Up The Creek
 

Once upon a time the Australians and the Japanese held a boat race on the Brisbane River.

Despite diligent training, the Aussies were thrashed by a mile. The Aussies team management set up a project team to investigate reasons for the defeat and to recommend appropriate action.

The investigation concluded that the problem was in the composition of the teams: the Japanese had eight rowers and one person steering. The Australians had one rower and eight people steering.

Senior management immediately hired a firm of consultants to study the Australian team's structure.

Several months and some millions of dollars later, the consultants advised that in their view, the Australians had too many people steering and not enough people rowing.

Management acted on this advice by promoting four of the steerers to Steering Managers, and introduced a performance and appraisal system to give the rower an incentive to work harder.

Next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Aussie management promptly sacked the rower for poor performance, retrenched the four steerers, and gave the Steering Managers voluntary redundancy packages, sold all the oars, cancelled all capital investment in new equipment and halted development of a new boat.

The consultants received a generous achievement bonus and funds saved on cut-backs were distributed equitably among senior management executives.

The race was abandoned.

Without paddles.
 

"Senior management immediately hired a firm of consultants to study the Australian team's structure"

I consider this analogy to describe the Australian Government very well.

It is common practice now for Governments to hire firms to advise bureaucracy on the merits of their generally inane ideas.

Of course the outcome is more often than not, in favour of the BS, because guess what………the firm hired to analyse the idea, is made of ex-bureaucrats who were either fired or forced into retirement from the Government.

Plus when it’s made public that the BS idea was in fact BS….the Government blame the hired firm.

All of this is supposed to make us feel better because our elected officials didn’t seem to waste the money on themselves, they invested it in a company that they thought could be trusted, but of course was tainted with the same ineptitude
.
I don’t know what makes me shudder more…..the fact that our Governments treat us the way they do….or the fact that we put up with it.

Sad, but true.

Richard Vaughan.

Without paddles while singing the Star Spangled Banner......
 

> "Senior management immediately hired a
> firm of consultants to study the Australian
> team's structure"

> I consider this analogy to describe the
> Australian Government very well.

***Not to mention American Government. After working for five years in Local Government, the freedom from bureacracy was much like getting out of a hunter's trap. Bureaucrats and their blinders....looking for YES people above all.

My most recent boss had one major fear, being embaressed. While my colleagues were paid to advocate for the best care and treatment for our clients, if we ever went against one or more key political players, you can be sure we heard about it and were reprimanded with hostility.

> I don’t know what makes me shudder
> more…..the fact that our Governments treat
> us the way they do….or the fact that we put
> up with it.

****The majority needs to be startled out of complacency. Somewhere I read an excerpt of a book about "Tipping Points" or something like that, when enough people finally decide enough is enough is enough and join together....

Now I have another book to find, read and dissect....

Always seeking another philosophy or methodology,

JULIE


Dare to Discover Your Passion, Dare to Change Your Life!