What makes work meaningful… for me what tops the list is empathy and focus, whether in business, in personal relationships or in a profession. In recent days, meeting people from varied working backgrounds, I often see and hear a lot of frustration when we talk about the state of governance in the country, the indifferent work culture, and the rising levels of corruption.
There is a lot of good intention when we set goals as a nation, as organisations and as individuals. But something happens in-between that derails people from working with clarity to meet the objective. And even the person with the best intention is left hitting the wall. Case in point would be the ongoing South Asian Games and the Visit Nepal 2020. I see innovation and creativity being sacrificed at the doors of mediocrity in the approach of our organisational abilities. We are happy to not take firm and timely decisions and work at the very last minute to just about get things done. I don’t see how this can even remotely appeal to the youth of the country or send a powerful message to the rest of the world on our capabilities.
Misspelled boards, flexes hanging disproportionately across cities, make do visual content on television are what people can immediately see and these basics actually tell you a lot about the organisational approach. If you can’t do the small things well, how can you do the bigger things well?
I also see that we like to spread ourselves thin. Why not set a few small but meaningful goals rather than try and do everything and waste resources with little impact. Unnecessary meetings and deliberations, improper execution and complete acceptance of mediocrity have become the norm of governance, self interest aside.
Our ministers and government secretaries should be more worried about doing bigger justice to their portfolios by focusing on their job and working on the macro issues. Worrying about the website content, running around cutting ribbons, or pushing their personal agenda should be of least priority.
If only we looked at our work with more empathy and focus, we would understand what real impact means and actually do more meaningful work. Ultimately, it is the tax payers’ money that the government spends. Every tax payer should hold the government accountable for every rupee spent, for every decision that is made, and to ensure that execution of work justifies the resources spent.
