Thabani Maphosa, Chief Country Delivery Officer at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

“Ultimately, success was getting ‘back’ to normal life’. But, we could only do that by passing through the storm.”

About Thabani  

Thabani Maphosa, MPhil, is a seasoned global health and humanitarian leader, currently serving as Chief Country Delivery Officer at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, where he oversees vaccine introductions and delivery across 92 countries. Over 16 years at World Vision International, he led disaster response, pioneering last-mile tech solutions and scaling cash transfer initiatives in fragile contexts. He holds a Master of Philosophy in Science and has lectured in physiology and microbiology.

Q: Tell us about a time of crisis, when you were called to deliver resilient leadership.

I have been through several crises. The pandemic tested me to the limits. The facets that I had to deal with involved the team, the largest team in the Gavi Secretariat. My priority was to help them adjust to new ways of working while remaining focused on Gavi’s core mandate. The team thrives and gets their energy by getting out to countries. However, during the pandemic, they were trapped in their homes. They had to figure out how to transition to different ways of working in that time.

The biggest stakeholders outside of our team were the countries, including some of the regions as a bloc. The Alliance partners are our usual stakeholders. In this time, the important qualifiers are ambiguity, information asymmetry, anxiety, and the upended of ways of working, all of which were destabilizing and a perfect storm.

At the beginning of this crisis, I was concerned about parents of young children. My colleague Aurélia and I were doing everything that we could, to accommodate parents with young children in apartments which had also become permanent working spaces etc. In the process, it dawned on me that the people who were single were suffering from the opposite factor, isolation, a limited social network was often accompanied by a mental health toll.

I sat with a list of names - every time I had a few minutes, I would call colleagues on the roster. We needed to prioritize contact time. Leadership has to adjust to the team that you have and to the way in which the pandemic affected people in different scenarios.

Q: What was your vision for resilience, to support yourself and your stakeholders?

“Ultimately, success was getting ‘back’ to normal life’. But, we could only do that by passing through the storm.”

At the start of the pandemic, the goals weren’t clearly defined. At the beginning, the vision was “don’t get infected, don’t infect the family, keep a safe environment”. Over time, the vision evolved to make sure the team doesn’t burn out, and that I don’t burn out.

How does one create space for not burning out? Find ways for building personal resilience. The Zoom meetings were relentless. That’s when I discovered the power of walking in the woods. I wasn’t a walker but that’s the gift the pandemic gave me. Walking allows me to clear my head, and it’s good for my health.

At the most strategic level, the biggest goal was that we needed to be delivering C19 vaccines. My job was to work with those who were getting countries ready. Success was measured by whether countries were ready and, when vaccines come, will they be used effectively?

Ultimately, success was getting ‘back’ to normal life. But, we could only do that by passing through the storm.

Q: What were some behaviors that supported your own resilience? 

“I used my walks in the woods to connect with the family.”

I used my walks in the woods to connect with the family. I would walk about 12 km in 1.5 hours, sometimes 2 hours. As things were getting really heated up, I had to adjust. During the week, I would walk 1h15m. On the weekends, I’d do a 2h stint. I’d walk until I got tired. The woods were near my home. I explored my neighborhood; I now know my neighborhood so intimately. It got me to discover my neighborhood and the woods.

Sometimes, it felt existential, like a dolphin coming out of the water to get air. If you don’t do that for yourself, you’re letting your batteries get depleted. When you become so dependent on such a routine, and skip it, it almost feels like you are getting sick.

Q: What were some behaviors that supported your stakeholders’ resilience?

Coming together - it felt like a strange thing. My kids were doing it. We can play games with you in your house and me in mine. We discovered team building activities that we could do online. They were fun, comfortable, and they felt safe. You could discover and learn about your teams at a distance - it was fascinating. We had to be creative about how we got to know each other. Occasionally, the shy ones participated. We did the team building about once a month or more frequent. I encouraged the leaders that our number one job was to care for our people, and to accompany them through this period.

Q: Are there any behaviors that did not serve you well during the crisis?

“I was genuinely worried about how to maintain contact. Underlying was for me to express that I see you and I care. I needed to find the avenue that resonates with people.”

Broadly speaking, making calls to the roster worked well. But, some people were taken aback. Sometimes, people were shocked when I called them. Something coming from the right place may still not be received as intended. If this is not someone’s love language, then I as the leader have to change.

I was genuinely worried about how to maintain contact. Underlying was for me to express that I see you and I care. I needed to find the avenue that resonates with people. So, I introduced something different - catching people doing good and sending electronic cards to appreciate their good work. Some people liked the e-cards, some found it cringey. It was a big team, over 150 people. Adapting your leadership style, and personalizing to every person is not feasible. You try to wing it with the tools you have, but you cannot get to the micro-adjustment.

Q: Can you share a role model for resilient leadership? 

“You don’t have to show up as your troubles. Every day given to me is a blessing. I will show up as if it were my last.”

Seth Berkeley was a role model during the pandemic. Excellence remained a top agenda about how he spoke about science, vaccines. He took so many interviews, and he took so many beatings. He’d still get up and get on with it. His ability to take a knock and get up and say we’re moving on to another day. Some of the knocks were not fun. I was in the front row seat. I observed Seth being beaten. He would take the knocks and he would show up with his A game the next day.

Seth saw that period as a moment that Gavi had to rise to the challenge. He could not see any other way, any other organization that would be well-positioned to deliver what was needed. He was the CEO of an organization that was built to meet this moment.

In watching him, I was reminded that you don’t have to show up as your troubles. Every day given to me is a blessing. I will show up as if it were my last. Even during the hard times, you will see me fully polished, ready to show up for the game.

My resilience is informed by my faith. It’s a steady undercurrent that comes through with the worldview and the way that I see things. When I watched the suffering happening in Italy and I saw the old people just being knocked off, my empathy and sympathy were deeply engaged. I had a deep relationship with my grandmother and had my fears about the elderly person who shaped who I am.

Nothing could have prepared me for my own loss, when it actually happened, when my grandmother succumbed to COVID-19 in 2021. The burial that I’d imagined for her was a celebration of life. In actuality, my grandmother was buried with only 3 people seeing her corpse and saying goodbye. My mother gave up her spot for me, recognizing that I had taken care of my grandmother for 25 years.

Yet, that’s when faith carries you. Faith gives us hope for the future. It is faith that carries us through such seasons. There are many people who went through that. I knew that my work had more purpose and more meaning. After my grandmother’s death, I rededicated myself to my work, the pain that I felt with that loss, I wanted to protect others from it.

Q: Do you have an example of a way in which someone in your network has stepped up to demonstrate resilience and leadership during this time?

My colleague, Marie-Ange Saraka-Yao, has been navigating such choppy waters trying to deliver in the most challenging of conditions. She’s shown amazing resilience. Sometimes, we don’t celebrate those who are close to us. Hers hasn’t been an easy job. I’m incredibly proud of her, of how single-minded she has been, of how she has carried herself in this season.

Q: What thoughts support you during challenging times?  Mine, during this year, has been to remind myself that “there are many good ways to do good in the world”.

“To whom much has been given, much is to be expected.”

I live by “to whom much has been given, much is to be expected”. I apply that mantra to every situation:

I have been blessed with this work; this is an opportunity that I’ve been given by God through my employer. I must do good work; I cannot squander this opportunity as there are many who are more qualified than I am who do not have the same opportunity. I expect much from myself and others. People who underutilize the talents they have been given make me sad.

The second mantra is “this too shall pass”. It was true for the pandemic, if now feels like a distant memory and it will be true for whatever crisis may arise in the future!