Project: Poland Foundation.
Poland needs more rapid changes. We need changes to catch up with Europe and cooperate with it to create common vision, as an answer to problems of the world. Modernization is a necessary element to build the foundation of steady economic growth for the next decades. It is also indispensable if we want to actively support the emergence of civic society, of free people individually shaping their own future, in accordance with the needs of others. Thinking about modernization of our country is a part of the responsibility for oneself and future generations.
Unfortunately Poland of the 21 century reforms itself very slowly. Why is it so, when a large part of political elites understands the necessity for changes?
At least two reasons can be named:
- Generational experience determines the viewpoint of most of today’s politicians.
- Ineffective political and governmental system
Generation gap
Professionally active generations can be divided into three main groups: Solidarity Generation, Generation ‘89 and the Freedom Generation.
Solidarity Generation is the generation of politics. Solidarity Genration is the generation which has played the most important role in politics since 1989. This generation grew up in the shadow of their parent’s stories on the Second World War. In 1968 and later in 1976 history became their own, often tragic, experience. 1980, 1982 and 1989 are the years to which we owe the position of Poland today, the years in which the Solidarity Generation shaped the new history of Europe. Divisions present in those time determine today’s opinions to a great extent. Politics is dominated by the people who showed imagination and courage in those times, but also by the activist who defended the previous system and ‘extras’, trying in vain to find their own place in history. Despite the fact that this generation, age-wise, is very broad, from Tadeusz Mazowiecki to Donald Tusk, it has common experience and, naturally, sees politics through the prism of historical changes, alliances in foreign policy and West-East divide
Generation ‘89 is business. While in politics the Solidarity generation prevails, in business the dominant role is played by Generation ‘89 – this is my generation. These are the people, as we can read in the founding declaration of the ‘89 Club, whom that year gave the opportunity to act and a chance for development. Generation ‘89 are businessmen, managers, lawyers, marketing specialists, journalists and scientists. They remember the ’80s, the martial law period, vinegar on market shelves, they carried independent press in their backpacks, but they started their professional careers in the ’90s. They are the pioneers of the early capitalism in Poland. They made their way from partisans of business to experienced professionals, respected throughout the world. Words such as vision, goals, benchmarking, competitive edge, budget, schedule or team are everyday terms for them. They are successful, they are the new middle class. But they still feel anxiety. Why? Many of them. They are the children of intelligentsia, not raised for making careers and earning money, but they became a part of such world. They were supposed to work on universities, became professors, work for the common good, but very often they did not even obtain their masters degree. Their life sometimes looks like the American Dream, which they haven’t, however, dreamed. That is why they feel the need for social work, returning to the old ideals. They are aware that whatever they have accomplished they owe not only to themselves, but to a chance they got from history. That is why they have the feeling of indebtedness. Representatives of Generation ‘89, with few exceptions, do not enter politics. It would be difficult to leave their jobs, for which they carry great responsibility, they have loans to pay, they bear the costs of their children’s education. They cannot afford a drastic change in their lives. It’s a pity, because their professional experience could be put to good use in public matters, and many of them would like to do something in return for the great chance they got in ‘89. How can we use it?
Freedom Generation is the generation of baby boom, born after the period of martial law, they entered their conscious mature life in a democratic country. It is them who will most severely experience Polish problems if they will not be solved. The place of their birth largely determines their life opportunities. Young people from large cities, who went to college, have a good chance for satisfying and well-paid job, although their slightly older colleagues will be blocking their promotion opportunities for a long time. Only the best will succeed. The majority is forced to think about going abroad or to use help of their parents. 2 millions of new emigration consist mainly of young people. We do not know whether and when they will come back. Freedom Generation will seize power most likely in the next 7 years, simply because the Solidarity generation will retire, and the Generation ‘89 will remain in business. Will this be the reign of frustrated hustlers, who entered politics because it is the only place they can make their way up quickly? Or on the contrary, a rule of modern thinking, professionally prepared, open-minded people? A government which will break the deadlock of Polish modernization?
Nowadays communication between these three generation is marginal.
Lack of project-oriented thinking in politics
Polish politics is characterized by a lack of professional management, that is project-oriented thinking, directed on achieving goals. Making politics was reduced to the process of gaining, controlling and losing power. Politics today means political marketing or PR, behind which, one can seldom see serious and properly prepared reflection on reforming the country. Disproportion between huge media coverage and very modest substantial content is a structural problem of Polish political scene. That is probably why not, only every businessman or manager, but also every taxi driver could do it better. However, after watching unsuccessful political careers of successful businessman one can come to a conclusion that the issue is not that simple as it seems at a first glance. There may be several reasons. First of all, businesses are composed of people, who are well-matched with respect to their competence and they are paid a suitable amount of money for their job. Their professional career most often depends on how efficiently they do their job, and that is why they strive to carry out their bosses’ orders. The bosses owe their positions mostly to their own competence, so they usually give reasonable instructions. Their position is not threatened by the outcome of voting, and so they delegate duties, giving much freedom to their team.
Political organizations are, on the other hand, social structures. Very often, people are not being paid for their job, so their only motive is their political ambition – the need to be seen and heard, most desirably on TV. The bosses, to stay in power, must strive for support. Decisions are made not based on their merits, but on their popularity, so very often they are not the best ones. The ability to persuade others to your rationale is more important than being right. Politicians mainly keep themselves busy with keeping and building their status in the organization and not with fulfillment of the goals for which this organization was established. That is probably why there are no models of professional management in politics, without which it will be difficult to solve Polish problems and take advantage of emerging opportunities.
Let’s look at a few examples illustrating the need to import good models from business to politics.
Competition, unique resources today and tomorrow
The questions about market, competition and resources, are the ones from which one starts building any business strategy. If we did not ask these questions when thinking of Poland, it would means we do not have any strategy. And indeed, it is true – Poland does not have any strategy, although every Polish firm has one.
Poland competes in all domains. We compete for venture capital, for tourists, for foreign media coverage, for the attention of politicians in European Union and, finally, we compete for our citizens who can freely take up a job in Europe. We compete with our neighbors from Central Europe, we compete with the rest of Europe and other fast developing countries all over the world. Our position in this race will depend on whether Poland could take advantage of its own assets and efficiently communicate them.
To compete effectively, we need to know and develop our own resources. We do not have oil. Coal? Soil? Environment? Historic monuments? Geographical position? Science? Art? Definitely people. Young, educated baby boom generation. One of the most precious Polish resources today works in England and Ireland.
Because we do not have obvious advantages, we should invest in what can distinguish us in the future. So what is it?
Writing about what is distinctive about Poland, one cannot fail to mention Solidarity, Lech Walesa and the Round Table. Unfortunately we devalued our own legend ourselves. Solidity ceased to be out internal symbol, so we did not use it externally. Our present president does not want and is probably not able to use the legend, figure and authority of Lech Walesa. Round table is openly criticized by many politicians, although it is a symbol of one of the most significant events in the history of Poland. It is a solution which could become Polish method of fighting many serious problems of the world.
Global Trends
Analyzing market trends is another, self-explanatory topic in the business world, which is necessary in creating a strategy. For Poland, the whole world is a market. When thinking about the position of our country in the future, we need to analyze important global trends and draw conclusions from them, which would later be reflected in operational programs. The shift in the global balance of power more towards China and India, diminishing role of the US, global warming, aging Europe – including Poland, widening gap between poor and wealthy countries, escalation of cultural conflict between the West and Islam, these are all topics present in the media and undoubtedly analyzed by the government. The problem start when we need to create solution based on diagnoses, and later implement them. The symbol of inertia of Polish politics could not only be the presence of Poland in Iraq, but also the very nature of this presence.
Importance of Vision
Every good chairman knows, that he will not do much all by himself. But when all employees will work for their own satisfaction, realizing one clear, common goal, the chairman knows that bright future awaits him. The management makes the decisions, but it is the people who put them into practice, and the final effect depends on them. Prime Ministers can do much less than an average chairmen: they have poorly paid employees, a lot whom they cannot control, because they are men of the “coalition partner”, most of decisions require changes in law and they take time and from the very beginning of their term of office they have to already think about the next campaign, while most of what they do is attend “grand openings”. The Prime Minister will therefore achieve more or less as much as an average citizen or a professional employed in the administration. Wouldn’t it then be good to make them share your ideas, show them the way which they would later fill with their own ingenuity? This is what every successful company does, even though, as we know, the chairman could count more on himself alone than the Prime Minister. But for the last couple of years, none of the Prime Ministers has ever formulated such a vision. Kennedy showed the Americans the moon – it is a textbook example of how a simple, clear vision could inspire the whole nation into development. Second Ireland? Is it an inspiring vision? We need a vision of “The First Poland”. It is not easy to formulate, but no one have even tried it yet.
Lessons in Chinese
How would a company react, if it knew that in the coming years China will become one of the most important markets, and Chinese companies will become its strategic partners? It would surely employ several people who knew Chinese and would conduct a series of professional trainings in Chinese culture for its employees. The state has no employees, but it has citizen, or rather the citizens have their state. The duty of the state is therefore to support its citizens by giving them chance to grow. How, then, in a similar situation, a state should react? It could, for instance, introduce extensive lessons in Chinese culture and history into the school curriculum. The same with the culture of Islam. But one could easily imagine protests – “Chinese history pushes out the history of Poland out of the curriculum”, “lessons on Islam instead of religion lessons”. And that is why such a decision will not be made, and that is why our children will have difficulties to adjust to the changing world.
Lessons in cooperation
What does a company do to increase its effectiveness? It creates teams composed of various professionals. Team works gives better results, and faster – it is obvious in business. Why, then, in elementary school, part of work and grades is not achieved in teams? Why are the children not taught, from the very beginning, about cooperation, division of tasks and how to talk with the lazy and support the best for the team to achieve a better effect? It is another example of how important it is to take some of the models from business to politics, in order to better support the citizens, even the youngest.
The Internet
More and more people around the world function not only in the sphere of reality but also in the cyber space. Our state, in many aspects, is blind to this. The success of nasza-klasa (a social networking site), and millions of registered users, is the best evidence for it. We study on the Internet, we work on the Internet, we play on the Internet, meet, shop… Still, we cannot run our errands in councils or offices, and unfortunately most of Poles do not have access to fast Internet connection, and this deficiency should be regarded as civilization gap. We cannot confirm our identity over the Internet, and so we cannot vote or submit documents over the Internet. Our new IDs are “new”, but they are not modern. Our new IDs should have been equipped with micro chips. Estonians, who implemented this solution, can vote over the Internet, thanks to a small card-ID reader plugged to their computers. From this perspective, Poland is still in the 20th century. Now the “new” IDs are issued for a 10 year period, and that’s why only in 10 years Poland can enter 21st century, when it comes to state-citizens relations. Each year of delay in introducing micro-chip IDs pushes this moment further into unspecified future. If a company had such a problem, it would instantly decide to introduce the modern IDs, using existing models; in this case we won’t have to look very far and use solutions introduced in Estionia.
The Pareto Principle
Similar examples can be multiplied, showing how simple rules of business translate into thinking about social and political issues. Which issues, then, are the most important today? The Pareto principle(*) is very popular in business, according to which by solving 20% of the problems we will achieve 80% of possible effects. Identifying these 20% is then the most important task of every company’s board. Pareto Rule is a statistical regularity, one can thus assume it will also be visible in politics. How to identify these 20% of challenges which must be met to ensure a steady development of Poland? The answer to this question is not easy. It is a responsibility of each government and president to look for this answer. But such processes are unheard of!
It seems logical to assume, that among 20% of these issues there will be supporting the existing forces of change in Poland. If something is already working properly, then for sure, by removing obstacles and investing in those areas, the effect will be immediate – it is another obvious conclusion in business.
What forces of change can we see in Poland?
Forces of change
Project:Poland foundation has chosen as its goal defining the crucial forces of change in Poland.
We can mention three obvious candidates:
Economic sphere. Reforms in the economic sphere, by which I understand: lowering taxes, liberalization of the job market in such a way to make it easier to employ new people and to fire ineffective ones. The more efficient the economy and the faster its growth, the more resources will the state have in the future.
Education. Well educated society, prepared for the challenges of today’s world is the staple of progress. Our system of education today is under-invested and poorly profiled – the anatomy of amoeba or the legend of Symeon the Stylite is taught – but there are no lessons in how to keep the books of a small firm. We lack elitist higher education institutions, gathering the best of the best – which would be able to educate world class professionals.
Metropolitan areas. Large urban areas are decisive in the development of the whole countries in the 21st century. It is between the metropolitan areas that the crucial competition takes place – the competition for people and for investments. That is why the state should focus their attention and resources on the strongest urban areas, to create 4 or 5 centers capable to compete with the cities of Europe. If this task succeeds, Poles from the poorer regions could find job and happiness by moving to these urban areas. Investments realized evenly throughout the country proved to be ineffective. I would prefer for a citizen of Tarnobrzeg to be happy working in Wrocław, than to be unhappy living in Tarnobrzeg and deluding him or herself that this city would one day become an engine of progress.
Conclusions
What conclusions can we draw from the above-mentioned reflections? I gave some of the most important examples of ineffectiveness of the present model of managing the country. Without a change in the model of administering the public sphere, we cannot seriously think about modernizing Poland. Politics needs a professional way of thinking strategically and consequence in realizing project approach. What do we mean by project approach? A project begins with a diagnosis of the present situation and defining aims. One looks for solutions by analyzing exemplary models. Original ideas are costly. If possible, it is good to find inspiration in solutions, which already function. The project always has a clearly defined team, in which everyone has clearly defined faculties. A project also has a schedule. Project team has a boss, who is responsible for the quality and punctuality. The effects of the project are always measured and the measures are defined from the beginning, together with its aims.
How to introduce into politics the necessary professional business thinking? I think that the trick lies in cooperation of the people from Generation ‘89 and the broad circle of the Freedom Generation. Project:Poland foundation was established to gather young people around particular projects, and to supplement them with a few older professionals, creating a unique offer for both these groups. By implementing together important projects for modernizing Poland, we want to support the formation of a broad society of young people who want to work within the public sphere and who have the basis of professional, business training. We believe that it is good to combine project work with meetings organized throughout the country, with the most important authorities of the Solidarity Generations. We want to support the emergence of young Polish political elite. Elites intellectually linked to the Solidarity ethos and equipped with knowledge and experience in strategic thinking and professional realization of projects. We are convinced that the combination of modern, open patriotism with modern pragmatic and professional business attitude can result in completing Polish reforms by the new generation. That is why in Project:Poland Foundation we are building an open platform for exchanging thoughts and experience between the generations. We are convinced that Poland needs a strategy and professional project management.
(*) Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist, who, by analyzing wealth distribution in a society, he found out that 80% of country’s wealth was owned by only 20% of the society. It is pointed out that the same 80/20 rule applies to many social and economic phenomena, e.g. adapted from Wikipedia
Translation: Jadwiga Bogucka
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