Costa Diavastos: CEOs can never underestimate direct impact of their actions on front-line staffers

LONDON — Insightful comments from Costa Diavastos, CEO of security company Bidvest Protea Coin, a business whose executives appreciate the powerful impact of their actions on front-line staff. – Alec Hogg

Well, it’s a big night on the 11th of July, as CEOs get together to celebrate Madiba’s life, to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Liliesleaf raid, and that’s on the 2018 CEO SleepOut™. I’m going to be there and so is Costa Diavastos, who is the CEO of Bidvest Protea Coin. We’re going to be talking to him in this CEO update. Nice to link up with you Costa. Is this the first time that you’re going to participate in the CEO SleepOut™?

This is my very first time Alec and I’m extremely excited about it.

What drew you to the event?

Costa Diavastos, CEO of Bidvest Protea Coin.

Well, I’ve kinda watched it from afar for the last few years and it is certainly a project that I’ve been looking forward to getting involved in and this is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to do so.

The Bidvest Group as well is quite well known for participating in social responsibility. Is that part of your culture?

Bidvest, as a whole, is a very diverse company. As you know we have countless operating divisions. We endeavour to be good corporate citizens and it is definitely part of our ethos and our culture to be involved in these types of initiatives and there are many, given the size of our business, there are many that we do get involved in.

The authority though, presumably, has been fairly decentralised in your company for instance, in Bidvest Protea Coin – do you guys make up your own decisions?

Of course we do at Bidvest, you may know, the Bidvest culture is very much about allowing the operating companies to get on and do what they need to do with the underlying golden-thread of the ethos of giving back. So as Bidvest Protea Coin we do our own thing but we very much do it in the spirit of our Group’s perspective.

Costa, I can’t let you go without just touching on how difficult your business has got to be right now. It’s all in the news, with cash-in-transit heists. How do you motivate staff when you’re in such a tough sector of the economy?

It’s a daily challenge. I think it comes down to really one thing and that is the involvement that our management has, and the daily lives of the people that have to stand on the frontline. I think what Bidvest Protea Coin does very well, is exactly that. We care about the fact that somebody has to stand in the cold, in the rain, has to be exposed to the whole manner of thugs and criminals, and we stand next to our people. It’s an ethos in the company that management doesn’t’ sit in the office. Management gets out and becomes part of the crime fighting effort that our frontline has to deal with on a day-to-day basis, and there’s no bigger motivator than that.

That’s so interesting because with the CEOs I’ve been talking to about the SleepOut™, those who’ve participated in the past, those who are participating this year they say that to see the boss going out, and even though it’s one night, spending one night like a homeless person, it really motivates and makes people down the organisation pretty proud about their company. They feel better about their company. I guess the ethos you’re talking about now goes even further.

It absolutely does and I think you can visibly see the impact that your presence as a CEO or senior manager has, when you arrive at a post on night-shift or when you happen to be around when there’s been a serious incident. It has a massive ripple effect through the organisation and it creates a sense of family, which is what we try to do.

Yes it’s interesting. CEOs sometimes forget that they’re not just there to make profits. It’s people who matter.

Absolutely, and of course, profits come through the efforts of your people and if you forget about that, particularly in our line of work, you’ll find yourself not making a whole lot of profits in a very short space of time.

Who are you going to be taking with you to the SleepOut™ next Wednesday?

I’ve chosen a selection of people. I had to be quite selective. Our executive team is fairly large, but I’ve chosen a team or executives to accompany me and they’re extremely excited to be joining me.

What do you hope they take away from the experience?

I hope that what they take away from the experience is exactly what I’m looking for and that is that it is really important to give back, stay grounded, make sure that we don’t lose the ethos that we have as a company. I’m expecting to get out, interact with other like-minded people, create some networking opportunities. Really just to get my headspace into a very grounded place, and I’m very excited about it.

I guess also, the opportunity to spend time with members of your executives, in a very unusual environment.

Absolutely, I think there can be no better team building effort than being out together and spending the night.

What about challenges? Who are you challenging to join you?

I haven’t yet challenged anyone. I’m still considering a couple of my colleagues within the Bidvest Group – I’ll be doing so over the next couple of days.

We look forward to hearing about those ones as well. Before we go, what about Nelson Mandela and the impact or your perception of the impact that he’s had on SA?

His impact was naturally very profound. I think everybody knows him as an icon, as a hero, and I think his standing on a global stage is well known to everybody. But I think, what I take from him, is really about how he managed through all of that to stay grounded, never forget the little person, never forget that there are individuals who sacrifice every day, stay humble, regardless of your own achievements.

We know that his favourite was Cyril Ramaphosa, who is now the President of SA. We also know that Cyril Ramaphosa was the chairman of Bidvest not long ago so, I guess you guys in the group must be feeling perhaps, particularly warm towards the new presidency and the new era which we hear about.

I think we are particularly delighted with the individual, as the President. But aside from that, we’re very bullish about the future economic prospects of the country. We think that we finally turned a corner in terms of refocusing ourselves, as South Africans on what’s important. On developing the right kind of capacity as a country. Really focussing on what people need and actually delivering those things so, we’re extremely excited about current developments in our country.

Costa Diavastos is the CEO of Bidvest Protea Coin. He’s going to be sleeping-out on the 11th of July, taking along some members of his executive team to do a bit of bonding, a little bit of engagement, and we look forward to hearing who he’s challenging from his colleagues within the Bidvest organisation. This has been an update of the CEO SleepOut™. Until the next time, cheerio.

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