Samson Kumalo, Coco Merckel & Meme Ditshego doing the Service Rap Song;	Meme Ditshego, Coco Merckel & Samson Kumalo in action;

By the beginning of 2009, the Department of Home Affairs was in the middle of a massive turnaround strategy aimed at improving overall service delivery. These changes included a new, faster document processing system (6 weeks as opposed to the previous turn-around time of 6 months); and office refurbishments. DHA staff noticed some of the changes, but employees were not fully aware of the impact and consequences of these changes for the department as a whole, and how these could enable better and faster service to the public. DHA engaged a change management and organisational development consultancy – Bridging the Gap – to make this bigger picture come to life for staff in frontline offices, and to empower them to become part of this positive change.

This is where The Learning Theatre Organisation came in. Over two weeks in February of this year, Learning Theatre traveled across the country with their Customer Interface Training Workshop and told the story in 39 workshops and 9 provinces. This road show was a pilot project for potential roll-out to the rest of the DHA offices all over South Africa.

Learning Theatre told the change story, but more importantly, they succeeded in showing DHA employees how they as powerful and proactive individuals, could contribute to creating the fact of the NEW DHA. Employees learned that every working day was a ‘performance’ for their public. They discussed and practiced this new approach and attitude in a Participative Theatre© experience, a technique developed by The Learning Theatre to create high levels of learning through experience. At the end of the 2-hour workshop, the participants were chanting along with the actors:

“Service, Service, Service
It’s what we need
Service, Service, Service
It’s our creed!!”

In action: Samson Kumalo as the Jockey & Coco Merckel as the Games Master Two participants are ‘practicing’ their new skills & behaviours