There is a need to get serious about implementing policy. The discipline needed to effectively and efficiently implement and execute policy is proving elusive in T&T.
In sports, the focus tends to be on the big things, most times that boils down to getting the win or the W to use sport jargon.
Get the W.
But getting the Big W comes down to getting the little things right. It's what is done on a daily basis–day to day that is critical.
Too often we don't see the importance of the little things because they seem insignificant, so by failing to get the little things right we come up short.
It's invariably the little things that determine the eventual outcome. You don't know beforehand which ones they will be.
Every action can be game changing. Doing the little things right is critical.
The little things we fail to do or fail to see–and the result is less than we plan.
We fall short because some of us see policy discipline and policy process as little details that can be easily bypassed.
There are policy and policy guidelines but a lack of discipline in implementing is an ongoing problem.
If it isn't politics and the politics of the day, personal opinion and judgment override policy.
A lack of policy discipline provides fertile ground for waste, mismanagement, dysfunction, ineffectiveness and inefficiency.
In every document you read that relates to the Ministry of Sport and Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Sportt) reference is made to the fact that what they both do is driven by the National Sport Policy established in 2002, and the strategic/operational plan of the Ministry of Sport.
It is acknowledged that execution of sporting initiatives is the responsibility of the various national sport organisations for the respective sports and that Sportt's role is to facilitate the execution of the mandates of each National Sport Organisation (NSO).
Sportt at this time is responsible for providing support for the development of 16 sports. NSOs are managed on a grant funding arrangement. The criteria established by Sportt for accessing funding include submissions by NSOs of their strategic plan and annual operational plan, development plan based on the pathway model specific to their sport and audited financial statements and detailed budgets.
The three major pillars are high performance sport or elite sport; total participation in sport or sport for all and sport as an industry.
In the coming weeks we will take a closer look at the institutional framework and other key elements that make up the national sport policy and other policy guidelines in respect of the broader issues regarding the development of sport in T&T. Transparency and accountability demands that there be open and candid discussions. Indiscipline and failure to stick to the policy cycle is proving harmful to the sustainable development and management of sport here in T&T.
The sustainable development of sport depends on the quality of the policy framework.
We all need to get serious about the discipline required to effectively and efficiently implement and execute plans and policy.
How do we determine policy failure or success if we are reviewing and changing before implementing, monitoring and evaluation?
It's not beneficial to rubber stamp systemic failure to implement and execute.
Brian Lewis is president of the T&T Olympic Committee. The views expressed are notnecessarily those of the TTOC.
