Merry Christmas - Joyeux Noel

Thinking Outside the Block

I am sitting at my computer listening to the sound of an angry ocean hitting the reef. There is a flock of low lying clouds hiding the best parts of the pink sunset while beneath shadowy waves assemble to talk about their long journey to this African coastline....

I think I have been writing too many “official documents” with too few creative graphics... My writing sounds like it’s been seriously deprived of colourful descriptions for some time. Perhaps a few more blogs might cure that? Let’s give it a try.

Photo: Laundry day

It is my fifth week in Liberia. The rainy season is coming to an end and will soon be replaced by hot, smouldering temperatures that keeps you moving in slow motion until nightfall. It is my first time working in this country and there is much understand: the history, the culture and the hopes. One strand of semblance lives on: I cannot help but find the human spirit a fascinating force in the face of challenges. It was also the case when in Afghanistan, where I visited briefly again in June of this year. Innovation and creativity is a matter of livelihood. Necessity is the mother of invention, as it were. Where my imagination ends; theirs begins, etc. etc.

Last week, I saw a young girl carry 3 blocks of cement on her head as if it were one of those fanciful hats worn at the annual Melbourne Cup. All she had between her head and the blocks was a twisted cotton scarf made to look like the inside of a bowl on one end and a flat surface on the other. Without a doubt, my thoughts of carrying blocks of cements would have definitely involved a set of wheels – not a scarf. Culture, poverty and the state of roads are not necessarily wheel-friendly so young girls carry blocks of cement on their heads.

Indeed it is not how much it weighs that matters but rather our thoughts about the weight – on our head, no least – that makes it a bit surreal. Our expectations about the weight would not bring us to duplicate this technique. In effect, such expectation about the weight does impact the range of choices we see. So it follows, that disconnecting ourselves from expectations that have been drilled into us over the years will expand our range of choices – and in this particular case, keep us in better shape too.

Come to think of it, this is essentially one of the many messages that Napoleon Hill, Bob Proctor, Tony Robbins and Stephen Covey have shared with us over the years: Conceive, believe and you will achieve. They were right.

Photo: Two Liberian women walking with goods and baby.

Steering and Gearing

Last weekend I visited an eastern region of the province of Quebec referred to as les Cantons de l'Est or the Eastern Townships. I cycled over 90 kilometres in rolling hills, through paved and gravel roads, zooming down a hill at 70 kms an hour and finally returning for dinner in the dark. My partner and I got lost several times and saw more country than planned. Nevertheless, it was a good day: we had done what we said we would do - and more.

The experience was indeed a great way to end a summer - but one that I wouldn't have achieved had I known what I was up against. This got me thinking how often far reaching and highly laborious or aggressive project plans rarely reach full implementation or produce desired results. Having worked in developing countries for almost 10 years, I must admit that many of the projects designed to improve the management of a civil service have often been tremendously challenging for the client, the project team and the donor. Results are much more difficult to reach when desired results - and the road to get there - are a bit overwhelming. To no surprise, it is not unusual to see the same project reappearing or being extended over a period of several years in order to reach desired results. Might I add that this also happens in the Public Service of developed countries.

Sometimes it is best to aim for broader goals to add flexibility or aim for fewer goals that can adjust to local capacities; emphasize learning through progress; allow circumstances to guide the pace and deliverables or cut down projects into more manageable size. The point is that projects need to be strategically linked. The need to scope projects in a manner that strategically links them to the organizations responsible for leading the project and to the organizations that will be affected by the project is quite important in securing the commitments from clients to embed progress and grow from it.

Strike a Goal

It is truly difficult to resume writing a blog after such a long hiatus - words don't come as easy but neither do the excuses not to write. So, let's get the show on the road before we lose sight of the road altogether.

Since my last blog entry there has been many new experiences but those that stand out the most were born from goals that have either challenged my thinking or my stamina. Indeed there is nothing more exhilarating than completing a goal. I won't say that my goals are as far reaching as Mr. Pierre Trudeau's resolve to strengthen Canadian federalism or as captivating as Mr. Steve Yzerman's goal to bring Canada’s ice hockey team the gold medal in the 2010 winter olympics in Vancouver. But they have been memorable nonetheless. My goals have added to my sense of purpose and future direction - as with those of Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Yzerman, I am sure.

Some highlights emerging from my goals in the first half of 2009 have been: Guiding an organization to strategically manoeuvre through a business transformation; hiking 3,600 ft in less than 6 km through the old forests of British Columbia's Wedgemount Lake in the Garibaldi Provincial Park; studying a country's development to assess its vulnerabilities in merit based recruitment; cycling the Ironman 60 km bike loop at Lake Placid, USA; completing another post graduate course in public administration and coming up: running a 5 km race at the 2009 Canada Army Run on September 20th in Ottawa and providing assistance to one of Liberia's central agency in its development efforts this fall.

Indeed, much has been written about goals: scoping the goals; identifying what is needed to meet them; making plans to accomplish them; managing the changes they bring; and measuring the impact they have. I have a library filled with books on project management, change management, strategic planning, performance management, and the like. At its simplest denominator, they all begin with setting a goal. To no surprise, I have therefore decided to set myself a goal for this blog.

Effective September 16th my goal is to write a blog every Wednesday up to December 30, 2009 on a variety of subjects of interest to public servants at home and abroad. If you have any preference please send me an email at dsbegin@hrsbconcepts.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Photo: Lake Rawson, Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada. A 6 km hike return.

From Common Grounds to Groundhogs

While a part time student at Laurentian University working towards my degree in Political Science I ignited a fascination with human geography, the study of interactions between humans and their environment. I found this course and its concepts parallel to much of what I had observed in the workplace; especially in the manner it explained how cultural values, lores and beliefs emerged from experiencing the trials and tribulations of external stimulus.

Take North Americans for instance. Living through long, harsh winters greatly impacts the way folks in Canada experience the world. No better example than the famous weather lore: the Groundhog Day. Canadians know only too well how weather can influence their day. Hence, they not only build their conversation from a single point of entry: the weather; but they (along with their American counterparts living in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania) have adopted a way of foretelling 6 weeks’ worth of winter weather conditions with a little help from their neighbourhood rodent.

You know the story. If the groundhog, (also referred to as a land beaver or woodchuck), sees its shadow there will be 6 more weeks of winter ahead. This grand event is all happening tomorrow, and every year on February 2nd. According to Wikipedia, forecasts are accurate 75% to 90% of the time. Whether a belief built from fact or fiction, this tale has left a trail dating back to 1841. Suffice to say, interactions with this cold period of the year created a story that helped define a culture.

Human geography teaches us that traditional wisdom inspired by the environment helps build a culture with distinct values, beliefs and behaviours. To draw the parallel, public sector values and beliefs emerge from interactions and experiences civil servants have with their workplace. This is an important distinction that is often forgotten, especially when managing change. Values are not pushed onto people; people pull them from their environment.

Photo: Mont Tremblant January 30, 2009

A Change of Time

Changing from one year to the next has traditionally been filled with ease. Those 12 bells to midnight usually go by without a sigh, without even a blink. What brings a bit more challenge are the good intentions, goals or resolutions we make with the indubitable power to throw us off kilter in the months ahead.

Thankfully, we can always count on a daily consumption of digitalization to help balance things off. Whether it is to lose weight, stop smoking, read more, exercise more or smile more – there is a website, a .pdf, a text buddy, a software, a CD, an audio book that can assess our situation, follow our progress, send us encouraging emails, link us to folks who care and even find us other honourable intentions if we run out. While personal change tends to stretch out our sense of time, digitalization shrinks it. Time often has no end in the evening when trying to avoid the chips in the cupboard. On the other hand, texting a friend for moral support can be achieved instantaneously. Yes, opposites do attract.

The management of change is often about building a comfort level in our environment that brings the appearance of time returning to “normal”. Where anxiety and uncertainty no longer makes us yearn for the past or for tomorrow – but instead are replaced by a renewed sense of purpose and confidence where being in the “present” feels good again. Happy New Year!

Season's Greetings - Joyeux temps des fêtes

Bridging Challenges

There are times in everyone’s life where challenges appear (are?) overwhelming. Even with the most optimistic of attitudes and the best plan the world has to offer, there are times when the glass just keeps overflowing. To help us make sense of our environment we often rely on friends, immerse ourselves in hobbies, collections and books - or simply pray.

I remember some time ago a good friend and colleague telling me: “This too shall all come to pass.” It was 1995 and employees of the Ontario Public Service were completing their year of “Rae Days” to enter a period of “Commons Sense Revolution”: a plan to downsize the Ontario Public Service to a new set of fiscal numbers. Well, it did pass.

I took the opportunity to relocate and try my luck at a few short term assignments to find myself in the end, quite happily self-employed. Although this period of change was incredibly difficult, I did find myself to be where I should have been all along – and yes, more challenges continue to spark me to this day.

I do hope that my children will look at challenges as a bridge to safe passage and not as a ridge between plans and results. We sometimes are either way too pragmatic or way too dramatic in our way of managing challenges and forget that in the end it’s all about getting ready for the next one.

Visible Footprints

A study of social networks in Kabul could without a doubt present fascinating results. With donors and organizations from approximately 37 countries, Kabul has become a hub of cultural diversity and global perspectives. In addition to the various ethnic groups residing in Afghanistan such as Hazaras, Tajiks, Pashtuns and Uzbeks, Kabul does manage to be home for a large community of internationals as illustrated by my colleagues working in civil service management and the justice sector from Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, United States, Sweden, Australia, Belgium, Korea,
Norway, Pakistan, India, New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, Scotland and Ireland – to name a few.

Although security restrictions in Kabul may prevent us from walking the streets; may limit us to a few select restaurants, shops, medical facilities and amenities or close us down entirely for 2 to 3 days at a time, networking is a thriving activity kept alive by mobile telephones and the internet. So as to support Afghanistan’s development, linking to a social network is absolutely essential for all internationals. It helps co-ordinate our work, avoid duplication, leverage development efforts and instil some continuity and progress over the years. With each international having connections to other social worlds - mostly in their home country – the connections made in Kabul also introduces us to new ideas, knowledge, opportunities and incredible possibilities.

Although perhaps unnoticeable and rarely acknowledged, the day to day interactions, the exchange of experiences, the interpretations of events, the exposure to various languages, cultural patterns, mannerisms and beliefs do have an impact on each and everyone of us – no matter how loose the network connection; no matter how brief the encounter and no matter how much we believe that this adaptability is just a temporary thing. Actually, in my opinion, I suspect that what we do to adapt broadens our thinking permanently.

Although social networks may be invisible to the eye – they do leave visible footprints.

The Fourth Estate

Journalism is said to be a critical component of a “civil society” – a term used to distinguish societies which allow for collective action around shared interests, purposes and values without threat, intimidation or retribution. Contributing to this emancipation of a society are institutions such as the Kabul University. The Faculty of Journalism (14 faculties in total) is one of the oldest at the Kabul University. Next year, it will be celebrating its 45th anniversary. Other journalism and communication departments exist at Balkh University, in northern Afghanistan, and Herat University in the western part of the country.

To summarize, we are provided with 3 newspapers written in English in Kabul:

The Kabul Times: established in 1962, was the first English language printed newspaper in Afghanistan. One of the stories in Thursday’s paper includes an announcement that Dr. Abdul Latif Jalali, one of the country’s greatest journalist, died at the age of 81 on October 13th. He was a lecturer at the Kabul University, worked on National Radio and TV as newscaster and political analyst, all in Afghanistan.

The Daily Afghanistan is the first independent English newspaper throughout the history of Afghanistan, published from Kabul and available for 10 Afs. (.25 cents CAN). The circulation of this paper is 7000 and it is distributed to 32 (out of a total of 34) provinces in Afghanistan. It is also published in Dari – a language spoken mostly in Kabul and in northern provinces and Pashto, a language spoken mostly in southern provinces. Dr. Hussain Ali Yasa is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief.

The Afghanistan Times provides Afghan World News from a comprehensive international network of journalists. The editor, Mr. Ali Ahmad Pasoon produces the only coloured newspaper in Afghanistan containing local, provincial, sector and international news and events. Thursday’s paper highlighted everything from the Global Hand Washing Day events to protect people from diarrhea and pneumonia to a seminar on Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islamic Thought to overcome the violence of war years and make a “peaceful sphere”.

Seeking Simplicity

Simplicity is essential when entering a period of change. We reduce, abbreviate, merge, categorize, breakdown, centralize, divide, codify, graph, model, synthesize and generalize – all with a view of building a common thread of understanding of where we are, where we want to go and how we will get there. Framing a change in simplicity facilitates performance.

However, there are risks to seeking simplicity:

Where we are:
Surface surfing: Seeking simplicity can result in a collection of information that muddies the waters and brings the analysis to false conclusions. To reach the quality and quantity of information required is to know how to manage tensions between simplicity and complexity.
Fear factor: Seeking simplicity often caters to information on what should be heard instead of what needs to be heard. Informants fear change or the truth and their repercussions; collectors fear scope creep and often cannot see what they can’t recognize. Ostensibly, the information collected is easy to explain but nevertheless, erroneous.


Where we want to go:
No appetite: A diet of simplicity will not nourish engagement. If there is no leadership engagement, there is no traction for change and things will stay as they are no matter how effortless the solution looks on paper. Simplicity does not replace belief in a vision.
Easy fit: Simplicity will not have built in comfort. Change pushes people outside their comfort zone no matter how simple it looks. Simplicity does not replace empathy.


How we will get there:
A frame is just a frame: Framing implementation in simplicity doesn’t mean that the implementation is simple. It will bring resistance, realignments, additional costs, skill gaps, and all that change incites within and around us. To quote from historian and philosopher, Mr. Will Durant "Change is certain; progress is not.”
Less is not more: Removing complexity does not necessarily bring about an under expenditure. The costs of any change are not regulated by complexity but rather by “readiness” to change.

A Successful Walk

Thanks so much for your support! We had a wonderful day! I am certain that it will make a great difference to those who have fallen victim to this disease or who might in the future...

In Canada, one in 70 women will get ovarian cancer. Each year 2400 Canadian women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 1700 die of the disease annually, making it the most fatal gynecologic cancer. Even though the statistics surrounding the disease are bleak, the good news is that when diagnosed in the early stages, the long-term survival rate is up to 90%. Funds raised through the Winners Walk of Hope will go to supporting women living with ovarian cancer and their families, educating well women about the disease and funding ovarian cancer research.

If you would like more information about Ovarian Cancer Canada please visit www.ovariancanada.org or for more information on the Winners Walk of Hope please visit www.winnerswalkofhope.ca Thanks again for your support.





Your donation to the Winners Walk of Hope on my behalf is greatly appreciated!

Diane

HRSB Concepts Inc. Announces New Website

Dear Colleagues,

I am very pleased to announce the new HRSB Concepts Inc. website which was officially launched August 1, 2008. The website has a new modern look with simplified navigation, a collaborative software for clients, a time zone world map, a photo gallery, updated links, a featured book every month and of course a matching theme for the weekly blog.

The site also provides a sign up to a quarterly newsletter which will feature topical subjects of interest to clients and colleagues to complement resources and tools available on the website. The first issue is scheduled to be released September 1, 2008. Featured articles, photos and tools will continue to be added. Plans are to include articles written in French in early 2009.

This bold, freshly designed site (www.hrsbconcepts.com) provides information about specialized consulting services in strategy and accountability, performance management and employee development, integrated business and workforce planning, recruitment and retention and succession planning.

One of the main features of the new Web site is a secure collaborative software available to HRSB Concepts clients called Basecamp http://www.basecamphq.com/index which offers a novel approach to project collaboration. Projects can be supported by charts, graphs, stats, or reports, and a series of tools tailored to improve the communication between people working together on a project – no matter where they are located.

I hope that you will visit our website regularly and that you and your colleagues will find it a useful workspace and reference point.

Winners Walk of Hope

This year HRSB Concepts Inc. is participating in the Winners Walk of Hope, a remarkable event designed to create a sense of community for women living with ovarian cancer and their family and friends.

All funds raised through this event support Ovarian Cancer Canada's mission to: support women and their families touched by ovarian cancer, educate well women and healthcare professionals and to fund ovarian cancer research. It's a day filled with hope and support, creating a greater awareness around ovarian cancer. To date, the Winners Walk of Hope has raised over $3million.

For more information on Ovarian Cancer Canada's many programs, please visit www.ovariancanada.org Secure online donations can be made with your credit card and an official charitable tax receipt will be sent to you by email within five minutes! You can make an online donation now:

http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=1902194

For more information about the Winners Walk of Hope, or to join us on Sunday September 7, 2008 at 9am, please visit www.winnerswalkofhope.ca

Thank you for your generous support!

Diane

New Orientations in HR

There is much talk about organizational alignment and the need to cascade strategic goals down the hierarchy. However, there is still limited attention given to reverse cascading: an alignment led by individual employees. Practices that focus on the development of operational standards or far reaching strategic objectives is no longer enough – especially as recruitment and retention become more and more of a priority. Innovative human resources practices that recognize the needs of individuals to stimulate superior performance are gaining importance.

This new orientation does not necessarily have people climb ladders to manage their career or deal with steps to calculate their salary, but rather provides a very different reference point that seeks to redefine the relationship between the individual and their workplace. Recently I came across a couple of novel human resources practices that did just that:

The North Broward Hospital District information services department came up with a compensation system for their information technology business unit that replaced their ladder with a personal dashboard. It is called career banding. Individuals within the career band groups are paid according to their competencies in a number of areas such as technical skills, problem solving skills and people skills as opposed to a set of position-based factors attached to narrowly set pay scales and steps.

The Finnish company, Nokia, maker of cell phones has engineered a way to design meaningful and fulfilling jobs by setting up highly "modular" structures so that instead of moving people around, they move teams around, thereby capitalizing on working relationships that have proven to be working well for its members – and in so doing reduce the amount of anxiety associated with difficult projects.

There are many more such breakthroughs and I’ll try to highlight some of them in future blogs. In the interim, if you have a few you would like to share please feel free to contact me or attach a comment to this blog.

A Tribute to Hadi

Every once and a while you get to know people that mark your path. They inspire you, change you, share interests with you or bring hope where little exists. Such is Hadi. Barely 25 years old and fully bilingual (Dari and English speaking), he is not only my driver in Kabul but he is also the person I count on for identifying when car and radio repairs are needed; where best to go for medicine and other supplies; how best to get to a destination and avoid bottlenecks - but mostly for taking daily precautions for my safe passage while travelling on the city roads of Kabul.

Six days a week we set off to various work locations – and we talk. Conversations with Hadi connect me with life in Kabul and the effects are like drops of water on a dusty counter top. He explains historical events and cultural norms, he gives me a few more Dari words for me to practice, he informs me of National Holidays and local Afghan news and events; helps me plan my daily travel needs and at times, even supplies me with a scarf to cover my head when mine is still at the guesthouse.

It is also during this time that he often shares with me little tidbits of information that sparkle my day. Here’s a bit of Afghan folklore according to Hadi.

1. If you cough while drinking – someone is thinking of you
2. If your right eye twitches – you will get good news or someone from far away will come and visit
3. If your left eye twitches – you will get bad news
4. If there is a tickle in the palm of your hand – you will receive riches

...and riches are indeed made up of people who mark your path.

The 3 C's

Once more I have come to the end of an assignment in Kabul. To cap it off, I thought I would share with you what I call the 3 C’s of civil service reform: Change management, Capacity building and Cultural dynamics.

Change Management is comprised of approaches, processes and techniques most commonly referred to as change management “tools” that facilitate the acceptance and integration of new ways of doing things. These tools might help create new structures, competencies, processing systems, policies and leadership within a civil service; they may either create traction for change, mobilize for change, reduce resistance to change, and even keep the change long enough to see it improve over time. The management of change is not a “one size fits all” therefore it is important to explore the wide array of “tools” available to organizations to ease their change effort. I would like to recommend a change management book written by one of my favorite authors, Lynda Gratton. The title of her book is: “Hot Spots: Why Some Companies Buzz with Energy and Innovation - and Others Don't”.
Similar ideas also exist in W. Chan Kin and Renee Mauborgne’s “Tipping Point Leadership”.

Capacity Building: Yes, the knotty capacity building makes its way at the top of reform work priorities. Here, it refers to the institutional and individual development that must occur to improve or alter results produced by a civil service. Let me emphasize that it is not just about “training”. Too often we see resources and time dedicated to this activity without any effort put into establishing the framework within which individuals will practice what they have learned. Developing a capacity building strategy must take into consideration everything that needs to be changed in order to bring about different results. This strategy should make reference to the systems, performance goals and indicators, the operational processes, the policies, templates, methods of communication, relationships… and the form they should take to produce desired results.

Cultural Dynamics: We all have a pair of lens through which we see our world and changing the colour of these lenses can be an incredible process of concessions, negotiations and assimilation within individuals and across groups. Bringing changes to a workplace often challenges beliefs and values held by a “culture”. Cultures are everywhere. There are national cultures, ethnic cultures, organizational cultures, regional cultures and generational cultures – all of which have their own set of values and beliefs. They may have the potential to move mountains or build walls. Learning how to work with diversity to plan and build a reform can make a great deal of difference.

To explore the world of cultural diversity, here are a couple of my favourites:
Riding The Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business by Fons Trompenaars

International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior by Nancy J. Adler

As well here is a great website produced by Citizenship and Immigration Canada
http://www.cp-pc.ca/english/index.html

A Silky Connection

Once the threat of cold weather is decidedly over and the picnic season is well underway, the mulberries make their apparition in Afghanistan; falling from attractive mulberry trees to adorn the ground with a pearl white, lace pink or dark purple hue. According to local experts, the mulberry is a primary fruit crop, originally brought to Afghanistan to support a highly specialized silk industry.

As it turns out, the sole food source of the silkworm is the leaves from the drought resistant mulberry tree. The silkworm cannot survive without the mulberry tree, producing an intimate connection and finest example of one species’ complete dependence on another for its existence. In Afghanistan, it also provides an example of how a society can benefit from such symbiotic arrangements.

While delicious fresh or dried mulberries are sold at the local bazaars in Kabul, the delicate work of collecting cocoons from the mulberry tree and producing silk by hand continues in cities such as Herat situated in the northwest part of the country. According to Wikipedia, mulberry silk is the finest and the most valuable variety of silk.

Photos from left to right: Afghan picnic summer 2006; Safi the Chef at Justice Sector Guesthouse June.08; Dish of mulberry June.08; silk scarf woven by master silk weavers in Kabul using ancient silk route traditions and purchased at the Zardozi shop, Kabul, Afghanistan.

Packaging the Machinery

The training function within a civil service at any level of government can be a complex machinery. For example let us look at training delivery mechanisms. There are centre-of-government institutions dedicated to training and education; ministries or departments with their own specialized training programs; institutions with training mandates at the sub-national level as well as elaborate multi-partnerships with educational institutions, associations and the private sector. Yes, governance and delivery models abound.

So, when asked by clients, especially in developing countries, to conduct training needs assessments, develop training strategies or create new training programs effort is made to consolidate and understand the training “machinery” of government. This helps build standardization and compliance while hopefully strengthening what works best within this machinery.

Here are its three main components:
1. Policy development: training legislation, policy framework, content of policy, policy making process, governance and delegation of authority.
2. Policy implementation: extent of the “training” practice within government, systems, processes and tools to implement within and across institutions.
3. Policy evaluation: accountability framework, approach to risk assessment, monitoring and evaluation and continuous improvement.

Photo: Government of Laos, Vientiane, Laos 03.05

The Most of Posts

After a year and a half of blogging I have noticed that my entries are either regarding the work or the work location. After some thought, I have decided to add a small indicator to my posts for easy reference.

The FarsidePost will contain information regarding the work location. As in the past it will focus on interesting information about the people, their culture and their experiences.

The InsidePost will focus on the work I do – ranging from wide-scale civil service reform to small scale organizational diagnosis. It will include advice, brief guidelines and helpful hints to facilitate the development, implementation and sustainability of workforce management changes in the public sector.

I hope you find them useful. My website will also be upgraded shortly. Stay tuned for further announcements.