Better late than never

The jury is out, studiously deliberating on the virtues of Prime Minister Stuart Young’s plan to establish a Ministry of Implementation and Efficiency. There should be no back-pedalling. The concept is sound, of a dire necessity.

However, whatever the vision, stature or size of the institution charged with the responsibility, the initiative will succeed to the extent that there is ­consensual buy-in among internal and external stakeholders, particularly regarding the efficacy of the mechanisms employed in operationalisation of the initiative. This is the concern that engages my mind. Given his burst of enthusiasm, traditionally expected of a new incumbent, but more specifically, Prime Minister Young’s well chronicled penchant for getting the job done, there is every reason to be optimistic that the concept will work this second time around.



On a personal note, my own optimism is additionally driven from a professional perspective, his mere speaking out on the issue having unwittingly validated a similar initiative which I had myself endeavoured to institutionalise in my capacity as management and communications adviser at the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development ­between 2016 and 2021. Titled “Accountability and Achievement through the Optimisation of Monthly Progress Reports”, the concept experienced mixed reception, unfamiliar to the environment as it was. For unspecified reasons, commitment to “Accountability” seems to put office-holders on the defensive, generally delighted to assume responsibility but almost instinctively wary of the implied accountability.

Yet, the key to the success of Prime Minister Young’s initiative rests almost empirically upon that one uncompromising foundational pillar: accountability. In this instance, permanent secretaries, as chief executive officers, committed to be inherently accountable to a clearly defined higher authority for successful implementation of their ministries’ ­mandate. In this regard, PM Young should go brave with his determination to place fire under the Ministry of Digital Transformation.

The time is long overdue when ministers and executive office-holders should have been enabled to monitor and evaluate, 24/7, the status of execution of all projects and programmes for which they are accountable, notwithstanding wherever in the world they may be. But PM Young must be forewarned that disturbing an environment wherein public servants have been culturalised into doing things their own way creates its own intrinsic perils. Indoctrinating conformity to standard operating procedures is no undertaking for the faint-hearted.

Resistance abounds where least expected. Nonetheless, on the right track as he is, one expects that these irritants will be anticipated and no leeway allowed for manipulation of the environment. If there is any advice that may be rendered, it is that “Accountability” be the central theme of this game-changing mission.

And in pursuit of same, make the entire process simple, straightforward, easily analytical and assimilable, not complex, convoluted nor complicated as some are inclined toward, most often in self-serving attempts to deliberately mystify, make the overarching protocols and principles more burdensome and bureaucratic than the actual implementation processes over which they themselves have oversight. In implementing the concept at the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development, I had myself introduced a simple integrated Planning, Implementation and Reporting (PI&R) Instrument, the purpose of which was multifaceted. At the core was an Implementation ­Development Framework, built into which were an Action Item Check List, an Incremental Percentage Progress Assessment Indicator, an Expenditure Control facility and a Monthly progress reporting, monitoring and evaluation mechanism—altogether facilitating the management, supervision and overall execution of all action items, ensuring no element, regardless of how insignificant, escapes ­attention.

It reinforced the Peter Drucker principle: “If it cannot be measured, it cannot be done”. It empowered those accountable to focus where it mattered most: upon results. User-friendly customisable in being applied to any project or programme of activities, it allowed for drill down into granular details when required.

Provision was made for brief comments identifying issues impeding progress. Upon expiration of my contract, transition to a digitised web-based system was still a work-in-progress, no longer paper-driven, updates accessible 24/7 online in or out of the work environment. I recall being engaged in numerous implementation teams’ discussions using the PI&R instrument, aforementioned, as the mechanism with which to maintain focus, especially on specific items requiring consensual deliberations, my own updated instrument likewise the subject of regular monthly meetings with the ministry’s senior executive ­office-holders.

What has been outlined herein is nothing original, no rocket science, just precedents embraced, adopted and adapted for use in enlightened institutions worldwide, flexible for application wherever expedient. I say all this to encourage the citizenry to give their fullest support to Prime Minister Young’s plan to introduce what appears to be a like-minded concept during his term of office, an initiative whose beneficiary protocols should have accrued to us citizens of Trinbago long before now. Better late than never, I wish him all success.

—Roy Mitchell is a former special adviser and co-ordinator, National Tripartite Advisory Council (NTAC)..