People Don’t Follow Intentions. They Follow Behaviour.

By Lorelle Viljoen

When I expected stronger accountability from my team, progress stalled. Not because anyone resisted, but because I had not clearly defined what I was actually asking for. I had named the outcome I wanted without showing what it looked like in practice, just to learn that people cannot deliver a behaviour they cannot picture.

That experience taught me something that no strategy document ever did: organisations are not changed by their plans. They are changed by what their people do every day. And right now, too few people are doing their best work. PwC’s Africa Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025 found that just over 55% of African workers trust their management — five points higher than the global average. It is an encouraging lead, but it still means almost half of the workforce does not. Trust in leadership, as the Great Place to Work Trust Model makes clear, is the foundation of any high-performing culture, and trust is earned through behaviour, not intention.