Dealing With Files

Styles of dealing with files
FROM the clerk at the lowest rung of the administration to the Prime Minister, everyone has to deal with files. How efficiently one handles them often separates a good functionary from the average one.

Early in my practical training as an IPS officer, a collector, a promotee from the state civil service cadre, gave me this lesson, “Never dispose of a file in the first instance. Return it with a query at least three times so that no one can accuse you of ‘non-application of mind’.”

Other than that, no one taught me how to deal with file work. To my surprise, I found that even for such uninteresting and routine work, bosses had their unique styles from which one learnt both the do’s and don’ts.
A senior officer was not good at clearing files but left his desk clean every evening by simply asking his PA to send all files back and put them up again the next day. So, files kept moving without actually ‘moving’.

A boss had difficulty in taking decisions. His office used to be littered with bundles of files. If I took a file to him with a request to clear it, he would say, “Just look around and see how busy I am. Please leave it. I will see it.” And so another file would be added to the pile.

I was working as DCP (Administration) in Vadodara in 1990 when I had to process loads of files daily, but my boss — a popular commissioner of police — had little time for them. He remained busy meeting visitors. The file work suffered, and it impacted administration.

One day, I broached the matter with him. He said, “What can I do? I have worked in Vadodara for three tenures. I know people for donkey’s years. If they come to see me, I cannot say no. Do one thing. When you find me free, bring files to me and I will clear them.” And that’s how it went.

His successor was different. On joining the post, he called all senior officers and said, “I am going to trust you all as long as you keep it up.” Then, he issued an order delegating most of his power to his deputies, including the power of transferring subordinate ranks, which few seniors are ready to part with.

It reduced the flow of files going up to him. But there was more to learn from him. He did not clear any file without reading it completely. He was a fast reader and decision-maker. His orders or instructions were always crisp and clear and his desk used to be mostly clean. He spent much of his time reading either a book or his favourite magazines — Time and Newsweek.

I wasn’t a fast reader like him but found his approach worth following. I did not have a ‘file-free’ desk at the end of each day but used weekends to finish pending file work so that on most Monday mornings, a clean desk greeted me in the office.
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