To Work your Plan (Play)

It is easy to understand how important the application of project management skills has become to the international development community. Donors, international development firms, consultants and their client governments are constantly looking for better ways of managing projects to achieve results. Here are a few interesting points picked up from recent experiences:

1. Although a project might have the most sophisticated project management approaches, it takes time and persistence to build momentum – especially where resources, leadership and co-ordination is at a premium. Hence, projects should plan for time to build momentum and engagement even though very few if any project results or milestones are reached. It takes time to build a common set of ideas and vision for a reform. Sometimes it is more important to show persistence than results, even if it does look like inertia at times.

2. Small wins create momentum. When “bigger picture” results described in project sheets appear out of reach, creating small wins is a tangible way forward. These can include early positive feedback from stakeholders, or the discovery of new possibilities, the resolution of a difficult challenge or early steps that demonstrate engagement to build the required change. Continuous small wins such as these can create remarkable momentum for change.

To my neighbourhood’s football (soccer) players, small wins and persistence were unshakable concepts of great significance. Their play tells the story.

Un bouquet pour maman

Lorsque j’étais petite fille je passais des grandes secousses à poursuivre des activités qui me plaisaient beaucoup mais qui causaient souvent des ennuis à ma mère – comme insister qu’elle me donne la permission pour quelque chose qui était hors de la question, agacer ma sœur, courir après mon frère ou veiller tard.

Ma mère me disait toujours: ‘Diane tu n’as pas de borne!’ Ma mère n’est plus sur cette terre mais ses mots résonnent encore dans ma tête. Garder l’équilibre dans tout ce qu’on fait est important et elle m’en rappelle chaque jour.

Demain marquera 10 ans depuis qu’elle est partie et je veux dédier cette journée à sa douce mémoire. Demain, je porterai dans mon cœur un bouquet de baisers pour maman.

Pent-up Priorities

Leaders and their teams are faced daily with tough choices. Setting priorities and staying the course is extremely difficult, especially in developing countries where the risks, the uncertainties and the fragility of the systems of government are so high. Being a big fan of brevity and simplicity the pentagon was borrowed to produce a light representation of the relationship between priorities and key elements of civil service management.

A = Everything is a priority
B = Desired results
C = Performance indicators
D = Employees
E = Leadership

A + B = Under achievement
A + C = Information overflow
A + D = Employee burnout
A + E = Leadership turnover

B + C = Dashboard
B + D = Alignment
B + E = Vision

C + D = Performance management
C + E = Accountability management

D + E = Team

A Line of Sight

Each of us should live within our personal set of values and beliefs. Doing so facilitates achievement. Organizational structures are characterized by our values and beliefs. Careful selection, promotion and application of a set of organizational values can also facilitate the manifestation of desired results. Translating those values into policies, strategic and operational objectives, individual competencies and management decisions takes great commitment and discipline. This is referred to as alignment.

Whilst the intent of a Civil Service Reform (CSR) is to bring about progress – make things better - it must align with the greater purpose and reflect the values and beliefs of priority to the people to be successful. For example, the objectives of the Public Service for 21st Century Programme (PS21) in Singapore are: to nurture an attitude of service excellence, and to foster an environment which welcomes change. This vision presents values and beliefs that should be apparent throughout the reform agenda. Giving little attention to these values can bring about serious disconnects and affect the launch and engagement of key parts of a reform.

Clearly mapping values and beliefs of a nationally shared vision to CSR strategies and projects brings congruency and alignment. The bottom line in measuring the success of alignment is the degree to which the CSR brings people together to work on the things about which they care about most. The line of sight between what they are doing and what they care about becomes crystal clear and brings purpose. Alignment will help build commitment and synergy among top managers in the service – an important pre-requisite to any reform.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Picture: Mom selling bananas with baby near roadside on way to Kampala, Uganda

Museums and Memorials

This blog entry is dedicated to the museums and memorials of Rwanda. I recently visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali and the Rwanda National Museum in Butare with my colleagues. One provided a cultural, geographic, historical, political and economic account of the country while the other provided a sobering portrayal of a society gone wrong.

The National Museum displayed an introductory panel stating that 25% of the world’s surface is fit for human habitation of which 4.3% is in Africa. At the Memorial in Kigali we were welcomed by a guide who explained that the site held 256,000 people buried in graves 4 metres deep – enough depth to stack 4 coffins, each carrying 4 to 5 bodies. We were stimulated intellectually and emotionally by those visits. In very different ways, they served to strengthen our understanding and admiration of this country's vision of the future.

I thank you Rwanda for allowing us to better understand you through your excellent museums and memorials. Even my little Rwandan friend from Butare has his thumb up in agreement...

Next on deck: Back to Civil Service Reform with a thought on strategic goals.