Changing employees' mindset
THE NATION has been talking about administrative reforms for decades in seminars and august assemblies. Several committees have been appointed, but their suggestions remain buried under heaps of files. Attempts have been made in the past to draft an HRD policy, but not heard afterwards. The stress has always been on announcements, not in developing a delivery system.
Impossible though it sounded in the beginning, Gujarat has embarked on a massive mission to train all the five-lakh and odd government employees in the State in good governance by December-2005.
Not many people in the State or outside are aware of the magnitude of the mission or about the methodology to implement the task. It is based on the belief that every employee wants to do something good for the government but is bogged down by the prevailing administrative culture. It is backed by a well-researched scientifically developed systematic training programme, called `vibrant governance' or `v-governance' in short.
It is to bring about an attitudinal change among all the employees in the State, right from the Secretary level office to the last peon or the driver, in education, health, panchayat and other departments. For instance, there are 50,000 employees in the police department alone.
It has been observed that if the policy is right, it can be implemented. It has been possible because the government has an HRD philosophy. It is also perhaps for the first time that Gujarat has taken a lead in framing a State HRD policy, a State training policy. Only if you have a policy can you implement it.
More carrot than stick
The stress is on changing the employees' mindset, touching their heart not so much their head, offering more carrot rather than stick, changing their attitude to work, sensitising them to the people's problems, improving their interpersonal behaviour, infusing personal convictions and developing communication skills, rather than on subjects.
Once the goal was set and objectives defined, it was around June 2003, a core group started discussing the issue through a series of brainstorming sessions to devise ways to achieve the target. The core group prepared a module of attitudinal training based on Training Needs Analysis (TNA).
The next step was course design and evolving a delivery system. A 20-hour interactive training module, comprising five hours' daily session spread over four days, was specially designed. A professional agency was hired for Training of Trainers (ToT) and logistics management. It was initially run on an experimental basis between September and December, 2003.
Trainers drawn from both government department and private companies were selected by the agency. The expertise of many professionals and retired people was also requisitioned. Only those willing were trained as trainers from the government department.
Delivery system
The database of all the employees was prepared. Training is simultaneously being imparted in 250 batches of 20 employees each at 22 government institutes and academies for various departments. The lead is taken by the State's apex Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPIPA). In designing the delivery system, it was also ensured that not more than 15 per cent employees of one office were absent on any given day attending the training programme.
I had the privilege of presenting the salient features of v-governance at the last meeting of Directors of State Administrators Academy at Mussoorie on July 14-15, 2004. The Gujarat module of v-governance came in for appreciation and many wanted to implement it in their States. Some of the bureaucrats however pointed out that in some of the States it is unimaginable to think of government employees sitting through similar training programmes even for a minute, let alone expecting them to learn something.
HASMUKH ADHIA
(The writer belongs to the Gujarat IAS cadre. The views expressed are personal.)
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Open Page
