have taught Achievement Awards Group that Recognition is a skill that is not instinctive to every leader and not taught in formal Management programs – hence the need for a training program. Anita headed up the project, as Principle Consultant, by researching the subject and trainings available worldwide, assisted in the design of the program, attained SSETA Organisational Accreditation and course accreditation. She and I worked closely together over this period of time. She delivered the training program to clients, and facilitated Train the Trainer workshops to skill up facilitators countrywide, as well as managed and co-ordinated the initial sales process with our creative, marketing and business development teams. Anita, in her capacity as External Consultant, worked closely with other external facilitators, contractors, and the development team internally comprising of marketing, design, creative, and other business directors. Anita is diligent, conscientious, detail oriented, reliable and persevering – she gets the job done. Anita’s focus helped us deliver the finished product.

Anita worked with the Consulting team of Aligning Strategy, on The Turnaround Transformation and Strategic Alignment Programme, for our business, Aveng Grinaker-LTA, an R11 billion listed company in Johannesburg, South Africa. The TT&SA was a major Business Transformation imperatives that ran over a 3 year period and that had been initiated to address widespread business challenges. The programme was a top down, leadership driven approach to transformational change. The programme was broadly inclusive in its approach, adopting a systems thinking approach. It developed the skills and competencies of people across the business, creating a broad based awareness of business shortcomings, and engendering a better quality of thinking. Focus group work allowed numerous people to become part of a solution rather than the perpetuators of an entrenched system. Anita worked closely with me in the business for a period of 10 months, up to August 2011. We concluded the strategic findings of the programme and wrote up the Business Case for Change. This involved interviewing Exco members and Managing Directors, synthesizing team discussions, research, data collection and analysis of the work produced by the 22 Work Teams included in the programme. The teams worked across the boundaries of 5 different business units, investigating, analyzing and then proposing what changes could be implemented to improve the business. The Business Case presented the Company Leaders with a number of recommendations, based on sound research, to assist in their stated objective of strategically realigning the business. Anita engaged with a number of key individuals within the company to transform extensive data into meaningful information. She worked to agreed deadlines and managed the delivery of the finalized Business Case. Anita’s focused approach to delivery contributed significantly to the finalization of quality product.

“It is not often that one has the absolute pleasure of working with someone who is not just a consummate professional in her work, but who is able to draw so naturally on a blend of expertise, experience, intuition and sensitivity. Anita understands organisational systems and processes, but above all, I found that she has an instinctive ability to integrate empathy and support for the people behind the suits – their needs, their feelings and ultimately how to draw out the best in them, whether at senior executive level or across the workforce. Anita was principal consultant for Achievement Awards Group in the development and accreditation of the Heart of Leadership Program, the only SETA accredited Recognition Training course in South Africa. The Program leverages the skills of senior leadership and management in applying staff recognition as a key business driver. I assisted Anita from 2010 to end 2012 in researching and creating a management recognition survey as part of the Leadership Program, using our online eValue strategic and diagnostic survey tool that generates insights about the recognition practices of senior management. On a more personal level, Anita’s enthusiasm and warmth was an absolute pleasure and I am sure that any organisation engaging her services will recognise these qualities.”

Anita took our business to the next level. Her energy and experience were invaluable in setting up platforms for future growth.

Anita was the Program Manager of a strategic turnaround program Aligning Strategy was implementing at Protech Khuthele (PK), a JSE-listed civil construction company based in Johannesburg when I worked with her as the Program Director. My appointment was made when the program was fully designed and ready for implementation, a process Anita had single-handedly managed under extremely trying conditions as PK evolved from a small privately owned company to a large listed entity with all the required systems, processes and policies that go with it. Anita was brilliant at her task, communicating exceptionally well at all levels of the organisation and building and guiding 3 distinct work groups across 9 functional levels of the program and managing the entire project to ensure the delivery of program outcomes and milestones. Of particular importance to note is her compassion and empathy for the people in the change process and her understanding of the role that effective teams and people play in achieving program outcomes. She was equally at home leading the executive team in searching for strategic goals as she was guiding the program coordinators to find innovative ways of spicing up the different program meetings and no matter how hostile and pressurised a meeting became, Anita could always be relied on to diffuse the situation and keep the team focused on common goals and outcomes, even if this required some out of the box thinking and behaviour. Anita is an extremely accomplished individual with a great understanding of business and business dynamics. She is well read and knowledgeable and has a very approachable disposition resulting in her forging good relationships with people at all levels of the organisation. Her integrity is unquestionable and her work ethic of the highest order, never one to shirk lending a hand or going the extra mile. I found it extremely pleasant and very easy to work with Anita, she is polite, well mannered and very lady-like but not a pushover, a rare combination.I am confident to recommend Anita and know she will be an asset to any organisation.