Book Review "10 Essential Skills for Public Servants: A Handbook" by Shahid Hussain Raja

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Book Review10 Essential Skills for Public
ServantsA Handbook

• Author Shahid Hussain Raja

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Sequence

• Introduction
• About the author
• Need for writing the book
• For whom it is meant
• Chapter wise contents of the book
• How to purchase it

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Introduction

• This is a promotional presentation about the book
  10 Essential Skills for Public
  Servants A Handbook written by a retired
  senior civil servant
• It explains the contents of the book- the ten
  skills the author thinks are essential for any
  public servant to improve his/her efficiency and
  effectiveness.
• Author has explained these skills, their
  importance and how these can be applied while
  performing official duties.

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About the Author-Shahid Hussain Raja

• Retired in 2012 as Federal Secretary, Govt. of
  Pakistan, held various senior positions during 35
  years service
• M.A.(Economics), M.A.(Political Science),
  M.Sc.(Defence and Strategic Studies)
• Post Graduate Diploma holder (Development
  Studies- University of Cambridge)
• Executive Development Program at the JF Kennedy
  School of Government, Harvard University, USA.
• Author of 8 books on various public policy issues

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Why it Was Written?

• During my appointment as Chief Instructor of the
  Pakistan Administrative Staff College, Lahore
  (Pakistan) I trained nearly 200 senior officers
  in the art and science of statecraft
• I realised the need for writing a short handbook
  which could become a reference book for their
  further learning.
• Out of more than 30 skills considered necessary
  for a senior officer, I chose 10 as essential.
• This book enumerates those 10 essential skills,
  explains their importance and presents a
  comprehensive plan of action for applying each
  skill in different contexts

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For Whom It Has Been Written?

• Written primarily for civil servants - senior or
  junior
• Extremely helpful for anyone in any management
  position
• Public, private, corporate, NGO, SME or large
  organisation
• Also for students of public or business
  administration
• Even for any general reader keen on self
  improvement

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Chapter 1 Introduction

• Gives a comprehensive background of the current
  working environment for civil servants
• Identifies the 6 drivers of this change and the
  six challenges these changing environment pose
  for a modern civil servant
• Advises the civil servants on how to respond to
  these challenges with the ten skills- which form
  the subject matter of the book

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Chapter 2 Leadership and Management

• I debunk the age-old myth created by Peter
  Drucker of the separation of leadership from
  management
• After rejecting it by giving very cogent reasons,
  I advise civil servants to be leaders wherever
  they are working
• I share ten tips to the civil servants how to
  play a leadership role in any appointment during
  their career.

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Chapter 3 Ethical Behaviour and Morality

• Makes a clear distinction between personal
  morality and organisational ethics
• Morality is an officers personal moral values
  ethics are organisational norms and codes of
  behaviour that are expected
• In case of conflict between the two, I advise
  civil servants should follow the organisational
  ethics, not personal morality
• I list the ten important points a civil servant
  should keep in mind to become an officer that is
  ethical

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Chapter 3 Emotional Intelligence

• As important as general intelligence, I consider
  it an essential skill for better service delivery
  as well as self-actualization.
• Use these emotions as a productive force instead
  of a destructive one
• I give a detailed plan for a civil servant how to
  not only handle their own emotions but also those
  of their subordinates

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Chapter 4 Change Management

• Cautions the civil servants for timely
  recognition of a change, its likely impact and
  taking effective measures in time
• Explains 7 sources of change which could affect
  the working environment, morale and performance
  of a civil servant
• Presents an eight point plan to systematically
  manage any change and use it for productive
  purposes

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Chapter 6 Computer Literacy and IT

• Makes strong case for the public servants to be
  not only tech savvy but also use IT to improve
  the quality of life of people
• Exhorts them for expeditious digitisation of
  public services for providing information online
  and redressing their grievances
• Identifies four key areas to focus, four issues
  to tackle and suggests a four-point strategy for
  digital transformation.

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Chapter 7 Public Policy Formulation

• Abridged version of my book on the same topic,
  explaining how public policies are made and the
  role of public servants
• Lists a comprehensive criteria to judge the
  efficacy and effectiveness of any public policy.
• I also highlight the weaknesses of the public
  policies made in developing countries by taking
  Pakistan as a case study

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Chapter 8 Interpersonal Relations and
Communications

• Maintaining inter-personal relations/communication
  s as important skills, I guide civil servants on
  how to master them
• Explains the 12 rules of negotiations, 8
  principles of conducting meeting and Rule of Six
  for making PowerPoint Presentations..
• Guides them how to ask good questions during
  meetings, their format and gives 10 tips for
  formulating the questions

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Chapter 9 File Noting and Report writing

• Writing/analysing reports, preparing summaries/
  papers and writing notes is a daily job of a
  civil servant.
• These reports/notes must be concise, factually
  correct, written logically with cogent reasons
  given for proposed plan
• Lists five Ps of writing a note on a file and
  comprehensive guidelines to write a
  report/analyse one prepared by others

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Chapter 10 Resource Management and Development

• Points our how to manage the human, financial and
  material resources and also gives detailed
  guidelines in this respect
• Discusses budget making, human resource
  management and explains 8 Cs framework for
  effective Delegation of Authority
• Explains in easy language the three financial
  statements - the balance sheet, cash-flow and
  profit/loss statements

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Chapter 11 Logical Analysis/Decision Making

• Explains the need and importance of learning
  logical analysis, strategic planning and
  pragmatic decision making
• Points out the logical mistakes bureaucrats make
  and takes great pains to explain how to avoid
  these cognitive biases.
• Also points out the components of strategic
  planning and how to carry out in any
  organisational context
• Lastly, explains step by step how to make
  pragmatic, as opposed to ideological, decisions

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Annexure 9 20 Principles of Good Governance in
Islam

• Nearly 1400 years ago Hazrat Ali, 4th Caliph of
  Islam wrote a letter to one of his governors for
  his guidance on statecraft.
• It is considered as masterpiece document
  outlining the duties of public servants during
  peace and war
• Author has extracted 20 principles from this
  letter which are still as applicable as they were
  hundreds of years ago

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Annexure 1National Interest and its Formulation

• "In international relations, there are no
  permanent friends, nor permanent enemies, only
  permanent national interests
• Everyone has a vague idea of national interest
  but very few will come up with a satisfactory
  explanation.
• Explains the national interest, its four
  components as well as the four objectives to be
  achieved under each component.

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How to Buy this Book?

• It is available as an EBook on all Kindle devices
  for US 5.99 by clicking the following URL at
  Amazon
• https//www.amazon.com/Shahid-Hussain-Raja/e/B015E
  O67EY
• If you do not have a kindle device, you can
  download the Kindle app to your computer or the
  mobile phone and then download it
• If you are Kindle prime reader, then of course
  you can download it free of charge as per your
  entitlement.
• If Kindle is not downloadable in your country,
  then kindly email me and in return for remitting
  US 2 (or its equivalent) in my paypal account, I
  will send you its PDF copy
• Ny Email Id is shahidraja_at_hotmail.com

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Thanks