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Saya juga ingin menasihatkan supaya Setiausaha Tetap, Residen dan Ketua Jabatan
bersikap hands on di dalam proses mereka melaksana dan memantau projek di agensi
masing-masing. 'Hands on' di sini antara lainnya bermaksud mereka mestilah
mengetahui secara menyeluruh sararan (targets, schedules, milestones) dan kemajuan
(physical
and financial performance) pelaksanaan projek bagi agensi masing-masing termasuk
isu dan masalah yang dihadapi dalam pelaksanaan projek-projek tersebut. Perkara
ini hanya akan dapai dicapai sekiranya Setiausaha Tetap, Residen dan Ketua Jabatan
memberi perhatian yang serius terhadap kepentingan dan implikasi project
performance
dan kaitannya dengan organisational performance. Dalam hal ini, saya ingin memperbetulkan
'misconception' di kalangan beberapa Ketua Jabatan yang masih beranggapan bahawa
fungsi pemantauan itu hanyalah merupakan tugas pegawai yang dilantik sebagai
monitoring focal point dan pemantauan itu lebih merupakan satu proses untuk
mengemaskini data ke dalam DPMS sahaja. Sebaliknya ingin saya tegaskan di sini
bahawa pemantauan itu merupakan satu proses kritikal dalam mana-mana pengurusan
projek (project management) kerana tanpa pemantauan yang sistematik kejayaan
pelaksanaan sesuatu projek boleh terjejas. We must learnt lessons from
the private sector who acknowledges the importance of monitoring in ensuring
the success
of their business undertakings.
Oleh yang demikian pemantauan tidak harus dilihat sebagai satu proses yang routine dan
tidak mempunyai value added kepada organisasi. Sebaliknya dari aspek organisational
excellence, pemantauan yang cekap dan berkesan dapat membantu sesuatu organisasi
itu untuk memperbaiki segala kelemahan yang ada (internal weaknesses) khususnya
dalam pelaksanaan projek, sama ada ia berkaitan dengan peraturan, prosidur
dan proses kerja yang kita jalankan selama ini. Sekiranya ia berkaitan dengan
perkara-perkara
tersebut maka agensi berkenaan hendaklah bersedia untuk membuat perubahan supaya
kita tidak lagi berhadapan dengan inherent issues di masa-masa yang akan datang.
Saya berasa gembira di atas peranan aktif yang dimainkan oleh mereka di peringkat
Bahagian dalam pelaksanaan dan pemantauan projek. Saya telah difahamkan bahawa
Timbalan Residen telah mula mengemukakan Laporan Suku
Tahunan Prestasi Projek RMK8 bagi bahagian masing-masing kepada PIMU. Perkara ini amat penting kerana
ia merupakan salah satu langkah 'check and balance' terhadap proses pemantauan
yang dijalankan oleh pihak Ibu Pejabat.
Setakat 15 Julai 2002, sebanyak 549 projek atau 23.5% daripada 2,340 jumlah
projek telah siap dilaksanakan. Pencapaian ini masih tidak memuaskan memandangkan
hanya tinggal lima bulan lagi sebelum berakhirnya tahun 2002. Tambahan pula
Kajian Separuh Penggal bagi RMK8 akan dijalankan pada tahun hadapan. Keadaan
ini sudah tentulah memerlukan kita semua bekerja lebih kuat lagi sebagai satu
pasukan yang padu bagi mencapai sasaran 100% pelaksanaan projek di bawah RMK8.
Pencapaian kewangan juga masih tidak memuaskan. Sehingga 30 Jun 2002, pencapaian
kewangan berdasarkan peruntukan di bawah RMK8 adalah 31.4% atau RM2.5 billion
daripada jumlah peruntukan sebanyak RM8 billion. Bagi tahun 2002 pula, pencapaian
kewangan sehingga 30 Jun 2002 adalah 24.5% atau RM326 juta dari jumlah peruntukan
tahun 2002 sebanyak RM1.416 billion.
Jumlah projek yang dikategorikan sebagai tenat juga masih tinggi iaitu sebanyak
83 atau 8.4% daripada 989 jumlah projek yang
dikategorikan sebagai Belum
Mula dan Lewat Jadual. Dalam hal ini semua Jawatankuasa Pelaksanaan
dan Pemantauan Projek di peringkat agensi dikehendaki mengadakan mesyuarat
mereka setiap bulan bagi memastikan sebarang masalah yang berkaitan
dengan pelaksanaan projek dapat diselesaikan dengan segera. Berdasarkan rekod
PIMU, kekerapan mesyuarat ini
bagi semua agensi sehingga 30 Jun 2002 adalah masih rendah iaitu 11.4% atau
37/324 mesyuarat. Oleh itu saya ingin meningatkan semua Setiausaha Tetap dan
Ketua Jabatan supaya mengadakan mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Pelaksanaan dan Pemantauan
Projek Peringkat Agensi setiap bulan.
Leadership in the Civil Service I have in my previous speeches touched on the
qualities of leadership that is required in the civil service in order to meet
the changing demands of the people and to help the State achieve its vision.
Leaders must not only be competent but they must be visionary. Leaders must
also have the right values and must be seen to be credible. Today I would like
to touch on two other qualities of leaders; thinking leaders and artful listening.
1. Thinking Leaders
I have reiterated the fact that the civil service need
leaders who are thinkers and not just doers. I would like to move our paradigm
on our thinking process
when we make decisions. Conventional wisdom requires that judgement must be
made quickly and decisively.
For effective leaders however, judgements as to the truth or falsity of information
or new ideas should be arrived at as slowly and subtly as possible.
Most people are binary in their judgement. They immediately categorised or
labeled facts or things into good or bad; true or false, balck or white. Thinking
leaders needs to be aqble to see the shade of gray inherent in any situation
in order to make a decision or how to proceed. In essence, leaders do not form
an opinion of what happened until all the facts are known.
Dangers of binary thinking
- Forming an opinion before it is necessary closes the mind to new or subsequent
facts or findings
- Flip-flopping. Having to change decisons every time new facts come up.
- People tend to believe that which they sense is strongly believe by others.
Leaders have to shield their thinking from this assault.
Not all decision should be made this way. We also depend on instincts. But
we can practice thinking grey using simple things in our daily life.
Thinking grey is not the same as thinking skeptically. Skeptics usually labelled
everything as not true and is only willing to change if confronted by overwhelming
evidence. Hint of cynicism is always present.
Thinking grey does not place things in true or not true box. As open to new
ideas as he is to rejecting it. Can compliment subordinate who come up with
fresh ideas, notwithstanding the fact the the ideas can be used or not.
2. Thinking Free
Thinking free from all restraints. Different from "thinking out of the box" Thinking
free bring the concept of inventiveness to a new level. The difference lies
in the ability to stay clear of all external influences. Imagine we are
in a house in Europe in the middle of winter. Thinking out of the box is similar
to getting out of the door and getting in as soon as it gets uncomfortable.
Thinking free implies staying in the cold until we shiver and our teeth chatter.
Its the ability to tolorate the cold long after it has become uncomfortable.
Thinking free is hard work. It requires effort and determination. A simpler
way is by meditation. Solutions to problems Can Come in the form of inspiration
or revelations. Most of us tend to seek inspiration when faced with problems.
Good leaders used inspirations to be innovative and discover new ways of doing
things. This creative imagination which relates to the ability to think free
and is important to a leader as having ba vision.
A leader has to be able to imagine different organizational combinations in
his mind just lika a chess game and see how they will play out. He has to be
able to move the people around in his mind and see how they respond to new
situations. He is able to see the effects of moving resources and budgets and
to see how
they will effect the organizations performance. If he cannot do these things
effectively using only his imagination, if he can oly work with tangible concrete
data then he may fail as a leader as it take far too much resources to test
the feasibility of new ideas.
Leaders who does not have the Capacity of free thinking need subordinates who
can It is important for leaders to nurture thinking free among the followers
and capitalise on thheir creative ideas and imaginations.
Leadership is an art. All arts when practiced as the highest level of excellence
depend on fresh ideas and creative imagination. Leaders whose thinking is constrained
with established passions and prejudices, incapable of thinking free or gray,
who cannot use the creative imaginations of his followers is as good as a white
elephant. He may by circumstances remain in power but his people are better
off without him.
3. Artful Listening
"The average person suffers from three delusions: (1) that he is a good driver,
(2) that he has a good sense of humour and (3) that he is a good listner. Most
people including leaders are terrible listeners, thinking that vtalking is
bbetter than listening.
A good leader is an artful listener not because it make people feel good but
because it is a useful means of collecting information and acquiring new ideas.
Machiavelli: Three kinds of mind, one that is capable of thinking by itself,
the second is able to understand the thinking of others and the third cannot
think and cannot un derstand others. The first is highest excellence, the second,
excellent and the thbnird worthless.
However the best mind is one that can think by itself and also understand what
others think. And this second p-art depends on artful listening.
Artful listening serves a very important purpose for the leader. It enables
him to preserve his intellectual independence. It lets him see through another
persons eye while at the same time seeing things from his own prespective.
The ability to have double vision. Viewing the same things from different prespectives.
Turning listening into an art need to go beyond passive listening. He listen
with passion and become interested in what bis being said. In the process gain
not only details but valuable information on the biases of the person making
the presentation.
Leaders who listen artfully run the risk of being misinterpreted by his followerts
as giving assent. It is his responsibility to ensure that the person speaking
to him is not misled by theleaders genuine effort to understand and appreciate
what is being said. This is a delicate balance to achieve.
An important part of thinking gray is listening gray, taking in information
without making instant or on the spot judgement as to the truth or falsity
of the information.
Complaints from subordinates at lower levels should be treated with care and
the discipline here is not to be dismissive or unresponsive on one hand or
rush judgement on the other. Respose must be immediate showing that the leader
cares
but the response must make it clear that the leader does not necessarily accept
the the version of what had happened. Decision on the matter must be made by
the immediate supervisor whon is rfesponsible for his performance.
When we receive compliments, we will reply to the compliments ourslelves. But
how many time are we guilty of asking our subordinate to reply or sign letters
answering complaints. Leaders should be man enough to respond to both.
Important part of artful listening is to know when to stop listening. At some
point leader has to make a decision himself or delegate it to someone else.
By listening carefully from the beginning can save a lot of tiome at the end.
One final aspect on listening gray is that there is no need to determine the
credibility of the person unless he has to. Writing off some people as useless
or not worth listening to can have grave consequence. Some people who are good
thinkers find it difficult to to put their thoughts into words. The key is
not to rush to a conclusion either about what you hear or from whom you hear
it.
Open communication requires artful listening. Open communication means the
ability to hear from people at levels of organization and be able to communicate
with
them.
Danger here is the undercutting authority and responsibility of line administrators
and managers.
The best way to overcome this paradox is to adopt "open communication with structured
decision making". Under this rule, everyone is allowed to communicate freely
with everyone else in the organization with the explicit caveat that any and
all commitments, allocations and decisions will be made strictly through the
hierarchy.
What does this mean in practice? It means that I can go and talk with any officer
at the N3 or other grades without going through the intervening layers of authority
and similarly anyone in the organization can communicate directly with me without
going through the Directors or the Deputies. It sound simple but it will only
work if everybody understand and accept the principle of structured decision
making.
With the changes in organization which is becoming more flexible where survival
of the organization depends more and more on yteam work and good and open communication,
the days of leaders who are poor listeners are numbered. To remain as effective
leaders, artful listening is not only something that is useful. It is a necessity.
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