Anass Lakhdari
Al Akhawayn University
Mary Grace Neville
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Healthy work environments have procedural transparency. Good leaders role model desired behaviors and values within their workplaces. However, role modeling fairness and accountability does not always happen in economies where too many public and private sector employees extort others based on opportunity and procedural power.
This story features one leader who reshaped an organization's culture by leading from courage to "do the right thing," treat people with respect and dignity, and then doing one's job well while simultaneously holding others accountable for doing so too.
This story serves as an inspiration to disenfranchised people, working hard and simply asking that the system does what it says it will do for people. The innovation is simple, but difficult -- inclusiveness by effective accountability at all levels.
In 2008, Mr. Boubker Lakhdari, deputy regional director of Marrakech-Tansift-Al Haouz was in a meeting with his superior in Marrakech. Suddenly, Mr. Lakhdari was extremely bothered by some loud screams of an individual on the ground floor of the agency; he stopped his own meeting and asked the doorkeeper to call in the person who was screaming. Once the person arrived in the meeting room, he was in a miserable state. His face was reflecting emotions of sadness, anger, and disappointment, and his eyes were filled with tears. He kept repeating, "The cow is gone! The cow is gone!" Mr. Lakhdari gave him a glass of water in order to make him feel a little bit more comfortable. And then the despondent man told what had happened to him.
The poor, despondent man was a member of La Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale (CNSS), a membership based retirement and pension agency. He was someone who had worked in many traditional tasks for a long time, but the only source of living he possessed was a cow. He was entitled to earn some pension from CNSS because of the subscription points he had gathered. He had prepared and delivered all necessary material in a documentation folder to a CNSS employee to request the pension; however, the CNSS employee refused the man's folder. The only condition the employee would accept was if the poor man would pay 1000 Moroccan dirhams (MAD) cash. The only way the poor man could afford this demand was to sell his cow. So, the poor man had sacrificed the cow for 1000 MAD and paid the amount of money to the CNSS employee to receive the folder. A day after receiving the payment, the CNSS employee retired; and he retired without forwarding the poor man's pension request. Therefore, the poor man had fallen into a trap laid by the employee and had been told he would now receive no pension at all. Both Mr. Lakhdari and the regional director now understood why the poor man had been screaming and crying.
Mr. Lakhdari was extremely shocked and instantaneously asked permission from the regional director to take direct action on the old man's behalf. The regional director supported Mr. Lakhdari, telling him that he had all prerogatives in the old man's case. Mr. Lakhdari promised the old man to solve his problem very quickly. The old man thanked Mr. Lakhdari and left the meeting room.
Later, Mr. Lakhdari called for the now retired employee who was corrupted.
The next day, Mr. Lakhdari had a serious discussion with the retired employee. Mr. Lakhdari was very friendly and smart while communicating with the corrupt individual. At the end of the conversation, he made it clear for this man that he must repay the poor man 1000 MAD and his cow; otherwise, the corrupt employee would be pursued judicially. The corrupt man knew that Mr. Lakhdari was someone very trusted, respected and loved by all his co-workers. If the corrupt man did not agree, then the corrupte man's reputation would go down, which would make him be perceived badly in the society. As a result, the corrupt man felt very guilty and confessed to his very big mistake. He agreed to return the poor man's money. Mr. Lakhdari quickly created a new folder documenting the poor man's pension rights, and he followed the case with high attention until it was completely processed.
In the end, social justice was achieved. The case of the poor man was resolved. The man came a few days after into Mr. Lakhdari's office with a big smile on his face and expressed his thanks and appreciation for the efforts and the care that Mr. Lakhdari showed. The case was closed without a big scandal. All workers in the Marrakech CNSS Agency were happy for the poor man and were pleased with the peaceful atmosphere. They organized a small ceremony in the agency to celebrate the regained social justice.
The story was one of the best experiences that he ever had in his entire professional career. Mr. Lakhdari saved the man's life and his family. Imagine if that man did not regain his amount of money and his cow, which was his source of living. The poor man would have suffered from extreme poverty and even more exclusion from Moroccan society. No one's future should be stopped because he is vulnerable to someone with power.
Mr. Lakhdari deepened the process of building strong social relationships, and asserted the institution's integrity to citizens as he ensured the right for the poor man to get his pension. He increased the trust and confidence in CNSS by fighting against bribery. As he finished his story, Mr. Lakhdari told me, "I felt alive ! I felt that I am a human! I felt that I have done something good for this citizen, for this particular country, for this world by resolving the man's case." All in all, the care of the citizen's well-being was very crucial in making CNSS an institution that contributes to positive peace.
The original idea, assisting a citizen who is facing a problem, came about in a very peaceful manner. Mr. Lakhdari was in the meeting and he took into consideration the loud screams of the miserable man. He gave this distressed man a glass of water to make him feel better psychologically. He had a sense of listening to the man's complaint and took a serious action to resolve the man's problem. As Mr. Lakhdari listened, an excellent interaction happened. Both men were being members of the same society, humanity. This resulted in an extraordinary connection. This human connection was one of the things that clearly led to restoring rightful access and the poor man's inclusion in justice.
"I had to do it because of my alive conscience, citizenship engagement, loyalty to my work, and professionalism," explained Mr. Lakhdari.
Mr. Lakhdari proved his responsibility, effectiveness, integrity, and spirit of citizenship. People who worked for him saw that and began to behave that way too. People turned away from unethical practices like bribery which involved taking advantage of their position. "The purpose of the story was to achieve social justice and to fight against unethical practises in a peaceful atmosphere," said Mr. Lakhdari.
The culture of cooperation between co-workers has grown rapidly as honesty, trust, and respect between workers was raised. Every employee began to maximize his/her potential in order to make the business more profitable and effective through cooperation. A social union of trust and accountability formed between the employees and the director, as well as between the agency and Moroccan citizens.
People began to be more disciplined and serious in their work. "Workers became very united," explained Mr. Lakhdari. "They began acting like a family. If an employee needs help with a task that he cannot understand well, another worker comes to make it clear and to make him feel psychologically better." They also began to welcome citizens and treat them with love, respect, and fairness. "Each time I get into the agency, I see everyone smiling. All in all, I will say undoubtedly that La CNSS agency in Marrakech is actually operating very safely. We are fine. We are doing well. We are all pleased with the actual circumstances."
Mr. Lakhdari's words stayed in my mind: "The case of the miserable man was an alert for me that there was a practice of bribery in our organization. The compassion that I showed for the poor man facilitated everything. I admit that this was one of the biggest achievements that I have ever realized in my professional career. Everyone was pleased after resolving the case of the poor man...the poor man spread a word of mouth that enhanced the reputation of La CNSS among citizens. On the other hand, the employees spread a word of mouth about the peaceful resolution of the man's case...An enormous positive change happened in the business, which made me extremely happy. Since that time, none of our employees has been accused of taking a bribery."
The resulting internal cultural change has allowed many new citizens to join La CNSS as new subscribers. La CNSS has made money from the subscriptions, which means that the public institution has become more profitable. The word of mouth of the poor man encouraged inactive citizens in La CNSS to turn into active citizens in the institution. That is, there was an upward mobility for a formerly disenfranchised class of people. The life cycle of the institution was refreshed and improved a lot. Thanks to the huge number of subscriptions in La CNSS, the economic cycle of the institution has improved too.
Society benefited too through the protection of citizen's rights, achieving social justice for all, increasing social union between workers and citizens, tolerating citizens and treating them with equity, minimizing the social gap between the wealthy people (Employees) and not wealthy people (Poor man), making citizens feel human and loved, building strong social relationships, and increasing social engagement with the Moroccan citizens.
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Boubker Lakhdari, Deputy Regional Director
