Dr Philile Mkhize, Chief Operations Officer, Technology Services at Absa Group.

Being a chief technology operations officer means having fingers in every slice of the company pie. It requires being actively involved in the development of the tech strategy from a company perspective, getting the buy-in of every colleague to collaborate on ensuring alignment across business units and functions.

Holding this role at Absa Group is Dr Philile Mkhize, Absa COO: Technology. Her contribution is core to the organisation and intrinsic to adoption of technology and support infrastructures.

“The COO role needs leadership skills to overcome silos. It must generate people trust, along with having the strategic agility required to constantly review, adapt, pivot if necessary and achieve alignment and regulatory compliance,” she says.

“I work through the relevant people on the exco team, ensuring that the technology roadmap is clearly translated and its relevance understood by those relaying roadmap messages throughout the group. “With our people being drivers of this engine, it’s crucial each person is accountable and owners of their particular technology responsibilities. This must be supported by a culture of career development and the backing of line managers and leaders.

“As an organisation, we have to constantly maintain operational readiness while we navigate the risks and rewards of such aspects as data privacy, AI and GenAI integration, automation, data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud adoption and data-driven transformation.”

Within Mkhize’s role lies promotion of company leadership, advocation of mentorship programmes and integrating gender diversity into strategic initiatives, on top of overseeing daily operations, which Mkhize says she manages to balance through self-awareness.

“I understand my strengths. Where I am not as strong, I elevate this responsibility to people who are strong in the respective attributes. I am fortunate in having a good, young team, which is constantly maturing. They understand how important it is to prioritise and they have talent. Essential to successful operations is the marriage of operational abilities and talent.

“My personal leadership style is that it’s all about people, with the collective being as important as nurturing, retaining and growing individuals. Every person has a different background and it’s essential to leverage from the diverse perspectives they bring to the table. Everyone has talent. As leaders, we need to provide the platforms for them to embrace opportunities, thrive and share their value.” Absa has mentorship programmes, skills development certification programmes and opportunities for women to collaborate with other women in technology with South African, African and global forums. It is also a sponsor of the BCX ITWeb Brainstorm Wired4Women forum.

Furthermore, it is a proponent of active internal, individual sponsorship, but Mkhize stresses that this requires every person to always bring to work their authentic, whole selves in order for leaders to trust in and advocate for their skills and suitability to rise to opportunities.

Asked about her thoughts on gender and pay parity, Mkhize says it boils down to fairness, integrity, transparency and honesty by line managers to remedy the wrong.

“Women also have to stop accepting the status quo and challenge unfair practices, beginning with when they start on the remuneration ladder, which can define their pay throughout their careers.

“Line managers must correct disparities where they find them. If people are fairly rewarded, they will be loyal and dedicated employees. Voices and action should be heard and seen on an ongoing basis and not just during a performance review,” she concludes.

www.absa.co.za