Lands Registry ripe for radical surgery

Last week I watched the evening news with bated breath as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands Dorothy Angote took the extremely plucky step of shutting down the Lands Registry and unearthing “missing” files.

With one swift move, she was sending a strong message to the registry mafia that hid the files and only produced them against payment of the usurious finder’s tax.

For the bold step of unearthing the files, she gets an A rating.

For the incredible faith she has that this action alone will kill the mafia, she gets an A+ rating.

For the fact that it will take nothing short of an apocalypse to rid the Lands Registry of its mafia, she gets a D rating.

What the Lands Registry needs is a colossal change project to computerise the land records.

But as anyone who has ever experienced a change project will tell you, there are very many constituencies to manage when you try to introduce a change project within an organisation.

The first constituency is made up of the employees who are excited and can quickly see what the benefits of the change will bring.

This constituency will form the “Early Adopters” and they need only to be informed to buy into the change.

Sadly this constituency ordinarily makes up less than 20 per cent of the institution.

The second constituency is termed as the “Early Majority” made up of the employees who after being informed need to be supported to buy into the change.

Support to this constituency can take the form publicised recognition and reward to achieve the change deliverables.

The two are really the easy part in the change journey.

The “Later Majority” forms the third constituency and in addition to being informed and supported, this team needs to be negotiated with.

This team probably has more personal fears than the other two constituencies and will be made up of employees who feel that the change being introduced will in some shape or form increase efficiency that will make their jobs redundant.