Guest blog by Ruth Nguesap Ndifor-Fobisi, IPP ’24
Participating in the Implementing Public policy program was a maiden, invaluable and exciting experience that far exceeded my expectations! It was a perfect blend of theory and action learning, arduous yet rewarding! My key learnings from the insightful lectures, course material and wide range of shared experiences were:
- A transformation from my plan and control-oriented mindset to the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach mindset. It equipped me with tools to identify a complex problem, drive towards change while learning, adapting and iterating. I gained insights on constructing and deconstructing a problem (fishbone diagram), carrying out a triple A (Authority, Acceptance, Ability) change space analysis, identifying an entry point and reflecting on a suitable idea to begin solving the problem.
- Building teams based on psychological safety and accountability, dependability, structure and clarity, purpose and impact. With narratives that persuade people to get on the teams, they can be fixed as over time. Equal participation, engaging in difficult conversations, openness and vulnerability to talk about challenges in the team creates a highly psychologically safe environment for team members to be productive and yield better outcomes.
- Rob Wilkinson’s 4 P leadership model of perception, process, projection and people. “Perception” made me willing to accept other views on the same aspect and build curiosity and creativity. “Projection” on its part, fine-tuned my narrative of the future in an optimistic way. As for “Process”, it enabled me to streamline roles in my team while including all members irrespective of their professional level and status. “People” furnished me with ideas on how to manage my emotions and that of those around me since “people may forget what you do for them but they will never forget how you make them feel”.
- Managing delegation, time and trust. Specifically, I understood that I could not do everything alone; hence I delegated some tasks to other staff I can trust, which allowed me focus on core tasks and become more productive. I was also learned to place multi valuing over multitasking and consistency over intensity.
- Keeping a learning and leads log or journal to capture my progress and celebrating small wins, will motivate my team to keep moving forward till we arrive at the big win. Also, authorization can be built from sharing positive results of diligence with those who matter.
- I gleaned that self-care on the physical, social, mental, spiritual and emotional fronts is vital to reduce burn outs, avoid depression and enhance happiness. As a result, a developed a self-care plan.
During IPP, I initially worked on addressing the challenge of delayed public investment budget execution which is slowing economic growth in Cameroon. I made some small progress by constituting a multidisciplinary team which worked to organize workshops to train 40 officials of the budget execution chain on the program budget and the use of the information system.
However, two months to the end of the course, in keeping with the flexibility of the PDIA approach, I took more interest in addressing a policy challenge that touches directly on the public. Apart from being a committed civil servant, I am a board member of an association – Support Humanity Cameroon (SUHUCAM), a grassroots non-profit Cameroonian Development and Environment association created in 2018. For over 5 years, we have been working in grassroots and semi urban communities in Cameroon, strengthening resilience and effecting Climate Change, enhancing access to sanitation and clean drinking water. We have gotten grants from the Japan water forum and African climate reality project to supply portable water to the “Mbororo” and “Mulafi” communities in the Northwest region. In the quest for natural solutions instead of boreholes, we opted for protecting catchment areas, building reservoirs and installing taps. This gave access to clean water to over 2000 people from 200 households.
In that vein, I convened a meeting with other board members and staff; we brainstormed and decided to work on the challenge of: “Limited access to clean water in rural communities of the North West region of Cameroon” as a hindrance to the attainment of the sixth sustainable development goal of access to clean water and sanitation in the areas. This has led to widespread waterborne diseases, affected the overall sanitary conditions and posed difficulties in handling pandemics like COVID 19.
We then came up with the fishbone diagram presented below, did a triple A analysis of the change space we picked the bones on climate change and insufficient financial resources as entry points. We realized that insufficient funds was due to the inclusion of vital information in grant proposals and we resolved to crosscheck the proposals and withhold important information. This approach recently got the association a G20 Global Land initiative grant of 15,000 dollars for a one year project to protect the “Mbingbo” catchment area, build reservoirs and install taps to supply over 6000 people in a rural community of “Balikumbat Division” of the North West Region. We are also working on an initiative to plant 15,000 trees around the area.
The PDIA approach has completely renovated my perspective in the face of challenges at work and in my personal life. I begin by identifying the problem, breaking it down to the smallest levels and gradually finding ways to solve it while celebrating every positive stride I make in the process.
More so, I intend to maintain a psychologically safe environment for my team by strengthening trust, increasing vulnerability, engaging in acts of kindness and outings. These hitherto were at low levels in my organization.
Prior to my participation in this course, I was struggling with time management through tips like multi-valuing, drafting a to-do list every morning, spending my mornings on MITs, setting a time limit for each task. My level of perfectionism has reduced and I have been able to say no since I cannot please everybody.
With the insight from “people” of the leadership model, I hope to always do an internal audit before reacting to any emotional trigger from my team members or other stakeholders. This will permit me to accommodate more people, improve my network and widen my circle of influence.
I envisage to keep up with weekly team meetings and journaling to keep track of any progress made, in order to stay motivated, happy and productive. I also hope to implement my self-care plan which will allow me relax and let go of anxiety.
To my fellow PDIA practitioners around the world, begin by becoming the change you want to see. Find and keep those with the same change drive as you in your team. Also, the fear of failure is the beginning of failure. Do not be afraid to fail, learn from it, and move forward. Moreover, it is illusionary to think you can produce immediate big results. Think big, act small while focusing on the process and regularly celebrate tiny wins. This will expand your possibility perception and cultivate more success.
Meeting at the SUHUCAM Office
This is a blog series written by the alumni of the Implementing Public Policy Executive Education Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. 42 Participants successfully completed this 6-month hybrid program in November 2024. These are their learning journey stories.