Common sense….

I am on the last lap of my sojourn in this fast paced Red Dot. Time flies. It seemed only yesterday I sat down in the corner clueless, wondering what had I got myself into. Almost 12 months later, after all the up and down of so many challenges, one question keeps popping up in my mind and in my head. Not an easy question to answer. Not because it is a toughie. More because everything went so fast, it all seemed blurred.

What is the most valuable learning from my time here? I can think of a few. One I have written about earlier, the self-deception. Looking back, the most valuable is something we take for granted in our everyday life. We have been doing it since we became responsible adult, ‘akil baligh’. It’s about how we deal with problems. In facing a problem, the first thing we do is find the reasons for the problems. Then we look for ways to solve the problems. In deciding which solution to choose, we consider the available solutions from many angles. We weigh all the possibilities before coming to a conclusion on the best solution. Common sense isn’t it?

Surprise, surprise, policy analysis which the mere description scares many people is similar. Identify and define the problem. Determine the root causes. Design alternatives to mitigate the problem. Select criteria to assess the alternatives. Project the outcomes of each alternative under all the criteria. Then decide. Sounds familiar? Common sense isn’t it?

If it is common sense and we are so used to doing it, how come in many organisations policy analysis is taken lightly? May be its time for us to be our true self in our work.  Do the normal things we do in facing problems. May be, just may be, we can find better solutions in our policies.

All it takes is common sense…..