Political Currency

Political Currency

Every Political Party cherishes a dream of acquiring Maximum support of People that can later be converted into Votes. They aspire to Serves people, in return of their support during elections.

Many Parties have grown from nowhere, tasted success thanks to massive support from people and then vanished into oblivion. History is littered with Astounding Successes followed by Dismal Failures, often following similar pattern of getting sick, never to recover, ever. May it be Janata Party, Flavors of Communists or Regional Parties like BSP, RJD, JD(s)… the list is long.

They would have survived, had they Managed Political Currency, the Goodwill of the people. Earning the Currency is not sufficient; it should also be distributed judiciously. The downfall starts as soon as a party fails to distribute hard earned Currency amongst its own people.

Earning the Currency

The economy of goodwill starts with Party Karyakartas reaching out to people & solving their problems. Every Heart won goes into the Party Kitty, with the Karyakarta getting recognized as a Good Samaritan, Paropakari. He gets respect from the people and recognition within the party as capable of winning hearts.

The success of getting Respect from both People & Collogues makes him continue the good work and also rope in many more Karyakartas for similar earning of Political Currency. They help & encourage each other in accumulating Currencies, thereby increasing happiness of the people along with building credibility of the party.

If all goes well, the party starts similar Goodwill Harvesting Campaigns across the region for acquiring more & more Political Currency that can get converted into Votes at a later date.

Goodwill can also be earned through Paying Cash to people or Karyakartas, but the complexities involved, needs a Separate Discussion.

Currency Dynamics

As mentioned earlier, the Currency has two components, People’s Goodwill & Party’s Recognition. A Karyakarta strives for both as they are interdependent in the form of Visibility.

Man does what his society rewards him for. This is true across the globe & is the main reason why Karyakartas spend their time & money. Being Mr. Popular also has multiplication effect, when his near & dear ones start getting respect from the people he serves. It resonates with Currency getting distributed to more & more family & friends, who in turn share it with him in terms of love & respect.

Recognition from the Party comes mostly in the form of rewarding Leadership Positions.  This not only encourages him to win more hearts, but also gives him visibility amongst people. This Visibility results in earning Currency even from people he is yet to serve, giving him a double bonanza.

Currency Distribution

The greatest challenge a party faces, is distributing this Currency Judiciously amongst its Karyakartas. They should carefully manage proportionate rewards to the deserving, with transparent mechanism of valuation and sincere execution of rewarding procedure.

People Quit Managers, not Companies. It should not only have a universally agreeable rewarding procedure, but also a way to manage aspirations & perceptions of its Karyakartas at all levels.

Mismatch in Earning Currency & Getting rewarded, results in disheartened Karyakartas. Apart from affecting his contributions, it reduces earnings of others too. Goodwill Harvesting Campaigns start failing, as more & more Karyakartas get affected, resulting in Replacement of their Leader.

Happiness Doubles with Sharing, Sorrow Halves, but Confusion, just Xeroxes.

Selection of new Leader leads to Bloodshed, as mismanaged distribution is perceived as breach of trust by rewarding authorities. Many questions are raised about the selection process leading to questioning of the rewarding procedures & its execution. The team gets divided into two groups, one supporting the new leader and the other sympathizing with the old one. 

To err is human. Not correcting is stupidity.  Committing Mistakes knowingly is Evil.

The obvious solution is sitting across the table with all stake holders and put sincere efforts to sort things out. That’s when the Grievance Cell gets into picture. They should however, have absolute powers to assemble all concerned and work without bias of any sort.

A good mechanism of Rewarding Karyakartas in proportion of their Efforts & Earnings goes a long way in building a Party that can continuously win hearts and expand its Volunteer Base.

The Looters

Life is never fair. Crooks are everywhere, just that their number increases with opportunities. As Earnings grow, so do the chances of people using fraudulent means to get rewarded. Looting happens at multiple levels.

The most common form of looting is Emotional Corruption. Like a leader showering praises or giving undue opportunity to a particular Karyakarta. This amounts to Skewed Party Recognition, thereby creating doubts in the minds of sincere Karyakartas about earning calculations and growth prospects.

Giving Leadership position to undeserving, denies Visibility Opportunities to those deserving thereby affecting enthusiasm to earn. It also projects a wrong choice to the people, who start doubting Party Integrity, resulting in lower goodwill.

Treating Good & Bad equally, is Injustice to Good people.

Another form of looting happens when the entire team gets rewarded, including undeserving people. This reduces the enthusiasm of hard working Karyakartas who learn to find excuse, thereby reducing earnings of the entire team.

The most damaging is undeserving Successors, it can cause fatal blow to the prospects of a party. More Visible the position, more the damage caused. Both Karyakartas & people lose faith in a party with undeserving leader.

Even seasoned Leaders (Sonia, Lalu,  Gowda) gave leadership to undeserving children, with disastrous results. Higher the Position of looter, more damaging is it to Worker’s Morale and People’s Faith.

There is another breed of looters, the Infiltrators, people with good capability, but bad intentions. They mostly come from another party, just to get Leadership Positions. Apart from damaging party’s Culture & Morale, they are never interested in Earning Currency. Some are even planted by Political Opponents.

Crooks Breed Crooks.  Unless a party gets rid of Looters, the disease spreads like wild fire. Every Leader chooses his ilk, who then selects their own henchmen. Illogical distribution of Political Currency leads to spreading of Unhappiness along the chain of command. Hard working & Sincere desert the party, leaving it look like a body full of parasites.

Securing the Currency

Accountability avoids Disaster. Like any organization, Political Parties too have to keep accounts of its Earnings & Expenditure, the Political Currency Kind. Every Unit earned has to be judiciously Spent or Secured. The Chain of Command has to be defined, Budgets (Time & People) Allocated, Markets Demarked, Earnings Projected, Karyakartas Deployed, Discipline Maintained, Leakages Plugged, Brands Protected. Increasing Enthusiasm of Karyakarta and Maintaining it is the key to survival of any Party.

All boils down to Easily Understandable & Implementable Policies of Investments & Rewards. The Execution has to be Unbiased, with everyone given right to Appeal. A stitch in Time Saves Nine. An Unbiased Grievance Cell with time bound results can make or break Morale of Workers in any party.

Every Leader should lookout for Looters & Leakages at their levels. Looters are already defined.

Leakages are Opportunities Lost due to poor executions. Winking in the Dark never helps. Goodwill harvesting Campaigns should start with a People Awareness Program for maximizing effects of the event. The Campaign should be followed by Happenings & Achievements Blitz for getting Maximum Currency, even from those who couldn’t attend the Event.

Another form of leakage is Dead-Wood. The Ghost Leaders. Every organization has leaders who do not exist. They are either physically not present or add no value to their positions. Most get rewarded fraudulently or by giving false promises. They neither Earn nor allow others to Earn.

Few Golden Rules:

·         Define Rules. Uncertainty -> Panic -> Mistakes -> Disaster

·         Follow Discipline. Indiscipline -> Injustice -> Resentment -> Revenge

·         Lookout for Looters.  Insecurity -> Anxiety  -> Exodus of Karyakartas

·         Encourage Sincerity & Hard Work.  Justice -> Commitments -> Happy Earners

·         Maintain Positive Buzz. Enthusiasm -> Efficiency -> Achievements -> Explosive Growth

Maximum Currency Earnings

The Current Political Situation in India looks like the Shoe Salesmen who go to Africa. One can return saying no one wears shoes, while another sees a Huge Market Potential. At a time when the whole country is reeling due to Corruption, a Political Party that fights Corruption can Harvest Maximum Goodwill Currency. All it has to do is work relentlessly and keep vigil to avoid disasters.

Hope Karyakartas and Leaders of All political party that wants to work for the welfare of the citizens will follow their Raja-Dharma and earn Political Currency as rewards. It is this Political Currency, People’s Goodwill & Party’s Recognition that keeps Karyakartas in good Spirit.

Disclaimer: I have been an Active Karyakarta of AAP Bengaluru for past 20+ Months. The Views mentioned above are my personal & should be treated so. More about me at www.nashwall.com/About-Us.html