Leadership training is critical to improving African tax administrations

PRETORIA – Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. In a tax administration setting, this means being equipped with the relevant strategic thinking capabilities and management skills to drive commitment and performance in revenue collection. 

The African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) considers leadership training an essential part of its Technical Assistance (TA) programmes. As such, ATAF works closely with various organisations to promote ongoing management and leadership training across all levels of Tax Administration with a special focus on best practices, new management tools and success stories from state revenue authorities. The end goal of this focus on leadership is to ensure that the tax officials responsible for driving positive reforms are adequately capacitated to do so. 

For over a decade now, part of ATAF’s objectives has been to strengthen and consolidate the specialized tax knowledge of TA officials so that they may perform their functions effectively and efficiently. The organisation aims to improve the capacity of African tax administrations, enhance the role of taxation in governance and state building, provide a voice for African tax administrations and administrators, and enhance pan-African collaboration and cooperation with development partners. 

In 2021, ATAF’s training programmes attracted 1 375 tax officials from 45 African countries. 

One of the countries to receive leadership training was the Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA). 

The training provided the participants with a more conceptional view and specifically tailored topics (as requested by LRA) of leadership skills in their workplace. It introduced the main activities, concepts and principles of leadership and people management and addressed the leadership challenges applicable to their context.

The leadership training for managers and supervisors concentrated on the following:

• Leadership within the Workplace
• Managing in a VUCA Environment: 
• How to do successful strategy implementation 
• Manager’s role in change management
• Effective communication
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Mentoring and coaching
• Conflict management

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the TA’s aims was to show managers and supervisors how to find new, innovative ways of developing and managing people by managing a team remotely.

LRA staff expressed satisfaction with the level and content of training, suggesting Succession Planning Programme and Mentoring and Coaching Programme, as policy and administration reforms for their organisation.

ATAF remains firmly committed to its primary mandate of building effective and efficient tax administrations on the continent, recognising that this is a critical element in boosting revenue mobilisation and building a capable state that is able to meet the needs of its citizens.