Empowering Sri Lanka: Focusing on Positive Strategies for a Brighter Future
View(s):In Sri Lanka, we are witnessing more negative news in Media . Even some news such as murders repeatedly broadcast on media. You may think about maximizing the wealth of your shareholders with some marketing and promotional strategies in the Media house.Anyway this will broadly affect people and the country as well. As per British psychologist Dr. Graham Davey, “The way that negative news affects your mood can also have a larger effect on how you interpret and interact with the world around you. If it makes you more anxious or sad for instance, then you may subconsciously become more attuned to negative or threatening events, and you may be more likely to see ambiguous or neutral events as negative ones”,We need to understand this reality.And also all of us know that the country is not in a position in terms of economy .To build up this nation we need to revisit some practices by thinking in this context as well.
And more importantly, the country needs to have its own SWOT(SWOT for Sri Lanka) analysis.In Management, we use a tool called ‘SWOT analysis’ (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). In that, we always said that we need to have a better assessment of our own. Sri Lanka is always blessed by our strategic location. And also our country heading among South Asian countries in Human Resource Development. The 2023/2024 Human Development Report by the UNDP reveals that Sri Lanka, alongside the Maldives, falls under the “High Human Development” category(Sri Lanka in the position of 78 and Maldives in the position of 87) with an HDI score between 0.700 and 0.799. Sri Lanka’s rank improved from 78 to 76 in 2022, while other South Asian nations like India and Bangladesh remain in the “Medium Human Development” bracket, and Pakistan and Afghanistan are in the “Low Human Development” category.This can be considered as one of the strengths of our nation.
Sri Lanka is often referred to as the “ the pearl of the Indian Ocean.”.Anyway we do not see proper utilization of “resources and competencies” at the moment. But we have seen a strategic window which is open for our country. A strategic window refers to a “temporary period when there is a ‘fit’ or alignment between an organization’s competitive capabilities and the key demands of the existing or emerging markets it aims to enter”. Anyway, as the definition of “Strategic window” suggests we have a ‘temporary period’ or very little time to respond. What we need to do is to act wisely and act fast before this ‘Strategic Window’ is going to close. we need to act promptly on this.
Furthermore, refer below for the same argument with a different perspective:
Appamado amata padam
pamado maccuno padam
appamatta na meeyanthi
ye pamatta yatha mata.
(Dhammapada Verse 21, Samavati Vatthu)
Appamada is ‘doing without delay’ and pamada is being delayed.
Mata (pronounced ‘matha’) is death, and amata is deathless, another word for Nibbana. Maccunō (pronounced ‘machchuno’) is also death, and so is meeyanthi.
Pada means ‘word’ (most of these words are also Sinhala words).
Appamatta is one who is not delayed, pamatta is one who is delayed.
Yatha is ‘true status’.
(Source: https://puredhamma.net/dhammapada/appamado-amata-padam/)
We can align the concept of ‘Strategic Window’ with ‘Appamada’ (is doing without delay) and pamāda (is being delayed). Anyway, we need to recognise the fact that the philosophical interpretation of Samavati Vatthu in Dhammapada is broader in the given domain of knowledge.
There is a grave need for a country to ‘be positive’ and have a proper assessment. How we can do this? First I think there should be an apex body in the country that can be named “Revive Lanka”. Anyway, unlike in the past, there should be a serious collaboration of industry, academia and all stakeholders to have a plan for this. In Sri Lanka, we have witnessed a lack of collaboration with some parties because of their own egos. But this is the time you need to get yourself united as Sri Lankans. We can have an apex body comprising:
1. Representatives from different industries
2. Academics and intellectuals representing different local and international universities and professional associations
3. Representatives from different religious groups
4. Representatives from media
5. Representatives from different government bodies
6. And other stakeholders
As phase one this forum can develop a policy paper with KPIs for a country for the next six months. Anyway, the challenge is the preparation of the document within a short period. There can be different monitoring mechanisms with KPIs also could be introduced. More importantly, all citizens should be aware of the implantation process and need to create a sense of urgency.According to Kotter (1996) establishing a sense of urgency means “you’re trying to change the status quo, to push employees to no longer be complacent and to help employees see that it is critical to move forward sooner rather than later”. The same model can be applied to Sri Lanka by replacing ‘employees’ with ‘citizens of Sri Lanka’ .Because there is a need for them to be convinced to act sooner rather than later. If this apex body performs well for six months we can have the same formula for the long run to plan our vision for the year 2030 or even for the vision of the country for the year 2050!
Professor Nalin Abeysekera
(The writer is a Professor in Management Studies, at the Faculty of Management, Management Studies, The Open University of Sri Lanka. You can reach Professor Abeysekera at nabey@ou.ac.lk )
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