Need for hands-on political leadership
This article is a follow-up to Prof. Sirimal Abeyratne’s article in the Sunday Times on December 1/24 (https://www.sundaytimes.lk/241201/business-times/easy-choices-and-tough-choices-579042.html), in which he explains why increasing Sri Lanka’s exports is a #1 priority: Sri Lanka needs to pay its foreign debts and grow its economy to increase the number of jobs and the income of the poor in
Sri Lanka.
Increasing exports requires hands-on leadership and a management infrastructure that is strategic and results-focused in order to make the fundamental changes and move mountains to achieve results. This article presents a hands-on leadership and management infrastructure that is based on proven strategies, tactics and processes that have been used by governments and corporations to bring about large-scale change and results. For example, the Prime Minister of Canada used them to reduce Canada’s ratio of debt/GDP.
The envisioned leadership and management infrastructure comprises three parts.
Part I: Establish an Export Development Team (EDT)
A team is different than a committee. A team is a small group of persons who commits to achieving a desired result. In this case, the desired result is to increase Sri Lanka’s exports. The EDT should:
1. Be chaired by the Prime Minister – recognising the scope and urgency of the change and results to be achieved.
2. Consists of:
a. Cabinet Ministers whose responsibilities are relevant to increasing exports
b. Presidents of associations that are relevant to increasing exports, e.g., exporters, business, finance, accounting — attracting foreign investors and starting new businesses requires the help of the business, export and financial communities in Sri Lanka.
3. Be small – at most 10 persons. The team must be kept small so that members can be candid, resolve differences of opinion and keep each other accountable for promises that they make. The EDT can of course organise large meetings or even conferences to solicit ideas, communicate plans and engage stakeholders.
4. Have 2-3 persons to help the chair lead the team – the chair needs help because s/he has many other duties. These persons must be trustworthy and competent.
5. Be proactively accountable and listen to Cabinet, Parliament and all Sri Lankans.
Part II – Develop a Strategic
Action Plan (SAP)
The EDT’s first task is to develop a comprehensive SAP, which includes addressing such areas as:
- A stable investment and corruption-free business environment
- A skilled work force
- A supportive public
- Identification and capture of export opportunities
The EDT should consult experts and organise meetings with stakeholders during the development of the SAP. The SAP must include:
a. The objectives and realistic short, medium and longer-term target results.
b. Strategic actions for achieving the target results in (a).
c. The schedule for implementing the strategic actions in (b), including for milestone (review) meetings with milestone results. The milestone dates must not be more than three months apart.
d. The responsibilities for implementing the strategic actions in (b). Each strategic action must be assigned to one of the EDT’s team members. EDT team members must commit and promise to implement the strategic action(s) assigned to him (her), in accordance with the schedule in (c).
e. The challenges that need to be overcome to achieve the target results in (a) during the implementation of the strategic actions in (b).
f. The assumptions that underlie (a) – (e).
The development of the SAP will require the EDT to conduct several work sessions. It must be approached with a fresh mind (new mindset), setting aside old assumptions and biases, and remember that countries who have loaned Sri Lanka money have a vested interest in Sri Lanka increasing its exports in order to be able to repay its debts. The development of the SAP will be much more difficult than increasing taxes, reducing expenditures and negotiating the repayment of debt with other countries. However, where there is the will, there will be a way to achieve the desired results.
The development of the SAP may also identify the need for the EDT to establish sub-EDTs that are needed to achieve the necessary changes and results. Each Sub EDT must be modelled as per the features presented in Part I above. Topics for possible Sub-EDTs are:
- Education and a skilled work force
- A stable, attractive and corruption-free investment environment
- Engaging Sri Lanka’s business and financial communities
- Identifying short and longer-term export opportunities
- Promoting Sri Lanka in target countries
Part III – Conduct robust
milestone reviews
The EDT and sub-EDTs must vigorously lead the implementation of the strategic actions assigned to them and keep the stakeholders and public informed.
To maintain momentum and make changes if and as necessary, the EDT must conduct milestone review meetings. The team leader and members must:
1. Be candid – Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, said that straight talk–candor is an organisation’s biggest dirty little secret — most people would rather hide or spin the truth than share it, making it difficult to bring the reality of the situation to the surface and fix it.
2. Present a progress report on their respective assigned strategic action(s) including the results achieved, a comparison with the target milestone results, an explanation of successes and challenges
3. Ensure that the Sub EDTs are performing and are aligned with the overall objectives and strategies
4. Review lessons learned and new insights gained since the previous milestone (review) meeting
5. Update the SAP (see Part II above), if and as necessary
6. Resolve any differences of opinion that arise during the discussion of (1) – (5)
7. Re-commit (promise) to push forward in an aggressive and determined manner
The Sub-EDTs should perform similar milestone reviews.
Concluding comments
The implementation of the SAP must include vigorous efforts to communicate to key stakeholders as well as the public. It will be important to explain interim results achieved, lessons learned and how interim results will contribute to achieving longer term targets. It will also be important to candidly explain set-backs and failures, and what is being done to overcome them. True leadership requires building trust and then being trustworthy.
Increasing Sri Lanka’s exports will be challenging. Yet if tiny Mauritius in the middle of nowhere can prosper, why can’t Sri Lanka?
(The writer is a Canadian and has changed leadership expertise. He can be reached at george@cs-connections.com)
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