Are We Really Short of Resources?

Reflections on seeing our resources for what they are and can be, and on tapping into them

Hello Dear,

Does your team have sufficient resources to perform what it is called upon to do? What about your organization or institution? We can ask the same question regarding social institutions both small and large - families, communities, nations and even the world as a whole.

One refrain which I keep hearing in government institutions is that we have too few resources. Yes, across organizations and in a wide variety of contexts, I suspect that many of us are likely to state that we have less resources than we need. Especially in a situation where we are continually asked to do more with less, where performance demands, expectations and imperatives go ever higher and constraints seem to increase, due to various internal and external factors. Indeed, I myself have expressed the same point on many an occasion.

A key question arises here, however, when we say we have less resources than we need. How do we know for sure that we do not have enough resources? Have we done a systematic inventory of our current resources?

And more importantly, how well are we utilizing our currently available resources? Are we utilizing them at a level of efficiency of 90% or 60% or 30%, or is it in fact negative, where existing resources are in fact doing harm, rather than good?!

Now, I would not quite like to call or view our people as resources, as if they are for use (we could hopefully get sometime later, into the politics of this naming, of what is and is not problematic about it). Be that as it may, what is the greatest resource for our organizations and institutions?

Especially in the knowledge society of the 21st century, a society dominated by knowledge work, or even otherwise, I would think that the answer in a lot many cases would be: our people. In other words, I have been holding the view that the greatest resource for our institutions is the inspiration of our people. This confronts with another set of key questions: What are the limits of our inspiration? How well are we able to tap into the wellspring of inspiration of our people?

The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.
- Andrew Carnegie

Come to think of it, we can observe that the potential of many organisations is for the most part underutilized, since 1) many people put in far less than what they are capable of individually, and 2) the collective energies of different individuals are not deployed in the most productive and effective manner for the larger good, for the overall mission of the organization.

Hence, how to inspire everyone, if not more and more people in the organization and outside, to put their full mind, body, heart and soul into the mission of the organization, to put their inspired contribution in the service of the mission, should be nothing less than a top priority item for the top leadership, as well as for everyone who believes he or she leads or is called to lead and serve.

Are our organizations and "teams" giving due attention to this crucial function, which spells the difference between life and death? On a slightly different note, how wise is it to decide we don't have insufficient in-house "resources" and then look outside, if we are not doing what we can to inspire our own people to live and die for the mission? Yes, our soldiers die on the battlefield, how can we too inspire ourselves and each other to live and be ready to die, if not die in the line of duty, then at least in the service of service?

It is this set of reflections which led me to share the following with some of my fellow officers in the Indian Information Service (IIS):

Myth: IIS is short of resources

Reality: We have infinite resources.

What say? 😊💐

And you know what, I was recently reading E. F. Schumacher’s classic book “Small Is Beautiful”, and I was quite delighted to find almost precisely the same idea expressed by him, in a book published 50 years ago. 😊

Here’s Schumacher, stating that “the key factor of all economic development comes out of the mind of man” and that “education is the most vital of all resources”.

Let us think about our own team, organization or institution, or community. How can we better tap into the potentially limitless fountain of inspirational resources of our people?

Yes, it is inspiration which we really need. Let us go cook and fish for it! Happy Fishing!

And is there someone who you think would benefit from this post or newsletter? If yes, please do spread the good word. Thank you for joining me here and being with me in this space! - Dheep.