Tag Archives: Management Problems

Lessons for managers from Fawlty Towers…

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Guest: “Is there anywhere they do French food?”

Basil: “Yes, France, I believe. They seem to like it there. And the swim would certainly sharpen your appetite. You’d better hurry, the tide leaves in six minutes.”

Introduction:

Fawlty Towers: The Setting and Popularity Explained:

“Fawlty Towers” was a classic humorous British sitcom, set in a hotel in the seaside town of Torquay. Here the eccentric and perpetually flustered Basil Fawlty runs a struggling hotel with his wife Sybil.

The show’s popularity can be attributed to a combination of sharp writing, impeccable comedic timing, and the brilliant performances of its cast, especially John Cleese as Basil Fawlty. The comedic chaos ensues as Basil interacts with the guests, his staff, and various unexpected situations

Main Characters and Their Idiosyncrasies:

  1. Basil Fawlty (John Cleese): The bumbling and irritable owner of Fawlty Towers, Basil is a study in mismanagement and social awkwardness. His exaggerated attempts to maintain an air of sophistication and control often result in disastrous consequences.
  2. Sybil Fawlty (Prunella Scales): Basil’s wife, Sybil, serves as the voice of reason in Fawlty Towers. However, her condescending and authoritative demeanour, coupled with her obliviousness to Basil’s antics, adds to the comedic tension.
  3. Manuel (Andrew Sachs): The lovable but linguistically challenged Spanish waiter, Manuel, is a perpetual source of confusion and frustration for Basil. His attempts to understand and execute orders often lead to comical misunderstandings.
  4. Polly (Connie Booth): The sensible and resourceful maid, Polly, is often caught in the crossfire of Basil’s misadventures. Her calm and collected demeanour provides a stark contrast to the chaos unfolding around her.

However, beyond the laughter, “Fawlty Towers” offers valuable insights into the world of management, in particular where ‘actions have consequences’. Manuel struggles with the English language result in frequent misunderstandings and chaotic scenarios. Basil’s attempts at managing the hotel are consistently inept. Furthermore, Basil’s social awkwardness and constant attempts to appear sophisticated often backfire.

There are plenty of lessons for today’s managers.

Here are three of them:

  1. Effective Communication Is Key:

Fawlty Towers recurring theme of communication breakdowns serves as a cautionary tale for managers. The show highlights the importance of clear and effective communication to avoid misunderstandings and chaos in the workplace.

  1. Leadership Requires Competence and Adaptability:

Basil Fawlty’s inept management style showcases the pitfalls of leadership without competence and adaptability. His attempts to cut corners, impress guests with grandiose schemes, and maintain an outdated status quo result in frequent disasters.

  1. Maintaining Professionalism Amidst Challenges:

While Fawlty Towers is a comedic farce, it underscores the importance of maintaining professionalism even in the face of challenges. Basil’s social awkwardness and unprofessional behaviour create a chaotic atmosphere in the hotel, impacting both staff and guests.

Can you think of any other lessons for managers?

In conclusion, “Fawlty Towers” remains a timeless classic, not only for its comedic brilliance but also for the insights it offers into the world of management. Through the misadventures of Basil Fawlty and company, today’s managers can learn that effective communication, leadership competence, adaptability, and maintaining professionalism amidst challenges are timeless lessons.

Postnote: John Cleese together with Anthony Jay (who co-wrote  the timeless “Yes, Minister” TV series) founded Video Arts, a company that created training videos for businesses using humour and great examples of what ‘not to do’ in managing businesses and people. Apparently, this was on the basis of “their observation that people learn very little when they are bored and nothing when they are asleep.”

@thenetworkofconsultingprofessionals

Vanishing Stripes: The Tragic Tale of the Tasmanian Tiger and Lessons for Business

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 “Cowardly, as stealing down on the sheep at night and wantonly killing many more than it could eat, as being worthless for its skin” – description of the Thylacine in the 1880s in The Hobart Mercury newspaper!

Many years ago, I was flicking through a photo album of my grandparent’s honeymoon in Tasmania in the late 1920s. In the album was a photo of a Tasmanian Tiger, or Thylacine at the Hobart Zoo, the last of the species to die in captivity in 1936. I was fascinated that they had seen an animal, that is now extinct.

What was the Tasmanian Tiger?

It was not a tiger, but a marsupial carnivore with a slender body, dog-like head, and distinct dark stripes across its back. Native to Tasmania, it once roamed the Australian mainland but disappeared from there around 3,000 years ago, probably due to the introduction of the dingo which was a more effective and efficient hunter. Confined to Tasmania, it was the largest carnivorous marsupial of modern times.

What happened to it?

As European settlers moved into Tasmania in late 18th and early 19th century, being a carnivore, it developed a reputation as a livestock killer. Whether this was justified is open to debate. However, it was seldom seen and historical reports suggested it roamed in open grasslands rather than dense forest.

While human activities played a significant role in the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger, other contributing factors included intensive hunting, habitat destruction, and diseases introduced by the European settlers. More importantly, government and bureaucratic incompetence played a critical part. In particular, in the 19th and early 20th centuries the Tasmanian government implemented bounties to protect the livestock industry. The indiscriminate killing of Tasmanian Tigers led to a significant reduction in their population, accelerating their path towards extinction. Furthermore, legislation was enacted to safeguard the Thylacine, but the measures were implemented too late and proved insufficient to counter the threats it faced. While the last known Tasmanian Tiger died in 1936, the lack of understanding of Thylacine biology also prevented successful breeding.

Do you think there are any lessons for managers in the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger?

Here are three to consider:

  1. Adaptability in the Face of Change:

The demise of the Tasmanian Tiger is, in part, a story of failure to adapt to changing circumstances. Businesses, like species in the natural world, must be adaptable to thrive. The introduction of new technologies, shifts in consumer behaviour, and evolving market dynamics require businesses to embrace change, innovate, and remain agile.

Example: Blockbuster Video’s failure to adapt to the rise of online streaming is a stark reminder of the consequences of not embracing change. In contrast, Netflix, recognising the shifting landscape, evolved its business model to dominate the streaming market.

  1. Sustainable Practices for Long-Term Success:

The extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger emphasises the importance of sustainable practices for long-term survival. In the business world, sustainability extends beyond environmental considerations to encompass ethical business practices, social responsibility, and long-term planning.

Example: Patagonia, a renowned outdoor apparel company, has embraced sustainability as a core principle. Their commitment to environmental and social responsibility has not only earned them customer loyalty but also positioned them as a leader in the sustainable business movement.

  1. Government Policies and Business Impact:

The tragic tale of the Tasmanian Tiger underscores the impact of government policies on the fate of a species. In the business regulatory frameworks, industry standards, and government policies can profoundly influence the success or failure of enterprises.

Example: The Australian government introduced bans on tobacco advertising, implemented laws on plain packaging with graphic health warnings and removed visible displays of tobacco at point of sale and implemented high taxes on tobacco products. Daily smoking rates declined from 24% of adults in 1991 to 11% today. However, cigarettes became so expensive at over $40 per pack (compared to an average of $10 in the USA) it provided an opportunity for organised crime to smuggle illegal cigarettes into Australia resulting in arson and murder in ‘tobacco turf wars’ which continue to this day. Government actions and their reliance on tobacco taxes created opportunities for organised crime.

In conclusion, the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger is a reminder that human actions, bureaucratic incompetence, coupled with environmental pressures helped sealed its fate. In the world of business, lessons from the demise of the Tasmanian Tiger include the need to embrace adaptability, foster sustainable practices and ensure you understand the implications of government policies when planning for the future.  

Can you think of any other lessons for businesses?

@thenetworkofconsultingprofessionals

Where’s my tractor?

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“Sorry Minister, we know it left Hamilton, but it failed to arrive in Taumarunui.” – NZ Railway Executive

The above quote is attributed to an executive from the state-owned New Zealand Railways in the 1980s. A farmer had written to Richard Prebble, the then Minister for Railways complaining that the Railways had lost his tractor. After weeks of fruitless complaining and an offer to pay $20 to compensate the loss based on some obscure statutory railway regulation, he wrote to the Minister.

Prebble then ordered the railways to find the tractor. A reply came back stating that the tractor had failed to arrive in Taumarunui. The distance by rail between Hamilton and Taumarunui is just under 160 kms. At the time, the NZ Railways was a monopoly, had 22,000 employees and was losing a million dollars a day. It was also losing customers, freight and sometimes whole wagons. With 22,000 employees in a small country like New Zealand they could not find a tractor!

Prebble then wrote apologetically to the farmer stating that they could not find his tractor. Frustrated that the bureaucrats (and the Minister) in the railways could not help him, the farmer decided to take matters into his own hands. He got into his car and followed the railway line. In a week, he found his tractor and six missing rail wagons!

Following this sad account of poor customer service, consultants were engaged. Their final report found many of the railway ‘managers’ had been promoted “simply because they looked the part”, “have been “yes-men” to their superiors”, and “never take a decision for which, if it fails, they can be held to account”. The railways were later privatised.

What is the lesson for managers here?

An organisation with 22,000 employees, even with the direction of the Minister could not compel its employees to care enough for its customers to find something as big as a tractor. Clearly, not only did the employees not care, but management was also either ineffective, incompetent or had no authority or a combination of all of the above. This is also a great example of how sadly how poor culture ‘kills’ an organistion, in this case corporate culture! It can be defined as ‘how we do things around here’, and it is intangible but can be ‘felt’.

Successful organisations need clear goals. Management not only needs to be responsible, but held accountable and have the authority to act.

@thenetworkofconsultingprofessionals

The legend of Lasseter’s Gold Reef…

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“Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold” Leo Tolstoy – Russian writer

As a young boy I remember reading the book by Ion Idriess called “Lasseter’s Last Ride” about the 1930 search for a fabled reef with gold “as thick as plums in a pudding” in the deserts of Central Australia. A rich gold reef waiting to be discovered! I was hooked. And I was not the first. Lasseter’s Reef continues to fascinate even today. Since the fateful 1930 expedition where Lasseter died alone in the desert, many expeditions have been undertaken, and none have discovered the fabled reef.

Who was Harold Bell Lasseter?

Lasseter was born in 1880 in Victoria, Australia. In 1903 Lasseter married while living in the USA. In the USA he changed his name to Harold Bell Lasseter, ‘Bell’ being the surname of a popular American author of a book about a lost gold reef! Returning 5 years later he allegedly spent his time inventing and working in various jobs around Australia. Lasseter twice enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during World War I and was discharged both times without leaving Australia, once for being AWOL and for the second time for being engaged in a brawl. In 1927 he married again whilst still married to his first wife. In 1929 he claimed to have submitted the original design for the Sydney Harbour Bridge and sought compensation for his work. It was rejected. In around 1930 at the onset of the Great Depression, he began lobbying the government and trade union officials to mount an expedition to find a gold reef in the desert that he claimed he had discovered years earlier. Lasseter has been described as a bigamist, fantasist, an eccentric, a swindler, a crank and a difficult character with a reputation as a con man.  

The ‘discovery’ of Lasseter’s Reef

Lasseter claimed that in 1897 while travelling alone in the deserts of Central Australia he had come across a rich gold reef whilst travelling from a false ruby strike in South Australia. His horse had died, and he was miraculously rescued by an Afghan camel driver who nursed him back to health. Three years later with a surveyor called Harding, he relocated the reef, took the bearings but failed to peg the claim. Unfortunately, their watches were incorrect, and this made their bearings incorrect. Sadly, Harding died just before Lasseter left for America in 1903.

Testing the Story

Lasseter would have only been 17 when he ‘discovered’ his reef in the deserts of Central Australia. This is highly unlikely, and the false ruby strike was in 1887, not 1897! If Harding was a surveyor, he would not have made the error of the watches having the incorrect time or failing to peg the claim. Harding was in fact not a surveyor but a cattle thief (in Australian slang a ‘cattle duffer’). His ‘death’ was convenient. In the 1930-31 expedition Lasseter was unable to discover his reef and had a major falling out with the leader and some members of the expedition. He left them and died a lonely death in the desert.

Postnote:

It is highly unlikely, given the character of Harold Lasseter himself that the reef exists. Despite this, expeditions continue to be mounted. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, especially about hidden treasure. In an ironic twist in Alice Springs, there is a casino and hotel called Lasseter’s!

Are there any management lessons with the story of Lasseter’s lost gold reef?

Here are three worth considering:

  1. Be aware of charlatans! We all meet them in our personal life and in business. It would appear that Lasseter was indeed a con man or a delusional liar. Despite this, people were willing to believe his story of his fabulous gold reef. Simple but hard questions would have revealed the implausibility of his story. How often are we as managers do we believe what we want to believe?
  2. Do your homework. The most basic research would have highlighted that Lasseter’s story was fantasy. Checking the dates of when he ‘discovered’ his reef would have revealed the implausibility of his story
  3. Be Aware of Myths that become Reality. A lie repeated enough becomes reality. Once again check the facts and test the logic.

Can you think of any other lessons from the myth of Lasseter’s Reef?

@thenetworkofconsultingprofessionals

What is the ‘Peter Principle’?

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“In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”

Laurence J. Peter – Canadian Educator and Author

What is the ‘Peter Principle’?

It is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, a Canadian educator who wrote a book in 1969 called The Peter Principle. His theory was that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to a level of incompetence. This was primarily due to their success in previous jobs however the skills in the previous job do not translate into the skills required in the new job. For example, a great engineer will be promoted from working as an engineer to management, where they do not possess management or leadership skills.

A variation of the Peter Principle is the Dilbert Principle. This is a satirical concept of management developed by Scott Adams the creator of the comic strip Dilbert. Here incompetent employees are intentionally promoted to prevent them from causing harm. In other words, getting them out of the way so they do not interfere with outcomes.

We have all worked for organisations where it would appear that both these ‘principles’ are at work!

Perhaps we are living proof of the Peter or Dilbert Principle?

I can certainly remember working for and with such managers. From the Managing Director’s son who got lost coming to work after living in the city for over 12 months to the Managing Director’s brother, who needed a phone call each morning to make sure he was at work. These were more probably cases of nepotism in combination with the Peter Principle.

A slight deviation from the Dilbert Principle is promoting ‘problem’ employees to get them out of the way. In an earlier career I worked for a manager who treated his staff appallingly and was not respected by them. Senior management knew this, so they removed the problem from the factory floor and promoted him! Another manager who I reported to, and was incompetent was offered a promotion and sent overseas to get him out of the way. He was later dismissed.

Managers will claim they always seek to hire people who are smarter than themselves. In many instances this does not happen, as this threatens their careers or dents their egos. Instead, they hire less capable people, so they are not threatened from below.

The Peter Principle can lead to disaster if an incompetent person is in a position of authority. The mismanagement of the COVID pandemic by public health officials in Victoria which resulted in hundreds of preventable deaths when the virus ‘escaped’ from hotel quarantine is one example. In an earlier blog senior management in a transport business caused the death of innocent people when a truck crashed into their car.

Can you think of examples of both the Peter Principle or the Dilbert Principle in your work life?

So how do organisations solve these problems?

I will cover this in a future management blog.

@thenetworkofconsultingprofessionals

Another lesson from the island of St Kilda

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“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
Aldous Huxley – British Author

In a previous blog I used the backdrop of the remote isolated and windswept island of St Kilda off the west coast of mainland Scotland and the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Australia. The moral of the story was THAT as managers, we should never accept things at face value. Once again, I’m going to use the island of St Kilda as a backdrop for another lesson for managers.

Background

On St Kilda the climate was so extreme, and the wind was sometimes so strong that the islanders’ sheep and cattle could be blown over the cliffs.  During the 19th Century, the island’s population was around 100 people. With increasing contact with the outside world in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the island’s population gradually declined. In September 1852, 36 emigrants from St Kilda left for Melbourne. Sadly, only 17 survived the journey, the others succumbing to diseases they had no immunity to due to their isolated existence. The island never fully recovered from this event, both physically and psychologically.

After the World War I, most of the young men left the island. The population fell from 73 in 1920 to only 37 in 1928. In 1930, the last of the island’s inhabitants were evacuated to mainland Scotland, ending hundreds of years of isolation, poverty, and deprivation.

What caused the demise of the population of St Kilda?

Obviously, increasing contact with the outside world provided the opportunity for the islanders to see that an easier and better standard of living could be achieved if they left the island. However, one of the main reasons can be traced back to the mid-19th Century with the arrival of Rev John Mackay, a minister in the new Free Church of Scotland. Mackay was a religious zealot. He introduced a routine of three two to three-hour services on Sunday. No work was permitted or conversation, only recitation from the Bible was allowed.

Although Rev Mackay left the island in 1889 his legacy lived on. Mackay denied the islanders outside influences and being the only English speaker on the island (the islanders spoke Gaelic) he was able to keep them in a state of ignorance, combining this with religious zealotry.

Linked to societal ignorance, one of the sadder aspects of St Kilda’s life was the horrendous infant mortality rate. One out of every two babies born would not survive their first year of life, dying of infant tetanus. When a child was born on the island, fulmar (sea bird) oil, was applied to the baby after the umbilical cord had been cut. The oil was not stored in sterile conditions.

In 1891, two years after Rev Mackay left a midwife arrived from Glasgow.  She brought improved midwifery skills, hygienic nursing practices and education and the practice of dipping the umbilical cord in fulmar oil ceased. This reduced childhood tetanus, and it was virtually eliminated. Unfortunately, by this time the situation on the island was irreversible. The population was stagnant, and many wanted to leave.

What can we learn as managers from this sad story of the demise of the people of St Kilda?

Organisations and businesses have similar characteristics to small communities like St Kilda. In particular, family-owned businesses often fail to bring in new blood and ideas and this can lead to a gradual demise of the business. Often when new blood comes into an organisation, the owner and the family refuse to change and this undermines the newcomer’s position. I witnessed a former client who claimed he wanted to ‘step back’ from the day to day running of the business. Sadly, he failed to share information, didn’t communicate in a constructive and rational way, and often made decisions behind the new manager’s back. Despite claiming he wanted to ‘step back’, he couldn’t let go and didn’t know how to. He then fired the incumbent because he claimed he had “failed”. Employees on experiencing professional management and then seeing a return to the old behaviors, started to leave. People join organisations but leave due to bad managers.

In my experience, keeping people ignorant is never a wise strategy for managers. I have found that often sharing information can improve performance. When I was managing a major trucking business, despite ‘advice’ to the contrary, I shared weekly driving performance statistics with the linehaul drivers. Driving performance improved, with reduced speeding and fuel consumption and fewer accidents.

All organisations have life cycles and they need to be regenerated with ideas and people externally.

Postscript: I do want to stress that many factors contributed to the decline and death of the community of St Kilda, with health-related problems being one of the main causes. I visited the islands in mid-2023 and it was a very interesting trip – history, birds and landscape. I would recommend a visit – a real step back in time.

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A New Australia…where?

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“The world will be changed if we succeed, and we will succeed! We cannot help succeeding!”

– William Lane: radical journalist and founder of New Australia

Nearly 120 years ago an idealistic bunch of Australians set sail for South America to build their utopia.

In the early 1890s, the Australian colonies were in the grip of recession. It was a period of bitter industrial conflict particularly in the shearing sheds. The strikes resulted in victory for the pastoralists. With the defeat of the shearers and poor economic conditions, a group of 220 idealistic Australians left by ship in 1893 for a new life in Paraguay.

Why Paraguay?

Paraguay had lost a bitter war between 1867-1870 against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay resulting in the loss of a quarter of the country and 90% of its male population. With only 14,000 men and 150,000 women there were not enough men to farm the land or partner with the women.

Faced with this dilemma, the Paraguayan government sought to encourage migration by providing land grants and tax breaks. In the 1880s a utopian socialist colony called Nueva Germania was established by Germans disillusioned with Germany’s recent unification. The scene had been set.  

Background

Back in Australia, a firebrand journalist by the name of William Lane had championed the shearers’ cause. Lane was a utopian socialist and was a prominent figure in the Australian labour movement and had founded Australia’s first labour newspaper, the Queensland Worker in 1890.The shearers’ defeat left him bitter and deeply disillusioned

Refusing an offer of land to establish a utopian settlement by the Queensland Government, Lane began an Australia-wide campaign for the creation of a new society elsewhere in the world, peopled by rugged and sober Australian bushmen and their proud wives. He recruited shearers, stockmen and unionists for a new socialist utopian colony. It became known as New Australia.

Lane proposed a new society free from social and economic oppression and isolated from worldly corruption. This new society would be based upon shared wealth and work, women’s equality, and the prohibition of alcohol. However, it was also racist. Known as The Colour Line, the strict rules written by Lane were:

“It is right living to share equally because selfishness is wrong: To teetotal because liquor drinking is wrong; to uphold life marriage and keep white because looseness of living is wrong.”

With such rules and with shearer’s having a reputation for being hard drinkers and with more than 10 women for every man how could this ‘grand plan’ possibly work?

So, what happened?

Unsurprisingly it failed.

On its way to Paraguay, the ship called into Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. After a long voyage the passengers were eager to step ashore. However, Lane forbade this but went ashore himself. This action was hardly the action of a leader and founder of a socialist colony. Several passengers defied Lane and went ashore and broke the ‘no alcohol’ rules. Once back on deck, a fight broke out between Lane’s supporters and the malcontents. This was a harbinger of things to come.

After a 1,000 km journey up the Paraguay River, the new settlers were finally settled on land granted to them by the government. Within six months, the settlers had cleared land, planted crops and built stockyards. A village began to take shape with a blacksmith’s shop, school and over 20 thatched cottages. However, it wasn’t long before the atmosphere started to deteriorate. Lane’s autocratic nature and inflexible attitude as demonstrated in the ‘Montevideo incident’ alienated many. Some settlers began to barter communal property for drink and began ‘associating’ with local ‘non-white’ women. Several were evicted from the colony with the help of the Paraguayan police after being caught drinking. The hypocrisy of this action by Lane who had rallied against the use of the police in the shearers’ strike split the colony.

In 1894, the arrival of a second batch of settlers didn’t have the effect Lane had hoped for. One was discovered in the possession of rum-laced milk, as payment from a local farmer and was expelled. Following the continued dissension in the community, Lane and a group of around 60 of his supporters left New Australia and established a breakaway settlement to the south called Cosme. Instead of recruiting new settlers from Australia for Cosme, Lane went to England. Although things started promisingly, they soon began to unravel, and the new English settlers were less able to adapt to frontier life. The strict and harsh way of life was taking its toll. 

By 1899 Lane’s dreams were in tatters. He resigned as chairman of Cosme and he and his family left, relocating to New Zealand, where he became the editor of the New Zealand Herald.

What are the leadership lessons in the failure of the ‘New Australia’ venture?

Whilst the story of New Australia is a curious footnote in history are there any lessons in the story for leaders?

Here are some to consider:

  1. Charismatic leadership has significant weaknesses, and many charismatic leaders are autocratic, lack organisational skills, and are too self-assured and narcistic. Certainly, William Lane was autocratic and inflexible, and he lacked true leadership skills, not dissimilar to the leader of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition.
  2. Top-down management is generally less successful than decentralised leadership more inclusive which was a one of the key factors in the defeat of the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain.
  3. Perfect is the enemy of good. I have found in business that the best results are achieved by determining where the greatest improvements can be made for less efforts than continually chasing perfection. The theory behind the 1905 Schlieffen Plan is a case in point, where German military planners devised the “perfect” plan to invade and take Paris. It failed spectacularly in Word War I.. Lane’s idealistic vision was of a perfect society based on socialist and communal values. Ironically the vision was imposed by inflexible and autocratic leadership which certainly assisted in the New Australia venture failing.

Do you think there are other lessons from the failure of New Australia?

If you would like to know more about the ill-fated socialist experiment New Australia, the following books are recommended:

A Peculiar People: the Australians in Paraguay by Gavin Souter

Paradise Mislaid by Anne Whitehead

Ticket to Paradise by Ben Stubbs

Youtube link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb3DQ4uCJSc

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Rabbits, dams and engineering faults!

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“He who chases two rabbits, catches none”
— Confucius

I grew up on a farm in northern NSW. Running through the property was a creek which had two significant dams on it. The first dam was called ‘the old Quipolly Dam’. This concrete span dam wall was built in the early 1930s to provide water for the town of Werris Creek, a town that did not exist until the coming of the railway in the mid-1870s. Being a major rail junction town, water was essential as steam engine locomotives require lots of water. The second newer dam bordered our property. It had an earth wall and was built in the late 1950s to replace ‘the old Quipolly Dam’.

By 1947, when my father moved onto our farm with his parents ‘the old Quipolly Dam’ had silted up. This was less than 15 years after it had been constructed. My father told me that during the 1940s drought rabbits had denuded the landscape. Without grass ground cover, heavy rain caused severe erosion. The sediment ended up in ‘the old Quipolly dam’ as silt. This seemed a logical explanation for the silting.

My father spent his whole life trying to eradicate rabbits on the farm. Trapping, poisoning, releasing calicivirus and myxomatosis viruses, ripping rabbit warrens and shooting them. As young boy I trapped and shot rabbits and every year we undertook a poisoning campaign.

So, the rabbits seemed to be a logical explanation.

Several years later I was doing some family history research and found an engineering research paper. It studied several small railway dams built between 1890 and 1932 in NSW that had silted up. One of dams studied was ‘the old Quipolly dam’. The research paper concluded that ‘the most extreme hydrological events are extreme floods following a long drought period’ and this led to where ‘large sediment loads are carried away into the reservoirs.’

So, were ‘the rabbits’ were responsible for the dams’ siltation problems?

Well, not exactly.

Whilst erosion was a contributing factor, the main reason was a design flaw in the dam’s walls. The basic design of the dam’s arch wall had not changed in over 40 years. This was despite the fact that several dams with curved concrete walls had silted up within 25 years, all before the construction of ‘the old Quipolly Dam’. The wall design did not consider the fundamental concepts of sediment transport. The dams did not have a large outlet for sediment ‘flushing’, resulting in a silt or sediment building up against the curved dam wall.

Rabbits and probably overgrazing that had denuded the landscape during a drought were not the underlying cause of the silting up of the dam, but a contributing factor only.

What do you think the management lesson is here?

Here are some to consider.

We can all remember being told something in our working lives and then finding out this was incorrect. Remember the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that Iraq had that were used as a pretext for invasion?

Perhaps another lesson is not to believe what bureaucracies or governments do or tell you. In this example, there were several dams of similar design that silted up well before ‘the old Quipolly Dam’ was built.

  • Often, an explanation that seems logical may not be the cause of the problem. In this example, it was only a contributing factor.

As a logistics professional I am continually frustrated when allegedly logical transport solutions do not stand up to scrutiny. For example, a common theme pushed by politicians and special interest groups is that the construction of freeways increases pollution.

Really?

Think about it.

If we did not have freeways, cars, average speed would be lower, more stops and starts, traffic lights, slower travel times and more congestion and pollution.

Can you think of other examples in your working life where this has been the case?

#thenetworkofconsultingprofessionals

Who’s managing the meeting?

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Meetings

Who’s managing the meeting?

‘Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything’

John Kenneth Galbraith – Canadian writer and economist

Each December we send out the monthly management blog early, and not on 21st of the month as is the standard. Here is the December blog:

The quotation by Galbraith sums up what many of us experience with meetings. Are meetings of value and do they contribute to improving the operation of a business?

Value is often an intangible concept. The best place to start when deciding whether to hold a meeting is to calculate the cost of holding a meeting. Using a ‘back of an envelope’ style calculation, add up the costs of salaries and their on-costs in time spent at the meeting, preparing for the meeting and following up post-meeting – as well as travel to and from the meeting and other costs, including meals and accommodation. The cost can be frightening.

Once calculated, determine the outcome of the meeting. For example, if the meeting cost $2,000, did the outcome to the business exceed this amount and warrant holding the meeting? This can give you a benchmark on whether the meeting is worth holding. Never hold a meeting which does not have an agenda that will lead to a clear outcome. The purpose of the meeting must be clear.

I was consulting to a business which held a weekly meeting by telephone, attended by state managers and operations supervisors. The agenda never changed. Literally dozens of key performance indicators (KPIs) were tabled by branch, the managers were often late calling in and took calls on their phones, the meeting chair rarely kept to the agenda, and the length of the meeting varied from 30 to 60 minutes. Action points were rarely completed on time. Furthermore, the business was in financial trouble. Clearly, these meetings were symptoms of what was wrong with the business.

What are the lessons to be learnt from this example?

  1. Tailor the meeting agenda to achieve the desired outcome.
  2. Clearly communicate the aim of the meeting.
  3. Set strict starting times and allocate minimal meeting time for the agenda.
  4. Only invite the right people to the meeting.
  5. Turn mobile phones off.

Meetings can take up to 40% of a manager’s working time – and much of this time is lost in idle banter, people being late, and people using meetings to delay decisions and offload their responsibilities. Meetings are a necessary evil in an organisation, however the number of meetings held and the way they are conducted must be managed with discipline. Otherwise, money is wasted, staff become demotivated, people are not held accountable and little is achieved to meet the organisation’s overall goals. For example, one of my partners in our former business – who was responsible for an operation that was performing poorly – would claim in the management meeting that he would implement a plan of action to rectify performance by a set date. Each month we were given the same story and, unsurprisingly, the performance never improved. This not only affected our profitability but also demotivated others and sent a poor message about accountability.

Most people are motivated when they see things being achieved. Meetings can do this, providing there are strict disciplines imposed on behaviour, procedures and actions while also holding people to account. Performance and outcomes must be measured. Some of the most effective meetings are short stand up 15-minute meetings, where information is disseminated, issues discussed, and time-bounded action points with assigned responsibilities are included.

There are three golden rules for conducting a successive and constructive meeting:

  1. The chair should conduct the meeting in a disciplined and professional manner, keep on track and have a clear aim or desired outcome.
  2. All participants must be prepared, be on time, have a positive attitude and be respectful.
  3. At the end of the meeting, the outcome should be confirmed, action points with deadlines agreed and assigned.

Are meetings in your business meeting these criteria?

How can you minimise the time spent in meetings and the number of meetings, while achieving the desired outcomes for the business?

In conclusion, meetings are good indicators of the health of an organisation. The responsibility of managing and conducting meetings is up to you. They can be vehicles for desired and positive outcomes or, conversely, an opportunity to avoid responsibility and waste everybody’s time and money.

On behalf of the 5-Dimensionz team, we wish you and your families the blessings of Christmas and for a prosperous and wonderful 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year 2020 has been very difficult for many people throughout the world.

#thenetworkofconsultingprofessionals

If it’s not written down, it didn’t happen!

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If it’s not written down, it didn’t happen!

“If it is not written down, it does not exist.”

Philippe Kruchten –  Academic and software engineer

If it is not written down it didn’t happen. Now that’s a big statement.

Does this sound absurd?

Is it the truth?

Many years ago, I was listening to a recording of oral family history. It was claimed by a distant cousin that her father (my great grandfather) met the bushranger Thunderbolt (bushrangers were outlaws and highwaymen) as a young boy. Thunderbolt arrived unexpectedly early one morning on his father’s small land holding in the New England district of NSW. The story goes that Thunderbolt joined them for breakfast and while having breakfast he kept looking nervously out the window. Thanking them for their hospitality he gave them a gold sovereign, mounted his horse and rode off. Not long afterwards some mounted police arrived.  Apparently, this occurred in 1864. When I checked the dates, I found that my great grandfather was not born until 1866 and Thunderbolt was in jail in 1864. Although the event probably happened, it did not happen in 1864.

There is business lesson here that should not be under estimated.

My advice is to write down and record the most important things.

If a legal issue arises, the written word is far more reliable than someone’s recollection. It is important particularly with issues of people management and workplace health and safety.

Let me give you an example.

As a young manager in my mid 20s, I was managing a concrete plant in Canberra. The fleet of owner drivers continuously threatened and intimidated me. It was an unusual situation when looked at through today’s eyes. The drivers were independent businessmen, who owned a concrete truck. This was the same for four other ready-mix concrete companies also operating in Canberra. Despite being businessmen, the owner drivers were all members of a trade union. With the union’s assistance they restricted the number of trucks operating, thereby restricting competition and increasing the rates they could charge.

It was a business cartel restricting competition.  It was not a legally or government sanctioned cartel such as taxi plate licences. The construction industry was booming and the capacity to deliver concrete was restricted, adversely affecting the construction industry. The situation deteriorated to a point where driver’s representative in our business tried to tell us when and to who we could deliver concrete.

This was clearly illegal under the Trade Practices Act. Businesses were not allowed to collude and restrict competition and increase prices. This “arrangement” was adversely affecting our customers. On several occasions I was confronted and threatened. Having some knowledge of the law and knowing that this ‘arrangement’ was probably illegal, when threatened I quoted back that what they were doing was illegal. I then noted it in my work diary.

More than three years after I had left the business, I received a call from the company’s lawyer. The new CEO had decided to use Canberra as a test case to initially overturn the “arrangements” and then use it as a precedent in the state of NSW, to break up the arrangements there. Luckily, I had kept my work diaries and when called as a court witness, was able to quote the times, dates and conversations. The company won the court case and the cartel arrangement that had been supported by the union was quashed.

This outcome demonstrates the importance of recording events, as the diary entries were one of main reasons the court case was won. Too often in business, we are busy and fail to record important events only to find out later, that they should have been. The ready-mix drivers’ case was an important learning experience for me.

Employee issues such as performance management and safety requirements are areas which are important, and discussions and events must be recorded. Our memories cannot be relied upon as we cannot remember dates, times and actual conversations.

The Thunderbolt story illustrates the unreliability of oral history and memory. As managers, writing down important things is not optional. Many of us hate paperwork, however it is an essential part of our job.

What should you as a manager be recording?

Where should you file these records?