Saurabh Chandra 
‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 is a national goal. However, its materialisation requires fulfilment of essential prerequisites. One of the most critical pre-conditions is cultural transformation.
No country has become a developed nation without cultural transformation, which creates a common purpose and vision and promotes desired behaviour and a shared identity. It inculcates values, goals, practices and traditions that unites various groups. This leads to social cohesion, which catalyses change and intercultural understanding in society. We may find the answer to why China could develop DeepSeekAI not India, in this.
Inclusiveness creates the conditions for creativity, innovation and sustainability. Only innovation can lead to a sustained increase in productivity, without which long-term growth is impossible. Innovation also leads to depth in manufacturing. It is pertinent to mention that manufacturing giants like China, Singapore, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands have the most significant trade surpluses, outside the oil-exporting countries.
An alignment of vision, mission and core values courtesy cultural transformation creates a national consensus on core issues, essential to achieving a country’s strategic objectives. What Peter Drucker said about organisations is equally valid for nations: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
The question then is, what constitutes a cultural transformation?
It is inculcating the desired behaviour in processes, procedures and systems. A process is a series of related tasks or methods that turn inputs into outputs. Procedures are the prescribed way to carry out a process. The sum of processes constitutes a system. Education, discipline and organisation are the key building blocks for developing a nation and, by implication, cultural transformation. They are all interrelated and supplement each other. Education’s objective is to create an open and questioning mind and teach the importance of due process. Due process is based on the assumption that people accept unpleasant outcomes, if they believe the process is fair and transparent.
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The main goal of education is to create a capacitated citizenry to cater to the felt needs of a nation. Discipline is the foundation on which the entire edifice of a law-abiding nation is built. Discipline and its corollary – consciousness of one’s duties – has to be voluntary, not enforced. It enhances productivity, improves decision-making, provides clarity in goal setting, begets trust and mutual respect, thereby enhancing professional relationships and accountability.
Cultural transformation has the potential to improve the performance of an organisation. It influences how work is done in an organisation – examples are how decisions are made, which behaviour is rewarded, is dissent encouraged, how are innovation and failure treated. Does the top management incentivise excellence, or are they comfortable with routine and mediocrity? Are personal problems treated with empathy and compassion? The top management, by example, set the tone for the organisational culture. People naturally gravitate towards behaviour that is consistently rewarded.
An important component of desired behaviour promoted by cultural transformation is that ‘Your word is your integrity.’
Not every commitment can be reduced to writing. However, it may not always be possible to maintain your verbal commitment. In that case, acceptance of failure and its reasons should be unambiguously conveyed to the aggrieved party. Compensation for non-performance should also be suitably settled.
Without integrity, cultural transformation is a non-starter. In a large part, integrity is doing the right thing even when you don’t have to. The essential ingredients of integrity are objectivity, predictability, accountability and transparency in all activities.
Cultural transformation is an adaptive challenge. Overcoming an adaptive challenge requires a fundamental change in mindsets, behaviour and practices. This has to be led from the top. People dislike change, since it disturbs the status quo, by challenging the existing version of reality. Change causes uncertainty, which in turn leads to discomfort. Change is loss certain, gain probabilistic. The change process entails identifying key behavioural shifts and implementing formal and informal interventions to enable the desired change. Effective communication is the key. Bringing about changes essential for cultural transformation is a risky endeavour. It is a test for leadership, which is essentially about taking risks for the proper purpose. These risks can put the leader’s job and, in extreme cases, even his life at stake. That is the price of power.
Cultural transformation is a complex problem. It is characterised by uncertainty and ambiguity. There is no precedent, established procedure or predefined solution to this problem. Linear thinking does not help. An agile problem-solving approach has to be adopted. Such an approach is iterative and incremental. This requires adaptability, collaboration and flexibility because of continuous learning through quick feedback, innovation and experimentation. Inclusivity is necessary because the wide range of perspectives and expertise it brings, resulting in more robust and creative solutions. Leaders who can tackle adaptive challenges effectively and successfully, can take their country to great heights by bringing about the desired cultural transformation, the sine qua non for development.
Saurabh Chandra is a former IAS officer. He retired from the post of secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in 2015.