Economic development - Leveraging skills from Private space

Introduction

World over, governments strive to accelerate economic growth thereby providing better quality of lives for their citizens. However, in their pursuit, they are constantly challenged by limited resources and evolving public expectations. The objective is to deliver better outcomes more efficiently; however, this would mean taking some unconventional measures.

So far, Indian government’s administrative set up has been well managed by the executive and bureaucracy. Nevertheless, to attain the transformation & effective development, the government need to draw intellectual capital (professionals) from the private sector and apply them in a way suited to the public sector. Renowned economist Ho Joon Chang says, “The foundation of economic development is the acquisition of more productive knowledge.”

The professionals, as facilitators of change, bring specialised knowledge in their respective areas, innovation and structured approach. They would complement the existing set up in enhancing productivity to boost economic growth and ensuring reach of welfare schemes to those in need, more effectively and efficiently. The State of today needs to be ‘Strategic’.

‘Strategic State’ & Capacity building

Morris Chang, CEO TSMC, says, “Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless.” Whether in private or public sector, proper strategic planning and its rigorous execution are critical and indispensable to each other – in bridging the gap between where we stand and where we want to be. The ‘Strategic State’ would ensure these elements with an objective of doing more with less. This might mean reviewing and cutting programmes that no longer deliver value, using new reward and recognition structures promoting change and results, and leveraging latest know-how, technology and adjusting policy reforms towards transformation and efficiency.

Large-scale government transformation programs are easy to talk about, but difficult to execute; one research tells only 40% of such efforts meet their objectives. For turning big ideas into big wins, the rules are different, the skill sets are different, the focus and the energy are completely different. Thus, developing economies like India should strongly emphasise on ‘capacity building’.

Significance of Professionals & Newer developments

Essential for ‘capacity building’ is recruiting, nurturing, rewarding and retaining professionals (specialists). This is even more important when government needs to be equipped with the know-how of how to do, what they want to do.

Following are few major areas where professionals can act as force multipliers:

·         Programme management

With an array of projects and schemes declared by the government, the specialised practice of programme management will ensure methodological, proactive, disciplined, effective and efficient implementation. In mission mode, this will lead to the desired outcomes (continued infrastructure development, attracting investment, reaching of benefits to various social segments). The learning can then be fed to the planning process.

·         Strategic Planning

Evidence based informed decision making and relevant policy formulation form the core. As statistician Edwards Deming says, “In God we trust; all others must bring data.” Measuring outcomes is imperative – whether for social programmes, health or educational expenditure – and basis these outcomes, government need to choose the impactful programmes. Professionals can drive through big data analytics, predictive modelling and other statistical learning techniques.

·         Communication

The government needs to implement initiatives, and make the citizens aware of these initiatives, for passing the benefits in entirety. In today’s digital age of agile social media (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Blog), specialised professionals drive instant and effective communication. This is also critical for feedback gathering, making public announcements, redressing grievances and highlighting government actions.

·         Research & Analysis

The government today needs to benchmark and learn not only from the region but also from rest of the world. Qualitative and quantitative research in areas of best practices, latest developments and innovation would act as catalyst to the development initiatives. Further, research aids in providing solutions and reengineering the current processes.

Professionals in the areas of risk management, financial analysis & management, data engineering, quality engineering, architectural engineering and IT would also boost the existing set up with their unique capabilities.  

Conclusion

In order to be productive, effective and efficient, the government set up must involve the specialised professionals in its policy making, programme implementation and overall functioning. These professionals with their depth of subject matter knowledge would facilitate the existing administrators towards meeting the State’s goals.

The challenge, however, lies in integrating these professionals to the complex public sector environment and its demands. Professionals’ alacrity to learn & facilitate and existing system’s willingness to evolve itself are critical for success. 

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of commitment to excellence, intelligent planning and focused effort.” – Paul Mayer