Leading from the front – Part II

I recently met up with a person who was in Hotel Taj on that fateful 26/11 (in fact he is the only one person whom I personally know who was involved in this tragedy). He came out unscathed and could narrate his experience of escape. He was in that part of the hotel where the action was limited and the policemen were getting the guests out using fireman’s ladder. His neighbour was an old lady of about 75 years old and she was also offered a ladder to get down.

Then they realised that while the ladder offered to my friend was extendable (which meant it could retract so that there was no need to climb down), the ladder extended to the old lady was of fixed length (which meant that she had to climb down all those steps). Looking at the difficulty faced by the old lady, my friend suggested that the retractable ladder be offered to her and he would use the fixed ladder. However, the people handling the ladders were not willing to oblige. Because, they had to get an authorisation from the senior officers to make this change and at that time they were not available. The old lady and my friend realised that it is not worth arguing about and she, with great difficulty, climbed down to safety.

A more ridiculous example of bureaucratic delay is the example quoted by Arun Shourie in his book ‘Governance” . He explains in detail the long winding journey, across multiple ministries, of a clarification about what ink colour officers can use in the file noting. At the end of the journey that lasted almost 12 months two procedural clauses were added to the ‘Manual of Office Procedure’ which contradicted with each other.

We often associate such penchant for technicalities and bureaucratic delays in the working of the government. But this is not an exclusive domain of the government only. This kind of behaviour is seen in the private sector too; especially when an organisation gets larger.

What are the key drivers that determine the extent of this bureaucracy?

Result Vs Function Orientation

It is the normal tendency of a majority of people to see their roles limited to their functional silos. They seldom see or feel that they are part of a process to serve an end client. They get married to the rules and SOPs with a limited appreciation of what these rules and SOPs are meant to achieve. Compliance to procedure becomes more important than the substance of the policy.

They fail (are scared) to interpret exceptions in the light of the first principles and get stuck in a ‘case for which no sub-routine is in place’.

Distorted incentive structure

Very often the performance evaluation and incentive structure do not encourage freedom of interpretations. Rather you get punished for such initiatives. It is in such structure that informal incentives become the primary drivers for initiatives.

Over-Regulation

The same distorted incentives and function orientation among the regulators also lead to punitive measures which fail to take into account the intent and belief behind the actions i.e.; purely on rules and not the principle behind. This becomes a vicious cycle. Often this gets augmented by the ego trips that accompanies positions of power.

Sensationalism

These days the over-drive of journalistic sensationalism acts as a source of adrenalin and in certain cases and reason for retracting into a shell in some other cases.

What are the ingredients that compensates for these?

It is like the stock market; many factors quantifiable and non-quantifiable contribute. In my experience, of all the factors, the most critical factors are leadership with courage & integrity as a culture are the two founding pillars and also the most difficult to build up.

Leadership with courage

If an organisation is lead by leaders who are confident of themselves and have the courage to stand up for what they believe in, then none of these can be major drags. Like Thomas Jefferson quipped “Democracy is one man with courage”

Integrity as an organisational culture

Courage can act as a narcotic and result orientation can fail to be watchful about the means and sometimes the end. Often the management let these practices flourish as it also brings in the business. Then when the 'shit hits the roof' you are forced to make out of court settlements and this can happen even to the best of organisations.

The only check against this is the integrity level you have cultivated as a culture.

If we closely look at any successful institutions you will surely see these two.

This is the legacy that Mr C B Bhave left for NSDL (the institution that he built from scratch)

Market Power & Relationships...

What drives relationships? A number of factors influence relationships between people. This could be love, money, connections, affection, protection, power, position et al. I will use one collective word for all these together. ‘Market Power”. I have chosen these two words to collectively represent the drivers of relationships, as these two words reveal key components of relationships.

The word “market” reminds us that in most relationships there is an exchange i.e.; there is a give(r) and a take(r). “Power” reminds us that in relationships there is high possibility for one to have a larger influence (power) on the other.

Let us take a look at the various dimensions of this ‘Market Power’

In the absence of either of these constituents no relationships can survive. This is applicable for any relationship, be it business or personal.

As you can observe, some sources of market power are what you are; a loving father/ son/ husband, a caring friend, a sensible mentor. We can term it as “the Person Factor”. Some sources are what you possess; money, power, connection. We can term this as “the Possession Factor”

Market power is derived out of both. If the market power in a relationship is derived out of a combination in which “the Person Factor” forms a larger component the relationship may sustain for a longer period. If the driver is the Possession Factor” the relationship may not last so much or may last only till time “the Possession” lasts or only till that time ‘the Possession” is relevant to the other person.

Sometimes the relationship starts out of ‘the Possession Factor’ and grows to encompass ‘the Person Factor’.

In relationships that are driven by ‘the Possession Factor’, the more valuable the possession it is, the higher the market power. So in short term they can have a larger influence. But it is important to remember, that such relationships often lack depth.

One of the traps of the relationships out of ‘the Possession Factor’ is that it becomes demanding. If such demands become excessive then this relationship may degenerate or become exploitative. The other party may tolerate the demands if there is no choice and/or only if there is something to gain.

In relationships, if your demands are perceived to be unreasonable then the other party may cease to be open and frank. You will be told only what you want to hear. But no active effort nurture relationship or even try to add value to what is brought to the table.

This is the trap very often people in power fall to. Senior officers often get used to giving dictates and doling out favours and lose the skill to welcome suggestions or criticism. In such cases the relationships becomes very unbalanced and they cease to learn new things; which in the long run is counterproductive.

It makes enormous sense to develop a skill to judge the drivers in any relationships. How to manage this skill is a personal decision. Some may use it to pursue a strategy of having balanced relationships. Some may not.

But there is no doubt that this skill is a key ingredient in executive survival kit! On the other hand it can also help you to be realistic in your expectations...

Tour of Duty - Fiction

I was excited when our HR manager asked me if I would like to volunteer for a community service project in Mobuto in Africa sponsored by our company. Being a multinational company with presence all over country, we sponsored a variety of community service projects in under-developed countries.

I was bored of the routine office life and was keen to have some adventure in my life. A six month assignment in a tribal village in the beautiful rain forests of Africa sounded appealing. It was a fully paid holiday and there was a special hardship allowance. It also satisfied a craving in my heart for doing something for the poor and needy. So I agreed wholeheartedly.

This particular project was a part of a large project under the aegis of the Bank. The field level supervision was by an NGO and many sub-projects were sponsored by companies like ours.

After a long journey from Singapore and a long ride in a Pejaro, we finally reached Mobuto a small town which was the coordinating office for the community welfare projects of that rejoin. We were taken to the guest house maintained by the NGO. Quite a nice and comfortable set up; with air conditioners, mosquito proofing and all the amenities that a city-bred fellow like me would be happy to have.

The project sponsored by my company provided for educational support for three tribal villages. We had set up a primary school that could accommodate about 100 students. The school tried to teach the students how to read and write, elements of basic hygiene etc. It had teachers who were trained locals. Our project also funded a continuous supply of faculty support like me who would come for six months assignments partly to upgrade the quality of teachers and partly to supervise the work.

I stayed in the guest house and first couple of weeks were spent in acclimatising to the new place and learning the language. In the evening the local project co-ordinator who was from UK on a one year assignment came over for a whisky and some local gossip. He also narrated how the local chief was being well taken care to ensure that the mining right to the nearby Copper Mines were not jeopardised by the rebels.

After two weeks of familiarisation to the local culture, I visited the school which was about 20 km into the forests. The three local teachers were a pleasant lot and shared with me the challenges they face in attracting, retaining and educating the tribal kids who would rather go in to the forests to pick fruits and firewood.

By the time I finished my chat with the teachers, David came over to collect the package that I had carried for him. I was surprised to see a young handsome white gentleman about 22 years of age. He was from Boston and was staying in the village to help them and teach them with better community health. He has been there for almost 18 months. I was impressed by his dedication and commitment.

Every day I visited the village school I also ensured that I visited David and spent some time with him. I wanted to do whatever that I could to provide moral support to this self-sacrificing boy.

He took me to his hut and introduced me to his wife. She was a young and beautiful girl and obviously adored her husband. They had been married to each other for a year and were blessed with a small baby. My respect for him multiplied ten times for having given this girl a family and support.

We became good friends. As my days of community support were almost coming to an end, David joined me one day at the guest house for a drink. We were discussing our future plans. He confided with me that he plans to leave this village back to US within six months. I was taken aback.

“What about Suru and the kid?” I asked

“What about her? It is a small side story in a project that has helped me get admission to Harvard” David quipped.

“Moreover the local support has contributed to my project a lot and Suru made stay here a lot more pleasurable”

I felt better; especially since I had started wondering about the cost-benefit of my project.

(After posting serious stuff for many weeks, this is an attempt again in storytelling. Any resemblance to living characters or incidences may be intentional.

This effort attempts multiple goals, like a piece of modern art.

At the basic level, is just a narration of a story adapted from something I heard, to see how I could handle the narration!.

Above this, it tries to make some observations on the motives of individuals, institutions and even nations in many of the community service initiatives.

On the one hand why should one bother at the underlying agenda if the benefits are tangible and otherwise un-available.

But sometimes don't these welfare initiatives lead to exploitation and get used for unfair discrimination. Some of the extreme views on child labour and environmental protection are examples of this.

I don’t intent to make any value judgement here; but just a reminder that the first impression may not always be the right expression of reality!)

Leading from the front...

I was in Kolkata last week and I was skimming through Times of India in the morning. The headline which said “Howrah walks past man struck by bus” caught my attention. I was shocked and horrified to read that a young man who got hit by a bus at the busy Howrah crossing was lying unattended for 20 hours pleading to the passersby to take him to a hospital.

Hundreds of people passed by, including many police men. Nobody was ready to extend a helping hand to Vishal. One Good Samaritan felt pity on him and moved him from the road to the pavement, gave him some water and biscuits and moved away. Even he did not dare to take him to the hospital as he “did not want trouble with the police”

Later when journalists reached the spot and started taking photographs, the police decided to act. Even then, they just dragged him away without even using a make shift stretcher.

This reminded me of what happened to one of my friends few years ago in New Delhi. He met with a bike accident in the night. He realised that his spine has been critically injured. When the Police came on sight, he pleaded with the police to be careful as his back was severally damaged. The police man took him and made him stand upright and as per the doctors who later treated him, one of the main reasons why he was paralysed waist downward was the load that was exerted on his back after the injury.

Later they moved him to Safdarjung hospital where also the medical attention was totally pathetic. He survived only because his parents reached hospital and moved him to better hospital.

The saga did not end. He had to have an immediate surgery on his spine to fix an artificial sleeve had to be implanted. His brother sent the required sleeve by courier. It took couple of days of Ping-Pong from desk to desk to get the stuff cleared from the Customs. Finally when they cleared the package from the customs and opened the box, it was empty. Then his father got a call from an unknown person asking for a decent sum of money for this to be returned. Finally his brother had to fly down with a new piece.

Why such apathy we see among the public servants? Is it that our public servants are not capable of good quality community service?

The answer is No.

What we need leaders who believe in public service. Occasionally we see islands of excellence. The initiative by JK Tripathi, Commissioner of Police at Trichi to improve the quality of community policing is an excellent example of what can be achieved by means of cooperation between government agencies and public at large. His efforts helped to reduce crime rate by 40% in two years after he took over. The city notorious for it communal violence became a paragon of communal cooperation.

The Surat initiatives by the Municipal Commissioner S R Rao in the aftermath of the plague outbreak in 1994, also shows that if we have leadership that cares achievements can be extraordinary. (A detailed discussion of bothe these case studies are available in “Making breakthrough innovation by Mr. Poros Munshi)

Ms Kiran Bedi’s achievement as Inspector General (Prisons) at Tihar Jail is even more stupendous.

All these go to show that with the right kind of leadership the so called apathetic, insensitive public servants can rise up to self sacrificing levels of service instead of self-serving levels.

The million Dollar question is how we can have more of such leaders (an retain them) in our legislature and bureaucracy. What the PM has done for UIDAI is a good example. He got an outstanding professional to head the prestigious UID project. The same idea can be taken to the next level.

How can we scale this up and ensure that outstanding professionals are placed in key functions on the basis of a better and more competitive selection process? (Some suggestions on this topic )

How do we motivate and encourage such leaders.

If half of what is explained in Kiren Bedi’s book “I Dare” about how the system is ‘enslaved’ is true, then the challenges in front of us appear to be gargantuan.

Does it mean we should just hope and pray for these ‘Messiahs’

Porus Mushi has articulated how each one of us can contribute. “All we need to do is to take what we have in hand and use it to make a delta change. Look around you. Every sign of progress you see anywhere has happened because some individual didn’t see himself as doing ‘just a job’. .... Every job contains within it the potential to change the civilization if it is reframed appropriately. ... What can you do to make a delta change today?”