The Star Online, Monday June 10, 2013
I ALWAYS look at transformation work coming in two “waves” of activities.
The first wave involves a lot of intervention work, which is required to deliver big fast results. I call this the intervention wave.
The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu)'s role is deliberately interventionist in our approach. This includes introducing specific changes in strategy, action programmes and whatever it takes (including changes in processes, procedures, systems, etc) in order to deliver the desired results and outcomes.
The second is the sustainability wave of activities. This involves building capacity and capability so that the organisation can continue the work without any need for intervention.
This entails instilling the right leadership capability, organisational culture and competence development. Done over a sufficient period of time leveraging on certain processes, then the organisation is truly equipped with the ability to sustain the transformation on its own. No longer will it need “external intervention”.
The organisation will and can adapt, change and re-invent itself in the face of external pressures.
Having spent the first four years on the intervention waves, Malaysia will now be introducing the sustainability waves of transformational activities. This does not mean we stop abruptly the intervention work but rather, we add the sustainability agenda on top of the interventional work. As the sustainability work matures, the intervention work reduces and gradually ceases over a period of time.
When Pemandu was established, we knew all along that its role will change over time. In the first few years, it has been heavily involved in the roll out of intervention work in the national key results and economic areas.
In the next few years, we will be working with the Government, civil service and the private sector to develop and nurture the sustainability waves of activities. Pemandu's role will change markedly as these activities gain traction. Increasingly, over time, as we succeed in the implementation of the sustainability waves, Pemandu will become redundant.
Indeed, when Pemandu was set up within the Prime Minister's Department in September 2009, we all knew it would have a finite life. But whilst we are still in existence, there is plenty that needs to be done.
An evaluating and monitoring agency within Government has to first set overall goals which are agreed to by the Government of the day, effectively the Cabinet. That, in itself, is a process.
We have defined our true north by saying that we want to be a developed country with an income of US$15,000 per person by the year 2020. That's simple and clear enough but not so the implementation.
You have to break that down into what we have to achieve from year-to-year in terms of every ministry and department within Government and the private sector parts that are involved.
Once that is set, there is the process of monitoring, evaluating and resetting interim goals where necessary to make sure that the ultimate target is met within the time frame. In the meantime, one has to build capability too to be able to achieve high income.
In the nearly four years of Pemandu's existence, the basic framework has been done through a deliberate interventionist approach, the work is being undertaken and figures show we are well on our way in fact ahead of time as of now in terms of meeting our targets.
What we have focused on is not incremental change but a sea change because that is what transformation of both the Government and the economy is about. We have to stretch our targets, not change them by just a little bit.
It is not about incremental change but a major leap forward. We must have a new way of working and doing things we must not just change but transform ourselves, become very different from what we were.
But our role at Pemandu is not to be around forever. To be successful, we have to make ourselves redundant in other words there must come a point when we become useless to the government, at least in the way we currently operate.
Our aim is to institutionalise the changes that we are making within all parts of government and organisations working with it.
Eventually, the respective organisations, both within and without government, will take over what we do.
They will determine the goals, they will see how it can be achieved, they will set the true north and the intermediate targets, and they will evaluate, monitor and change course as necessary themselves.
We don't want a mind-set of dependence; we want to grow capability so that they can do it themselves.
This means all sections and all changes which are being targeted in areas like crime, education, resource-based industries etc.
They may need external help from time to time but they can go out and get consultants when they need to.
Unless Pemandu evolves into something else, I don't see it going beyond six years from the time of inception that means by around Sept 2015 we should be wrapping things up or morphing into something else.
At the end of the day, it is not my call but rather the decision of the Prime Minister.
It may be possible to be a monitoring or realigning agency until 2020, when the target of becoming a high-income nation is set to be achieved.
If this is the case, Pemandu will be significantly scaled down.
Or in line with the sustainability wave, it might evolve into an organisation, which continues to help build capability within Government.
Those who study chemistry know that when you add a small amount of substance to some chemical reactions, it speeds up the chemical reaction considerably.
That's the role of a catalyst.
As I have said before, Pemandu is a catalyst for change or transformation.
It helps ignite and pushes change within Government and in the way we do things.
Once the transformation is well under way, there is no need for the catalyst anymore.
When that time comes, and I am sure it will not be long from now, my colleagues and I will be more than happy to step down because it would mean we succeeded in what we set out to do.
Datuk Seri Idris Jala is CEO of Pemandu and also Minister in the Prime Minister's Department. All fair and reasonable comments are most welcome at idrisjala@pemandu.gov.my
