Don Bosco Philippines South Province

January 1 was supposed to bring new resolutions and opportunities. The new year however brought the Philippines back to the world stage in an unflattering way. In an unfortunate series of mishaps the country’s airspace was closed because radar and communication equipment got fried when a powerful failure led to a backup failure and eventually to an over-voltage supply which knocked the whole system out. Alas, an estimated 56,000 travelers had their plans cancelled or delayed.

As my team and I are handling crucial equipment and networks in our Don Bosco settings, this unfortunate event reminded me of the following lessons in management:

1. Be prepared for the worst – the Preventive System of St. John Bosco challenges the educator to always be prepared for the worst case scenario, foresee any dangers both physical and moral, and provision safeguards ahead so that the worst doesn’t catch you off guard
2. Have a cascade of backups – no plan is perfect and anything can go wrong. If something does go wrong be ready with a plan B, C, D, so on and so forth. We learned this the hard way when we wanted that one of our main firewalls have an uptime of 99.99% in the midst of power interruptions and hardware failures. To achieve this, we had to setup a high-availability clone for the said firewall, put up UPSes (Uninterruptible Power Supplies) as main, back-up, and second back-up. We never had any major setbacks since then.
3. Decentralize and Empower – the pandemic has a valuable lesson to teach: no one is indispensable. In our organizations today, the service of leadership and animation, the exercise of power and responsibility, should not rest on one person alone. There is always strength in numbers. When loads and responsibilities are spread out across people, they are much easier to carry. If only CAAP didn’t centralize everything in Manila by closing their back-up site in Cebu, the Philippine airspace could have been kept open. Decentralization also means that we up-skill our teams so that they are ready and empowered to share in our ministry and works.
4. Communication should outlast breakdowns – when things go south, our way of communication needs to be efficient, quick, and clear. A good percentage of plans fall apart and a resilient communication system could help it recover. I do commend how the government relayed information as the mishap progressed through the day. The concerned teams shared what’s wrong, what they’re doing to fix it, and how people can help cope with it. So instead of falling into a war of finger-pointing, when our plans fail our communication should make up for it.
5. Future-proof – it had been a culture for cash-strapped organizations to provide only the minimal and usable at the cost of quality. Thinking we were true to our vow of poverty, Salesians also followed this line of thought. But a long term view of budgeting and economics will tell you that investing in good and quality equipment can actually save you more in the long run. It is better to buy the more expensive ones if these would last longer and give better service, rather than periodically replacing defective equipment and over time incurring more costs. CAAP had the chance to future-proof but government bureaucracy reared its ugly head.

St. John Bosco was a man of deep foresight. He was a man ahead of his times. Following his footsteps, systematic planning will help us along the way.

Disclaimer: This section of the website is a personal creative writing of the author and does not necessarily reflect the official views, opinion, or policies of the Salesians of Don Bosco – Philippines South Province. For concerns on the content, style, and grammar of this piece, please contact us.