How much political capital do you have?

Being a good manager is not enough for you to run an organization or a department successfully. It is very important that you have what is known as political capital. Like money, political capital is a currency you spend, only this time its intangible and there fore is difficult o quantify and measure. Political capital comprises of two key components: relationship capability and reputation. The former has to do with your ability to have proper and rewarding work relations with everyone in your organization. It becomes more important when the productive process of your organization is taken into consideration. If you do not have proper work relations with the people in your organization they will do what they can to stifle your activity, reduce your progress and eventually damage your success!
Please note that we are not saying that everyone you work with has to like you! Far from it. Remember the out worn phrase: "you cant please everyone!"  But one thing you can do is earn their respect. Yes, you can earn everyone's respect if you know your job and you treat people right. You may not be able to treat everyone fairly in an overbearing organization where the company has a very strong hostile culture, but you can make an effort to do the right thing at least ninety per cent of the time.
When you are seen to do the right thing and you are treating people right as much as possible your account will be full in terms of political capital. Added to that is your reputation in the organization. What do people think about you. How do they see you? Perception is difficult to fake over a long period of time. You can pretend for some time but in periods of stress and extreme pressure your real person will manifest.
So pile up your political capital because a day of reckoning is coming when organizational or positional authority will not suffice to get things you urgently want. You will have to fall back on your capital, make a withdrawal and get the job done. That's why its so important.
During a change of guards at two public offices in Nigeria the responses of the officers to the CEO in each organization varied and was extremely different: In one organization, some of the staff protested audibly when they heard that their boss had been removed from his position. Reports say some of the members of staff actually broke down in tears and complained about their inability to get another boss like the one that was leaving. In another organization members of staff gloated and cheered, they couldn't wait for their boss who was a woman to leave the premises when it was announced. Can you spot the difference?    

What do we mean by accountability and transparency?

I recently had the opportunity to speak to some civil servants in Abuja about the concepts of accountability and transparency. Here are some highlights of our discussion some of which were culled from the public institutions geared with role of fighting corruption.

There are some tests we can use to determine whether a government is accountable to the public: 

(a) The Fiscal Prudence Test-the key question here is: Is Government losing money? Is there value for money in government expenditure? Can things be done in a cheaper way? Are estimates and budgets “overloaded” with private attachments and interests?

(b) Citizen’s Accountability Test- Are services being delivered to the people? Is the electorate satisfied with the state of public infrastructure and services?

(c) Public Integrity Test- How is the executive arm held responsible for charges of abuses of office?

(d) Public Morality Test- Is the business of government being run by people with a public conscience?

There is VERTICAL ACCOUNTABILITY-which is the accountability of government to the voting public through the ballot box. This is closely allied with the capacity of the electorate to remove a government that fail to account to them or deliver services. It   assumes the existence of a political culture where the individual’s vote counts. The other form of accountability is HORIZONTAL ACCOUNTABILITY-which the accountability of government institutions to anti-corruption and anti-graft agencies. It also includes the accountability of the public sector to statutory auditing agencies; oversight committees of the state assemblies and the National Assembly; human rights agencies and the media. 

Transparency is characterized by the following:

(a) A disclosure system.

(b) Access to information.

(c) Openness to public participation.

(d) Absence of undue secrecy.

(e) Readiness to face and accommodate legitimate scrutiny.

(f) Humility on the part of executive office holders through readiness to answer questions raised by citizens.