“Governing a large state is like boiling a small fish”
If anyone can tell me where I nicked this week’s title from without recourse to Google, I shall be profoundly impressed.
* * *
Leaving aside matters of provenance, the quote implies that the best way to take control of, or lead a large collection of people or groups is to do as little as possible to them. (As an aside, one wonders whether the author thought that the converse was true; if boiling a large state is like governing a small fish. Both must be rather complex procedures).
Now, I appreciate that this is utter nonsense, but it seems to have been taken to heart by the leaders of many organisations I’ve encountered. How else can one explain the utterly uncoordinated and chaotic manner in which so many function? I speak with direct experience of three large organisations, each of which was organised into a number of divisions and teams. Such divisions are always at least partly forced, because the actions of one division always have some impact on the activities of another. In many cases, the effective operation of the whole depends on the divisions working well together.
I’ve never been anywhere where the divisions are actively trying to harm one another, but equally, I’ve never been anywhere where they really seem to be on the same wavelength. In most cases the heads of one division honestly don’t seem to have a clue what any of their colleagues are doing, and have even less desire to find out. Of course, in every organisation there are exceptions to this rule, and this person often finds him or herself expending vast amounts of energy and time trying to motivate people to work together, often while smart-arsed observers watch from the sidelines, sniggering and making snide comments about the futility of it all.
Is it futile? It might be my Socialist tendencies, but I genuinely do believe that groups of people, motivated by a common cause and tied together by a sense of identity are far more likely to achieve positive outcomes than atomised individuals blindly following their own best interests. When the organisation in question is a Government, then this is pretty important. Each ministry and division blindly pursuing its own interests doesn’t do much for the needs of the country, and in a place like Malawi, we need to do as much as possible as fast as possible for the country. Any opportunities we have to improve things, we have to take.
In this vein, for the last three months I’ve spent hours of my time in meetings with my Director, and those of other divisions and ministries trying to get everyone on the same page, and working together. It’s hard work, but we’re beginning to see progress. Enough people are exasperated enough to forcibly pull their colleagues together. Perhaps it’s because we’re in such a difficult position as a country that people are able to decide that enough is enough in a way I’ve not seen before. It’s almost inspiring. Obviously the litmus test will be when we graduate from just having meetings to actually getting people to do work for each other, but it’s a start.
Does the private sector experience the same problems? Somehow I doubt it.
* * *
Well, Milan did their best to give me a heart attack, but Superpippo came through. It takes a special kind of genius to achieve so much without any apparent skills.
* * *
And, as if you needed to ask, the car is still in Mozambique.
* * *
Leaving aside matters of provenance, the quote implies that the best way to take control of, or lead a large collection of people or groups is to do as little as possible to them. (As an aside, one wonders whether the author thought that the converse was true; if boiling a large state is like governing a small fish. Both must be rather complex procedures).
Now, I appreciate that this is utter nonsense, but it seems to have been taken to heart by the leaders of many organisations I’ve encountered. How else can one explain the utterly uncoordinated and chaotic manner in which so many function? I speak with direct experience of three large organisations, each of which was organised into a number of divisions and teams. Such divisions are always at least partly forced, because the actions of one division always have some impact on the activities of another. In many cases, the effective operation of the whole depends on the divisions working well together.
I’ve never been anywhere where the divisions are actively trying to harm one another, but equally, I’ve never been anywhere where they really seem to be on the same wavelength. In most cases the heads of one division honestly don’t seem to have a clue what any of their colleagues are doing, and have even less desire to find out. Of course, in every organisation there are exceptions to this rule, and this person often finds him or herself expending vast amounts of energy and time trying to motivate people to work together, often while smart-arsed observers watch from the sidelines, sniggering and making snide comments about the futility of it all.
Is it futile? It might be my Socialist tendencies, but I genuinely do believe that groups of people, motivated by a common cause and tied together by a sense of identity are far more likely to achieve positive outcomes than atomised individuals blindly following their own best interests. When the organisation in question is a Government, then this is pretty important. Each ministry and division blindly pursuing its own interests doesn’t do much for the needs of the country, and in a place like Malawi, we need to do as much as possible as fast as possible for the country. Any opportunities we have to improve things, we have to take.
In this vein, for the last three months I’ve spent hours of my time in meetings with my Director, and those of other divisions and ministries trying to get everyone on the same page, and working together. It’s hard work, but we’re beginning to see progress. Enough people are exasperated enough to forcibly pull their colleagues together. Perhaps it’s because we’re in such a difficult position as a country that people are able to decide that enough is enough in a way I’ve not seen before. It’s almost inspiring. Obviously the litmus test will be when we graduate from just having meetings to actually getting people to do work for each other, but it’s a start.
Does the private sector experience the same problems? Somehow I doubt it.
* * *
Well, Milan did their best to give me a heart attack, but Superpippo came through. It takes a special kind of genius to achieve so much without any apparent skills.
* * *
And, as if you needed to ask, the car is still in Mozambique.
posted by the Maradona of Malawi at 9:36 PM
