Commitment as a key to national success - Part III:

Crucial importance of planning

Text of speech of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa delivered as chief guest, at the seventh annual conference of MBA alumni association of the University of Colombo titled 'Beyond traditional boundaries'.

Continued from yesterday

Providing a clear mandate and an unambiguous mission is essential to the success of any enterprise. If there is a lack of clarity in the directions provided, it is more than likely that the task undertaken will not be accomplished successfully. It is the duty of leaders and managers to provide their subordinates with a specific set of objectives and goals to achieve. Without this, confusion can arise. Not only will this impede work at the operational level, it can also have serious implications even at the strategic level. Specific objectives are particularly important when plans and strategies are prepared to accomplish the desired end result.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa

Planning and strategizing is integral to the success of any mission. The objectives and goals to be achieved must be carefully identified and analysed, and plans must be put in place to achieve them. During the planning of the Humanitarian Operation, identifying reasons behind the historical inability to defeat the LTTE militarily was of utmost importance. Preventing history from repeating was critical. Therefore, a careful analysis of past attempts at military campaigns was called for. One of the major issues identified during this analysis was the inadequate strength of the military.

Key positions

Because the military did not have enough personnel, it faced tactical difficulties on ground. One of these was its inability to consistently dominate the territory regained from the LTTE during battle. As a result, the LTTE was historically able to mount fresh offensives to recapture such territory. Further, the lack of numbers made it difficult for the military to operate on broader frontages and multiple axes during its campaigns. This reduced its effectiveness. These were problems that required immediate remedy, and the only solution was to expand the military significantly. During the period from late 2006 to 2009, the strength of the Army was virtually doubled through continuous recruitment campaigns, while the Navy, Air Force and Police were also expanded significantly. This allowed us to overcome the problem of insufficient numbers.

Another major issue that emerged from the analysis was the likelihood of international mediation. In the past, successful military campaigns had been held back as a result of external pressure. The most obvious example was when the Vadamarachchi operation was stopped as a result of Indian intervention. The conflict in Sri Lanka is a very sensitive one in South India, and it was the responsibility of the political leadership to find a solution to addressing those sensitivities while safeguarding the national interest. The solution arrived at was the establishment of a new mechanism outside regular diplomatic channels. A six member bilateral committee comprising a troika of officials from each country was appointed to monitor on-going developments and resolve critical issues as they arose. This committee fulfilled its role very effectively, and the military campaign was continued to its conclusion.

While planning and strategizing takes place, another vital success factor in any undertaking is ensuring that the right people are appointed to key positions. If any project, institution or enterprise is to succeed, able leaders with the ability to produce results must be placed in positions of responsibility. One of the most critical determinants of success in any enterprise are the people involved. I believe that it is the man behind a weapon that is important, and not the weapon itself. Choosing the right people for the task is therefore essential. We should select people who can bring the desired results. This means that the leaders and managers in organizations must have a thorough knowledge of their subordinates.

It is also essential to provide proper leadership to the people chosen for a task. They must be motivated and encouraged to work with commitment to fulfil their responsibilities. Giving them a clear mandate and a specific set of objectives is necessary for success to be achieved. If the correct people are given a clear mandate, proper guidance, motivation and leadership, they will achieve results.

Urban development projects

At the same time, it is important to realise that we have to work with the people who are available. When I was a young major in the Army, I was the second in command of the Gajaba Regiment. My Commanding Officer was General Wijeya Wimalaratna. During one of the admin conferences held at the regiment, some of the officers stated that they wanted to change their subordinates and get better personnel. General Wimalaratne granted their request, and instructed that the personnel be changed to the admin company under my command. Afterwards, he told me that it is important to work with the people available. Most of the people who join the Army were from villages, and they usually studied only up to the eighth standard. They did not have exceptional skills. Instead, they were normal people with average capabilities. General Wimalaratne pointed out that it is very easy to get work out of supermen.

Proper supervision

However, the hallmark of good leaders and managers is that they can get the ordinary, average people under them to perform quality work. I am happy to note that after some time, this company won the highest number of awards for gallantry among the entire battalion.

Beautification programme gives Colombo a new look

Getting the best out of the people available is a vital responsibility of leaders and managers in any organization. It is their duty to correctly identify the strengths and weaknesses of their subordinates, and find ways to assist them to perform to the best of their ability. Helping them to improve their performance by providing adequate support and correct training is also important. The recent urban development projects provide a good example of how significantly better output was obtained with the available personnel. The staffs of the UDA, the SLLRDC and the municipality have not changed, although the work they now achieve is qualitatively very different from what it was in the past. While we sometimes deploy officers from the military to motivate the workers and give them the push necessary to get the work moving, it is the same architects, town planners, engineers and municipal officers and workers of the UDA, SLLRDC and Municipality who are doing the work we see all around the urban areas. Though the people have not changed, with correct leadership, motivation and supervision, the quality of the work they are producing has increased tremendously. In this context, the value of proper supervision cannot be overstated. I spoke earlier about how lack of supervision contributed to the garbage problem, and how providing proper oversight solved that problem.

A failing that we encounter in society quite often is the unwillingness or inability of those in supervisory roles to discharge their responsibilities properly. It is important to realise that supervision is not only necessary at the very top, but at all levels. Consultants, managers, professionals, executives and officers in the public as well as the private sector must realise the importance of supervising the work of their subordinates. Particularly in fields such as construction, the professionals must not be deskbound, but should go to the field and supervise what is being done.

To take an example at the lowest level: the paving of sidewalks is often taken to be a very simple job. However, if something so simple cannot be done properly, then the chances are that more complicated work will also not succeed. Particularly during my early visits, I observed that lower level labourers worked at these sites without proper guidance from their supervisors. This resulted in mediocre work. Even in a matter as simple as paving sidewalks, supervision is essential.

Without proper supervision and attention to detail by those in supervisory positions, the quality of work achieved in any undertaking will be mediocre. This is not something we can afford. A job badly done often needs redoing, and as a developing country, we have neither the time nor the resources to indulge in redoing work time and again. We need to have quality work achieved at the outset, and the only way to ensure that is if people in positions of responsibility supervise their subordinates properly and pay enough attention to detail.

One of the best ways in which to ensure that supervision and attention to detail takes place properly is through assigning work to small teams, and giving them ownership of the work and responsibility for its success. When teams feel that they own the job, they take greater responsibility for the final outcome and are motivated to work as hard as they can to achieve the desired results. This is a strategy that has been extremely successful in important urban development projects such as the renovation of the Dutch Hospital, the upgrading of the Colombo Fort area, the Water's Edge walkway development and the redevelopment of the Racecourse Grounds. Small teams of engineers, architects, town planners, and management personnel were entrusted with these projects, and they delivered quality results. The same approach has been adopted for forthcoming development projects throughout the country, including Jaffna, Nuwara Eliya, Diyatalawa, Matara and others. I am confident that these projects will be successful because the teams involved have been given ownership of the projects.

During the course of this address, I have touched upon several factors that I believe will help achieve success in any enterprise. Commitment, motivation, consistency of focus, positive thinking, establishing a clear mission and mandate, ensuring proper planning, and providing proper management through correct staffing, supervision and delegating ownership of work are all critical success factors. I hope that the experiences recounted and the lessons learnt will prove useful to you, and that you will gain many more insights from the rest of this conference that will enhance the efficiency and quality of your work.

As I stated at the beginning, Sri Lanka is at a critical time in its history. With the defeat of terrorism and the development activities taking place, Sri Lanka is a peaceful, stable country with a lot of growth prospects. The government will do everything it can to create an environment conducive for economic development. It is up to everybody to make use of this opportunity and generate the required results. After three decades of terrorism, followed by three years of peace and stability, the time is right for Sri Lanka to attain its rightful place in the world. If all of us take this mission to heart and commit ourselves to guiding our nation to a prosperous future, I have every confidence that we will succeed. Thank you.

Concluded