Women in the public sector

Leap into the unknown leads to success

Dr Ntombifuthi Nala is passionate about the role of research in communicating government’s messages

When Dr Ntombifuthi Nala joined Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) 14 years ago, she had no idea what she was getting herself into.

She was busy with her Doctorate studies in Water Quality Management at Technikon Witwatersrand (now known as the University of Johannesburg) and all her previous experience was in academia.

Part of her job while she worked at the Water Research Institute included writing articles and assisting her supervisor by editing professional journals. It was then she decided to refocus her energies.

“I told myself that I had been in the academic field for almost my entire life and it was about time that I tested other waters,” explained Nala.

She applied for a Deputy Director post at GCIS in 2004, went through the interview process and was offered a job two days later at Assistant Director level.

“I didn’t even think twice about it. I said it’s fine, I will take it. I think I was just excited by the sense of achievement that came with it because although it was not the position that I wanted, I had performed well enough to be offered

something else,” she recalled.

Beyond the comfort zone

Although excited about the new opportunity Nala said she was also anxious about leaving her comfort zone.

“I had many thoughts about it later. I was also thinking about all the complaints I had heard about the low work ethic in the public sector and how I would regret my move. But I thought I should give it a try because if all else failed I could always go back to academics,” she said.

Clearly Nala did not fail and is now the Director for Research and Knowledge Management at GCIS.

Looking back, she recalled the important work she initially undertook at GCIS.

She was part of the qualitative research team in the Research Directorate. The other teams were working on quantitative research and in-depth analysis of the data.

“Our work used to inform policy and strategy development at a very high level. We made submissions to Cabinet, and Cabinet relied on the arm of GCIS research to provide guidance and way forward in order to speak to the needs of the public,” Nala explained.

She excelled in her position; barely a year-and-a-half later she applied for a Deputy Director post in the unit and got the job.

“At this level, I was exposed to making presentations at high-level meetings and was also trusted with giving advice where it was needed. This instilled confidence in me,” said Nala.

She was the project manager at GCIS as it was being reviewed with regard to the department’s role in the government-wide communication system.

Nala was part of the delegation that travelled to various countries to investigate and assess different communication systems in countries such as the United States, Tunisia and Brazil.

“The idea was to learn how similar departments like GCIS were run in those countries, in terms of coordinating communication and being effective. Out of that process, some restructuring was done at GCIS to make it more effective,” Nala said.

Tough decisions

Nala’s achievements at work came at a price as she dropped out of the Doctorate programme she had entered earlier as her

workload increased.

Not one to leave things hanging, Nala decided to register at the University of South Africa for a Doctorate in Public Health in 2006.

“I was trying to align my qualifications with the priorities of government. What I was doing at work was the same as what I did with my studies. I had applied for the GCIS bursary and it was granted,” she said.

Once more, the demands of her work meant she had to make tough decisions.

“My study supervisor asked me to make a decision between working and studying so I had to take a break from my studies in 2008 and focus on my job,” she explained.

In 2010 she returned to her studies, determined to finish her Doctorate.

“I re-registered and from there on I did not have a life, even my kids knew that when mommy comes from work she goes straight to the study room. I had to work hard to finish my Doctorate in Public Health in public institutions,” she said.

“I managed to pull through due to the support of my family. It was not easy but I am glad to say that I endured until the end. I would study the entire night and come to work the next day like all other employees. I had to put all my time into it because I wanted to finish and I did in 2014,” she said.

Climbing the ladder

In 2015 there was a vacancy for a Director post in her directorate. Being the go-getter that she is, Nala applied for the position and was successful. She recalled the position took some adjustment.

“Managing a team, I had to learn group dynamics. It was a bit frustrating in the beginning because you never know what will work for everyone. I had to find a balance. I had a very supportive supervisor and other Directors assisted me to develop character for this role. With time, things settled, I found my feet and the team started gelling,” Nala said.

The projects done by her team are mainly aimed at improving the work of GCIS and ensuring that the department is relevant to stakeholders including Cabinet, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Communications and members of the public.

“We also assess communication campaigns that inform the public about programmes that can improve their lives and that alert them to opportunities that they can take up,” she explained.

For GCIS to know what exactly the public regards as important at a point in time, the accuracy of the research of the unit is vital.

“The type of research we are doing is not academic. It needs to be current, which is one of the challenges that we always try to address.The challenge that we are continuously faced with is doing research that is current enough to inform decision-making,” she said.

Nala explained that she approaches every work day with a flexible mindset, aiming to get through her "to-do list" for each day, but is well aware that her schedule is subject to change due to requests that need to be reprioritised.

“I spend long hours in this office, sometimes I leave around 10pm and there are times where we left around 4am the next morning because we just wanted to finish tasks and meet deadlines. I have a very flexible team and I know that I might be a bit of a perfectionist,” she said.

A bird’s eye view

Nala added that one of the advantages of working at GCIS includes having an overall view of government machinery and being at the centre of everything.

Employees at the department have an opportunity to be versatile and knowledgeable about all of government, unlike when one is in an isolated department that focuses on only one area. Nala believes that this helps develop employees.

“The level of openness among colleagues and managers is also encouraging, and the open door approach is what I like most about the organisation. It is not status orientated. This makes room for the young employees in the organisation to know that they can engage with officials who are at different levels in GCIS without feeling intimidated,” she said.

“What I like about my job is the different research projects that we do. I don’t think anyone can get experience like that from anywhere other than GCIS.The variation keeps you on your toes. You get to explore new fields and learn new things based on public perception,” she added.

Making the most of research

Nala’s job also comes with its unique challenges. Ensuring that research is used effectively is one of them.

She constantly has to make sure that research findings are being used especially when developing content for GCIS products for members of the public and when GCIS does media planning and scheduling.

“Even today, we still need to figure out how to work together with the Media Buying and Content Development units. It will be an ideal situation to sit and plan together and explore ideas to come up with the holistic approach or strategy that takes into account the insights from research, not just as additional information,” she said.

On a personal level, Nala said she has learned how to deal with criticism.

“There have been times when I had to take punches in terms of my work. I was made to feel that my work was not worthwhile due to some silly mistakes, but choosing to look on the brighter side of things helps me to not always focus on the negative. I always try to make something out of the criticism and turn it into a positive outcome,” she said.

“During my stay at GCIS I have learnt to develop a thick skin when it comes to criticism and to translate it into a plan for a game changer,” she added.

Nala believes GCIS is the best employer in government. She would not choose any other environment to learn in. “It is a really warm environment,” she added.