There's not much work that i do these days in office- partly out of sheer laziness and partly apathy. I write mails to distant partner organisations soliciting feedback or seeking an update on their work or to remind them to respond to a particular request for information. My work is quite clerical and tedious after a point. Although i am in a managerial capacity, i find myself mostly managing deadlines. All my partners are at varying degrees of maturity and performance. They are a mixed bag in every sense. Some organisations are diligent and thorough in their plans and activities, while most others function in an ad hoc manner with little thinking into their strategies and what they want to achieve. I don't mean to sound high-minded but there is still a huge capacity and leadership vacuum in our sector. Most of the organisations that i have been closely associated with are one-person led, to the point that they can easily degenerate into a personality cultdom. Coupled with this, is the entire issue of under-paying frontline staff and exploitative HR practices that are thrive on the insecurity of staff that have limited qualifications and really nowhere else to go. I raise this only to highlight the questionable management practices that are widely prevalent in the sector. At a time when the entire sector is under threat from the Modi government, there is much to be worried about in our own dealings and ways of working. Unless we learn to scrutinise and improve our own actions and inner workings, we will always be seen as the refuge of those who excel at moral grandstanding but who lack the very integrity of those whom we so readily condemn.
