Don’t worry :)
A Mental Revolution
I spent the last few days in Batumi (Georgia) for an international conference on the topic “Public Service of the Future”. And I have to say it was a great experience! The delegations represented around 20 countries, going from neighbors such as Turkey and Azerbeidjan to far away countries such as Iceland and Sweden, ex-soviet countries such as Ukrain to North African countries such as Egypt. And of course there was also a Belgian delegation :)
The program consisted out of a number presentations showing how the new team of Georgian civil servants changed the old and corrupt bureaucracy into a modern, effective and efficient public service. Another aspect of the program was the visit to the new service hall of Batumi, which is the showcase for the new approach.
The conference was a school example of a young and dynamic team at their top. The average age of ministers is around 40 and most of the leading roles in the administration are taken by 30 somethings or younger. All of them had this mix of enthusiasm and “can do”-attitude that are needed to get to great results. And they love to share these results. Through frank and open communication. One feels that they know what they want! One thing they surely want is that new technology paradigms are an integral part of their solutions. Data is to be open (silent consent), services always and anywhere available and technologies as integrated as possible.
“A Mental Revolution”. That was how the Economist described the changes that took place in Georgia over the last few years. And President Saakasshvili was more than happy to reuse this terminology when he recently addressed the UN general assembly
http://www.economist.com/node/16847798
The results shown during the conference were in any aspect impressive and surely wanted to confirm this mental revolution. Some may argue that “Greenfield implementations are always easier”, but how many organisations, let alone civil services have been able to grasp the tiny window of opportunity for this kind of reforms? Perhaps Georgia might even be a good candidate to boost some of the ‘Old Europe’-civil services’ motivation?
There may be a catch - will the vision of the current generation of leaders be sufficiently balanced among all population groups of Georgia to form a solid base for long-term stability? And to what extent will they achieve the organisational learning, so critical when you want to turn a (transformation) project into a stable operational environment? And finally, how will the administration cope with change in political leadership and direction (which is inevitable in any democracy)?
But to quote one of the speakers “I do not like to make predictions, because it was only in 1992 that Bill Gates said that 640k a person would be moooore than enough…”.
For more information on the Georgian civil service and the services they offer, you can visit www.house.gov.ge
P.S.: For those who read my previous post: Turkish Airlines did a great job in taking my luggage to Batumi, but lost the good points again by not putting it on my flight back to Brussels… my trolley arrived a couple of hours later.
Welcome to the 21st century!
Today started with a Belgian employee of the German Lufthansa refusing my trolley as hand luggage for one of the most absurd reasons I ever heard. “It is more than 8 kg”. As if a kg in the luggage compartment weighs less than in the cabin… or as if I would be refused on the plain if I weighted some kg more… But the rules remained the rules and the employee stuck to the 8kg limit. My luggage disappeared on the transportation band.
Halfway the day, my connection to Batumi, Georgia was at risk. I got a personal assistant from Turkish Airlines running me through the Ataturk Airport to make sure that I did not miss the connection. I did not. My luggage was another story … On top of not allowing a small trolley as hand luggage, the employee had not put the final destination on the luggage ticket. Causing the luggage to be stuck in Istanbul. Here again Turkish Airlines has put their people at work to get it delivered in Batumi (hopefully tomorrow).
3 hours later I arrived in Batumi. When the organising team heard that my luggage got lost, they took me stante pede to a nearby shop where I found exactly what I was looking for to get through the next couple of days. Problem solved with a smile because “we want you to feel welcome in Georgia”.
My personal conclusions of this travel day are twofold:
- I have some work in optimizing my international travel routine to make absolutely sure I can travel hand luggage only
- [I know I should not generalize but …] I am more and more convinced that it is high time for the “old” western countries (and their workforce) to wake up in the 21st century. We are more & more looking like the old men and women that stick to how things are done things because that’s how they’re done. In the meantime a large part of the world is taking another approach, which might (soon prove to) be the better one!
