Follow-Through: The Forgotten Virtue of Governance
Rouzbeh Kordoni, advisor to the minister and director general of the ministerial area, wrote in Sharq newspaper: On the 15th of Mehr, when the doors of the Shams Tabrizi court were opened in Khoi, not only a cultural building was opened; A suspension is over. A project that was in flux for years between decision and implementation, credit and lack, center and province, and hope and exhaustion, finally came out of the world of promises and became a reality. About the importance of Shams, his relationship with Rumi, his place in Iranian mysticism and the meaning of his court for Khoi and Iran, we should write separately; But the other importance of this opening is in the process that completed the project; A process that can be considered a successful, albeit limited, example of executive governance.
The question is: How did a stopped project start again and finish in the days of war, embargo and lack of resources?
Public projects don't usually fail for one reason; They are gradually caught in a network of discontinuities: decisions are made, but resources do not arrive; Credit is provided, but devices are not synchronized; The center gives orders, but the province has no authority; Managers change and priorities shift; The local community is left out and ultimately no one is responsible for the outcome. The suspension is not just stopping the workshop; It is a situation in which there is a decision, but it does not act; There is a budget, but the result is not produced; There is a manager, but the responsibility rotates among the tables. Everyone can explain why it hasn't been done, but no one can say when it will be done. In policy literature, the distance between decision and result is called "implementation gap". Many policies and projects fail not because they are unnecessary or poorly designed, but because they do not cross this gap. Shams court was also facing the same issue for many years. The importance of the final stage of the project is that this distance was closed at least in a specific experience.
In the final stage of the Shams Court, seven components prevailed over the seven common discontinuities in the implementation of public projects: political and political commitment over indecision, horizontal cohesion over institutional fragmentation, vertical continuity over the distance between the center and the field, provincial and local affiliation over evasion of responsibility, companionship of the cultural community and the public sphere over social isolation of decision, field management over the implementation gap and discipline of resources and time over erosion and postponement. The first link was the formation of a will that went beyond the declaration of support. In Seyed Reza Salehi-Amiri's approach, Iran's identity lies in cultural heritage, and in this framework, Shams Court was not a construction project, but the project became the executive priority of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and continued coordination until the result was achieved. The organization of the program did not allow the purely numerical and budgetary view to marginalize the cultural importance of the project; And the administration of the province brought the capacity of the local administration to the field to complete it. The importance of the role of the program organization was not only in financing; The most important thing was that culture was not seen only in the table of numbers and costs. When the budget is separated from the meaning, it is only a mechanism to distribute scarcity; But the government has to know which public value, historical memory or symbolic capital each number protects. The combination of an achievement-oriented minister, the head of a program organization that does not measure culture only by numbers, and a governor who followed the project with a national perspective turned political commitment into executive capacity.
When the center and the field are not separated
The agreement of top managers was a necessary condition, but not sufficient. The decision should have been reached from Tehran to Urmia, from Urmia to Khoi and from Khoi to the workshop; Without losing its meaning and urgency in the twists and turns of the administrative hierarchy. One of the chronic weaknesses of bureaucracy is the separation of the center from the field. The center has decision-making power, but it is far from the implementation details; Maidan knows the problem, but does not always have the authority or resources to solve it. Governance becomes effective when these two levels are connected. In Shams Court, the Ministry, the Program and Budget Organization, the Governor's Office, the General Department of Cultural Heritage, the city administration and the workshop were not separate departments; The links of a chain were implemented. The middle managers also did not limit their duties to transmitting letters and reports.
The decision was not lost on the way between the center and the square
At the provincial and Khoi levels, the project did not remain just a task to be communicated. A kind of belonging was formed; More than an administrative task. The governorate, local managers and executive agents considered themselves responsible for the result. The difference between the minimal implementation of a directive and the effort to realize a goal begins at the moment when "their project" becomes "our issue".
The Shams Court cannot be considered only as a product of the government's decision. Before the workshop reached its final stage, researchers such as Professor Mohammad Ali Mowahed each had a part in establishing the position of the tomb, introducing Shams and forming the idea of the bargah. "Sharq" newspaper published the book Asrar Shams, Shams and Rumi Foundation, researchers, media, cultural activists and civil activists did not allow the project to remain in a social vacuum. The government completed the final stage of the project, but the cultural community gave it meaning, memory and support. This is an important point in cultural policy: the government can build, allocate funds and manage the workshop, but without the participation of the cultural community, it cannot produce meaningfully for it. Culture is not created from above; At the intersection of the government's decision, elite knowledge and belonging to the local community emerge. If one of these three is absent, the building may remain, but the cultural institution is not formed.
In the last two months, the project management became the connecting link between national managers, provincial officials and the workshop. Continuous presence in the field, daily coordination of technical forces and quick resolution of issues did not allow small problems to become new stops. The capacity of the workshop also increased significantly. According to the report of the project agents, at some points around 140 people worked in different executive groups; Architects, master craftsmen, buildings, restorers and forces who worked very hard to make up for lost time. But another determining factor was the announcement of a date: the 15th of Mehr. In pending projects, time is usually indefinite, deadlines are moved, "soon" replaces the date, and delays become the norm. Fixed deadlines made time a part of politics. Each device knew what it had to do by what day, and every delay was the owner of the responsibility. The 15th seal was a clear finish line that adjusted all activities to a common time. The promise was no longer a phrase for an unknown future; It was a commitment whose fulfillment could be measured.
An experience that should not end at the ceremony
The opening of Shams Court was the end of a project, but it can be the beginning of institutional learning. The main issue is not to praise a success; It is important to understand how this success was built and which components are replicable. This experience showed that success is not the product of a command, a manager or a budget line; It is built when the political will, national bureaucracy, provincial administration, local managers, cultural society and the forces present in the field are in the same direction. The opening of this collection can be seen as a sign of the approach of the government of Masoud Bizikian that the crisis should not stop the cultural life of the country. Protecting Iran is not just about defending geographical borders; Protecting the meaning, memory, culture and hope to build is also a part of defending Iran.
As the President of Medical Sciences emphasized, the opening of this complex in the days of war, sanctions and threats has a meaning beyond a cultural event. Enemies of Iran may target the infrastructure and lives of our people and create difficulties for this nation with pressure and sanctions, but they cannot crush the will of Iranians in building the future, protecting their identity and keeping their heritage alive.