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Charlotte Amalie
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesSource Manager’s Journal: Building a Better Future

Source Manager’s Journal: Building a Better Future

I was once interviewing for a consulting assignment when the potential client, a health care CEO, informed me that consultants were people who took your watch, told you what time it was and then charged you for it. I thought this was kind of insensitive on his part. I also sensed that it was not a positive sign for any future relationship, which I (correctly) began to think might be nonexistent.

While I have seen instances in which the chief executive officer’s cruel assessment was accurate, he was fundamentally wrong in a very important sense. That sense is the ability of someone from the outside to bring a fresh perspective to something that people are so accustomed to that they can’t imagine it being any different. The outsider’s role in these situations is to point out the fact that the something is outside the norm, that it has bad or unhealthy consequences and, finally, to point to a path to bringing about positive change.

Each of these three stages, naming the problem, defining its impact and finding the way to a better future is hard. They are the reasons why many efforts to change fail, and they are real challenges for an outsider trying to drive change.

For at least two reasons, these barriers are more difficult in the Virgin Islands than many other places. First, resistance to change is more entrenched than elsewhere and, second, resistance to outsiders bearing advice is way more entrenched in the territory than it is in other places.

So given these barriers, the outsider with brilliant ideas for the territory (that would be me) needs to tread very carefully. Someone once said about one of my brothers that, if you want him to do something, tell him he can’t do it, and if you don’t want him to do something, tell him he must do it. So rule one is: don’t tell people what they “should” or “must” do.

Rule number two is that everything looks simpler from a distance. Violating this rule spawns the “why don’t they just (fill in the blanks with a simple – and wrong – solution)” school of problem solving.

We see this approach a lot in foreign policy where it typically takes the form of bombing something or sealing the borders. Things are always more complex, especially politically and socially, when you get up close. The outsider needs to appreciate this reality.

In two months, a new administration and new leadership will take office in the territory. Probably from day one, much of the time leaders spend will be devoted to reacting to immediate problems and putting out fires of various kinds. As the great Gilda Radner said, “It’s always something.”

But in the view of this outsider, there are two problem areas in which a focused, long-term effort can make a big – and permanent – difference in the quality of life in the Virgin Islands. And making this effort will not cost much money. Each is an area that Virgin Islanders take for granted. They are “just the way we do things here.”

The two areas are “governance” and “execution.” In this instance, governance simply relates to the broad range of entities that have governing boards in the territory. And execution can be defined as the discipline of getting things done and, specifically, the ability to get the things done right.

The Virgin Islands has a number of important governing boards. Some of these function very well, but a surprising number do not. For example, it is unusual for important boards to not be able to take action because they don’t have a quorum for a meeting. But this seems to happen with some regularity in the territory.

This is an unusual problem for another reason. The Virgin Islands, especially for a place with a small population, has a cadre of extraordinary volunteers, many of whom serve on important boards. So why do these boards not function well? The most obvious reason would seem to be that there are not enough of these outstanding people to go around, and they seem to be spread too thin. There need to be more strong and effective board members. It is a supply and demand problem.

The territory also faces the universal problems of governing boards of public authorities and nonprofits: board members who represent their own or some other narrow interest, as opposed to the well-being and overall interests of the entity or the organization. And board members who don’t fully understand what it means to serve on a nonprofit or public board. These are straightforward selection and training issues.

Poor execution is a principal cause of failure everywhere. Having an idea, however good it is, and implementing it are two very different things. The Virgin Islands, especially its public sector, is not very good at execution, and its citizens pay a stiff price for this weakness.

Pinpointing the sources of poor execution is not that difficult. Successful execution consists of a reasonable set of goals + a solid strategy + the right people in the right jobs + basic systems and processes that work + a culture of performance and accountability. Do a simple assessment on each of these points, and you have an action plan for major change and improvement.

People sometimes see “training” as a panacea. It is not. But in these two instances, governance and execution, it can be a major force for good. Here is an outsider’s idea for implementing a change process that will make the territory a better place to live, work and learn. Create a Management and Governance Institute, with two target groups: first, current and potential board members to be trained in the “best practices” of public and nonprofit governance.

Second, recruit a cadre of young Virgin Islanders, students, public sector workers or employees in the private sector. Train them in effective management and in the norms and values of leading and managing healthy and productive organizations in the years ahead.

The return on a small investment will be enormous, especially as these groups begin to serve as change agents across the territory.

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