After two initial, more informal meetings of this advocacy, Good Filipinos, we now have the opportunity to more formally launch it, in the presence of the Vice President, who has agreed to give her encouragement and support for this purely civic, absolutely non-partisan, open, inclusive initiative for the long-term transformation of our country and people.
Some of us who have had the privilege of serving in both ICD and ISA – since the year 2000 – have been sharing the DREAM and IDEAL for Good Governance through Responsible Citizenship. We have found out through the years that many more Filipinos actually share the same dream and ideal.
But most of us did not really know how to give flesh and substance to it. We have been all very clear about the end: Good Governance, and about the means as well, Responsible Citizenship. But exactly how do we go about doing what needs to be done? How do we fill in the blank empty space between the end and the means?
This is what we have been working on through ICD and ISA since 2000. And what we have learned from our corporate and public governance advocacies?
First, we need to go from one corporation to another, from one NGA to another, from one local government unit to another. In sum, from one enterprise to another: and SHARED VALUE is where it all starts in any enterprise. It is the enterprise’s core values and core purpose that impel it to formulate and articulate a clear strategy for strengthening and ever revitalizing itself for the long term.
Second, we need to move down from the lofty heights of enterprise strategy as formulated to strategy as actually executed. Building for the future is not the responsibility only of those at the top. It has to be cascaded and shared down the organizational ladder. This is where SHARED RESPONSIBILITY comes in. Everyone must get involved. Everyone must participate. Everyone must add value.
Third, we need to win hearts and minds. It is never enough to expect and demand that everyone should add value. They also need to actively commit to deliver actual performance so as to positively contribute to the attainment of the enterprise’s strategy, as it is executed. This is where SHARED VISION becomes essential: everyone must understand where the enterprise wants to go; they should also want to be actively part of the journey of actually getting there.
Only 3 key lessons from more than 15 years of filling in the empty space that has stood between the aim of good governance and the means of responsible citizenship.
God’s blessings never fail where the purpose is noble and the effort is guided by science as well as sustained by faith. Thus, by 2015, we already had 12 Islands of Good Governance: examples of successful transformation, delivered on the back of those 3 key lessons applied. The list grows each year; and the number can now be scaled up because we have these role models to disprove cynics and encourage those in doubt.
This is where the Good Filipinos advocacy, we are formally launching today, comes in.
We aim to have as many INDIVIDUALS as possible – Pinoys all and friends of Pinoys – who commit to support the much wider spread of personal commitment to good governance in our country, starting with their respective spheres, sectors, areas, or enterprises. We start with individuals in enterprises, which are already Islands of Good Governance. But we no longer limit ourselves to them. Individuals who aim to be the ULTIMATE GOVERNANCE ASSET in the enterprise with which they are connected are invited to join. For as long as they show interest in, and openness to, using the PERSONAL SCORECARD as a tool for becoming such a governance asset, they are welcome. Under Good Filipinos, they can become ADVOCATES of Good Governance.
We aim to have as many TEAMS as possible, working within enterprises with a transformation program or those small working groups committed to strengthen the re-enforcing mechanisms for teams – as provided by strong and happy FAMILIES, value-enhancing CIRCLES of friends and colleagues at work, and advocacy NETWORKS promoting shared interest in common good causes – to become ANCHORS under the Good Filipinos. Best-practice sharing of teams as the ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE DELIVERY UNITS in any enterprise shall be open to all ANCHORS and the number of Advocates that each Anchor seeks to encourage and inspire.
We aim to have as many ENTERPRISES as possible – in particular those that have already started on a journey towards transformation, but not limited to them – become the ULTIMATE AGENTS for TRANSFORMATION in the sector they belong to or the area and the community they have responsibility for. Through the spirit of “bayanihan”, which impels every enterprise to take the whole of enterprise, the whole of government, and the whole of community as approaches to pro-actively contributing to economic and community transformation – as the main pathway to peace and development – enterprises can become effective AGENTS for development. We invite them to become AGENTS of good governance under Good Filipinos.
We in the corporate and public governance advocacy have always been open to everyone with a deep interest in the transformation of the Philippines, without regard to political affiliation of preferences, and without regard to business groupings or connections. We however had to show that we can put some concrete elements to the transformation black box between the Good Governance end and the Responsible Citizenship means. Now that we have done so, we can now aim at scaling up. We can invite individuals to become Advocates; teams and groups to become Anchors; and enterprises and organizations to become Agents for transformation. We invite all of you to become any one of these – Advocates, Anchors, and Agents – under the Good Filipinos advocacy.
Learn more about GOOD FILIPINOS through: https://www.facebook.com/goodfilipinos