A thought on succession in PAS - part 1

PART 1 Introduction Last week (week beginning 6 December 2004) there was an article in the Financial Times about succession management. I cannot remember which day it was. But I do remember deliberating about whether or not PAS gives enough importance to succession planning and succession management. Succession planning and succession management are not new in the business circle. The importance of managing succession is well known and well documented. I am assuming that the concept receives the most attention from those working in human resources management. But more recently, in the wake of many corporate scandals, those in governance are taking succession more seriously too. What is succession management? So what is succession management? In a nutshell, and without wanting to get too technical, it is about ensuring a sufficient supply of successors for senior or key roles. For corporations, succession management is vital if the company wants to survive in the long run. If this is a concept that is so vital for the long term survival of a business, does it have any applications for a political party like PAS? The short answer is, of course! But, there is a problem…. Problems when planning succession in our organization Working in an organization such as PAS, many detest those who openly state their desire to be at the top. I do not understand why this is the case but most people can easily come out with some “religious” arguments why we should not give a job to those who declare their wish for the job. I can understand not giving the job to those who want the job but are known to be incapable of performing well. But should we deny those who are capable simply because they declared their willingness to take the challenge head on? I may be wrong in this matter and I will immediately change my mind if someone can argue to the contrary, but I see hypocrisy. Let me elaborate. We work hard to get a well-paid job. A job that can guarantees satisfaction. A job that can secure shelter and education for our family. To get the job, we write a colourful CV, boast of our achievements at university, hide our weaknesses, brag about our strength. In the interview, we do the same. When asked what our strengths are, we have no difficulty in listing them. When asked what our weaknesses are, we present it in such a way that would make the weaknesses seem irrelevant to the job. When talking about our abilities, we convince the interviewers that we are the best candidate for the job. There is no worry whatsoever to blow our own trumpet as long as the job that we are applying for pays money. The more the money, the more confident we are of our abilities, and the more eloquent we are at bragging. When money is out of the equation, such as when you work for an organization like PAS, we suddenly become coy, modest and extremely “religious”. “Saya tak layak” is the most frequent excuse. When asked to volunteer, “mana boleh minta jawatan” would be the most popular reply. Money obscures everything So, when the job offers money, we are the most qualified. But when there is no money, we are suddenly the most unqualified. Why is it that we only give excuses and use religious quotes when dealing with unpaid jobs? Do we suddenly forget religion when there is a chance that we will get money from the job that we do? How great the power of money…… Coming back to the topic, if this attitude continues, succession planning and succession management will never work in organizations like PAS. While those in businesses plan to further their career, we seem to plan, albeit perhaps inadvertently, for the demise of the party. By refusing to face the succession challenge head on, what we are really saying is “I don’t care about the organization”. Why is it so difficult for us to say “I want to be at the top one day” and then work hard to prepare ourselves for the bigger responsibility? If we can do it for money, why can we not do it for a more righteous reason? Perhaps money does corrupt. And this time, it corrupts in the subtlest of ways…… And, not so long ago, I heard that quite a few of those who vigorously opposed “meminta minta jawatan” were asking about how to write a good (deceptive?) CV so that he can apply for a paid job (i.e: minta jawatan). See….. money does change our attitude. Even religion gets pushed to one side when money comes into play.