During her opening speech of the Olympic Winter Games in Milano, Kirsty Coventry mentioned the word: ubuntu. The president of the International Olympic Committee, coming from Zimbabwe, said the following:
“The Olympic Games is about so much more than sport. It is about us – and what makes us human. In Africa, where I’m from, we have a word: ubuntu. It means I am because we are. That we can only rise by lifting others. That our strength comes from caring for each other.”
Ubuntu is a word that is deeply anchored in African culture. It has something to add to the world. It can be called one of the centerpieces of African philosophy. On this collectivist continent, everyone’s humanity is ideally expressed in relationship with others. The word ubuntu is found (with slight variations) over a wide geographical region in east, central and southern Africa. It is accepted as an overall African value system, also described as African humaneness – a pervasive spirit of caring and community, harmony and hospitality, respect and responsiveness. Lovemore Mbigi, a Zimbabwean philosopher, states: ‘I can only be a person through others.’
In European philosophy we find its counterpart in the sentence ‘I think so I am’. Descartes found the ultimate proof of his existence in the fact that he could not doubt his own thinking. This can be seen in the light of the individualist culture within Europe: proof of our existence is found within ourselves and independent of others.
In the opening speech of the Olympics, Coventry applied the concept of ubuntu to the world of sports. Yet, it is important in every aspect of life, whether the family, community, governance or business and work. In ubuntu management, for instance, the relationships between people at all levels is key, which may at times be conflicting with western logic.
When working in Africa or with African employees or business partners, it means that genuinely building and maintaining good rapport is your number one priority. It has a direct impact on the motivation and accountability of the people. It means in management terms that the organization and leadership should resonate with the needs of the employees, not at individual level, but as a community. It stresses the importance of communication between managers and employees, of understanding employee workgroup cohesion and belonging to optimize team unity and, in the end, performance.
Would you like to know what this would mean for your team or organization: get into contact with us!
- Battle, M. (1996). The ubuntu theology of Desmond Tutu.
- Mbigi, L. (2000). In search of the African business renaissance: an African cultural perspective.
- Vonk, A. & Silva V.F. (2024). Cultural confluence in organizational change: a Portuguese venture in Angola.
