Our country has been in the oil business for more than 100 years.  We are an old oil producer.  In the more recent past, we have played a major role in the global LNG and fertilizer markets.  Despite these impressive statements, there is a nagging feeling that there has been little real impact on national development, or quality of life or the level of happiness experienced by our citizens.  If asked how has the energy boom impacted us, my subjective response is that we are“OK-ish”.  However measured against really hard criteria, our performance would be described as abysmal.

Despite energy richness, our infant mortality rate is among the highest in the world, this is so according to Dr. Anton Cumberbatch who appeared before a Joint Select Committee of Parliament.  We were recently singled out amongst the fattest countries in the world.  Our crime statistics are horrendous and I am sure we would fail on any happiness assessment.

But there is one other indicator which causes concern – carbon emissions.  In the per capita global measurement we are ranked among the top 5 offenders.

A Camille Bethel story in the Trinidad Express of November 12, 2012, quoted the Minister of Energy Kevin Ramnarine as saying:  “The sad reality is the World Bank has ranked Trinidad as one of the worst energy-efficient countries in the world, so we have to get our act together.  It (energy) affects our everyday life and I think the culture has to change in Trinidad with regards to how we treat with energy. There has to be a culture of conservation in Trinidad and Tobago”.  The Minister is spot on, however this is no time for platitudes about conservation, it is time for drastic action.

In 2008, multiple Putlizer prize winner, Thomas Freidman published“Hot, Flat, and Crowded which brought a fresh outlook to the crises of destabilizing climate change and rising competition for energy”.  Friedman proposed an ambitious American strategy called “Geo-Greenisn” to save the planet from overheating while making America healthier, richer, more innovative, more productive, and more secure.  

This book should be required reading for our energy czars and decision makers.

While reading Hot, Flat, and Crowded, I questioned what could be a “stand out”action taken to communicate this message of conservation to our population while improving productivity on a national scale.  My conclusion, make owning a car and driving unattractive.  That translates into charging the economic price for gasoline which is sold at US 36 cents per litre compared with  US 76 cents per litre in the United States, US 192 cents in the United Kingdom and US 2.12 cents in Norway.

Maintaining such a low price for gasoline is simply deferring our death sentence.  However implementing a drastic measure will require us to think through the impact on all the drivers of inflation since it will have a major impact on mass transportation, vehicular congestion, productivity, wellness and even happiness.  Tackling this one big problem will ripple through the country and be the economic and social game changer we need.

Given the enormity of such an action, it would be necessary to take a bi-partisan, populace approach to the final decision and its implementation.  It could provide an opportunity for the population to take part in long term decision making and lock the decision making into place so that changing political parties will have no impact.

We have over the years seen what happens when there is no citizen participation in decision making.  It has generally resulted in wastage, corruption,   multiple lost opportunities and the most senseless attempts at the blame game.   Paying a real price for gasoline is significant because we are simply burning up our future every time we fill up the tank. The fact that oil is a finite resource and every barrel extracted is one barrel less for future consumption should frighten us into real efforts at monetization.  The notion of diversification has been on the national agenda for many years and we pat ourselves on the backs saying how well we are doing when compared with our Caribbean neighbours but having a ready supply of cheap energy is helpful to any manufacturing sector.

We need to look at our future through a different lens, the lens of energy conservation and energy efficiency.  Time and time again I have learned that people only take action when there is a consequence.  The time has come to send a major signal to the population.  Until such a major price signal is sent, citizens will continue to consume gasoline“willy nilly” and as a country we will continue to be hostage to this depleting, finite resource “Oil”.

“Mrs. D, dey send me home!” … this was the mournful cry of a young Communications Professional whose services had been unceremoniously terminated. Why should a change in political party translate into dismissals of career professionals?

Board appointments are generally given as rewards for supporting the party while career professionals are persons whose livelihoods depend on their employment. Indeed the government has a social responsibility to protect persons from discrimination. Political affiliation should not determine whether or not you retain a job. Maintenance of employment should only be based on performance and merit.

It is unfortunate that the long arms of politics now reach into the bowels of organizations and negatively impact well-intentioned career professionals. Don’t tell me “that’s what Governments do” because that is exactly what the population voted against. It is well understood that members of Boards will be terminated because these Boards are installed to carry out the policies of the government and when the government changes, there is a need to change the people who acted on behalf of the previous government. In our political system, there is an expectation however that Permanent Secretaries – career professionals that they are – will ensure that the legitimate, legal wishes of the new government are carried out.

For our society to grow and develop, there must be a paradigm shift in this way of thinking. Professionals who lead organizations must firstly be selected on the basis of merit. Once there is demonstrated competence then professionals must be protected from the vagaries of the politics. In other words every effort must be made to distinguish between policy formulation and policy implementation. If those lines become blurred, continuity will be affected and negatively impact the capacity of the organization to achieve its objectives.

Organizational theory suggests that turnaround or serious change requires 3-5 years and in some cases even 5-10 years. If we throw professionals out every time there is a change of government, we will in fact be sending an unfortunate message throughout our public sector organizations. It will institutionalize the unfortunate notion that “is we time now” and cement the view that public sector employees are expected to anticipate the politicians and act in a way they think the politicians intend. That kind of thinking can translate into the polarization of the public sector into political camps. In a small society like ours, we can’t afford to function on the basis of political affiliation. This implies that every five years, public sector workers will be looking for jobs.

This is a time for the demonstration of mature leadership and three messages are imperative – this is a government of the people … there is room at the table for everyone and … the government will provide the transformational leadership that is required to make this place successful. These messages are neither unique nor specifically tailored. They are messages of good common sense that are required to achieve positive results.

If we accept that the Government is a government of the people then it is expected that workers will be included in major decision-making. A generation ago, the workforce was compliant and prepared to simply obey instructions. Today, the question of WHY looms larger than life. Employees want to know why are we taking this action? Why are we doing this now? Why are we changing the procedure? Why have we reached this decision? Why have we decided that this alternative is preferable? These are not unreasonable questions as they lead to creativity and worker engagement.

In a recent Ernst & Young survey of 400 senior managers and employees in one thousand US companies, 60 percent of the respondents indicated that they would be more motivated if they were treated more as partners than as hired hands.

Consider that the average worker is engaged in serious decision making for his family, for himself and even for his community. Why can’t he be trusted to contribute to organizational decision-making?

The solutions to organizational problems lie with the workers and will not be found at some management retreat in a far away place.

The second message … there is room at the table for everyone is really a message to reassure people including career professionals that the system is unbiased and will protect them from any kind of discrimination.

The third message has to do with the transformational leadership that is required to positively impact the public sector. This is where the interface between the policy makers and the implementers becomes critical. This is where the agenda and direction for the organization is set. Once this is completed, then the Career Professionals take over to implement the goals and objectives.

The transformation of public sector organizations requires a de-linking from the politics. Political punishment must be a thing of the past. Utopian you say .. Essential – I say!

By Dennise Demming – Public Relations and Training Consultant

 

 

dennise demming | What would government based on Unanimity look like? http://wp.me/p2t0nA-5b

Chatting with Hema Ramkissoon on CNC3

Hear the term “Hole in the Wall” and we think of some little sleazy place of ill repute but google it and you find bold statements about Dr. Sugata Mitra’s wish to“build a School in the Cloud, where children can explore and learn from one another.”Dr. Mitra recently won the million US dollar TED prize for his “Hole-in-the-Wall” (HiWEL) project.

 In 1999, Sugata and his team literally carved a hole in the wall that separated the NIIT premises from the adjoining slum in Kalkaji, New Delhi. Through this hole, a freely accessible computer was put up for use. This computer proved to be an instant hit among the slum dwellers, especially the children. With no prior experience, the children learnt to use the computer on their own. Encouraged by the success of the Kalkaji experiment, freely accessible computers were set up in Shivpuri (a town in Madhya Pradesh) and in Madantusi (a village in Uttar Pradesh). These experiments came to be known as “Hole-in-the-Wall” (HiWEL)experiments.” Since its inception, HiWEL has grown from a single computer at Kalkaji, New Delhi to more than a hundred computers at various locations across India and other countries.

Dr. Sugata Mitra is a Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, England. He is also the Chief Scientist, Emeritus, at NIIT an Indian company which offers learning and knowledge solutions globally. 

His amazing experiment with children inspired career diplomat Vikas Swarup’s first novel, “Q and A”, which led to the Hollywood movie success “Slumdog Millionaire”. Vikas is quoted in Express India as saying“That got me fascinated and I realised that there’s an innate ability in everyone to do something extraordinary, provided they are given an opportunity”. The real impact of HiWEL has not been assessed because it is an evolving project which is impacting the minds of people and changing their circumstances. The project has expanded beyond children to illiterate adults and displaced persons. Outside of India, it has even been embraced that the Hon. Prime Minister of Bhutan, Jigmi Y Thinley, who inaugurated the first HiWEL computer in the presence of his cabinet colleagues in December of 2011. In addition to building computer literacy among Bhutan’s children it is hoped that the HiWEL project will positively impact the Gross National Happiness (GNH), which is the most prominent metric used by the Government of Bhutan to measure Bhutan’s development.

Additionally, the project is part of a larger Indo-Bhutan project formally known as the Chiphen Rigpel (broadly translated to mean ‘Enabling a society, Empowering a nation’). Chiphen Rigpel is an ambitious project designed to empower Bhutan to become a Knowledge-based society.

The Republic of Central Africa has also recently signed on to establish its own HiWEL projects and this is enjoying phenomenal success.

What is important to me about Dr. Sugata Mitra is the bold steps he took over many years to explore the concept of unsupervised learning and computers. What he and his team did in India and Africa excites my imagination about what can be done in the “Laventilles” of our own country. This project clearly shows how young people can become engaged and focus only on the world they are creating to the total exclusion of everything else. HiWEL has the potential to redirect energy in ways that are thought changing and eventually life changing. Could it possibly help to stem the tide of senseless violence that stalks our country. It is a clear example of the impact the technology is having on people.

If our egos prevent us from buying into the HiWEL implementation model then Dr. Mitra’s TED wish gives us an opportunity to Bring Self-Organized Learning Environments to our Communities.

Ironically, while some countries are thankful for HiWEL reaching the unreachable, there are companies comfortably trying to assess how “Data Analytics Will Revolutionize Decision-Making” or predicting how “The Social Network Will Drive Value”. The digital divide is real. It is not simply that younger persons are using technology and older persons are not. Nor is it about geography. It is about access and this ultimately is tied to income or lack of income. Who can or cannot afford access to technology is an overarching issue? Something big has to happen to bridge the digital divide. Something big has to happen to level the playing field and assure global access to the world of technology. Just think of the possibilities if the internet and technology can be used to reach out to the “at risk” in the slums and ghettoes of the world.

Technology is often discussed in an elitist manner with an underlying assumption that literacy is a pre-requisite. Sugata’s “Hole in the Wall” project demonstrates that, even in the absence of any direct input from a teacher, an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge. The evidence exists amongst young people and there is no reason why the same behaviour would not be repeated among other cohorts given the same opportunities. We are in the digital age and those who are not organized to participate will find themselves wondering in some kind of no-man’s land not understanding that there is a different game being played.

If I prevented you from passing on a public road, I would be acting illegally. How is it that Gang leaders can prevent citizens from using streets, traces and alley ways and we call it “border line” issues?  Aren’t they just breaking the law?  And what are the consequences?

The “Laventille” brand will find positive resolution when we love enough to care. Right now, we are treating the “Laventilles” as headaches. We want them to stop burning tires, shooting up the place and killing each other. This problem did not arrive yesterday. It is the culmination of years of inequity, abuse and neglect. There are Laventilles in different locations and we can see the specific behaviours. For example:

1. Is there a drug block?

2. Is there a gang operating?

3. Is there high unemployment among the young men?

4. Is the neighbourhood traumatized as evidenced by people hustling to get home before darkness falls?

5. Are there random shootings?

Answer yes to four of these five questions and you have Laventille in your neighbourhood. These are our problems as a society and they can only be solved when we love enough to show that we care. Our caring must be manifested in our daily actions. Every step we take must show that we care. There is no one solution, there are simply moments to do right and right will ripple through to our Laventilles. This is my moment to do right.

If money is the ultimate motivator, then why are our institutions in such a desperate state, both private and public sector. If money is the ultimatemotivator then the adage of “who have more corn, feed more fowl” would prevail. But over and over we see that that adage does not prevail, so maybe there is a need to re think the extent to which we see money as the ultimate motivator. The romantic in me remembers the Beatles hit “Can’t buy me love” and I think that in addition to love, money really cannot buy loyalty and support.

I am willing to defend the position that money is not the ultimate motivator with one exception – our taxi drivers, “maxi-taxi, ph, h cars – the whole lot of them”. This conclusion has been arrived at after years of observation. I am convinced that the taxi driver does not see people waiting for transportation, he/she sees the dollar equivalent of his/her taxi fare on the side of the road. Uponsighting a traveller or shadow, the driver immediately is transformed into an unstoppable aggressor, knocking over anything in his way to wrest that fare from the unsuspecting traveller. This example underscores the point that it is irresponsible and reckless for our leaders to continue to preside over this uncivilized and hostile approach to public transportation because here is one example in which money is the prime motivator.

There is an excellent example of how cash incentives can be counter productive in the Levitt and Dubner book “Freakonomics”. It cites the example that “a daycare centre decided to impose a $3 fine when parents were late picking up their children. Instead of encouraging them to be punctual, it had the opposite effect. Late pickups went through the roof. Why? Before the fine was imposed, there was a social contract between daycare staff and parents, who tried hard to be prompt and felt guilty if they weren’t. By imposing a fine, the centre had inadvertently replaced social norms with market norms. Freed from feelings of guilt, parents frequently chose to be late and pay the fine — which was certainly not what the centre had intended”.There is however a growing body of work which supports the notion that business objectives strictly linked to compensation seldom provide sustained results and for a number of practical reasons. The most important being that employees are ofte

n unable to control all the variables which link into the tightly crafted business objectives. A second reason of almost equal weighting is that employers are seldom really interested in digging so deeply into their pockets as to truly provide the necessary cash incentives. This notion is also supported by the last century theory that the reason for business is to extract the maximum profit. Times are changing and scholars are suggesting that business must be driven by the triple bottom line – people, planet and profit so money as motivator is notching down on the list of priorities.

In this example we see the social norm trumping the market norm. This notion should cause some reflection on what really motivates persons to go the extra mile or move beyond what was contracted. What makes a person provide exceptional service or simply do their job? While there is no one line answer to this complicated question, the notion of appreciation keeps popping into my mind. The more appreciated persons feel the more likely they are to give of their best, to go beyond the bounds of duty. The more likely they are to over deliver.

This is not to downplay the importance of financial incentives as a motivator but to restate the point that money alone will not purchase support and loyalty. Shaping the culture of organizations and indeed nations cannot be based solely on economic propositions, it must be based on appealing to more lofty notions like service, integrity, honesty, fair play and a host of other soft concepts.

Further contemplation of how to motivate people reminds us of what is the simplest manifestation of appreciation – saying thanks. It is a social norm which is being forgotten more and more in contemporary society and one which must be re kindled. The late Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, put it another way when he said “Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free — and worth a fortune.