Personal Development Plans

Why Back Office Administration?

In the international development sector, back office administration and social networks are fundamental to how practices are improved. The work of the administrator expert for the purpose of providing back office activities for development projects include such a diverse range of administrative tasks and routine services. These services carried out in support of a professional activity such as monitoring and organizing a national survey, providing overall administrative guidance and support to multi-donor programs for good governance and economic growth programs have played a central role in consultants’ work in various regions of the world. Such work has involved efforts to reach out to the relevant local partners, government officials, urban professionals, businessmen and women, and rural community heads.

Back office administration has played a particularly prominent role in managing international development projects. This reflects the enduring expertise of administrator experts in many international programs. Back office administration has been strategic to the work of international development projects. And the administrator expert engagement has been fundamental to efforts to manage development projects. Because of the growing importance of back office administration for international development projects strategy, its potential contribution to future phases of managing development projects, it is vitally important for administrator experts at all levels to understand what management and the decision sciences suggest, and what consultants who have worked in such capacity have learned, about how to engage and leverage local partners in projects and institutional networks.

 Administration 101 for Consultants: Lessons Learned

 Back office administration is a form of organizational management activity based on common claimed effort to improve projects implementation practices. (2) It is not necessarily technical, as projects terms of reference (ToRs) may specify technical aspects of projects. (3) Back office administration rather has the benefits of the administrator expert being involved in scientific and/or statistical research without actually having to do it. It gives the administrator expert the administrative and management jobs that the scientists or statisticians see as tedious and time-consuming. For the administrator expert, these jobs represent tasks with a definite beginning, middle, and end. Thus back office administration is a part of most development projects where tasks dedicated to running the implementation of the project itself take place (4).

There is no such thing as a “typical” technical and/or statistical development project. Technical projects may embody diverse project rules, structures, types of political authority, and terms of reference (ToRs) which may be influenced by social and institutional conditions and government policies. (5) Thus, for instance, the ‘microfinance sector capacity building in Sierra Leone’ survey project (2007/08) in the category of the ACP Business Climate Facility (BizClim), a joint initiative financed under the 9th European Development Fund (EDF), tended, at least traditionally, to be purely statistical but the interpersonal definitions of the project underscores the relevance of the administrator expert.  There are major organizational issues involved in all donor funded project that require the engagement of an administrator expert who deals with these issues in a timely and efficient manner. (6) The administrator expert’s inputs in the ACP-EU BizClim project include the overall organization and monitoring of the field survey which makes the expert more influential than the other experts in the project. The administrator expert is looked upon as the project coordinator who enables the right conditions under which all the experts of the project are able to work. (7)

Administrative Values, Processes, and Organization

Administrative values remain deeply ingrained in back office administration of international development projects and have had a profound influence on development projects’ social mores and political culture. (This observation holds for much of all development projects as well.)

These values include the high premium put on originating and leading organizational issues that provide high performance culture that emphasizes empowerment, quality, productivity and standards, and goal attainment. These values also foster ingroup solidarity, which finds expression in loyalty to the technical expert team, (8) coupled with a powerful desire to ensure proper inclusion of the project output (in the case of the BizClim project, the survey) into the strategic development plan for the overall program; ensuring proper operational coordination with the contractor’s terms of reference; which finds expression in having the necessary skills, personal qualities and levels of motivation to competently meet the objectives of providing back office support and working with institutions or corporations locally. (9)

Administrative processes include traditional forms of services tailored to effectively support the technical experts, to mitigate problems when possible and to preserve a dynamic and productive environment. (10) These processes are conducted in accordance with basic administrative principles, providing colleagues (who are the technical experts) with the resources (i.e. human resources, physical facilities, as well as computing infrastructure and systems) they require to carry out their project research or service mission. (11) Further, working in cooperation with the local partners is extremely important and other tasks of significance include research and review of existing materials, and recommendations for operational structure that produces. (12) The precise extent to which these basic administrative processes are applied determine how successful in meeting the mandate of the contractor by such service requirements by which the expert must:

· clearly understand the needs of all the stakeholders of the project; (13)

· develop a team approach based on strong collaboration and mutual support and trust between the expert team and the local stakeholders in the project; (14)

· motivate and continue to inspire a competent and skilled auxiliary local staff in the project; (15)

· ensure that roles and responsibilities for program objectives and resource management are clearly defined and well understood by all concerned. (16)

Organizationally, each international development project implemented in any region consists of nested beneficiary groups. In the case of the BizClim microfinance project in Sierra Leone (2007/08), the direct beneficiary of the activity is NaCSA’s microfinance program as well as the partner organizations (MITAF, BoSL and SLAMFI). There are also the indirect beneficiaries which include the six existing MFIs and the four community banks actively involved with MITAF as well as the sector as a whole. (17) The terms used to describe these stakeholder groups and the meanings ascribed to them may differ by project, however, basic administrative processes apply in every case. This simplifies efforts by the administrator expert who must be skilled to understand stakeholder relationships, dynamics, and politics in the implementation of projects. (18)

The enormity of tasks in a project and the political issues to be dealt with has caused development donors to fall back on inputs of the administrator expert for support in confronting the challenges of coordinating the implementation of projects. As a result, strategic administrative processes have assumed greater salience in back office administration in recent years. It is not a mistake to emphasize the significance of the role of the administrator expert in a project or to regard the administrator expert as the central organizing principle of any development project implemented.  Large parts of back office administrative processes are to ensure the specific objectives of a project are consistently pursued, in the case of a survey project, for instance, the survey tools are developed and tested; the field research is undertaken; data is reviewed before processing, and statistical analysis is undertaken and final report drafted. (19)

A detailed, up-to-date picture of the back office administrative system in international development projects is hard to see—at least in the open literature. Much of what is known about back office administration is based on profiles provided by project donors, and information gaps frequently have to be filled by what the administrator expert must do to ensure the successful implementation of a donor funded project. While there are a number of useful compendiums on the traditional responsibilities of administrative officers in organizations, these are largely catalogs of job description that are in much need of updating to meet the high expectation needs of international development projects. (20) Finally, there has been no systematic effort to assess the impact of the role of the administrator expert in project implementation and the state of relations between the administrator expert and all the stakeholder groups in a project. This article will hopefully constitute a modest first step in this direction. (21)

The Cultural Logic of Back Office Administration and Project Implementation

How do administrative values express themselves in the conduct of the administrator expert? Administrator experts are intensely jealous of the integrity of work outcomes—to the extent that integrity of work outcomes has been described as the “consulting center of gravity.” The culture of integrity of work outcomes and the implicit threat of forfeiting fees if project outcomes are compromised may be a vestige of the back office administrator’s oath of expert engagement—a commitment of ensuring individual and group survival when there are terms of reference to be strictly adhered to. As a result, social relations among stakeholders in a project are characterized by a high degree of concern over integrity of work outcomes, status, and timeframes. (22) A well-known Steven R. Covey proverb expresses this tendency: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”.  Some see the extraordinary politeness and generosity of consultants that characterize their social relations towards stakeholders in a project as a means of curbing this propensity for anxiety and apprehension for the integrity of project outcomes. (23)

What accounts for this tendency? One explanation is that it is a consequence of what defines a consultant. A consultant’s career is built on maintaining the scrupulous ethics and honesty that are the hallmark of any successful consultant—and to pay even more attention to the perception of ethical behavior. (24) Another explanation is that it is a characteristic feature of being a consultant to be efficient and be conscious of project timeframes. The administrator consultant must have the right experience. Knowledge of industry procedures, project requirements, likely project costs, and likely project timeframes, are all examples of where inadequate organizational experience can result in cost and time blowouts. The administrator expert must keep in touch with the latest developments in projects administration to provide the right advice to project stakeholders. (25)

In back office administration, the expert team of consultants, direct and indirect project beneficiaries, and government affiliations define the administrator expert’s identity and status in a project. Consequently, all personal interactions in a project potentially have a collective dimension. Experts assembled for a project is not a personal choice, but a team affair, with implications for the status and standing of the entire expert team. (26) Conflicts between individual experts in a team always have the potential to become conflicts between groups that undermine the success of the entire project. (27)

Relationships are central to project life. In an environment marked by suspicion and potential conflict between the expert team and the local stakeholders, building and maintaining relationships is a way to reduce the circle of potential adversaries or enemies. (28)

Back office administration is systemic, it has to do with the organizational issues of the project, and the activities undertaken provide the basis for sustained systemic action. Interpersonal interaction is the fundamental unit of getting tasks done in a project. On every occasion, the administrator expert considers organization-wide cooperation as key to the successful execution of tasks; it is generally in response to a specific task, such as collating economic data that should be included in a report. (29)

Back office administration has an inter-organizational dimension as well. A project is often identified with the government of a country, its civil service structure, and the civil society. Thus, an administrator expert is obliged to deal with all of these structures at a professional level.  (30) For the administrator expert, the administrative domain of all international development projects thus usually consists of dealing with a number of relevant stakeholders exclusively specified by the terms of reference of the project.  Among the team experts, there is strong pressure not to alienate these stakeholders in a project. Because the group of experts (consultants) is usually involved in more than one institution’s culture, and in each case they are seen as outsiders at the beginning, experts need to be able to win the confidence of strangers who may be initially threatened by the presence of consultants. The administrator expert must be that person of personable character capable of projecting the expert team’s image to the other stakeholders. A big dose of humor is said to make wonders, especially when directed at one’s self. (31)

Some back office administration activities take the form of effectively making use of all sorts of networks. Civil service and civil society networks are sometimes reinforced by less professional social interactions or more personal relationships, and may be mobilized in the pursuit of shared interests. Administrator experts are particularly adept at mobilizing social networks and forging more personal alliances, which account in part for the success of international development sector projects. (32)

The Spider in the Web

Overall, donor agencies have dealt with administrator experts as projects power brokers to help administer or implement a project, and they have often attempted to co-opt the work of the administrator expert as part of a strategy of “get things done”. Other participating consultants in a project have likewise depended a great deal on the work of administrator experts to achieve quality project outcomes. It is therefore important to understand the sources—and limits—of administrator expert authority and organizational influence. (33)

Administrator expert authority. The administrator expert traditionally performs a number of functions related to the inner life of the project and its relations with the other stakeholders and the authorities. The role of the administrator expert for international development sector projects involves more like traditional administrative functions, and the administrator expert fulfill a number of important functions. The administrator expert’s job has been to be the spider in the web—collecting information from partners, everything from administrative data to their technical contributions, their expertise, and their expectations of the project, while making sure they meet the project’s deadlines. (34)

A very interesting task is to thoroughly understand all the specific terms of reference of a project and get all partners to understand them and agree to them as well. (35) In some cases the work seems to consist of calling other people’s bluff—not the participating consultants but the local stakeholders in the project. Almost without exception, often times the local stakeholders view with suspicion the work of the consultants, and the challenge is to what extent one has to be flexible on most things, and when to stand ground on the things that matter—like getting things done according to the terms of reference and maintaining one’s integrity. (36) One has to be willing to draw the attention of the contracting authority in such instances in order to defend one’s position in both of those cases without jeopardizing the project. (37)

The administrator expert must have an in-depth knowledge of how donor funding works, and should be skilled in developing good personal contacts with people in government and in civil society. (38) The very big plus side for the administrator expert is being right in the center of decision-making in the project implemented and the role of the administrator expert becomes more important when he or she is able to create the conditions for making the most out of people working in the project and their talents. (39) The administrator expert is more in control of his or her own work, to see output that is in some sort of relation to the time and effort put in, to work on projects that have a beginning an end. The administrator expert is responsible for the day-to-day running of the project. The work of the administrator expert is literally research project management. (40) The administrator expert has to be well organized to make sure deadlines are met and all partners are involved; diplomatic enough to deal with people of different backgrounds; and, perhaps most important of all, unflappable. (41)

Elements of traditional organizational management still apply in all international development sector projects. Management and organizational issues abound in delivering development sector projects. For example, if survey administration is the “line” activity within the project, the ultimate responsibility for delivery lies within the purview of the administrator expert. (42) And the more actors and organizational units that are required to deliver international development sector programs, the more complex that delivery may be. The need for coordination and cooperation in such complex systems is critical to success. (43)

Administrative influence. Administrative influence is reckoned in terms of the tasks completed. Details matter. Every task for the successful completion of projects matters. (44) Integrity also matters. The integrity of work outcomes is critical in international development projects. (45)

Today, as mentioned above, back office administration is generally the highest level at which sustained social action occurs; administrator experts are considered effective units of action. And the influence of an administrator expert is generally measured in terms of his or her work ethics, the ability to secure the interests of the project. (46)

The Donor Sector Today

The rules of donors and their influence and their specific terms of reference vary but have a common goal—effective delivery of project objectives. (47) There are a good number of well known donor agencies working for the good of humanity. Some of these donor agencies consultants should know about include:

· The ACP Business Climate Facility (BizClim), an ACP-EU joint initiative, is demand-driven and the requests for assistance introduced are implemented through contracts using the framework contracts of the commission (beneficiary) or through tenders. To this respect, the Contracting Authority is the European Commission but the daily management of each contract is ensured by BizClim. (48).

· USAID, the independent federal agency of the United States Government, often times cooperates with multilateral and regional institutions such as the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Bank of International Settlements, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), IFAD, IMF, IOM, OECD, and the UNDP, to implement projects in various parts of the world. (49).

· The Department for International Development (DFID) is the part of the UK Government that manages Britain’s aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty and often works with consultants in many respects.  It has two headquarters (in London and East Kilbride, near Glasgow) and 64 offices overseas. It also has over 2500 staff, almost half of whom work abroad (DFID). (50)

· The Australian Government, through AusAID, competitively contracts aid work to Australian and international companies. These companies use their expertise to deliver aid projects and often train local people to continue the projects long after the end of the contracts.  AusAID contributes to global and regional poverty reduction programs set up by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and works with (AusAid). (51)

· The OECD brings together the governments of countries committed to democracy and the market economy from around the world to support sustainable economic growth, boost employment, raise living standards, maintain financial stability, assist other countries’ economic development, contribute to growth in world trade. The OECD also uses a lot of help from independent consultants and shares expertise and exchanges views with more than 100 other countries and economies, from Brazil, China, and Russia  to the least developed countries in Africa (OECD). (52)

· UNDP is working through its specialized agencies like IFAD, UNICEF, UNCTAD, and with a wide range of partners to help create coalitions for change to support the goals at global, regional and national levels, to benchmark progress towards them, and to help countries to build the institutional capacity, policies and programs needed to achieve the MDGs (UNDP). (53)

· The African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa’s premier development finance institution, dedicated to combating poverty and improving living conditions across the continent through loans, equity investments and technical assistance, also offers great opportunities for independent consultants. AfDB-financed contract procurements are carried out in accordance with the requirements stipulated in the Rules of Procedure for Procurement of Goods and Works and the Rules of Procedures for the Use of Consultants (AfDB). (54)

· The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) also uses consultants’ help to promote sustainable development through loans, guarantees, risk management products, and analytical and advisory services. Established in 1944 as the original institution of the World Bank Group, IBRD is structured like a cooperative that is owned and operated for the benefit of its 185 member countries. (55)

· The Asian Development Bank (ADB) often partners with governments and the private sector to help reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of member countries based on its Strategy 2020, a long-term strategic framework adopted in 2008, grounded on three complementary strategic agendas: inclusive growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. (56)

These donor agencies have their specific rules and terms of reference. (71) Within the field of EU-supported Research and Technological Development (RTD) projects, partners normally sign a consortium agreement to organise the work and to specify certain rights and obligations to carry out the Project. Separate and independent consulting firms are subcontracted by the EC or the consortium for projects in various parts of the world. (57) And experts who are engaged by the successful firms the consortium has subcontracted are strongly encouraged to always co-ordinate their activities with the activities of other EC funded projects or projects funded by other donors in the region of implementation. The work of the administrator is to establish such contacts. (58) And considering the fact that experts do have different experiences in project implementation, there are also certain issues experts must know about:

· Using proper documents, forms and terminology as required by EC Delegation and there are basic documents all consultants should use when communicating with their partners—the firms contracted by the EC or the consortium.

· The ToR as a basic and binding document must be strictly adhered to. If the expert thinks the requested deliverables or outputs are out of touch of reality, the expert must communicate his or reservations in the Inception Report or with the Delegation in a written form.

· Experts should be patient with the EC Delegations and Beneficiaries, if an expert does not agree with work processes or procedures as specified by the EC operations manual and terms of reference, the expert has the responsibility to try to convince the EC or the consortium by justifying other ways value can be added to deliverables or outputs.

· Experts must, however, understand the reality that the EC does not accept other rules and forms except theirs.

· Even when consultants are subcontracted by firms contracted by the EC or the consortium, consultants are expected to respect EC rules which prevail for all projects. (59)

Lessons Learned

Hands on experience with back office administration in international development sector projects concludes that the administrator expert performs a strategic role in helping the project accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of work processes, control, and management processes. (60) The administrator expert creates a capacity which safeguards and reinforces project’s reputation as a reliable steward of donor resources.  (61)

Other required functional competencies of administrative expert include the expert having excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to set out a coherent argument in presentations and group interactions. The expert should be adept in the use of information and communications technology. (62)

Donor organizations prefer experts that operate within their organizational competency frameworks. They expect experts to lead and manage change with integrity, trustworthiness and confidence, keeping the contractor’s vision and values at the forefront of actions.  The experts must maintain a strong, independent mental attitude and highest integrity and ability to inspire and nurture an organizational culture of ethos and fairness.  (63)

As an expert, it is professional to keep accurate and systematic accounts, files and records. The records must clearly identify, among other things, the basis upon which invoices have been calculated. The expert must be proficient in preparing and submitting regular reports on the project activities to the project team leader emphasizing among others their impact on the different areas of intervention. The expert should also seek to set benchmarks and targets for achieving both program and activity based goals inclusive of indicators for measuring the extent of achievement and to highlight these in all reporting. (64)

Experts must not attempt or commit any fraud, deception, financial or procedural wrongdoing in relation to the performance of their obligations under the Contract, and shall immediately notify the contractor of any circumstances giving rise to a suspicion that such wrongful activity may occur or has occurred. (65)

The expert should not engage in any personal, business or professional activity which conflicts or could conflict with any of their obligations in relation to the Contract.  (66)

The expert must be familiar with the provisions of race relations, sex discrimination and disability discrimination and the expert should not unlawfully discriminate within the meaning and scope of these provisions. (67)

All donor agencies respect the environment; they therefore expect all consultants to help protect the environment in relation to the performance of the services and should comply with all applicable international environmental laws, regulations, and donor practices. (68)

The condition of maintaining professional indemnity insurance is important for most donor agencies. Professional indemnity insurance provides financial indemnity to a professional man or firm against a legal liability to compensate a third party who has sustained injury, loss or damage through breach of duty. (69)

Again, experts must know about project equipment use and keeps inventory of equipment, its condition and location and make such inventory available to the project contractor. (70)

Expert must know that no expenditure may be incurred in excess of the financial limit and budget items of the project without the prior written authority of the donor contractor. (71)

For most donor contractors, fees payable are deemed to cover cost of salary, overseas inducements, leave allowances, bonuses, profit, taxes, insurances, superannuation, non-working days and expenses of whatsoever nature that may be incurred except those otherwise specifically provided for in the Contract. (72)

Donor specific forms and invoices often in the form of letterhead, the contract reference number and bear an original signature are used to recover payments from donors. (73) For, DFID, for example invoices are numbered sequentially, dated and marked—“For the attention of the Administration Officer”—stating the period the services are provided using “from” and “to” dates. The final invoice presented in connection with this Contract should be endorsed “Final Invoice”. Experts must know that any invoices not presented in accordance with donor specific format may cause unreasonable delay in payment. (74) For currency information, the London Financial Times “Guide to World Currencies” does provide the information needed on exchange rates. (75)

Experts must also familiarize themselves with procedures for negotiating claims or disputes arising out of or in connection to Contracts. The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution in London (CEDR) can be very helpful.  CEDR is an independent non-profit organization with a public mission and supported by multinational business, law firms and public sector organizations. (76)

Overall, the administrator expert prioritizes work schedules. Relieves the technical experts of administrative detail, coordinates work flow, update and chase delegated tasks to ensure progress to deadlines, maintain terms of reference manual to ensure consistent performance of routines. (77) To maintain proper communication mechanisms, the expert composes daily reports, research relevant data the technical consultants can use to support final drafting of the project report. (78) For any meetings, the expert emphasizes on agenda meetings. The expert arranges meeting facilities, acts as recording secretary, and prepares action minutes. The expert performs to earn stakeholders’ confidence. Even arranges local transportation. Seeks greater role in projects within administrative and other areas of competence. At the advanced levels, back office administration is about methods for handling work; it requires a constant audit of the way a project does things, and willingness to rock the boat for meeting deadlines in getting work done. (79) Here are some typical tasks:

In other areas, the expert finds himself with networking with the various stakeholders in the project that are playing a significant role in the life of the project. There is a saying in OD consulting that says “it is futile to put personality ahead of character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving ourselves”. Interpersonal coordination of projects objectives is the cadence of back office administration. To navigate the chaos of dealing with organizational issues in a project, the administrator expert tries to draw on the pillars of being an effective manager, pillars built on work integrity, respect, and reciprocity. The expert relies on the intimacy of an expert team and the other key stakeholders in the project. (81)

Emphasis on Interpersonal Relations

Some analysts and practitioners have argued that interpersonal relations are key to the success of projects. While consultants are often viewed with suspicion by the local operators they meet, it is the responsibility of the administrator expert to allay those suspicions.  Clearly, the administrator expert has realistic expectations regarding the influence of project stakeholders. The experts are generally well connected and plugged into various stakeholder networks (essential if they are to ensure project tasks are adequately completed) they have generally proven useful as sources of information and advice and as vectors of influence among their teams and the local stakeholders. (82) Experts can assist too in the preparation of technical projects instruments and the training and motivation of enumerators and/or other project participants. (83)

Despite such acknowledgements of the importance of social networks and the fact that interpersonal activities in back office administration consume between 50 to 70 percent of the administrator’s time, it is remarkable how little attention has been devoted to this subject in the consulting professional literature. Hopefully, this article on back office administration will spur greater interest in what is probably the most important work process in international development sector. (84)

The following engagement lessons learned—with particular emphasis on the special challenges of the administrator expert engagement—are drawn from a review of the administrative literature, journalistic dispatches, individual and group interviews with other consultants who have served in various parts of the world, and the author’s own experiences. (85)

Institutional and cultural sensitivity, “hearts and minds,” and shared interests. Because of the complexity of the operational environment in international development consulting projects, particularly when local participants in the project view with suspicion the involvement of “highly paid” external consultants, organizational challenges are inevitable. (86) Winning “hearts and minds” is what the administrator expert does which is necessary for project success. What is important is for administrator expert to nurture that spirit of shared interest in working together with local consultants to achieve common goals. (87)

Building relationships. In projects, as is with, in all organizations, persons are more trusted than institutions. Personal relationships are the basis of effective professional partnerships, and a sine qua non for effective organizational activities. These relationships, however, can only be established and maintained by engaging the project stakeholders. (88)

Relationships take time to build and need constant tending. “Face time” with project stakeholders is critical, even if nothing tangible comes of some meetings, since time together is an investment in a relationship whose benefits may not be immediately evident. In addition, such meetings might discourage slack in project. (89)

Credibility is priceless; once destroyed, it is very hard to reestablish. Accordingly, it is vital to make good on promises and to avoid making commitments that cannot be kept. Broken promises undermine efforts to establish rapport and build the relationships that are essential to success. (90) For these reasons, administrator experts should, to the extent possible, avoid practices that disrupt relationships with the local partners, such as showing off and pretending to be more knowledgeable than anyone else in the project.  (91)

Management Implications of Donor Rules of Engagement

While a detailed discussion of how each donor rules of engagement with external consultants are enforced in projects is beyond the scope of this article, it is important to recognize the management value of such organizational knowledge.

Another feature of donor rules that may be managerially significant concerns the relationship between patterns of work ethics and social relations among project participants. Work cultures vary in parts of the world. This is a widespread phenomenon in the developing world. (92) Research of work cultures in developing countries and in Africa has shown that most work cultures in the developing world have a laid back easy going work habit. The expert has to be patient but firm in promoting the right habits that should be nurtured. The point is proper work habits deepen democratic values and reinforce the benefits of responsible management of projects. (93)

Engagement as a management activity. Engagement planning at the lower tactical echelons—which are the echelons that interact most intensively with the civilian population (for example, the enumerators as in the case of a national survey)—is often ad hoc, highly informal, and done “on the fly” by the administrator expert with little if any formal staff input. Engagement, however, is too important to be done in such a manner, and should be approached like any other essential management activity. (94)

There should be a formal engagement planning process, with input from all relevant staff elements, to identify engagement targets, assess their motivations and interests, determine engagement goals, schedule meetings, and set agendas. Administrator experts should hold after-action reviews to evaluate the outcomes of meetings and plan for and prepare follow-on activities. (95)

Engagement planning would probably benefit from jotting down any activity undertaken in a day in a diary which helps the organization and oversee of activities. (96)

Understanding excellence in consulting. Consulting is a knowledge-based occupation; therefore, it is responsible for administrator experts to continue to acquire new skills and knowledge on how to meet the changing requirements of assignments or for career development purposes. The expert must continue to invest in relevant training to obtain and maintain the mix of skills and knowledge needed to achieve the highest level of performance in accomplishing projects objectives. Adequate investment in training to maintain and improve knowledge capital is a key strategic action by any energetic administrator expert. (97)

Being the expert is what empowers the consultant. Local stakeholders in a project have sometimes had unrealistic expectations concerning the expertise of consultants. Being a learning individual is a must. (98)

Avoiding the pitfalls of institutional politics. Working with stakeholders in a project poses special challenges. Local stakeholders are intensely status conscious and competitive, and rivalry and intrigue often characterize institutional politics. Thus, expert engagement often requires a careful balancing act among local coordinators, supervisors and other population groups in the project, to avoid creating or aggravating rivalries or conflicts. (99)

A specific pitfall associated with institutional politics is errors of ignorance. It is easy to err due to a lack of knowledge of work cultures in institutions. It is therefore essential to become intimately familiar with the history and politics of the institutions and the relationships that govern such institutions in order to avoid any missteps. (100)

The challenge is to strike a balance among participating stakeholders in a project. Expert engagement should be part of a broader effort to engage multiple sectors of stakeholders in a project in order to promote a spirit of comingling to work toward common goals. (101)

Conclusions

Interpersonal engagement is probably the most important administrator expert line of operation in back office administration in the international development sector. If experts achieve any degree of success in project implementation, it is in large part because they succeeded in engaging the stakeholders and leveraging stakeholder networks.

Interpersonal engagement, however, poses unique challenges deriving from the special demands of interacting with stakeholder communities whose norms, values, and forms of social organization diverge, in many ways, from those of donor agencies.

Finally, while interpersonal engagement lessons learned in back office administration by administrator experts in an international development project may apply anywhere; this should not be assumed to be the case. Every project is unique in its scope, its internal dynamics and politics, and its relations with the donors. Independent expert consulting is the driving force for participation. Research needs and organization emerge from all consultancy work to produce added value to international development sector projects. Back office administration is research project management suitable especially for those who don’t have that passionate interest in a specific area of science. With back office administration one has the benefits of being involved in scientific research without actually having to do it. The job market for administrator experts in international development projects looks very good. The UK Research Office in Brussels, ‘Development Executive Group’, ‘Microfinance Gateway’, ‘devnetjobs’,  ‘Association of International Consultants’,  Devjobs, ‘Eldis’, ‘Expat List’, ‘Idealist’, MSI Worldwide, ‘Peace Corps’, and ‘Relief Web’ advertise vacancies in just about every week they update their websites. These are time-limited appointments, but so are many research posts and almost all jobs in the international development sector. For an expert to stay employed between short-term consultancies, the expert should continue to make intense effort to email résumés to as many international development consulting firms as possible. With an ongoing, intense marketing effort there are good chances that an energetic expert stays employed.

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INTRODUCTION

Rural development has always been an important issue in all discussions pertaining to economic development, especially of developing countries, throughout the world. In the developing countries and some formerly communist societies, rural mass comprise a substantial majority of the population. Over 3.5 billion people live in the Asia and Pacific region and some 63% of them in rural areas. Although millions of rural people have escaped poverty as a result of rural development in many Asian countries, a large majority of rural people continue to suffer from persistent poverty. The socio-economic disparities between rural and urban areas are widening and creating tremendous pressure on the social and economic fabric of many developing Asian economies. These factors, among many others, tend to highlight the importance of rural development. The policy makers in most developing economies recognize this importance and have been implementing a host of programs and measures to achieve rural development objectives. While some of these countries have achieved impressive results, others have failed to make a significant dent in the problem of persistent rural underdevelopment.

LITERATURE ON INDIAN RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Therefore, any development plan bringing not the betterment or uplift of rural sector in the developing countries would lose its significance. On account of this fact, an attempt went on being made throughout the world to generate the literature on rural development. Thereby, the literature on rural development has become so wide that to decide from where the deliberation should be started, is a difficult task. As regards to the literature pertaining to Indian rural development, we can see three separately different themes therein.

(1) The literature coming under the first theme is the literature comprised of the conceptual part and importance of rural development in the national economic development. The greatest part of this literature was generated by European economists or the Indian economists educated in Europe.

(2) The literature under the second theme presents a detail of programmes and projects related to the main issues pertaining to rural development which are:

(i) Literacy and Education: – The simple literacy (basic reading, writing and numeracy) and the functional literacy had been presented as panaceas in the 1950s and the 1970s, respectively, with a view that if everybody learned how to read and write or learned this would enhance development. The literacy, also including functional computer literacy, is still being presented as panacea by the governments of developing countries, UNESCO, World Bank, IMF and numerous aid organizations, with a view that this will solve development problems. On the other hand, education plays an important role in the progress of an individual’s mind and country. Ignorance and poverty, the two major speed-breakers in the swift developing country, can be overcome easily through education. (ii) Construction of Link-Roads: – Though unknown, a potentially important share of the benefits to the poor from rural roads cannot be measured in monetary terms. This is extremely important if the benefits of development have to move beyond the limited confines of cities to the vast hinterland so that the millions of toiling farmers can also become partners in progress. Urban-rural road links play a vital role for carrying urban prosperity into the heartland of a developing economy. (iii) Self-Employment Generation: – Employment generation, especially the self employment generation in rural sector attach great importance to poverty alleviation and mitigation specifically of the wide variations across States and the rural-urban division. A set of prudentially selected programmes of self employment in rural sector plays as the panacea to remove multi-dimensional nature of poverty through helping a lot the anti-poverty strategy’s three broad components – promotion of economic growth, promotion of human development and targeted programmes of poverty alleviation. (iv) Health Awareness: – The goal of health awareness programme of rural development is to create awareness, a stirring of both heart and mind, about health care conditions, challenges, and solutions among the rural people. (v) Giving awareness of opportunities availability for them:- Awareness of opportunities availability in rural sector means to provide relevant and usable information to the rural youth regarding (both the skilled and the unskilled) labour markets and access to relevant training to help them make decisions about the labour market options available to them. (vi) Family Planning: – Population growth is though a global problem but in heavily populated developing countries the problem is rather acute. An effective family planning programme is necessary there so as to curb high population growth that erodes the increase in employment opportunities and per capita income begot on account of the therein launched development programmes. (vii) Land Reforms: – Land reform means deliberate change in the way agricultural land is held or owned, the methods of its cultivation, or the relation of agriculture to the rest of the economy. The most common objective of land reform is to abolish feudal or colonial forms of landownership, often by taking land away from large landowners and redistributing it to landless peasants. (viii) Extension of rural or agricultural credit: – An Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) needs to identify the poor, give them credit and subsidy to purchase a productive asset to raise their earnings, recover loans, and recycle loans progressively to help poor villagers. There is a need to popularise banking facilities and make villagers account-holders. New type of accounts to suit their requirements should be considered. Moreover, the main problem in rural credit is not mere credit but the way in which it is spent. Therefore, the agencies providing rural credit should aim to promote sustainable and equitable prosperity of the villagers through effective credit support, related services, institution development and other innovative initiatives. (ix) Extension of canal irrigation: – Irrigation is an essential component of progressive agriculture. In fact, development of irrigation has become synonymous with agricultural development and rural prosperity. Canal irrigation system is much more challenging than the groundwater irrigation systems. It is the dominant water transfer technique in developing countries and is performing well in many parts of the world. (x) Rural Electrification: – Rural electrification means to facilitate availability of electricity for accelerated growth and for enrichment of quality of life of rural population. It is argued that rural electrification is essential in the longer term perspective of rural development since electricity is considered as a prerequisite for economic development and improvement of overall standard of living of the rural inhabitants. Electricity is also considered as a potent force capable of elevating and providing the much needed dynamism into the rural economy.

 In this literature some programmes and projects pertaining to the national economic development (such as extension of mobile telephone service, extension of highway network, heavy industrialization etc.) also have been referred to as rural development programmes.

(3) The literature under the third theme is most critical. This literature comprises of the deliberations of the writers perhaps over enthusiastic to get them-selves enlisted in the line of economists. They have written to prove even some phenomena like the rural-urban migration and the emergence of small and rare urban patches in the form of campus of one or more heavy industries, to be the signs of rural development. I think, rural-urban migration gains impetus when there becomes acute shortage of employment opportunities in rural sector. Similarly, the above mentioned urban patches too have relation not with the process of rural development but with the rural-urban transformation. Some writers put one more step further by using the terms rural development and urbanization as synonymous. I don’t understand why they differentiate not between the rural and the urban economies. The basic difference between the rural and the urban economies is that of their dependence and not of the amenities or facilities of life available for the people living there. A rural economy substantially depends on land and agriculture. On the other hand, an urban economy substantially depends on any one or a combination of industry, trade and commerce. If we want to develop a rural economy we should develop land and agriculture. The land and agriculture development would increase income of the rural people whereby they would tend to raise their living standard by letting urban amenities, facilities and traditions enter in their life. Whatever the high level of living standard is achieved there on the basis of increased income generated on account of land and agriculture development, the economy remains rural, all the same. It becomes developed but is not converted into an urban economy. The rural villages in United States of America look far better than Indian cities but those are still the part of U.S. rural sector because the economy of those villages is still land and agriculture based. This course of strengthening a rural economy is “Rural Development’. If the urban way of living is made available to the rural mass without raising their income through land and agriculture, their consumption, traditions and living become urban. This is urbanization and not rural development. Urbanization is enjoyed by rural people till it is free of cost for them. As soon as it starts costing to them, either they revert to their pre-urbanization living standard or, if they have become habitual, they indulge in illegal activities to earn more income to maintain the enjoyed living standard. That is why the urban youths in India are day by day advancing towards crime. Therefore, urbanization can pay nothing positive to rural mass in real sense. Nor, urbanization means rural development. Each of the rural development, the rural extension, the urbanization, the urban development, the urban extension and the rural urban transformation has its separate meaning.

 

Therefore, this third theme of the rural development literature is totally unacceptable. But, all the same, this theme seems to have crept into and exerted its pressing effect in India’s development plan formulation. This becomes amply clear if we reflect on net result of India’s long journey, worth more than 55 yrs, on the path of planned economic development.

PREINDEPENDENCE RURAL INDIA         

 Before independence the picture of India could have been seen in the wrinkled faces, flushed cheeks, concavo bellies, folded hands in praying posture and wet eyes of its rural mass residing in the wide spread rural sector and constituting more than 70 % of India’s total population. The real India resided in their privation, poverty, starvation, helplessness, wretchedness and mass unemployment. Some sentimental citizens, having realized this situation of their nation, stepped on the way of freedom movement since the foreign rule was taken as the sole causal factor of that pitiable state of India. The movement went on advancing and masses went on being involved in it. Ultimately in 1947 India became independent whereby we became free to decide our future.

PERFORMANCE OF INDIA”S PLANNED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

We started our planned economic development since 1951 having in our hands the experience, a wide literature of well proved strategies and variegated plans pertaining to, used by and created or formulated by the well developed western economies, apart from our available natural resources. We were over enthusiastic and over ambitious on account of having the ready and well proved weapons sought from the western world for combating the problem of development. Therefore, instead of starting from the very beginning and covering the whole path we, being enticed and allured by the surprisingly fascinating fruits of industrialization, started our efforts but having longed for being developed and grabbing fruits thereof in a haste. Thus we lost sequences in our development path. We ignored agriculture that was the spine of our economy. Thereby our agricultural development lagged far behind the level required for feeding our industrialization up to the mark. Agriculture based small and cottage industries became shattered and the villages became ruined. This raised a huge bulk of unemployed people in the widely spread rural sector. The unemployed persons started migrating to the urban areas in search of job. The urban development and industrialization there had not sufficient level to absorb the whole migrating mass and to provide them proper urban life facilities. As a result thereof a mushroom growth of slums came about fast which eventually turned into big slum spots in cities and towns within a no longer period of 20 or 25 years. This hampered urban growth and urban life. On the other hand, in rural areas there emerged acute shortage of energetic workforce, service centres, infrastructure, intellectuals etc. This hampered the rural development whereby agricultural development and rural life remained slang lower. That is why, even having travelled a long path of planned economic development, the state of affairs of rural India still remains almost the same as it was before planning. There is a big gulf between urban and rural people regarding wealth, wage, education and income. Moreover, the rural-urban migration, due to the pitiable state of affairs in rural areas, resulted to unchecked urban growth. Thus, instead of overall development, an unbalanced and unfair development of our economy became resulted therein. Consequently a wide spread general unemployment prevailed in both the rural and the urban areas (as per ECONOMIC APPRAISAL 2006-07, the estimated number of unemployed persons rose from 7.98 million in 1983 to 9.02 million in 1993-94, to 10.51 million in 1999-2000 and to 13.10 million in 2004-05. In addition to this a considerable number of politically, socially and economically sound and effective elites emerged in cities and urban towns. These elites interfered in the formulation and execution of development plans, on one hand, and in the fixation of priorities, on the other. Thereby our development plans became urban oriented and concentrating on rich minority. Thus the poor majority and the rural economy became ignored. The unemployment situation in both the rural and the urban sectors became almost uncontrollable. The government became politically weak. Therefore its priority became to please the rich minority so that it may run. To mitigate unemployment and poverty among the general mass it has to play pseudo role to remedy some times the rural and some times the urban mass alternately through various unsuccessful employment programmes and plans. Due to the general unemployment the condition of rural mass became more embarrassing than that of urban mass since the rural people had already been subsisting in privation. The fruits of the development programmes in rural sector were grabbed by the social elites in villages. Therefore, the general rural mass, instead of observing their economic uplift, rather found them-selves lagging behind in the run of economic development. The village industries had to be liquidated; rural artisans or handicraftsmen either became unemployed or had to migrate to urban cities or towns; the socio-cultural, cheap and some times free entertainment sources (like village dramas, swangs, street magicians, community chorus, community games, rural fairs, community festivals etc.) were snatched by costly media based means. Modern road and rail transport replaced the traditional transport. Rural weekly markets and village shopkeepers came to their end in the want of adequate demand. This resulted to a rapid increase in the cost of living of the rural people but their income remained far behind.

CAUSES OF THE REGRESSIVE EFFECTS ON THE RURAL LIFE

There have been three causes of this stinging situation. The first was our galloping along the development path instead of travelling along the true locus by creeping walking and running as and when needed. The second cause refers to the distortion in the concept of rural development which made the formulation of development plans and strategies incompatible to rural economy. The third cause was the rapid population growth which added a lot to make the unemployment situation a mammoth. The first cause relates to our over enthusiasm and the second cause relates to the hereinabove discussed third theme of rural development literature. The third cause relates to the increasing difference of birth rate over death rate and the insignificant performance of ‘Family Planning Programme’. On account of extended medical facilities, uplift of living standard due to increased national income, control over epidemics, check on famines, alleviation of starvation, extension of maternity services etc. during the development process in the plan period, the death rate considerably went down (from 27.4 per thousand per year during 1941-50 to 7.6 per thousand per year in 2005) but the birth rate remained slang high (it was 39.9 per thousand per year during 1941-50 and came down only to 23.8 per thousand per year in 2005). Therefore population growth attained an increasingly high rate that was however tried unsuccessfully to be lowered through the ‘Family Planning Programme’.

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR CHILD BIRTH

If we go in full detail of why a child is born, we will come across the various factors making a child take birth. The factors making a child take birth can be grouped under four heads namely (i)Biological Factor, (ii)Socio-cultural Factors, (iii)Religious Factors and (iv)Economic Factors.

BIOLOGICAL FACTOR

The biological factor refers to the child bearing as a byproduct of sexual gratification. This is one of the most effective factors determining birth rate of the population. A person in the state of aggravated sexual agitation can forgo all social, cultural, religious (spiritual) and economic gains for sexual gratification.

SOCIO-CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS FACTORS

The socio-cultural and the religious factors refer to the social customs, cultural traditions and religious faiths which play dominant role in the life of people especially in poor and backward communities. The social factors induce a person to have more sons as the sons are believed to be the reliable means of social security and social status for a family. Moreover, they are deemed to care their old, physically wasted and worn-out parents, on one hand, and to provide safety to the family in case of conflicts and death of supportive member/s of the family.  The religious factors refer mainly to four beliefs. One states that peace is rendered to the soul after death only if the cremation is performed by a real son. The second speaks of higher spiritual gain or place in Elysium of heaven after death for a person having more sons. The third relates the production of more children to religious service and the fourth specifies child bearing as the pious duty of a woman because she is believed to be sent by God only for increasing progeny.

ECONOMIC FACTORS

Apart from the socio-cultural and the religious factors, the economic factors are very much effective like the biological factor. A person in acute economic privation leaves even deeply instilled socio-cultural, religious and some times biological allurements too for economic gains. The need of economic support in old age and the poverty are two main economic factors making people tend to produce more children. In old age, when a person becomes generally sick, pulled, worn-out, and non-earning, he becomes dependant to his heirs for food, clothing, medical treatment and other expenses. More the sons or heirs he has, lesser will be the share of burden of supporting him. As regards to poverty, it generates three causes of inducement to the high rate of child-birth.

(a) The prevailing media based fascinating means of entertainment are not only out of the reach of poor man but these have also snatches the old socio-cultural, cheap and some times free entertainment sources from him. Therefore a poverty stricken person has to search the way of entertainment in sex and that too being circumstantially unprotected whereby childbirth goes on taking place one after one successively.

(b) In poor families a child becomes earning hand at the age of seven or eight yrs. On account of the subsistence level of family’s living, the expenditure on child’s feeding is considerably lower than the wage he earns. Therefore, the surplus of his earning over his consumption adds to family income and thus contributes to the uplift of family’s standard of living. The sentiments and feelings regarding education or future welfare of the child droop before the agony of unsatisfied basic needs due to privation. Therefore, a child in a poor family is proved an asset rather than liability, in its stead.

(c) There are some types of family occupations where a number of faithful workmen are required. The required manpower from own family is most desirable there. If a person is owner of a series of units of small scale industries, cottage industries, small business units etc. the hired managing persons generally prove costlier, unfaithful and non-devoted. If a family member is deployed at each such unit the safety and profitability is increased. Similar is the position in a single cottage industry unit where margin of profit is low and hired labour makes the profit uncertain. If family manpower instead of hired one is used the profitability there becomes increased on account of devotedness, faithfulness and per need flexibility in working hours of the working force. Moreover, wage rate of a family labour is generally lower than that of a hired labour because the cost of living of one member of the family is lower than that of the whole family of hired man. Therefore the requirement of man power is tried to meet out by producing more children in the family.

PERFORMANCE OF FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMME

As regards to the check on high population growth the prevailing ‘Family Planning Programme’ has been proved insufficient and incomplete. Census figures reveal that the ‘Family Planning Programme’ in India has fallen short of the goals with which it was implemented. India’s family planning program was initiated in 1952 to curb population growth and in due course was given highest priority along with other developmental programs. All the same, India’s population that was below half billion in 1960 crossed the figure of one billion in 2000. It is well proved that the programme failed to instill among the general mass the spirit of ‘children by choice and not by chance’. Introduction of target free approach in 1996-97, reduced thrust on family planning, poor access to family planning services and inadequate attention on need based methods of sterilization have been the causal factors of the inadequacy and insufficiency of family planning programme in controlling population growth especially in rural areas where it should have been proved but successful.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

The whole length of the above discussion makes amply clear that incompatibility of the development process and inadequacy of family planning programme are the two factors responsible for slackness in rural development in India. Therefore, to accelerate rural development the   development process should be made compatible by rectifying the conceptual mistake in the development move and the high population growth should be checked by making the family planning programme strong and effective. As far as the question of rectification of mistake in development move is concerned, the time of making the mistake good by starting afresh has gone far back. Therefore, we should better take a drastic turn to re-fix our priorities, reformulate our strategies, re-select our programmes and reconstruct our plans so as to make our development move rural oriented, congenial to micro-level needs of the people, akin to the over all development and compatible to the extenuation of economic disparities. This will bring about fast agricultural development, uplift of village life and revival of village industries, artistry and handicraft to check the rural-urban migration. On the other hand, the ‘Family Planning Programme’ should be made strong and effective by reformulating it in a way that all the factors making a child take birth are extenuated as suggested below.

(1)To check unintended child-birth on account of purely the biological factor the contraceptives should be made so affluently available that in every case of coitus for mere gratification the use of a suitable contraceptive is made sure.

(2)The socio-cultural and the religious factors should be weakened by old age house facility, old age pension, dependent minors allowance scheme, unemployment allowance, community insurance, extension of education, literacy and poverty alleviation programmes etc.

(3)The population growth on account of economic factors should be checked by so designing the media based means of entertainment that these become under the easy reach of poor people, making the family occupations joint ventures, launching subsidy schemes and market protection schemes for rural cottage or small scale industries and accelerating agricultural development.

It is finally concluded that for achieving rural development the development plans and the family planning programme both should be reformed on the hereinabove suggested lines so that extra employment opportunities may be generated fast and population growth may be checked in a way that growth of employment opportunities considerably exceeds the population growth in rural sector.

 

 

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admin Uncategorized Development, Extention, Extenuation, Growth, Land, Transformation, Urbanization

One of the questions can be, what can you do to get this ship to rise. Invariably, we might seem to be stuck at a level that is seemingly lower that we had hoped for in our aspirations. This could be symbolized as say having a job that plateaus at 20 dollars an hour when some relatives or our friends might be making ten times that. One of the miscues of looking at relationships such as comparative salaries is that we think other people are ten times better if they make 10 times the amount while the gap might not be so large between who the two people involved are. We need to look again and see what the real differences are if we are going to compare based on numbers and situations. The reason why an invalid comparison is unhealthy is that we don’t get a proper picture of the high end of what we can do if we find ourselves on the low end of the comparisons we are doing and also that these types of comparisons tend to be wrong in relation to the truer picture. For example, if we refer to numbers, the person who is making 500,000 a year had a 97 average in school. I myself might have had a 90 average, not to great a gap in that venue. But I only make 50,000 a year so now this other person seems ten times better by that measure when it fact you are both walking on similar ground in many ways. But I put myself off this ground by reverting to the numbers in my thinking and I stay away from territory that is indeed potentially appropriate. I fence myself out, because I don’t match up on the comparisons. In my mind, I’m a small person in the land of the giants. So I don’t subject to developments that I could subject myself to. Further development could relate to changes in interests. People tend to balk at change but even long term interests such as a favorite hobby is something that people could start to have a fading or changing interest in. My interest could wane on anything I have been involved with. Something else grabs their interest as time goes on. Or somebody masters a subject and it might begin to have some thinness to the subject in that they have already mastered it.

But once you I decide you want to develop something, consider what speaks to your propeller. What is going to add to this pursuit and work in well with this endeavor?

Or I might want to venture out. If I venture out, I often can still go back to what we have been doing well for a long time. If I do well in college courses and I am not presently going to college, I am traveling the world for example, I would probably be able to go back to college and still do well in various courses. But for now I will venture out.

Even within what we are doing we can venture out. Wilt Chamberlain let the NBA in scoring a number of times including a year when he averaged 50 points a game. One year he said he would venture out and lead the league in assists. He didn’t win the scoring title that year but he did lead the league in assists and was able to change his game for that year.

What happens is that a given individual finds themselves at the ground floor in relation to a given pursuit or issue. They might be getting divorced, fired from a job, or find they are at a dead end. But even if I get to the ground floor for a given situation, the rest of my abilities and talent doesn’t leave me. If I get fired from a job, am I only left with 90 percent of the intelligence I had. A talented girl who finds herself at the ground floor with a significant relationship ending is still talented.

Or I fathom myself a genius, if I get within those 4 walls of that company I’ll prove it. If you’re really a genius, that will follow with you wherever you go. Look at the politician, she wants to keep loose and quick on her feet in many situations and various forums and locations. Thoreau did his best work by Walden Pond .

Each situation is different. You might have some general baggage but a truly blank page to this particular situation.

There might be a joint development going on and this could be the situation if you are working for a company or involved in any sort of personal or business relationship. Even if there are stable qualities with each of the individuals involved, these qualities are not static but like running wells. It is like two giant waterfalls filling one pool of water. If there is a problem with the flow of water on either fall, it will affect the pool in some fashion in terms of development. If polluted water is coming from just one of the falls, the pool itself will be getting some pollution even if the waters from the other falls were crystal clear.

You sometimes get tickets, which state the holder of this is entitled to such and such. . Think of what you are the holder of. Who is entitled here if not you as the holder?

You get to keep what you started with. The good looking girl on the date gets to keep her good looks no matter how the date goes.

The intelligence I have travels with me. If I go to Mexico my intelligence is going with me. All the talents and qualities stay with you and travel with you wherever you go. The articulate person is articulate in China or Russia or wherever they go. They might encounter a language barrier but that trait of being articulate remains.

Take for example the person who can paint a masterpiece but doesn’t develop this. They might not know that they can do this, or they might know and choose not to paint. This could be for many reasons, but maybe they think if they paint this picture they might lose their artistic ability after painting the one masterpiece. But actually they get to keep their abilities. You can go forward in some respects with these abilities or go back another way but ability is going to stay. You can develop or not develop it. As you develop you don’t need to find your way back because what you have is staying with you no matter which way you go.

At the same time we can work backwards. Oral Herschiser the former picture with the Mets, Dodgers and other major league teams says that he would experiment with pitches and grips, see what results he got with the different pitches and try to remember back to the form of that pitch. He went from the results of the pitch back to form of the pitch.

But it could be any measure that we try to use. Just because you got caught in the undertow of an economic downturn for example doesn’t put you lower on the totem pole. You still have a sound basis for your spot on the totem pole. Those bad decisions and there resultant fallout doesn’t have to be a freefall. If fact much of your base remains if not all of it. A setback doesn’t put me at the end of the totem pole. It doesn’t have to put you out of the running and you can still navigate the coastline cause you still have what it takes. Your visions of the coast remain intact.

What you have landed in may not be representative of you. You may have a problem and you have to land somewhere with it. Or you might be in a situation where you have landed on the side of boredom. You just landed on the wrong side of the moon. It doesn’t necessarily follow that you are boring yourself.

Don’t just look for a successful landing on the moon. As exciting and adventurous as that can be, look for some close-by successes. You could argue the best planetary scenery in the solar system is found on the earth anyway. It’s nice to have those distant successes but there might be something right close-by that you could be equally successful at.

To rise we need to get to that better point, we need to look at what we can develop. We don’t have the benefit of the retrospective view, which shows in hindsight we were able to do and how we did it. But the point of development could also be from a low point. I can rise from the ashes because I have the ability to do this.

The developmental aspects of things tell us a lot. There are going to be snags in any endeavor but if it’s core things relating to the ultimate ride itself that we aren’t developing well then we can seek remedies and adjustments in getting some early feedback in that process of development. We could also look for multiple sources of feedback as we go along. For example, if you work in a office, don’t just go by the feedback from your boss but also from the customers you deal with. Include your own thoughts and feelings in the feedback.

Then I say, now that I see this. An example could be I am taking some courses and I take an extra course. I see that I enjoy the course and I’m doing well. Now that I see this, I could consider this as a minor in my course of studies. Or, I am taking an extra course and I feel like I am serving a jail sentence while taking this course. Now that I see this, I might not take this line of studies any further. Or I’m painting a picture and now I see a masterpiece forming before my eyes. I consider maybe I should paint more often. I could subject almost anything to the now that I see this test. I can You can consider the role you want to play in terms of size and duration.. For example, if you want a part in a movie, you could have a big role that lasts only half the movie, a small role at the beginning middle end or interspersed throughout the movie, or a big role throughout the whole movie. A big role for half the movie is still a big role.

Consider the power of language. Words like failure have a finality to them that may not fit the situation. For example, they right that Thomas Edison failed in thousands of experiments. But was it really failure, being that he was just testing and did the work. It would have been a failure if he didn’t perform any experiments at all or didn’t do the work on the many experiments he needed to do those finally yielding results. Even the positive correlates such as success may be also to final and may not properly describe the more enduring nature of a situation. I can have a successful at bat in a baseball game but that doesn’t mean my game is going to be a success.

The language itself creates a distortion in that it is too general.

For example, I tell the manager I just struck out. But what does that describe. I could have hit 3 foul balls just foul out of the ballpark all of the hits traveled more than 400 hundred feet. Or I could have struck out on 3 pitches swinging or I could have hung in there well and have hit 10 foul balls tiring the pitcher. The word struck out doesn’t fully describe what happened. A paragraph or two would more fully describe the situation.

Sportswriters have said the hardest thing to do is hit a baseball. The best hitters might fail 7 out of 10 times. But suppose a hitter hits 10 straight good hits, of which 7 are caught. Did he fail 7 times?

Analyze whether there are intrinsic or just secondary rewards. An example is a book you’re reading that you enjoy while you are reading it has intrinsic rewards while if you just enjoy the idea of completing the book it would be a more secondary reward.

We can attempt a play at the lottery, subject to pure luck of which ours might be good. Developing something might have elements of luck involved for sure, but it wouldn’t be pure luck. I applied some brainpower even to buy the lottery ticket and pick some numbers. There is a developmental process that requires some appropriate input and focus, not just random luck. We can monitor our progression and see what is involved in any good progressions Depending how the reading of this development seems to be going, you would say this is developing well or not. At the same time, you may have developed something as far as you want to develop it. Further development may not seem to bring added value to the equation. I don’t want to travel further down the coast on this, maybe because I like the spot I have on the coastline now. Or maybe you haven’t hit the right corner of what you’re trying to do or you haven’t anticipated that there is such a corner so you give up. .

What is the core within this purview? What is at the periphery of what you are trying to do? For example, you are trying to learn Microsoft Windows, or the stock market, or any subject. What approach can give you a core look at this towards a good grasp and understanding to this?

Why do you put one thing in front of another, or one idea or pursuit in front of another idea or pursuit? Could your pursuits be put on a side-by-side basis? Or could you reverse order and put the last thing first in the order of your pursuit.

An idea as a stand-alone idea may not get us anywhere. I have this idea, but unless I sprinkle this lawn with some water, it will not grow. What are the angles that I can come up with, where I can actually begin to get some implementation? Can I approach this runway for a take off?

First we want to check if we have the wheels and the tires are inflated. I’m not moving otherwise. If I’m 6’6 and I can’t hit a jumper, I don’t have the wheels to make it into the NBA. My jump shot doesn’t get me there. Why try and develop in that direction where I just don’t have the endowment

Ideally, the development will involve some actual immersion into the area I wish to develop. If I want to develop my computer skills, I can do this by actually beginning to immerse myself into it. I get on the horse at a walking pace to start with. I cross that bridge into a small pocket of what I want to do, and if there are signs that it’s developing well, I can expand further as I receive those positive signs.

A little actual practice in what we are trying to develop can be helpful. We don’t want to stay just in the theory mode. We can then cross-reference back and forth between the theory’s, which might be for example the how to books and how we are actually doing. This way we can better solidify the actual changes we are trying to implement or achieve.

Practice can be one way we can bring what we are trying to develop into another context, which can help us get another view on the situation.

When we look at development, we can take small segments and maybe expand on it. Ben Crenshaw the golfer says that its is better to develop changes the golf swing within its minutia and by making very small changes and that getting away from themselves with a radical adjustment in the golf swing is the biggest mistake golfers make in trying to develop their games. I had previously found a comfort level I had enjoyed this lecture, this book, and this movie. Maybe I like this genre and have a good capacity to appreciate its nuances. I have found a genus where I can operate toward further development. Sometimes we vote with our feet as the saying goes. I was at a recent movie where a group of friends walked out, they voted with their feet. What and where are they walking towards as well as walking away from and when is the showdown?

At the same time, the things we choose to do is like voting.. In a sense we are in our own run for office. We go to the polls on whatever we do.

And of course there is a partial blindness of sight to all we do, with those views that are there being in some measure hidden. With that comes the constant element of surprise.

If we knew the ending of the movie, how could it be a surprise that we can enjoy. You don’t tell people the end of the movie if you’re trying to encourage them to see the movie.

Development involves the element of surprise as well. As I delve further, surprisingly, I am interested in this. I do like this I do find I can grasp this to my own surprise.

Or course this can work both ways. I might find surprisingly that I don’t want this it isn’t developing in a way that I would prefer.

How often do we wish we could send ourselves off as an envoy in several directions? I could stay home and accomplish this while I also send myself out to golf, or send another version of myself off to see the play, go to the beach, or go out to meet with people. But we in reality can be only in one place at one time. All the more reason to consider why I am doing something I don’t want to do and isn’t going to be right up my alley.

There are so many things that we might not have even begun to look at.

One reason is that we involve ourselves in an informal hierarchy of what we think is important. As we test the waters, what are we testing for? What is important to us? The basic premise we have been following may be off kilter. We may be chasing the tail of someone else’s vision. What do you see as being important both at the surface and the depths? It’s your world, do what you want, but make sure it is what you want. An imaginary exercise it to close your eyes and make believe when you wake up or open your eyes you will have everything you want.. What would that include? Tempted? Visualize or picture someone else getting what they want, how do you relate to this those detached images.

As we try to grapple with the apple and grab some ideas we tend to rubberstamp what we already know, already believe to be true. I just reselect from the same basket of ideas I already have. I lop on the same beliefs to differing situations getting a lopsided view. Check out a movie, and see how easily you believe the characters that are being acted. We can be duped in the same way by our own beliefs. In the case of the movie we want to be entertained and we want to believe the character is not just acting the role. What else do we want to believe as opposed to what we can believe?

What I can do has value to me. What I want to do has value to me. What is the relationship between what I can do and what I want to do and how is it changing as I develop? What you want to do and what you can do can support each other. What you can do could support what you want to do and what you want to do could support what you can do.

Instead of saying I can do this. Make believe you’re the coach. Say, you can do this. You always wanted this. Don’t always just look to impress others, impress yourself.

What is running in opposition to what you are trying to do or develop? Say I want to go on a leisurely hike through the mountain ranges today. There is a torrential blizzard. That is running in opposition to what I am trying to develop for the day but I have limited control over this. Then I might be training for a marathon in the evenings and when I get back from the training run I am eating mounds of cake. This is something that is running in opposition to the marathon goal that is more in my control. Then I am trying to socialize more but I feel isolated. The isolation I feel is not running in opposition to my idea that I want to socialize more in fact it supports my opinion that I could be more social.

Then I say, now that I see this. An example could be I am taking some courses and I take an extra course. I see that I enjoy the course and I’m doing well. Now that I see this, I could consider this as a minor in my course of studies. Or, I am taking an extra course and I feel like I am serving a jail sentence while taking this course. Now that I see this, I might not take this line of studies any further. I could subject almost anything to the now that I see this test. I can make turns and adjust plans based on now that I see this.

I can get to it later I say. What is it we are going to get to? We can’t see the whole picture before it forms, so that is why we sometimes can’t tell that this might have been important to us to the extent that we would stop and change course. How does the masterpiece have value to you when you can’t see it? With our preset agenda we might miss some great stops. I can’t stop I say, I’m on my way. You can get back on the trend line after your stop.

We can’t envision where this will lead us in total. I don’t have a seeing eye into the future.

Which is one reason we shouldn’t discount all those potentialities and probabilities.

There can be some sort of execution involved in the development phase.

Do I need to read a hundred books on swimming before I put that first toe in the water? Development at times can have the first hand experience in its aspects and the more hands on approach. Or should you expect to develop something from a distance. I’ll work on my swimming skills in the Sahara .

It helps to put your hands on the wheel at some point if you want to develop your driving skills.

Then we speak of the inclusive circle. The circling around includes this success and the circle extends into failure as well. But do we borrow from the failure, borrowing from the future by taking undue risks now by say engaging in something that has a real chance of compromising our future and limiting good options and outcomes down the road.

We might be borrowing from the days ahead when we might be free. An example would be taking steroid to be stronger now, only to catch us with side effects later.

Some of the Olympic contestants were given a theoretical questionnaire that if they would give up 5 years of their lives for the gold medal would they do it. Some responded in the affirmative. This in theory would be an artificial development with real costs. It is not an authentic development. Obviously this is not a real scenario but it could happen in an indirect fashion if someone took performance-enhancing drugs, which had an adverse affect on one’s lifespan.

If you could sell say 10 percent of your intelligence for 50 million dollars would you do it? I had a dollars worth of intelligence in my and I dealt away ten cents of it All I have left is pocket change. At least before I had bills. Obviously this can’t be done but I’m sure if it could some people would make that deal. But then what if they wanted to get that 10 percent intelligence back? Even if they weren’t using it, they still retained the capacity. Sometimes we don’t value something as much until it is gone and then we want it back. It’s like the Yankees who traded away top prospects and now they want them back.

If you don’t get the chance to do things because you are rushed don’t try and borrow time from the future. Don’t drive 150 miles an hour to get there faster. Look at JKF Jr. whose tragic mistake in the air may have been made by rushing and not waiting for better conditions from the next day.

You don’t want to develop yourself against the giants. Don’t try to develop my public speaking skills against speeches of JFK when he was President. I don’t try to develop my golf game against Tiger Woods. I don’t try and develop my running ability against Carl Lewis.

I can be inspired by the giants and perhaps look at and try to emulate some of their characteristics. But let’s not rate our own developments against them. I can try to emulate characteristics of the Tiger Woods swing, but don’t expect a Tiger Woods performance on the golf course.

You never know where your will register but don’t be unrealistic and try to do something that is going to be too hard right away. You will register on the Richter scale but you can’t be sure where. Don’t always go for those seismic changes in development.

You want to keep your engines burning while you wait for change. If the change doesn’t go according to plan, at least your still have your own ways. Don’t be totally reliant on the hoped for change.

What is going to effect change for you? You may have to get to the outside of the field or issue. .

In football there are two major plays, down and in and down and out. The receiver goes downfield and cuts to the inside of the field for the pass. Or he goes downfield and cuts to the outside of the field for the pass. First we want to be going downfield but the inside of the field might not be open. So sometimes we need to get to a place that is less crowded so we can have room to maneuver. The touchdown is what we want as the final result. The touchdown can be representative of the ultimate. But there needs to be movement before getting the touchdown, or are we just going to kickoff or punt and try again another time.

Take advantage of the advantages. Take in the sunshine. Take in the good. The expression can I take this usually applies to rough sailing. Apply that expression against the good and see what you’re saying to yourself.

If a girl comes up to you and says she wants to talk to you because she likes your hair, take it. You would prefer a more substantial reason but take it as is, maybe it will lead to a full-bloomed relationship.

When Ted Williams played baseball, the opposing team would put on a shift where they would put everybody to the right side of the field. Williams could get a hit almost every time by just hitting it to the opposite field. But he choose to hit into the shift, he didn’t take what they were giving him. For him there were no cheap singles allowed. But he was one of the Giants and still hit over .400 one season, the last player in the majors to do this.

But what happens is we don’t take what is being offered to us because we think we are Giants ourselves, and we instead of taking what the situation is giving us we want more because we are up there with the greats. We don’t take the good stuff because we think we are hitting with the Giants. After all, Giants don’t need to take what you give them. Ted Williams was so good he was able to get away with it. But how many of us are that good, even if we think we are.

At the same time, we don’t want to limit ourselves. But there is the paradox of limitation. If I expect Tiger Woods golf scores, JFK speeches from myself, I might not get to the golf course and I might not get to the podium to give a speech. I am limiting myself on the high end. The limitations are still imposed but from another direction.

Diana Ross had a recent concert scheduled at Jones beach in the summer of 2001. My sister brought a ticket for 90 dollars, and arrived at the concert that night only to find out it was cancelled because there weren’t enough tickets sold. There was an article in the paper the next day that people felt that she was charging too much for the ticket being that she was no longer with the Supremes. Most of the tickets for the summer concert series were priced in the 50 dollars or less range. If Diana Ross had priced her tickets just in the high range with averaging about 50 dollars a ticket, rather than the stratosphere of ticket prices, she probably would have filled the stadium, and everybody would have been happy. But she saw herself as a giant, who she had been as a mega star over the years, but the market had changed and she should have taken what she could get for the tickets to fill the arenas on her summer tour. She should have checked to see if she was still a giant or just in the range of a popular performer who was once a giant. The latter was true and she should have taken what the market was giving her. She was still in a good market for her performances, but she fathomed a great market.

You could get stuck trying to emulate the windup of the great pitchers such Tom Seaver, and never actually throwing the pitch yourself. Even if your delivery is faulty at least you gave it a shot.

Of course the giants can be inspirational. But don’t try to evolve your golf game against Tiger Woods unless you are much further along in the developmental process and for example your now able to shoot a round of 70 for 18 holes. But then maybe you could putt with the Tiger.

I’m playing a basketball game and I want to dunk. The defense backs up and gives me a 10-footer, I know I’m not the Shaq so I take it and make it. And after all, it still takes some talent to hit the ten footer even though it isn’t the same as the resounding dunk.

And do consider what is in front of you now in terms of possible development. What is in front of you now certainly has more certainty that what you think will be in front of you ten years from now.

Despite a lack of experience, you might want to go right over the top in terms of what you are trying to do. You might be that good that you can do it.

See the advantages. Like with those children’s tracing books, follow the traces of excitement, and enjoyment to see if you can go further.

Have you checked every corner of your interests, abilities, talents, ideas, and what you want to explore further? You can always build in a few more ideas.

It is rare that we are taking a final look. It is sad if we are. You can always develop qualities you have such as excitement, intellectual curiosity, and athletic ability in new and interesting ways.

admin Uncategorized Development, Further

The potential advantages of line manager involvement in learning and development has long been recognised.

The line manager is in a unique position to reinforce learning from management training or other forms of development, by integrating them into an employees working life and promoting a positive approach to these types of activities.

So how should a line manager be involved in their staffâ??s management training and development?

1. The first area of involvement is for the line manager to set clear expectations with their staff, both in terms of what they need to deliver (job responsibilities, targets etc) and how they are expected to deliver these things (approach, behaviour at work, etc).

2. The next area of involvement is conducting performance appraisals and agreeing personal development plans, i.e. measuring the â??gapâ? between what an individual delivers (and how they do it) and what is needed.

3. In agreeing personal development plans line managers should not just ask â??What are this persons weaknesses?â? but should also ask â??Where will learning and development add the greatest value to their performance?â?

4. Line managers should understand the breadth of learning and development interventions that are available to them. For example, too many turn to the ubiquitous â??Management Training Courseâ?, or â??Presentation Skills Courseâ?, when in reality there are hundreds of development actions that an individual can take from reading a book to learning to play chess.

5. Line managers should also take on more of a coaching role with their staff. Significant relationships exist between the effective provision of coaching and guidance by the line manager and levels of employee satisfaction, commitment and motivation.

6. Finally, to be truly effective line managers need to understand their role as a â??sponsorâ? of an individualâ??s or teamâ??s learning and development. For example, it sends completely the wrong message to someone if a manager asks them to attend a management training course but then prevents them from attending some or all of it.

As a sponsor, the line manager should:

· Invest time, energy and enthusiasm in their employees development.

· Demonstrate public commitment to management training and development by â??walking the talkâ?.

· Sanction any hindrance or blocking behaviour from employees reference their learning and development.

· Be clear with their teams the importance of management training and development in raising standards and performance.

· Recognise successes.

Too often education and development is the province of HR or the training department but by becoming more involved in their managers training and development, line management will have a greater impact on their teams performance and capability, which will ultimately impact the performance of their organisation.

1. Gibb S (2003) Line Manager Involvement in Learning and Development: small beer or big deal? Employee Relations, Vol 25, No.3, pp 281-293.

2. Latest Trends in Learning Development and Training. CIPD Survey 2007

admin Uncategorized Development, Human Resources, Management Performance, Management Training