Appointing staff: Don't confuse technical expertise with managerial talent

"If you are good at your profession, then give them special professional tasks, not just because you are good at your profession then you become a manager."

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc - former Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture, Education, Youth and Children discussed this issue.

PVSir, the Party's Resolutions always emphasize the work of cadres. In particular, the recent Resolution 4 of the Central Committee emphasized that one of the 27 manifestations of ideological, political and moral degradation is theTaking advantage of appointing relatives, acquaintances, and family members even though they do not meet the standards and conditions to hold leadership and management positions or arranging and placing them in positions with many benefits. From recent violations in personnel work, the signs of degradation in personnel work have reached a serious level, don't you think so, sir?

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc:Uncle Ho paid attention to cadre work right from the early days of the revolution. This also shows that cadre work, human resources, and personnel work are extremely important. The 4th Central Resolution of every session has paid great attention to this matter, considering cadre work as the key of all keys.

Therefore, it is not because there is a problem with cadres that we have to set out the Resolution, but cadre work must be given regular and continuous attention. Uncle Ho's teachings are still relevant today. Given the fact that many places are doing things incorrectly, it raises the issue of having to review and take cadre work seriously.

Personnel work is the key of all keys, deciding all other work, so have we done well? It can be said that we have done a lot but the effectiveness is not much. So we need to review what is good and what is not? Why is it that everywhere we say the process is correct but the quality is so poor?

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc, former Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children.

The problem is to find loopholes in personnel work to solve, if not solved, other problems will only be discussed in theory. I repeat, people decide everything. So people are an irreplaceable factor.

Each era has its own people. We must consider in the new period, in the new situation like today, what should be the standards of cadres? How to have each cadre in the entire cadre system operate effectively and synchronously. Therefore, the Central Committee 4 has set cadre work as the key of all keys in the current context, which is completely timely.

PV: In the past time, although there were many mistakes in personnel work, this also shows the strong direction of the leaders of the Party and State determined to handle violations. These actions also show thedetermined to rectify and regain people's trust, sir?

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc:It is not for nothing that the Central Committee issued Resolution 4 of the Central Committee, which emphasized 27 manifestations of ideological, political and moral degradation, especially in personnel work.

We are glad that the Party, the State, and the Central Committee have seen the problem, addressed the problem, and shown clear determination. However, through the incidents that have occurred recently, we are sad and worried about why it has occurred so widely, from ministries, localities, and all levels, everywhere we see mistakes and shortcomings in personnel work.

The question here is that our Party has seen and identified the “disease”, whether it is serious or mild, it must be treated. The disease must be treated from the root cause, the source of the disease, not just the symptoms, only then can the disease be cured.

To cure from the root, we must take the Party's principles and return to what we have accomplished in the most difficult times as a basis.

So what is the story here? It is clear that we have not implemented it strictly. It is said that the process is correct, but what kind of process is it that someone who has not been a civil servant for a single day has been appointed as a manager? The Department Head, Deputy Department Head or Head, Deputy Head of Department must first go through the process of being an employee. The Ministry of Home Affairs also has clear regulations on this matter.

But that does not mean that we should not encourage and promote those who are worthy. Those who are truly talented and virtuous should also be appointed early to encourage and utilize their talents.

Don't confuse technical skills with managerial skills.

PVSir, I agree with you that we should encourage and utilize the talents of truly talented people. But in appointing officials, do you think there is confusion between professional and managerial talents. Therefore, there is a situation where only those with good professional skills will be appointed to management positions?

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc:Yes.We have to put the right people in the right jobs. If you are good at something, then give them special tasks related to that thing, not just because you are good at something, then you become a manager.

Don’t confuse being good at studying or having a PhD with being a good manager. We have been making this mistake for a long time. A person who is very good at a profession, if left to devote themselves to their profession, can become a famous scientist. But when we force them to become managers, we end up with a bad manager and an unsatisfactory scientist.

Obviously, the work of cadres that we have paid attention to for a long time has not been correct and accurate, so it has left very serious consequences. Everywhere people talk about selecting talented people and nurturing talented people. There are very few talented people in society, and there are also few talented people in this world, but civilized and progressive societies have many people who know the job, and are assigned the right people for the right job. That is extremely important. Uncle Ho once said that using people is like using wood. The crooked tree is used for the crooked, the straight is used for the straight, the talented person is assigned to the job...

PVSir, because of such ambiguity, many places, even though they know, still take advantage of the situation to choose "talented people" according to their own wishes?

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc:In modern society, the division of work is becoming more and more specific and profound. Therefore, knowing people and knowing the job is the key to being effective. The right person must be in the right job first, then talented people will appear from the job. Talent in work, not talent in theory. In society, having only ten talented people is already good enough, the rest must be people who know the job.

If we only rely on theory, it will lead to obscure criteria, even taking advantage of criteria to select “talented people”. For example, the Southwest Steering Committee selects officials who are said to be talented because of their high degrees, knowledge of many foreign languages… In this case, if they have not experienced the work, how can we know whether they are talented or not? If they have many foreign language degrees, we can recruit them as specialists to take advantage of their abilities.

I think that the selection of cadres and talented people must be based on and thoroughly understand the Resolution, not done superficially. There must be a Resolution to have a basis for action, without a Resolution, where will the criteria be? Even with a Resolution, we cannot do things correctly and thoroughly, let alone without a Resolution.

The second is the overall inspection of all ministries, branches and localities on personnel work. In my opinion, this can be notified to all localities, provinces, cities, districts, communes and wards to self-review and report on personnel work based on standards and criteria. If there are problems, they must be self-reported, if not reported and discovered, they must be handled thoroughly. Doing so will be effective, not waiting for the press or public opinion to discover them.

If this kind of criticism continues, how can it get better?

PV:Sir, one of the solutions to limit the improper recruitment and appointment of officials is often mentioned as controlling power. So referring back to the mistakes in the past, is it true that we have not done this?

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc:In my opinion, the work of cadres and control of power has existed in theory for a long time, not just recently. The trend is that when you have power, you want more power. If you cannot control power, democracy will be lost. This is also a problem of humans and human society, people find every way to abuse power.

Every society respects the control of power, if power is not controlled, people easily abuse it. Abuse of power will never promote a good society.

Faced with this reality, our Party has had many solutions to fight in the form of criticism and self-criticism, review, inspection, and control, which are also aimed at controlling power.

But in reality, power control is very limited. When power is not controlled, it leads to abuse of power, leading to the "lightning-fast" acceptance, promotion, and appointment of officials.

PV: So how do you think power can be effectively controlled?

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc:For personnel work to be carried out effectively, we must control power. That means those with power must be responsible for that power. It is not that when you have power, you can freely "give", but when there are consequences, you do not take responsibility.

Second, you have power and you can only use that power. If you use it beyond its limits, there will be an automatic “whistleblower” system. Only then can power be controlled.

There are very clear regulations of the Ministry of Home Affairs on how many deputies an agency has and how many people are cadres. It is impossible for an agency with a few dozen people to have 80-90% of them as cadres. People always take advantage of “following procedures” to abuse their power. If there are so many cadres, who will do the work? So you have abused your power for some benefit.

Controlling power is a scientific task, it is the nature of the regime. Our regime is for the people, by the people, so everything must be controlled by the people.

PV:To control power, our Party has had many solutions to fight in the form of criticism and self-criticism. Do you think that the causes of mistakes in personnel work are also due to deference, avoidance, knowing that they are wrong but no one speaks up or does not dare to speak up?

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc:To control power, an important criterion that our Party has set is criticism and self-criticism. But in reality, for a long time we have not done this or have done it in a formal and perfunctory manner.

For example, if something goes wrong in an agency, unit, or locality, everyone knows it, but no one comments. Those who do wrong also understand, but they keep doing it. They know, but the promotion of democracy, criticism, and self-criticism is very poor.

If we continue to show deference, avoid, and criticize in the form of “praise”, how can we improve? This is contrary to the good nature of Party members, who unite together for the common cause and give each other frank advice.

I support the determination of the Party Central Committee to clean up the cadres and build a clean and strong Party. The policy is correct and it must be affirmed that it is very difficult to do. But even though it is difficult, it must be done, from year to year, from term to term, and must be done persistently to get results.

PV: Thank you sir./.

According to VOV