The world’s reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic has made us aware that change can happen so unexpectedly and not always predictably. It can be said that the Covid 19 pandemic has forced us to enter the digital era, which is growing so fast.
Who would have thought that many large companies would collapse because their businesses could not anticipate the times?
The turbulence of change that is so fast, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous has actually been introduced by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus since 1987 in a leadership theory with the term VUCA, an acronym for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity.
Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus also mentioned that organizations that want to continue to succeed despite the VUCA storm must have agility in anticipating various uncertainties.
What is Agility?
The definition of agility is the ability to move quickly and easily or the ability to think and understand quickly. In Indonesian, the word agility means agility, dexterity, agility, intelligence, or ingenuity.
Rhenald Kasali in his book entitled Agility, Not a Bleeding Lion in 2016 stated that agile is a way for people to always be ready to face change. The ability to respond to changes in an agile, effective, timely and sustainable manner must also be built in an organization.
Agility Ingredients
According to McKinsey, a prominent advantage of an agile organization is the organization’s speed in moving and adapting to situations that are completely unclear.
To become an agile organization there are several things that must be met or what are called agility ingredients:
First, the Human Resources (HR) of an organization, both at the leadership and staff levels, must be willing to continue to learn.
The development of science moves dynamically, business processes change, and technological advances occur so fast. Without a continuous learning process, the gap between employee abilities and skills in coping with changes will be even greater. And of course, the bigger the gap indicates the further the lag.
Second, the work is done in a value-oriented manner. Working isn’t just about meeting deadlines, generating report outputs, meeting Key Performance Indexes, or chasing profits.
HR who work value-oriented results will certainly be of higher quality, provide more satisfaction to stakeholders and in the long run can further increase profits.
Third, leadership is built at every level of the organization. An organization should not rely solely on one or two people to carry out its objectives.
The Covid-19 pandemic has made us increasingly aware that a leader is not Superman. It can also suddenly be in an unprepared state. There must be someone who can immediately support or replace when the organization needs it.
A leader should develop his subordinates to become leaders. Leadership developed at every level will make the organization healthier and more prepared.
Fourth, there is transparency in the organization that allows employees to know what is happening. Employees who understand the condition of their organization are believed to be able to contribute more optimally and provide more optimal support for organizational development, both in difficult and happy times.
Fifth, the organization gives trust to the units under it to carry out self management (autonomy and alignment). When autonomy is grown, the center of the organization is not only at the top and there is delegation to units below it. As a result, business processes become simpler, space for movement becomes more flexible, decision-making and services to stakeholders can also be carried out more quickly.
Judging from the five, can the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) be said to have met the criteria for being agile in running an organization?
Lively DGT
In order to carry out its duties to optimally collect state revenues, DGT as a large strategic organization must not only be anticipatory and adaptive to VUCA, it is also required to have the agility to move in a new environment.
In fact, this agile organization has become DGT’s goal, as stated in the latest DGT Strategic Plan. DGT has prepared and participated in coloring the new era of prevalence.
In the Decree of the Director General of Taxes Number KEP-389/PJ/2020 concerning the Strategic Plan of the Directorate General of Taxes for 2020-2024, it is stated that one of the objectives of the DGT for the 2020-2024 period is an agile, effective, and efficient bureaucracy and public services.
The Strategic Plan also explains the three conditions that DGT wants to achieve in order to achieve these goals, namely:
Optimal organization and human resources through improving knowledge management, effective organizational management, and effective HR management;
A reliable and integrated information system through the development of an integrated tax administration system; and
Value added internal control and supervision.
Many programs and activities have been organized and developed by DGT in order to achieve the goal of becoming an agile, effective, and efficient bureaucracy and public service.
DGT personnel should be familiar with the agendas organized by DGT to support its objectives, such as DGT knowledge management, organizational and business process management, functionalization of positions, implementation of coaching, mentoring, and counseling by direct superiors, and what is currently under development is the Core System. Tax Administration (SIAP) as an update of information technology systems and business processes within the Directorate General of Taxes.
However, it is undeniable that apart from meeting the revenue target, the public’s expectation for the DGT to adapt and move quickly through tax administration policies and administration in the VUCA era, remains high and continues to grow.
Not Anti Change
Organizationally, DGT has started to carry out various efforts towards a more agile organization according to the times.
However, from the Agility Ingredients above, it can be concluded that the main key to success in conditioning the organization to be agile is HR.
An agile DGT will be easily realized with the support of HR who are independently ready to welcome changes. DGT HR cannot be anti-change. He must also be willing to change and develop self-ability to be able to adapt to changes in the organization and its environment.
DGT’s HR must be aware that times are constantly changing and he is required to quickly learn and adapt to new things so as not to be left behind. It’s time to change, from a comfort zone to a learning zone.
He should pay more attention to the quality of his work, not just produce mediocre products or just fulfill a predetermined schedule. He must be ready to be educated and educated, forge and forged, and committed and have responsibility for his duties.
He needs to be keen in identifying problems, being empathetic to the needs of the organization and stakeholders and not shying away from providing new ideas and innovative thoughts.
Armed with the authority and trust that has been given to him by the organization, he must be confident when he has to take the initiative and make decisions that are in his work responsibilities.
These demands for some people may at first seem difficult to implement. However, if it continues to work hand in hand and eventually becomes a culture, the more agile, agile, and creative DGT can certainly be realized.