I thought I had heard it all!

I guess that with each day that passes and the older you get, the more convinced you can become that you have heard it all before and that anything else you are likely to hear is merely window dressing on an old theme.

I was wrong!

Today I heard something that helped me to understand the state of the economy in the USA and how insidious influences from that experience are spreading to our shores, courtesy of some of the programs of education that are being sold to government here in Australia as "Leadership Programs".

Let's just say that one of my sources has reported that at least one Australian government Department has purchased a two and a half day 'love in' otherwise referred to as a Leadership Program targeting people at the Executive Officer level 1 and 2 in the ranks of the Australian Public Service.

Generally, I do not comment on such matters - they are generally something that I leave to the public service to sort out.

However, what I am hearing about the content, set off my bullshit recognition radar.

Considering how much of this I have heard in a lifetime of devoted service THAT is serious!

If my source is to be believed, then I have to say that not only is the Public Service wasting money on a program that is totally out of touch with the reality on the ground, but more to the point, is teaching helpless and hapless young and aspiring public servants management techniques that are set to duplicate the disastrous situation which is engulfing the USA as we speak.

Apparently there is some notion, borrowed from the former CEO of a large American banking organisation, that people at a managerial level need to spend a pretty large proportion of their time looking after themselves, with even more large percentages of the time left over being spent in managing upwards, coordinating the work of others and networking. Leaving something like 10% of the total time at work for doing things like - what's the word I am looking for - oh yes "WORK."

The reality is that in Australia where we already have a skilled labour shortage and in the Public Service in particular, where the planned departure of the so called "Baby Boomer" generation into retirement is leaving a gaping hole of experience and expertise as well as sheer hard working people, messages like this are or at least should be total anathema to any Secretary or CEO or any of the people actually responsible for generating learning and development programs programs.

The reality for most people working in the Australian Public Service at present is that everything has be there NOW especially with the change in government that has seen Kevin 07 being swept into power.

There is an urgent need to prepare briefing papers, research and write policy documentation research and write responses to questions and just the sheer drudgery of working in teams of people whose numbers are continually lower than establishment, who are so new that they know nothing, who continually search for financial incentives being offered by jobs in other departments and who have a work ethic that is substantially different from those in previous generations.

The concept of having equal pay for equal work across the public service has been dealt a death blow by the previous government and now people at the same level, doing virtually the same kind of jobs with the same sort of responsibilities and duties are being offered very different levels of remuneration in different departments. One of the things that this means is that in many instances, it takes some time to recruit someone and train them in what is expected of them in a given department and during this period the work of the team or the section or the Branch or indeed the Division continues. It's unrealistic to expect new starters who are learning about their duties and responsibilities and learning about the policies and practices of the Department that they have joined will be fully functional for at least 3-6 months. Given that recruitment processes can also take something like 3 months - this means that with all the best intentions in the world it is unlikely that senior managers will actually have a full complement of staff on deck so that they CAN do just their managerial jobs of managing their staff.

For most, the reality is that they have to pick up the slack during this period to enable their staff to acquire the level of competence that is required or assign sensitive work to people who are not ready for it and then suffer the consequences of having to re-do the work to meet basic organisational standards. What then happens is one of the tragedies of this new work environment. Just when you have a staff member fully trained and functional he or she finds a more lucrative position in another location and the merry go round starts again.

Why are people looking for better remuneration? Well it's simple really, as the cost of living and interest rates goes up so does their need to earn more money to maintain their life style. Given that the current situation in the APS actually encourages this movement it's clear that no amount of razor gang activity or "leadership courses" that seem to exhort senior manager to fail in their responsibilities to get the work done and produce some measurable work outcomes from their teams is not helping.

What would help?

If I heard correctly, Kevin Rudd the new PM used to believe in having a public service that was hard working, capable of providing fearless and frank advice and being paid the same levels of remuneration for people working at the same levels within the Service.

Australians are already world leaders in working hard. With the world economy heading towards the toilet - this is NOT the time for some management "gurus" to spread the message that was
suitable for some senior Banking honcho around 20 years ago!

Bring back some of the honesty in government that seems to have lapsed over the last 11 or so years under a previous government, bring back equal pay for equal work by suggesting to the people in the Public Service that as from a certain date all Public Service jobs would be remunerated at the SAME level for each classification regardless of which department the job is situated in.

Remove all of the contracts that have made the public service seem to work like the private enterprise models that now seems to be proving through their failure elsewhere in the world that it was always a bankrupt system.

Let's by all means have programs to prevent stress and overwork in the workplace, but at the same time let's also remember that there are other issues out there that do not lend themselves to a public service that CAN be independent and provide fearless and frank advice much less just hard and honest work outcomes that can be relied upon by the Minister in charge as well as the public that these people serve!