Making A Mountain Out Of A Problem

The team at Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (CHIRAG), the author’s (Abhishek) host organization at the fellowship

Are the problems always as complicated as they seem? Do we always make ‘A Mountain Out Of A Mole’? Well, I think an answer to this question is complex! And that is because they are very subjective. Also, the subjective versions change with individual point of views of – a person who is facing it, a person mediating to solve it and a person isolated from this system. An additional dimension adds up when we consider timeline for which the problem is being looked at – ‘Problem Being Active and ‘Problem Being Solved’.

Coming from a corporate work culture, stressful situations were very common part of my work profile. I held responsibility of mediating crisis situations, coordinating the resources and ensuring the production line to be consistent and running. Initially I failed miserably, struggled and spent a lot of time reflecting back at the situations. I learnt that my point of view and reaction was very different – ‘When The Problem Was Active’ and ‘Once It Was Solved Eventually’. The problem which seemed very difficult appeared no deal once it was off the grid. Perhaps, I was under pressure and was looking at the situation through a wrong frame. One of my biggest learning during this time was how to maintain balance of my temperament. Often, the solution to such problems would be: bringing a more skilled resource, improving machinery, changing the workforce and so on. Well, at corporate we can always enjoy this luxury; here the resources are plenty, are bound by appraisals and hierarchies. It always occurred to me, what if these luxuries were not available? Are we addressing the problem for a permanent solution or managing them momentarily? Without the bondage of appraisals and hierarchies, what can solve them?

I remember this aspect was one of my WHYs for choosing this 13 month long leadership program called India Fellow.

At the end of eight months of my fellowship journey, I have had incredible experiences of how development sector works; thanks to Central Himalayan Rural Action Group (CHIRAG) and India Fellow. These have definitely transformed me in my approach towards problem solving and built my temperament. CHIRAG works in majorly four domains of: education, healthcare, livelihoods and natural resource management. CHIRAG imbibes philosophy of empowering the local communities at the core of its functions. The local communities form the prime institution that implements the work, makes decisions, resolves conflicts and sustains the work. For this kind of model to be successful, it is a huge challenge to establishing the faith while forming the village level institutions, keeping them motivated, affecting the change. The challenge is also huge because this institution does not enjoy any appraisals, direct monetary benefit and are not obliged to follow any hierarchies. Yet, the organization manages to pull off a legacy of change consistently for thirty three years now. All the credit goes to the social and technical teams working tirelessly in close coordination and diligent efficacy.

They attribute their success to their ability of problem solving. They picked the techniques neither from any lessons of business schools nor from any trending participatory fieldwork frameworks; but from their experiences. I must say, with my close association with the team and communities for eight months that they have championed this skill. Our social specialist Smt. Lata Harbola, whom we call Latadi dearly, says that no problems exist without any solution. We complicate the situations by attaching emotions to the problems – and it is natural human tendency to react to situations in such way. Therefore fundamental approach to any problem solving is to first detach from emotions and look at the situation objectively. To me, this appears to be professionalism. She remarks that in the process, it is also important that we take complete ownership till the end.

We are currently working on Ashok Leyland sponsored project in the ‘Pasauli – Harish Tal’ belt comprising of twenty three villages in improving water security to the inhabitants and restoring ground water. As per the said philosophy, all the recharge of spring water is carried out by the Water User Committee (WUC) – a village level institution. The committee was formed with seven members in good faith and the work had started in positive spirits.

Unfortunately, after first installment of work completed and accounts settled, the work had come to a standstill. The regular meetings stalled due to no turn-ups, the coordination was lost, one of the committee members claimed for lapse in accounting and all the efforts to solve the issue internally failed. The work was stuck for over a month and came to the notice of CHIRAG. This was a very big concern and the committee had turned highly unstable. It seemed likely to withdraw this village from our activity plan. The issue was taken up further by social expert team.

Upon investigation, we realized that the trouble escalated with one of the members claiming a lapse of Rs 1,800 in the accounting and the matter soon became personal. Fact was the accounts were passed by the committee and in presence of all the members. It was very interesting to see that how a small argument turned the scenario to a very complicated thing, even at personal levels. I could instantly relate how situations became intense with emotions getting involved. The selected area is proposed with spring recharge structures, repair of the springs and rain water harvesting tanks; a work involving an employment of Rs 3,10,000.

Mr. Bhim Singh Negi, Mr. Harish Palaria and Mr. Girish Budhani attempted to mediate the committee to find solution and progress ahead with the work. As I observed, the approach was to define the problem. The team was very effective in creating a space for the committee members to look at the problem objectively, keeping emotions aside and facilitating them to define the concerns. With good preparation and tactful presentation of data, the team perfectly put forward their point about what is the community going to lose. Indeed, over a tussle for Rs 1,800 (Rs 250/member), they were heading towards losing benefits worth Rs 3,10,000 and more importantly – Priceless Water!  

The meeting was one of the most effective ones I had ever attended so far. The committee promptly realized the mistake and agreed to look into the concerns and resolve it religiously. Following the meeting, the committee met together, tallied all the work logs with the accounts to find them matching and resolved the concerns raised. They have made a resolution to work in harmony and with more commitment to cover up for the delay. As we look at the case, the Water User Committee has been successful in accomplishing the follow results through their activities:

1. Increased Water Discharge (lpm-litres per minute) : 1.25 lpm (in June) to 13.33 lpm (in November). The means the per day the users have 17,352 litres of more water for their consumption
2. Expected Retention Of Water : 30,000 litres of water is estimated to be retained annually through the rain water harvesting tanks.  

With such an aggressive atmosphere prevailing, the social team had an easier option of terminating the spring and finding alternate spring which was easier to work on; yet their efforts to solve it was a game changer. I personally felt inspired and acknowledge that they are true social specialists. It is true that we create a mountain of problems by overthinking, reacting in haste and most of the times, seeing them through wrong frames. As the team says, key here is to find out what is the problem in ‘A Problem’? Certainly, defining a problem correctly is half the problem solved.