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

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

PV: Sir, 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?

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc:Uncle Ho paid attention to cadre work right from the first days of the revolution. This also shows that the matter of cadres, people, and personnel is extremely important. The Resolution of the 4th Central Committee of each 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 issue a 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, the issue of reviewing and taking cadre work seriously is even more important.

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 on Culture, Education, Youth and Children.

The problem is to find the loopholes in the personnel work to solve, if not solved, other problems will only be discussed in theory. I repeat, people decide everything. So people are the 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 comrades have seen the problem, addressed it correctly, and shown clear determination. But through the incidents that have occurred recently, we are sad and worried about why it is happening 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 treatment must start 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 seriously. 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 deserving people should not be encouraged and promoted. 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 a confusion between professional and managerial talents. So there is a situation where only those with good professional skills will be appointed to management positions?

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc:Yes.We must put the right people in the right jobs. If you are good at something, then give them specific 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’ve 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 a half-baked scientist.

Obviously, the cadre work we have been concerned about 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. A crooked tree is used for a bent place, a straight tree is used for a straight place, and the talented person is assigned to do the planting...

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 emerge 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 job, how can they know whether they are talented or not? If they have many foreign language degrees, they can be recruited 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 it properly, we cannot do it thoroughly, let alone without a Resolution.

The second is about 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 they are not reported and are discovered, they must be handled thoroughly. Only then will it be effective, not just waiting for the press or public opinion to discover them.

If this "praise" style of criticism continues, how can it get better?

PV:Sir, one of the solutions to limit the wrong 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 the control of power have existed in theory for a long time, not just recently. The tendency is that those who have power want to have more power, and if they 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 controlled effectively?

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc:For the 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 one has power, one can freely "give", but when there are consequences, one is not responsible.

Second, you have power and you can only use it for the right reason. If you use it too much, there will be an automatic whistleblower system. Only then can you control power.

There are very clear regulations of the Ministry of Home Affairs on how many deputies and how many officials an agency has. It is impossible for an agency with a few dozen people to have 80-90% of them be officials. People always take advantage of "following procedures" to abuse their power. If there are so many officials, 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 mistakes are made 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 there is a mistake 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 the situation of being deferential, avoiding, and criticizing in the form of “praise” continues, how can it improve? This is contrary to the good nature of Party members, who unite together for the common cause and give each other frank opinions.

I support the Party Central Committee's determination to clean up the cadre team and build a clean and strong Party. The policy is correct and it must be affirmed that it is very difficult to do. But it is difficult but 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