Leadership Lessons from Rhino War
Rhino War is a fascinating account of how the Kruger National Park’s rangers were turned from a rag-tag bunch to one of the best anti-poaching units in Africa.
Below are 3 Leadership Lessons from Maj Gen Johan Jooste
1. Address the elephant in the room
When South Africa became a democracy, the armed wings of the ANC (Umkhonto we Sizwe) and other liberation movements were integrated into the South African National Defence Force. Jooste was part of the team responsible for the integration of former sworn enemies into a single unit.
At their first meeting, when introducing himself, he explained in total, his service in the military, including his role in previous operations. This openness broke the ice, and the this began the process of breaking down barriers.
Small compromises were made but principles stayed intact
2. Get first hand information
As obvious as this may seem, its actually very easy for management to rule from their ivory towers
When Jooste was appointed Commanding Officer, Special Projects at SanParks, the first thing he did was visit ranger posts across the Kruger National Park.
Here rangers told him of torn uniforms, broken boots and no weapons, ammunition or training.
Training was set up for rangers, equipping them with the tools to survive the often violent encounters with poachers.
Due to the trauma of contacts with poachers, and the real risk of rangers being arrested for murder in the event of a poacher being killed, he offered them counselling and a team of advocates to advise and represent them in the event of a poacher being killed.
3. Build trust from the ground up
Trust must be earned. Jooste was able to build the trust of Kruger’s ranger corp by listening to what they needed, and going out of his way to give them what they needed to do their jobs correctly. He also built on this by understanding what their issues were beyond their job and working to fix these.
For example, there were no entertainment and early education facilities for rangers and their families at the often remote outposts. He and his team built basic jungle gyms and play areas, and entertainment areas for rangers and their families at the ranger outposts.
These are some of the principles that seem small but will go a long way in building trust in your team, and ultimately develop a high-performance culture.
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Pizza Chef, Pizza Trainer
3mothank you rangers. See you soon :D