Self-leadership lessons from Maccauvlei’s first facilitator internship programme
Before Zandisiwe Mlotshwa ever thought about leading others, she had to confront a harder task: learning to manage herself.
She grew up in Underberg, KwaZulu-Natal, where patience is learned from landscapes and growth happens slowly, almost invisibly. Years later, working in Johannesburg, she found herself doing well on paper – coordinating projects, meeting deadlines, gaining responsibility – yet feeling increasingly disconnected. The problem wasn’t ability or ambition. It was that she had stopped paying attention to herself.
It was only when she joined Maccauvlei Learning Academy that leadership stopped feeling like a role she had to step into, and started becoming a practice she had to live: Through reflection, emotional intelligence and the courage to change how she showed up every day.
Zandi’s Story: A Lesson in Self-Leadership
When we talk about leadership, the conversation often jumps straight to titles, teams and responsibility. But for many professionals, whether they’re just starting out or years into their careers, the most challenging form of leadership is far quieter: Learning to lead yourself.
This is something Zandi, one of the four interns in Maccauvlei Learning Academy’s first structured internship programme, has come to understand deeply.
At 25, Zandi’s journey into leadership has not followed a straight line. Born in Underberg, surrounded by the Drakensberg mountains, she developed an early love for nature that led her to study botany and microbiology. She attended Ixopo State Aided Primary School, completed high school at Little Flower Secondary, and later enrolled at Rhodes University, drawn to its small-town feel and close-knit academic environment.
“I’ve always loved spaces where people really engage with each other,” she says. “I didn’t want to disappear into a system.”
At Rhodes, she was deeply involved in student leadership and community engagement, serving as chairperson of a church society and as a transformation and wellness leader in residence. Even then, leadership wasn’t about standing out; it was about being immersed in a community.
After completing her undergraduate studies, she enrolled for a PGCE through UNISA. Her long-term goal was academia, to become a lecturer in a tertiary education environment.
But life, as it often does, took her somewhere unexpected.
When Comfort Becomes a Warning Sign
After graduating, Zandi moved to Johannesburg for a science-sector internship linked to government-funded projects supporting small businesses using indigenous knowledge systems. What began as an internship soon evolved into a coordination and project management role.
On paper, it was a success. In reality, something felt off.
“I realised I was drifting,” she reflects. “I never imagined I’d end up in an office environment. I was still in science, but I was losing touch with who I was and what I wanted.”
That realisation became a turning point. Instead of staying where she was comfortable, she made a conscious decision to return to education, completing teaching practice in both rural and better-resourced schools in KwaZulu-Natal, including at her former primary school.
It was also around this time that she began to reflect seriously on leadership, not as a position, but as an internal practice.
Learning That Leadership Is an Inside Job
Zandi joined Maccauvlei Learning Academy’s 18-month internship programme in June 2025, a pioneering initiative designed to develop South Africa’s next generation of facilitators, trainers and learning professionals through a blend of accredited learning, mentorship and hands-on experience.
Early on, she found herself revisiting a lesson she had encountered before, but never fully absorbed.
“I had been in leadership roles before,” she says, “but this internship forced me to confront something different: how I manage myself.”
Through Maccauvlei’s Higher Certificate in Management Development (HMD) course, particularly modules on leadership, influence and emotional intelligence, she began to see leadership as a journey rather than a destination.
“Leadership isn’t about arriving at a fixed point. You pick up some traits, you let go of others. You learn to adapt your style depending on the people you’re working with and the work that needs to be done.”
A defining lesson for her was the distinction between managing and leading.
“Managers can give instructions. Leaders set the tone,” she explains. “You don’t lead by dictating. You lead by modelling the behaviour you want to see.”
Lebogang Sibiya, another one of Maccauvlei’s interns, says that her “understanding of leadership has shifted since attending the HMD course”.
“I used to associate leadership with authority, but I realised that it is about the ability to create space for others to step forward. It is not just about ensuring that tasks are completed, but also about what builds confidence and trust within a team. For me, it’s no longer about being the loudest or most certain person in the room, it’s about contributing to an environment where everyone feels capable of contributing their best,” she adds.
Phomelelo Rabothata, another of Lebo and Zandi’s peers in the internship, agrees.
“A lesson I have learned in my experience with Maccauvlei thus far is that leadership is less about position and more about people. I have seen how leaders in Maccauvlei put people first and how that creates a positive working environment where people are more engaged and perform better in their roles,” she says.
Emotional Intelligence in Real Life
For Zandi, emotional intelligence moved from theory to reality through workplace challenges, including a difficult experience with a former mentor who tended to micromanage her work.
At the time, she admits, she handled the situation poorly. “I was very blunt. I drew a hard line, and that wasn’t fair or productive.”
After engaging with emotional intelligence concepts through her studies at Maccauvlei, she revisited that moment, reached out to apologise, and opened an honest conversation. What followed was mutual understanding, and growth on both sides.
“That experience taught me that self-awareness and reflection are not optional if you want to lead,” she says. “You can’t separate your emotions from your work, but you can learn how to manage them responsibly.”
She carried those lessons forward into her work at Maccauvlei, navigating new dynamics, deadlines and expectations with growing confidence. Instead of reacting defensively, she learned to communicate boundaries, manage her time realistically, and ask questions without fear.
“Now, if I don’t understand something, I don’t withdraw. I engage. I ask. That’s how you learn.”
Zama Xolo, another one of Zandi’s peers in the Maccauvlei internship adds: “I’ve learned that leading with emotional intelligence is about guiding others while learning together. As a facilitator in a learning and development space, you can best spark growth in others by being willing to grow yourself.”
Becoming More Than a Facilitator
While the internship is designed to develop facilitation skills, Zandi quickly realised she was gaining far more.
She has been exposed to quality assurance systems, learner administration, assessment and moderation processes, project coordination and risk management. These are all skills that have expanded her understanding of how learning organisations function.
“I thought I was only here to become a facilitator,” she says. “But I’m also learning how to coordinate, how to manage projects, how to assess risk – skills I’ll need if I want to become a consultant facilitator or run my own business one day.”
That future is very much on her mind. While she admits uncertainty can be intimidating, she is learning that leadership, particularly self-leadership, also means moving forward despite doubt.
“I’m scared of the unknown, but I’m learning that doubt doesn’t mean stop. It means prepare.”
Leading Yourself First
For Maccauvlei Learning Academy, Zandi’s journey captures something essential about leadership development: before you can lead others, you must learn to understand, regulate and trust yourself.
Leadership, in this sense, is not about authority or hierarchy. Rather, it is about awareness, adaptability and summoning the courage to grow.