Sorry, but it’s not my problem!
31 May 2011
BY PHIL FITZPATRICK
THE ABILITY OF PEOPLE to subvert, obscure, handball and otherwise ignore problems, no matter how monumental, is amazing. No more so than in Papua New Guinea.
One of the reasons I bailed out of the South Australian public service in the 1990s was the interminable meetings I was forced to attend. When I couldn’t unobtrusively nod off to sleep, I had to listen to and watch some incredibly boring drone sketching yet another organisational chart on a whiteboard or shuffle dot points in another meaningless mission statement up and down.
The only upside of these sessions was the free cakes and biscuits at morning tea and the sandwiches carted in by the local caterer for lunch.
Then we were sent off to address our “personal performance indicators” or some other mindless piece of paperwork dreamt up by our human resources “team”.
All this was going on while the real problems were out there festering away and getting worse by the minute. I believe the correct technical term is “fiddling while Rome burns”, which is a reference to an ancient and corrupt Italian politician called Nero.
These days I happily tell people “sorry, I don’t do meetings” or “mission statement, sorry, don’t know what you’re talking about; how about you just point me at the job and I’ll give you a call when I’m done?”
Isn’t it curious that, in the modern world, when presented with a problem, people call meetings, set up committees, design flow charts and vision statements and then happily go home to watch television congratulating themselves on a job well done.
Meanwhile the leak in the dam gets bigger and the world drowns in more reports, charts and motherhood statements.
It’s also very easy to bury a problem or a good idea in jargon: stick an “ism” or an “ology” on the end of every second word and you can turn people off and away by the thousands.
Taking a simple concept and turning it into something totally incomprehensible is a fine and valued art in government. It’s a bit like talking for two hours and saying absolutely nothing.
And it’s not just government who are at it. If you rifle through PNG Attitude you come across comments like “someone needs to do something about this”, “they shouldn’t be allowed to do this”, “the government must address this problem”, and so on.
No one ever specifies who the “someone” actually might be; “they” are a mysterious group, presumably hovering in the background ready to leap on their white chargers to do battle with whatever gripe the commentator has raised. And what actually does “must” mean; call a meeting perhaps?
No one seems to be prepared to actually step up and claim ownership of a problem any more; just like no one is prepared to admit that they have made a mistake – that would be sudden death in modern politics.
“This is the problem; this is what needs to be done about it and I am now going out to fix it” or “this is a matter for the Minister of Procrastination; I’m going to bang on his door until he does something about it”. When did you last hear someone say something like that?
Outrage is fine, but only if you are prepared to do something about it.
Instead, the problem gets generalised, categorised, conflated, stalled, debated to death, hung out to dry and then shelved in a cupboard that hopefully no one is ever likely to reopen again.
This is the stuff that politicians, consultants, career public servants and other parasites feed off. Their mantra is to maintain the status quo at all costs. Stall long enough for people to get bored and go away.
In modern politics policy is king; how many times do you hear the accusation “they’ve got no policy? All they’ve got is rhetoric!” Policies have become an end in themselves but what good are policies if you don’t act on them?
What good is a policy if nobody takes any notice of it? A policy is only an idea; it doesn’t, of itself, solve problems; the actions flowing from it are what counts. The same goes for things like constitutions.
All governments world-wide do it; Papua New Guinea just seems particularly good at it. It must have had some very good teachers.
But, of course, this is gratuitous advice from someone who doesn’t actually live there and you are probably best advised to ignore it.
Henry: trupela tok tok. Someone once said, 'a committee is a body that takes minutes and wastes hours'. How true in many cases here.
In PNG, a committee can take years to come up with some answers, then take some more years before doing anything about fixing the problem(s).
On the flipside, a committee is also good if the issues are many and complex. And you have to break things down to easily manageable functional components for obvious reasons.
Phil - I absolutely agree with your third last paragraph. The second-last paragraph is negated by the last, but again I wonder if the writer knows who these teachers are? He did not say.
I guess many of these good teachers left when they felt their time was done in 1975. Oh, how things would have been different now and more better had they stayed around, just a few years more.
I wonder why they would want to leave a beautiful place to its own devises knowing full well that they would later be regarded as only shirking their responsibilities.
We can only lament now that at the time to rush overseas, these good teachers did not foresee then that one day it will come back to haunt them.
As now...we still need good teachers for PNG.
Posted by: Reginald Renagi | 01 June 2011 at 09:21 PM
Oh, what lovely rhetoric, Phil
And you earned some incredibly good comment from that host of polished respondees.
(rhetoric is words uttered in seeking a response)
Nothing nicer than notice being taken of your opinion, is there?
Old saying, "If you want something NOT DONE, then put it to a committee meeting."
Good managers can reduce meeting times, by first promulgating data, chosing the goal and soliciting comment in advance, such that this can be digested before consumption (if that is possible)
Olsem policy istap
Posted by: Henry Sims | 01 June 2011 at 05:58 PM
Good comment, Phil.
"Perhaps what is intrinsically wrong with policies, strategies, goals, plans, meetings and vision statements is that they have become an end in themselves. Rather than being platforms for launching action they are perceived as being the action itself..... "
It's redolent with the era of change that brought about departure from Australian standards to that present era of International standards which are developed and used to govern every outcome of industry, arts, and science.
It is a dumbing-down process that has brought us both the tragedy and gabfest associated with the worldwide educational debacle mirrored so fulsomely in the Corney Alone - OBE thread.
It's a practice that prefaces every working day and activity that encompasses a Human Resource in the conduct of their vocation.
So much so that since the "Good Old Days" of workplace activity, whole layers of bureaucracy have emerged to saddle industry and enterprise with all the hindrances to genuine industry that you decry.
In short, it is the all too pervasive herald of the advancing New World Order, an elitist supremacy of ideology and control over all resources and society etc.
Posted by: Robin Lillicrapp | 31 May 2011 at 09:21 PM
Phil has pointed up the method by which those who would not like to actually do anything constructive, convince the rest of us to support their life style and lack of activity.
Fortunately there are others who actually do the constructive activity and by pass the ones with terminal lip flap.
A small group of retired folk in Brisbane have been raising money and helping the people in the Bereina area, west of POM, at village level.
Their idea of a meeting involves hands "meeting" tools with the outcome of building aid posts or schools, installing water tanks or pipelines for the village.
Needless to say they fly under the radar deliberately, to avoid official interference.
For the best deal in talk fests, I recommend the never ending rounds of conferences on eliminating poverty in the 3rd world.
A friend of mine thought she could do some positive good by becoming a delegate. She lives in 5 star hotels, flies business class, sees London, New York, Bangkok, Rome, Washington, Geneva etc and has an apartment in a nice part of Canberra.
She has never, in the last 20 years, added one piece of bread to any poor person's plate or cured one case of malaria.
Now we would not like to spoil the nice life that conference and meeting goers all have, would we?
Posted by: Norm Richardson | 31 May 2011 at 02:40 PM
Perhaps what is intrinsically wrong with policies, strategies, goals, plans, meetings and vision statements is that they have become an end in themselves.
Rather than being platforms for launching action they are perceived as being the action itself.
Who wants to actually get their hands dirty these days? Certainly not politicians or public servants.
Having a policy these days is basically insurance against criticism. It is the smoke and mirrors that you trot out to prove you are doing something.
It should never be confused with accountability. That's the one that requires good solid proof. That's the one you blame on someone else.
On that basis I'm prepared to aver that there is, in fact, something intrinsically wrong with policy, particularly the way it is practised in PNG and Australia.
The world is going to end on October 21 (if you believe the fruit loop in the US) - we'd better have a meeting!
Posted by: Phil Fitzpatrick | 31 May 2011 at 02:15 PM
Phil - I totally agree with you. Meetings to even decide where a meeting is to be held!
Whiteboards with arrows all over the place, talkfests of utter rubbish and the end result, back to the original - try Brisbane City Council and Queensland Rail. Been there, done that and end result - zilch but a lovely morning or afternoon tea, sandwiches for lunch (and in cases I have seen, some participants, even doggy bag the leftovers!).
Too many HR, Marketing and PC people involved and I think they all live on a planet somewhere in the solar system yet to be named.
Whilst these groups are having "talkfests", the corrupt have no worries - they are on easy street.
Posted by: Colin Huggins | 31 May 2011 at 01:30 PM
Paul may have found the answer to whatever is causing these problems, such as corruption, that are holding PNG back.
The custom of the village "bikman" (ol bigpela man) may need to be looked at by PNG thinkers. All of us, but especially leaders, must be able to stand up to public scrutiny. All of us have our good points and our weaknesses and one man in his time plays many parts etc.
The bikmen of PNG need to be able to stand up to criticism. I suggest our PNG Attitude writers tune in sometime and watch the Australia Parliament in Canberra to see the experts at it.
All this so called "corruption" in the public service of PNG needs to be tested by a body such as our ICAC to find out what is causing it all. Is it really dishonesty or is it a result of a misguided wantok system?
I find it hard to believe that PNG people can't understand simple accounts. Just look at the buai sellers. They know what profit is!
Some of the writers are suggesting the younger generation will do a better job and they should replace the present public servants.
But will they? Surely if it is the wantok system which is to blame then they will also fall into the same traps?
At least PNG Attitude is working to try to help PNG people to confront the real issues and to start to work out "home grown" answers.
And, John, we still love them. That is why we are trying to get to the bottom of the problem.
If the really big problem in PNG is dishonesty then it needs to be dealt with by the court system.
Maybe the problem is really that people still have the cargo cult mentality. They just want lots of money so they can buy material goods, go on world trips, which are probably an important status symbol in PNG society.
Maybe the problem is that PNG people want to be looked on as "modern bikmen", they want to be rich and famous.
Which goes back to the concept of being willing to sell one's soul to get rich quick at other peoples' expense.
I'd better stop there!
Posted by: Barbara Short | 31 May 2011 at 09:45 AM
Phil - There is nothing intrinsically wrong about policies, strategies, goals, plans, meetings or even vision statements.
The crucial factors are (1) that such policies etc can be successfully effected and (2) that there is subsequent action that leads to desired outcomes.
What you are railing against should not be these techniques or tools, all of which can be very useful, but the propensity of some people to believe that process can substitute for action and that decision can substitute for outcome.
That is a common management problem. And it is a very prevalent problem in Australia.
Posted by: Keith Jackson | 31 May 2011 at 08:53 AM
Sorry Phil - I don’t think we should ignore your conjecture. I’ve been trying to raise exactly the same issue for a long time. Who will take responsibility for what everyone knows is the real problem?
Many of ‘PNG Attitude’s’ commentators and letters to local media have been discussing parts of the problem, but not actually addressing the central issue? Maybe this is in line with the PNG custom of ‘tok bokis’ (indirect reference) where you are at pains not to single out anyone in particular lest you give offence.
Maybe the custom of accepting what the ‘bikman’ (recognised village leader) says has led to an acceptance of bad behaviour by elected leaders?
Other traditional PNG customs may also be coming into play. Some writers raised the issue of ‘wantoks’ (people from the same clan or tribe) as being both a virtue and a problem.
‘Wantoks’ (one talks) stick together and support each other but also may demand loyalty above honesty when it comes to reporting or undertaking illegal activities.
Could it be that the very foundations of traditional village life in PNG are sometimes unsuitable or even diametrically opposed to modern life?
Maybe for the first time, PNG people are now able to confront the real issues and problems and start working out ‘home grown’ answers?
Posted by: Paul Oates | 31 May 2011 at 08:37 AM