“ Think Out of the Box “ Possible ?

DNA ( 22 April 2017 ) carries following report :

“ Take decisions fast , don’t fear consequences : PM “

Here is an extract :

·         Urging the country’s top officials to “ think out of the box “and take collective ownership to bring change, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told them to become “ enablers ” rather than “ regulators “

·         Some bureaucrats have referred to the three Cs – the CAG , CBI and the CVC – as stumbling blocks in decision making.

·         He asked civil servants to weigh their decisions from an outcome point of view and not from an output point of view

·         A legislation proposed in 2013 to amend the “ Prevention of Corruption  Act “ to protect “ honest “ officials by differentiating between a corrupt decision and a genuine error is pending before the parliament

·         Over the years, this “ fear factor “ have led bureaucrats to defer decisions either referring them to their respective Ministers or to the PMO

·         If a decision is taken with honest intention , truthfulness and for the welfare of the public, nobody can raise a finger at you

·         Something momentary may happen , but I am with you “

Dear Narendrabhai :

Expect a miracle of decision-making , if that proposed amendment to “ Prevention of Corruption Act “ incorporates following provisions from my earlier blog / email

Friday, 20 June 2014

To Err is Human

To forgive is divine ( provided it was a honest error )

All of us keep making errors , all the time

But rarely same " mistake " twice

Often , decisions taken at a point of time , turn out to be " poor " , with passage of time

Reasons are simple :

  

·         We never have all the information - relevant to the problem we are trying to solve - available with us , at the time of taking a decision

·         Even when most of such relevant info is available , we may not have the capacity / competence to " process " such info

*   As humans , we have our biases / prejudices , based on our previous experiences , which influence our decisions

*   Quite often , and often against our own better evaluation / judgement of a given situation , we are wrongly influenced by our peers / bosses / subordinates or even voters - all of whom have different expectations / vested interests !

*   Additional - and more relevant - information surfaces , AFTER we have taken a decision ( happens all the time  !  )

To encourage Babus and Ministers to take FAST decisions , Shri Narendra Modiji , must insist that they carefully " Record " on the files :

*   What info / data he wished was available for a better decision

*   What different " views / opinions " were presented to him for consideration

*   What " Data / Views " he would have obtained if he had more time

*   Who all , the decision might offend

*   What is the likely " Cost " of postponing that decision

And finally following declaration :

*   THIS DECISION IS NOT LIKELY TO BENEFIT ANY OF MY NEAR RELATIVES / FRIENDS , DIRECTLY OR IMMEDIATELY

After all of this , if the decision appears to be " Wrong " in hindsight , it must be " forgiven " and treated as an honest error

To err is human  !

22  April  2017

www.hemenparekh.in / blogd