With stronger institutions

WHAT really is the secret behind being able to bring several pies in the sky down to the ground? Whether it is in polity or in the economy, the secret is the same, in that there is really no secret other than putting these basic ideas into actual practice:

• There is a leadership that gives due importance to the pursuit of a vision and its realization such that it learns to delegate and to get all key stakeholders involved. Getting people to be involved and to participate so they have a stake in rallying around the common vision and getting it realized, is an important secret ingredient.

• Silos are broken, walls are brought down so that people within any enterprise get to work in small cohesive teams that actually deliver results. For this to happen, members of various working teams need to hang on to a few core values, and they have to have a clear idea of the contribution they can give, if they work closely with other team members.

• Kinks are ironed out, gaps filled up, and stumbling blocks removed. In other words, there is some efficient seamlessness in the internal processes within the enterprise so waiting times are minimized, waste eliminated, and productivity for everyone is enhanced. Indeed, there is “system” in everything that is being done within the enterprise, and such a system should work for the benefit of the whole, rather than the interest of only parts of the enterprise.

In the public sector, all of the above may demand public sector investments so that “shared value” takes on a concrete face in getting the entire value chain strongly connected with each other. For instance, roads do lead to one another, and the flow within the road system is made to flow as smoothly and as fast as is demanded by efficiency and productivity: In other words, no unnecessary road blocks. The same would hold in getting the paper flow work out smoothly: no unnecessary waiting time, and the downtime for any operating system should be as close to zero as possible.

In the private sector, the same efficiency model should be made to work. Support systems can be counted upon, and every link within the chain should be connected with each other so there is no interruption in the supply flow. Moreover, there is almost total openness to new technology and new systems that become available. There is no tolerance for being satisfied with second-best solutions, simply because there is too much political static and interference into the competitive process, with this single proviso, that the general welfare of all is given its due consideration.

That the whole system should work efficiently and seamlessly: this demands that every enterprise takes very good care of its own internal systems; and it also demands that institutions in the public sector take very good care of the area or sector they are responsible for, and taking care simply means that there has to be a good system that is made to work in that area or sector.

This, indeed, is a work for a lifetime, it has to be very much part of our national agenda in the next five decades!