Sustainable Development Report2010

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Kimberley Undergound's Leadership Development Programme

When asked where home is, Jacqualine Dicks, a loco operator at Petra Diamond’s Kimberley Underground mine, simply smiles, shrugs, and says, “the mine”. Mining is in the blood for Jacqualine, whose father, grandfather and stepfather have all served the industry. While the mine is very much a home away from home, the co-ordinators of the mine’s Leadership Development Programme, she says, have become parents away from home.

Jacqualine is currently in her last year of the three-year junior Leadership Development Programme, which serves as part of her training to become a shaft carpenter. She has found the communication skills training particularly valuable as it has improved her relationships with her co-workers by teaching her how different people communicate and how to respond accordingly.

Cor Grobbelaar, an artisan and boiler maker, participates in the five-year senior course. Balancing a full-time job, the programme, and a personal life that includes small children has been a challenge Cor confesses, and he jokingly admits his gratitude that time and stress management formed part of the first-year training. Cor’s third year will involve advanced technical and computer skills training.

Both Jacqualine and Cor utilise the lessons they are learning every day, with Cor describing the programme as “tailor-made” for practical life. The programme has prompted Cor to study further and he is determined to do a business management course in the future, for which Petra has expressed its support and encouragement.

The ultimate aim of the Leadership Development Programme, Jacqualine succinctly states, is “to develop us as future leaders of Petra,” and by the motivation and ambition evident in the likes of Jacqualine and Cor, future leaders they will be.