Collective amnesia at ministerial level

‘Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he’ [proverbs 29:18] – The so called crisis council being Daniel Andrews, James Merlino, Tim Pallas, Jacinta Allan, Jenny Mikakos, Jill Hennessy, Martin Pakula and Lisa Neville obviously had no vision, no oversight, no responsibility,  no management expertise and it seems no memory as all suffered inexplicable group amnesia over the refusal to use the offered ADF but instead to use private contractors costing millions of dollars and 800 lives.  Failing to act in good faith is a failure to ‘keepeth the law’ with the result being confusion and chaos with no concrete ‘vision’ of returning to normal.   

Once more unto the breach [a second wave of Covid] we are still stuck in minutia by being enveloped in a blame game that is both brain dead and dysfunctional but is still costing innocent lives and billions of dollars.  Please don’t blame others or point to other countries misfortunes because Australia was under control with Covid 19 until Ruby Princess [28 dead] and Andrews quarantine maladministration [800 dead!]. 

This is a ‘management’ issue where elected politicians with little management experience pontificate from on high whilst the visionless minions try to make sense of gross stupidity and criminal mismanagement.  800 deaths and a trillion dollar debt is criminal. 

There is no doubt that the Victorian labor government has been and is responsible for putting Victorians at risk through and by the mal administration of the so called second wave.  Not only though as there is still the ramping up of unsustainable debt, not having a clear vision for Victoria, selling our sovereignty to a rogue power and failing to even make common sense.  Andrews is the self appointed leader of that dysfunction but not the only culprit.  The ‘gang of 8’ comes to immediate mind as a group of senior government people so far out of their comfort zone that collective amnesia has set in - as ably demonstrated at ‘the enquiry’. 

No one is to blame so it seems for 800 deaths and a trillion dollar debt. No, not me, can’t remember, no one told me, my computer crashed, was sick that day, the dog ate the memo, aliens stole the email.  Sadly, these are responsible adults holding down key management jobs yet they come across as 10 year old kids determined to get out of trouble by any obfuscation or fabrication possible.

It’s pathetic but worse it’s ‘adult’ pathetic with known consequences.  Acting in bad faith doesn’t even come close.  Mindless narcissistic drivel but with enormous ramifications for their victims – us! 

It’s easy to devolve to minutia during periods of brain overload, as a matter of fact sometimes necessary to keep our sanity.  But, this is not what we pay our leaders for.  We pay them to actually think strategically.  Simple.  Shouty is not good.

This last week has been all about minutia and finger pointing over small things.  Good television but led by pontificating idiots focused on blame shifting away from themselves.

May I repeat, this current so called second wave has been caused by the collective labor government and bureaucratic affiliates with each identified player adding their useless two bob’s worth.  Let’s focus on 800 deaths and a trillion dollar debt instead of who said what to whom at 3:27pm.  Or, is that too hard?  Simple statistics show huge flaws in management and rhetoric.

It is a management problem!

Andrews has been and is wallowing in a sea of ineptitude.  Not only are his shortcomings on show but it seems all concerned are also wallowing.  This second wave should never have occurred yet it did because of sheer incompetence by a whole gaggle  of politicians, bureaucrats, advisors and public officials.  “I am too senior and beyond reproach”.  Yeah, right.

The solution?  We, the affected, demand Andrews and his cohorts apply some degree of intelligence to fixing the mess they created.  Not only Covid19 but the debt burden and the sale of Victoria to a foreign power.  Can they do this?  No.  They need help in the form of real and proven leaders from all sides of politics.  Think what Don Argus did for Coles Myer after a management import created disaster.  A calming strategic influence – right time right place.

I mean really, a curfew no one wanted or thought necessary [except Andrews], draconian lockdowns the same professionals thought unnecessary and a political ‘roadmap’ which was and is a joke to any business or indeed any thinking person.

I would be happier if it was the same Mexicans who invaded Telstra management and tried to screw the company before an Australian steadied the ship [Thodey]. In that case one could just ship them back to their home hole in the ground but we have an elected Government bent on staying in power by any means.

Therefore, we are stuck with the labor collective for a while albeit they must accept support from the real adults lest we all sink. Adults who think strategically such as Kennett, Keating, Costello and Gillard.

Oblivion is but a small step when good people fail to act - 800 lives lost and a trillion dollar debt is not political playtime.  When the country divides, political leaders have failed.  Simple, but watch the fools try and shoot the messenger.

It’s a shame that the pandemic response is but one of Andrews failures.  A big one, but just one.

Andrews 4

 PREAMBLE:

Very broadly speaking, there are two types of people who deal with planning but from different perspectives and mindsets.  Each has a role to play but rarely do both attributes reside in the one person. 

There are the ‘block’ people who build success by gradual change from the bottom up.  This is the minutia set, the people who are happiest when dealing with individual issues and are critical to the success of basically everything.   Nuts and bolts!  Without their dedication to keeping stuff happening we would not have a world.  Their ‘escape’ is for example ‘science fiction’ where their brains can wax lyrical and expand into the unknown.

The second lot are the ‘jigsaw’ people who can visualise the big picture and how all the bits fit.  There are less of these people because the demand is less.  Dealing with minutia for these people is hard because inherent focus is different.   Their escape is to for example to meticulously clean the golf clubs before challenging the unwinnable [grass].

This gets really hard for sole traders and small business people.  ‘Poiders Plumbing’ is run by a block person happily dealing with minutia but needs to understand and market himself as a jigsaw person in order to thrive.  Wendy’s events business is all about bringing together the many facets of a function to create success but has real difficulty in hands on.  Different people, different jobs.

In management there is a dysfunction line when people cross the boundary between minutia and jigsaw - either way.  A great manager decides to ‘roll up his sleeves’ and get stuck in.  A noble cause?  Not really.  It may be therapeutic for a while but his mindset is in a different place and it will not work long term.  But, every now and again, devolving to minutia is a defence mechanism to stop us going crazy.  Going the other way, the minutia person enters an expanded universe over the line and is immediately uncomfortable because there is no one-thing on which to focus.  Again, it will not work.  Everyone has heard the expression, ‘promoted to a level of incompetence’.  Well, this can be a reason why.

This dysfunction rears its ugly head when we look at our elected representatives coming from all walks of life expected to cement our collective future in a changing world.  They love the election because they can pontificate at length about single issues pretending they are in control.  Not so.  The ‘look at me’ syndrome is born of shouty people who would be better served by a job within the bureaucracy.  Shout long enough and people will believe. 

An expression used a lot by people who are basically out of control is ‘we are working hard’ but all they are really saying is that they are in fact out of control and having to work harder and harder to keep their collective heads above water.

The in control person says, ‘We are achieving our published goals and, this is how we are doing it’.

In charge, but wallowing around without a clear and communicated vision and subsequent plan does not cut it.  It confuses the block people trying to action anything and it confuses those who need to know.

ANDREWS:

When a crisis hits all the management flaws come to the surface.  Good times management is relatively easy as all is tickety boo and we ignore small issues because in the big picture they don’t really matter.  ‘She’ll be right mate’.  And, for the ‘lucky country’, this axiom has worked for years and years.

Now we have an axiom contradictor in the form of a virus threatening and indeed changing our way of life.  The pressure is on and merely ‘working hard’ is insufficient.

Andrews ‘roadmap’ delivered yesterday as a plan to beat the contradictor was inept because it had no vision other than ‘please God may the virus go away if we are all good little boys and girls’.  There was no vision of a future other than a return of sorts to pre-Covid.  He delivered same in his shouty voice and stare down manner trying to be seen as in control.

Yet we know, he was responsible for the mal administration causing this second wave, huge monetary losses and hundreds of lives.  He is out of control and has been for the last 8 years.  An elected representative out of his comfort zone but refusing to do what all good managers do, seek advice from experts, develop a vision people can identify with and take transparent action to achieve that future.

Hard?  Of course it’s hard.  It’s hard in good times let alone during a crisis.

Victoria has a tough road to follow to get out of the world perception that we are the out of control pariah mendicant state.  We need a mantra which can both lead and enthuse. If I may quote from Robin Sharma - “I am more than I appear to be, all the worlds strength & power rests inside me.” A great line which could also serve Victoria well as we bolt out of this crisis.  Victoria - "I am more than I am being quiet, determined, respectful and focussed." 

This is the sort of focussing vision we need to be supported by a bunch of real goals thrusting us into the future.  Not a minutia led ‘level crossing maintenance’ objective but real visionary stuff.  The sort of vision Keating, Button and Howard had, combined with the strength Hawke had to galvanise a nation, the financial smarts of Costello and the CEO Premier showcased by Kennett.

What we have is quite different.  We have a minutia led Premier trying to focus on just one thing being to eradicate the virus.  It happened on his watch and he is responsible for the mal administration costing billions of our dollars and many many lives.  He needs to fix it.

But is he capable?  Obviously a minutia / block thinker trapped in a jigsaw thinking job.  So, no he is not capable.  Worse, he has refused to recognise obvious shortcomings and get appropriate help.

None of us can claim to be the absolute fund of all knowledge but the better of us recognise this and seek support.  The more serious the matter the more this is critical.

Obviously, my opinion of Andrews is not very high as it relates to the job he is not doing.  But it doesn’t mean there is not a way out.  Andrews needs to cede management control for Covid 19 to an expert team removed from government – as good managers who know their limits do.  He also needs to develop a vision for Victoria which people will gladly follow.  He needs to communicate a positive ‘carrot driven’ plan to extract ourselves from Covid normal to be seen globally as a dynamic state dealing with pressure.  He also needs to develop a set of long term goals people will flock to.  Then he needs to action those goals through transparent plans communicable to us mere lemmings.

Basically, business 101.

We don’t have basic business ‘101’.  We have people trapped in the wrong job.

 

LEADERS [?] DEBATE

There was something prophetic about Sunday night’s ‘leaders debate’ replacing ‘Grand Designs’ on the ABC.  Or at least it should have been.

The media nor the leaders seemed to recognise or understand that here and now in the public arena were two blokes each of whom purported to be the better than the other at leading the political party which would take Australia roaring into the future.

Instead the self absorbed intellectual lightweights asking the questions focused on minutia to which they both should have retorted, ‘Do you know what a leader is?  If you want to know about tax cuts or healthcare go and ask the appropriate minister – I deal with the vision for our country and where we need and want to be – the grand design’.

The trouble is that reporters deal in minutia because that’s their job.  They are not paid to think about the so-called big picture; and it’s so obvious it’s galling.

There was no doubt that the Prime Minister was way ahead of Mr Shorten in this respect albeit he also was dragged down by stupid questions.  This was supposed to be a ‘leaders’ debate, not a portfolio debate.

For example, if anyone cares to remember the ‘I have a dream’ speech by Mr King in 1963, he focuses on a vision and brings everyone along for the ride.  A ‘grand design’ vision so prophetic it and Mr King will live forever.

Now, no one expects that sort of belly fire from either man but we do have a right to expect a ‘grand design’ by each ‘leader’ which we as mere mortals can cling to, believe in and focus towards.

This is standard business 101 and, at least for this little black duck, is mission-critical.  Don’t be dragged down by small people.  I have written many articles about the difference between jigsaw people and block people both of whom are indeed so called mission critical because block people work from minutia up whereas jigsaw people work from the perfect down.

Mr Prime Minister and Mr Shorten, as leaders and jigsaw people, what are your parties’ perfect visions for Australia?