On the occasion of the official visit to New Zealand of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and a high-ranking delegation of the National Assembly of Vietnam, the reporter of Nhan Dan Newspaper accompanying the delegation had an interview with Dr. Vu Anh Dao about the story of the governance model. as well as opportunities for cooperation in this field.

New trends change thinking

Reporter: Could you please share the difference between the traditional management method and the open or flexible management method that you are helping many businesses and organizations in Vietnam and around the world to implement?

Dr. Vu Anh Dao : Previously, we used the term Flexible Management to talk about management thinking and new ways of working. However, we realized that Agile Management did not fully cover the meaning we wanted to convey, so we replaced it with the term “Open Management”.

Open Management is a mindset, not a method, it includes “Agile Management” and many other knowledge such as “Lean”, Systems Thinking, Distributed Systems Disruption, Open Leadership, Open Management, Humanity… Open Management helps people and organizations become agile.

Dr. Vu Anh Dao

The biggest difference is that open management focuses on the human factor while the traditional management methods focus on productivity and performance management without focusing on the human factor. In open management, managers are always looking for ways to develop people, make their employees happier, let them maximize their potential and from there performance will come as a result, not as a result. must be the goal.

Reality in the world is proving that the most effective organizations are the most humane. We live in a constantly changing world, in order to survive and develop, we really need to be flexible – that is, be able to change quickly according to the changes of the market, of society. festival. This requires a flexible system with flexible, improvised people.

Flexibility and adaptability in management and administration

Reporter: Why is open management thinking an inevitable trend of the present and the future?

Dr. Vu Anh Dao : The world is changing very quickly with unpredictable fluctuations that show that we have no choice but to be flexible. Traditional long-term planning is showing a waste of resources, these plans were made but could not be implemented when the situation changed.

We always need a long-term vision, but a short-term plan because the ability to respond, adapt and change quickly is a prerequisite for survival and development in an ever-changing world.

As organizations seek to become more resilient, more resilient, adaptive, innovative, customer-centric… it’s about treating people with kindness, so that they want to do their best work, Bringing the highest value to the organization is essential.

Many leaders are looking to create this change in their organizations and are looking to establish systems to make this a reality.

Reporter: What are the results of applying and disseminating this thinking in New Zealand and other countries?

Dr. Vu Anh Dao : In practice of management consulting in a new way, Teal Unicorn has worked with many organizations that people still think can never be flexible, such as the army or the police. We have consulted and trained to help the Departments of Social Development, Department of Key Industries, Department of Taxation, New Zealand Defense Force and many other New Zealand agencies change management thinking to transition from The traditional organization of command and command has changed to a flexible organization that is able to quickly adapt to the changes of social reality.

“You try to imagine the consequences of an order from a general who commands a battle but does not understand the battlefield as well as soldiers who actually fight on the battlefield; Therefore, training the soldiers to be very elite and giving them the power to decide on the field will definitely bring better results.”

Dr. Vu Anh Dao

In New Zealand, a policy is often built on a lot of actual research and applied in the smallest scale to observe the impacts and effects of that policy on society; from there, there are flexible adjustments and continuous improvement to suit the actual situation.

By the time that policy is rolled out on a large scale, it’s the best version it can be; However, necessary adjustments and changes continued to be made very quickly.

Dr. Vu Anh Dao presented at Devops Enterprise Summit Las Vegas 2018, the world’s largest conference on new ways of working and managing in the information technology industry.

Sharing experiences and knowledge in the homeland

Reporter: Being very successful with consulting organizations and governments in New Zealand, Australia, UK, USA, Singapore… why did you decide to help Vietnamese businesses?

Dr. Vu Anh Dao : In 2018, I returned to Vietnam to help a friend who is the leader of a corporation with the desire to leave a good legacy for the next generation of leaders by changing the management method for the company. organization.

After about 5 months, the organization with more than 12,000 people has had unprecedented changes in thinking, working methods as well as economic and cultural results. In just a short time, the major bottlenecks in the system were cleared, people were more trusted, more empowered, coordinated to work more smoothly, reduced waste more…

Those changes have made the people who work in that organization much happier. This has motivated me to share more with the business community and business managers in Vietnam what I have done for businesses and organizations around the world.

When listening to my sharing, many business leaders want me to help them do the same things and so I spend more and more time with organizations and businesses in my hometown.

Our aim is to make the management system in organizations better, which in turn produces better results, the lives of the people who work in it, and the society as a result.

Reporter: How do you evaluate the ability to implement this management thinking in Vietnam and the conditions for successful implementation?

Dr. Vu Anh Dao : As a PhD in public policy, I affirm that the open management method can be applied to all ministries, departments, organizations, businesses, schools… in Vietnam.

The pursuit of vaccine diplomacy is a proof that the National Assembly and Government of Vietnam can fully apply an open mind. When the pandemic occurred, we flexibly responded and made timely changes in foreign policy to ensure the supply of vaccines for the people, becoming one of the 6 countries with the highest vaccination coverage rate. world.

Dr. Vu Anh Dao

I was very impressed with the fact that Vietnamese leaders, including the Prime Minister, went to meet with commune presidents to understand the local situation. When leaders go to the place to listen, observe to know what is happening to understand the reality and respond accordingly instead of waiting for subordinates to report to them.

The key to implementing open management is to change the mindset. No technology or method can help us succeed if we don’t have the right mindset. Whether it is a family, an organization or a country, the operation method and application principle are the same, only the scale is different.

In addition, listening to opinions from scientists, experts and consultants will help managers understand the actual situation and have timely and effective responses.

Training session on flexible management for Electricity of Vietnam.

Reporter: In the process of consulting and implementing Open Management in Vietnam, what advantages and disadvantages do you have, ma’am?

Dr. Vu Anh Dao : Reality shows that we have a big difference in endurance; We have the ability to adapt and change very quickly, but in order to master, understand deeply and develop sustainably, we still need to improve a lot.

It is very interesting that although Western countries have a higher management level than Vietnam, when we help organizations apply open management in Vietnam, the results are much more obvious and much higher. compared to Western countries. The ability of Vietnamese people to learn and absorb new things is not inferior to international friends.

Dr. Vu Anh Dao

More specifically, when a difficult situation occurs, we are still confused in deepening our thinking, finding the root cause of the problem, having the right solution, and having the ability to go the distance. All of this requires constant, constant practice, improvement, and innovation. Just try, accept some error and continuously improve we will be faster, more efficient, safer and happier!

Thank you very much, Dr. Vu Anh Dao!