Dreams for SATS 2019

Introduction

Thank God its Monday! Thank God its a new year with new promise and fresh opportunities.

From a personal point of view, the three weeks out of the office were probably my best ever attempt at taking real leave. The problem is the blurred line between work and pleasure—for most of the last 15 years, SATS has been both my work and my hobby, so “leave” has always been a little blurred.

But these past three weeks I spent an inordinate amount of time just studying the Bible without a secondary agenda, i.e. not to write a course or preach a sermon, just enjoying Scripture as I cannot remember enjoying it for perhaps 20 years. We also had some really good family times, with minimal time on SATS admin or strategy, so it was … unusual and wonderful.

But we were not made to rest too much. We were created to do good works that God prepared in advance for us to walk in, so I am delighted to be back at work.

I reread sections of Foxes Book of Martyrs and was both challenged and inspired by the uncompromising, passionate, sacrificial way in which men and women before us gave their whole lives for Jesus and the gospel. I don’t know about you, but I want to walk in their footsteps. I don’t mean that I want to be tortured and killed—although if my Lord so willed, I pray that I would find the strength in him not to flinch. What I mean is that I want to give my all for Christ. I want to finish empty, knowing that I gave 200 per cent effort.

When we met with Paul Neff of Servant’s Heart, a foundation that has given generously to SATS, he told us that his mission is to die bankrupt. He wants to give it all away. Well, we don’t have millions of dollars to give. The treasure we have is the time and life energy God gives us, and I want to spend mine on eternal riches.

So yes, it’s good to be back at work in a place where we spend ourselves to serve Jesus, the gospel, and the church! I can say honestly that if I won $100m today, tomorrow morning I would be at work—I just would not ask to be paid for it.

Dreams for the Year

Programmes

HCCL redesign

MDiv application

DMin application

Courses: If you know me well, you likely know that one train of thought consumes my waking hours more than any other. I want SATS to offer the best courses in the world!

Lecturers.

Short courses.

Research and publication.

Marketing and recruitment.

Stabilising the partnerships.

Building the Team

In our strategic planning and senior management thinking, the metaphor that has dominated more discussions than any other has to do with a BUS.

We need the right people on the bus.

We need people on the right seats on the bus.

There are some changes this year. As you know, when I took over as Principal, I was convinced that SATS was too “white male”; we needed to diversify, starting with the academic team. I said that I wanted six PhD holders on the full-time who do not fit the “white male” profile. God has provided five. Last year we appointed Jesse, Seyram, and Cornelia. (Actually, Jesse and Seyram were four days per week, but move to five from this month.) As soon as Bat finishes his PhD, he will join the full-time team. From January, we increased Modisa from 1 day to 3 days per week, with a desire to up that to 5 days.

There are other staffing changes too. Tim Solomon, who was devoting 3 days to SATS, goes to 5. Estelle Crafford, who was … joins the permanent team.

At the end of this year, Jenny retires. She is going to leave a gigantic gap. We are not yet certain how to fill it, but part of Hugh’s redeployment will cover aspects of Jenny’s role.

We do not want to keep growing our staff. Last year, we worked tirelessly to improve the scalability of our administrative and academic processes. The goal of this is to be able to support more students without adding staff proportionately. When we have nailed this and the diversification priorities, financial growth will be deployed in other areas, one of which will be to continue improving remuneration levels.

Salary adjustment

I didn’t make a formal announcement about salary adjustments at the end of last year. On Christmas day I found myself at the lunch table with a sparky, articulate young African lady who is a director of a media company and is finalising her MBA. She was raving about her company because (a) every year they give at least a 5 per cent cost-of-living increase and (b) they allow staff considerable flexibility in terms of working hours and conditions.

For years we have spoken in self-critical language about our salary structures, deeply desiring to improve them. We remain resolute in our desire to continue improving. We have not yet arrived, but over the past five years we have taken significant strides forward. Our salaries are no longer token; in many cases they are quite market related and in others they are getting closer and closer.

We have given every person at least a 7 per cent cost-of-living related increase every year I can remember.

We allow most staff the substantial saving and convenience of working from home, which can be worth a significant amount each month.

We offer all staff considerable flexibility in terms of hours, etc. I am not watching with a clock when you need to make plans for children, etc.

Let us never lose sight of the fact that we are in ministry. If we wanted to make lots of money, we would have studied law or medicine.

With all of that said, every person resident in SA will receive a 7 per cent cost-of-living related increase from January. In other words, if your salary is paid in Rands, it is 7 per cent. For those based abroad, who earn in dollars, the inflation figure is calculated on the basis of dollar inflation and is set at 2 per cent. A few people, who have changed days, roles, or bands, are receiving a different increase; I have communicated with you privately. For the rest, including the entire SMT, it is 7 for the SA-based and 2 for the foreign-based.

Decentralisation

Last year, I articulated a positive disposition towards decentralisation. I want to point out five really significant examples of this. We appointed Jesse and Seyram as full-time, PhD-level academics—Jesse as the programme coordinator for the Honours—without wanting them in Joburg. Bat will take up a strategic full-time post as the director of research when completes his PhD; although the original plan was to relocate him to Jhb, now that is off the cards. Modisa ...

We experienced a rapid exodus of staff from the office.

Our building has become too big.

We face the dilemma that all office-bound tasks are falling on fewer and fewer people. We need to solve this.

We face the dilemma that the more dispersed we become the more important it is to build relationships.

We face the dilemma that although we have an increasingly diverse team, visitors to SATS do not always “see it.”

Our media room is ready.

Decentralisation is a privilege, not a right. (If you change the terms of the deal, we have an option to reconsider. Cite the example of a person who asked to relocate abroad as a “deal breaker.”)

If you change the terms of the deal, we have an option to reconsider.

Housekeeping

I need to end this morning with a few housekeeping items.

Staff meetings. Instead of having a devotional, I want to set Monday morning, from 7:45 to 8:30, as a staff meeting. The purpose of the staff meeting is to engage in training, vision casting, news updates, and sharing of relevant information. It will be mandatory for full-time staff and I would love our non-full-timers to be present whenever possible.

Local travel. Last year an inordinate amount of Lonel’s time was spent on local travel bookings for staff. I have other priorities for Lonel this year, so we will keep her at the person responsible for international bookings, but we are going to put the responsibility for booking local trips on the traveller.

Questions and Contributions?