Civil Servants: Beyond Mere Careerism
At a recent book launch, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy compared the work ethics of present-day civil servants with their predecessors and said:
“In the past, if the political executive proposed something, around eighty percent of civil servants would explain all the issues... pros and cons pertaining to the issue concerned. They used to enlighten the leaders about the positive and negative consequences. But nowadays, that practice has declined.”
For civil servants, the thrust of this statement is that there is something more to a career than postings, promotions and positional power. Then, how can civil servants move beyond positional power to acquire personal power that comes, in part, from making conscious, thoughtful decisions about what techniques work best in their particular settings?
Some techniques gleaned from the stories of some of the most creative, innovative and successful civil servants can help us understand this better.
First, step away from the technical rigor of rules and regulations and come to terms with political governance - working with political leaders, combining sound administrative practices and procedures with their development agendas and consistently achieving goals.
Think about the leaders and persons who will be involved and what is motivating them to act. Consider the ways in which implementation will be helpful to them in their interactions with the people, recognizing that facts and reason will not always win out. Identify the people who are likely to emerge as champions for the implementation plan and involve them in the process from the beginning.
Second, go out and find support for ideas because no idea will succeed on the power of the idea alone. Ideas have to fit into ongoing development agendas, and administrative responses have to be based on an understanding of what the political leaders and the citizens need and how to deliver on these. During the process of championing ideas, relationships matter, and relationships mean emotions. And emotions are important because they lead to acceptance of new ideas by political stakeholders and citizens.
Learn to listen and engage people in discussions. When the issues are complex and solutions are elusive, the civil servant's task is to generate and propose new ideas, both tactfully and at the right time.
Third, effective citizen participation is required, especially in this internet-era of citizen involvement. This means respecting the decisions of the “publics” and learning to use citizen engagement opportunities to achieve goals. The standard way of citizen participation involves making people feel good by consulting them and seemingly listening to their concerns, but not taking their views seriously or giving them opportunities to act on their own behalf. This is no longer sufficient.
Fourth, things don’t get done on their own, so implementation has to be pursued. Some crucial factors include being flexible during implementation, and listening and acknowledging others’ ideas. Implementation is important on a continuing basis, to weave programme components and actions into the ongoing political dialogue. One of the best ways to make that happen is to encourage others, particularly political executives, and let them take credit for the successes.
Successful civil servants rely on these techniques. The starting point is to decide on a course of action based on a careful analysis of alternatives and projections of probable impacts. After this, step away from technicalities and come to terms with political governance:
Working with political leaders,
Combining sound administrative practices and procedures with development agendas,
Introducing ideas based on feedback at the right time, and
Making changes to implementation plans and chasing goals.
The good news is that it is possible to acquire these skills and use the experience in varied postings to develop a distinct kind of personal power through constant practice.
