Rich Pickings and Beyond

Close to 1000 graduates will be writing the civil service examinations soon. In Bhutan, without any doubts, the civil service remains the preferred choice for many talented graduates. Recruitment is not a problem at all for the RCSC. But this is just the first step.

The challenges lie in how their talents and expectations are managed over the years. In the long run, opportunities for career development, professionalism and effective performance management often become more important than a secure routine job. These have an impact on their motivation and performance, and often lead to talent leaving the civil service - a growing problem.

RCSC has measures to address such issues but the real test and success would be to develop a model where no rules and regulations are required to retain talent. The position classification system provides some elements for such a model. What form and shape our civil service assumes in the near future will depend entirely on RCSC's ability to implement it.

Related Reading - 

A conversation starter on motivating people from McKinsey Quarterly

An excellent article on public-service careers in the Economist

and of course some of my past posts

Car Tax Again

We have been on this for more than a year. A proper conclusion in sight.

I guess not - 

Another car tax story today and more dithering from the Government. A clear demonstration of our incapability to get a proper handle on anything. We deserve less experiments and more tangible decisions. 

Related Posts - Of cars and information

Some Readings

From the Economist on our neighbours and promoting entrepreneurship  -

1. Himalayan Histrionics on the border disputes between India and China

2. India and Capital Flows

3. Schumpeter : On promoting entrepreneurship - Israel is the country to emulate.

What the Bhutan Times episode tells us

As new papers were established in the last few years, all of us celebrated the growth of media in Bhutan. And in all the frenzy and excitement, the papers seem to have forgotten that they are a business. With five papers and almost a stagnant readership, the competition for ad revenues and circulation is very intense - and it means tremendous pressure on the management of our media organisations.

I don't know if this contributed to the recent situation at Bhutan Times (BT) but I find it interesting for the following reasons -

1. A glimpse of leadership style of a Bhutanese CEO which is authoritarian. Authoritarian management is very much passé. Except in the military, it rarely works. It stifles creativity, de-motivates people and eventually leads to the failure of an organisation. We are in the 21st century and every manager has to change with the times.

2. BT seems to have failed to identify and manage their most valuable assets - the people who write for the paper. There may have been issues but good managers find ways to engage with them and manage their expectations. As a business, if you are unable to manage your key assets, success will elude you.

3. And the most interesting piece of communication from the CEO of BT - which demonstrates little respect for the stakeholders and little grasp and control of the situation/crisis. It doesn't help in any way.  A harangue like that is unprofessional and can only be tolerated in Bhutan. I definitely wouldn't work for somebody with a similar temperament.

However, in the whole process - the BT brand has been marred badly and I can only wish BT good luck. I remain most glad that I am not a shareholder of this paper.

Some Readings

 -  Another measure of progress .. just released is the  2009 Legatum Prosperity Index. Finland leads while Bhutan doesn't feature in the rankings

- Unpredictable and uncertain times require a living strategy rather than five year plans

-  Valuable lessons from successful start-ups

- And finally leading in a fast-changing environment  (sign up required.. recommended)

Entrepreneurship opportunity

A good initiative from the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources (MoLHR) and a great opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs.

MoLHR with the UNDP is providing financial assistance to 20 individuals each from Samtse, Mongar and Zhemgang to start a business. The selection criteria is not clear - so unsure if the selection would be based on qualifications or some business ideas but I definitely urge you to apply for this programme.

Entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted. It entails a lot of hard work and plenty of challenges. But the rewards are great. All you need is a lot of passion and determination, and of course a good business idea. There is nothing better than owning your own business and seeing it grow into a success. For an idea of  basic business planning, Tshong-Rig is a good place to start.

There are a few other similar programmes -

1. Entrepreneur Development Programme offered by MoLHR. Have no details but it is mentioned here.
2. I also recall a similar programme offered by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
3. Loden Foundation's  entrepreneurship programme. Loden provides substantial assistance to good business ideas and seven businesses are already up and running.

Related Posts -

A few posts under the label - "Starting a Business"

Oh .. Kuensel (on GNH) again

Another Kuensel editorial with more  half-baked interpretations.

Kuensel seems to espouse that we should make our rural people believe that there is nothing beyond the village to aspire for. Incredulous!!

Everybody knows that many national and global issues like system of governance, infrastructure, globalisation and climate change impact their lives. They have the right to know about the benefits of education, health care, transportation and communication. They also equally have the right to know about the dangers that economic development can bring to social cohesion, environment and our culture.

What they do, afterwards, is their choice- which is the essence of  GNH. Cheating fooling our rural people is definitely not the way to happiness.

The CBS and the Government seriously need to inform a few people at home rather than looking to inspire the world. 

Related post - 

GNH dissected wrongly and Di (another blogger) makes some excellent points on this in her comments to the post.