No Leadership! Tell us something we don't know!

Kia Ora,

Well big drive by the Christchurch 'Press' to try to pin down where the earthquake recovery is going. The fact it seems leaderless.

It is this passing the buck, lack of action that is frustrating people & causing anger to rise.

I see also that EQC are going to review the assessments of chattels as private insurance has been giving small payments saying the house is going to be demolished from what they can see yet EQC are saying it can be fixed(from descriptions I have had Mickey Mouse style). Results in huge difference in assessments, more frustration & anger.

Normally you would say it was private insurance trying to pay as little as possible, but having been in some properties where EQC has said they can be fixed I think not. Slapping some concrete out of a bucket with a paint brush to even out the bumps in the floor I have seen done in Asia & might be acceptable in Australia(as it was recommened by an Australian I take it, it is)but it is not here & not when more large earthquakes are overdue.

Even the Mayor of Christchurch has lost his zip & fallen into line with the status quo saying different leaders are needed for different areas. But there is a need for an overall leader. Not a new one but an existing one to step up.

Now the Mayor of Christchurch & two structural engineers said quite early on in interviews that the building code had done its job & saved lives it was not there to save a building.

Straight away to me that implies like any saftey equipment such as body armour, cycle or motorcycle helmets that once used for the purpose for which they were designed they have to be replaced. So this is a rebuild not a recovery.
Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering Handbook
Instead of like Auckland or Wellington where recently Heritage buildings have been ordered demolished in hours when required Christchurch is still arguing over their merits five months later. Probably why someone asking for suggestions to get CBD going again didn't like my suggestion of bulldozing the whole lot & starting again.

By having so many 'leaders' who are as far as anyone can see showing no leadership nothing is getting done. With expected shocks to continue & even the predicted potential big shake around the 20th March 2011 (not to mention the earlier shake up around the 19th February 2011 based on the moon in Perigee) damage is worsening & showing how poor assessments are that have been done.

When green stickered(All OK) builidings have walls collapse it just tells people good shake from different direction or location can wreck anything or the initial assessments were not good enough.
Earthquake Engineering for Structural Design
All the theory in the world is great but it is the actual effect on the ground that matters.

The Minister for Earthquake Recovery is no better. He might officially live here, though for some reason wasn't here at time of the wee shake & never seems to be here except for visits as far as anyone can tell. People in his electorate are not happy. His efforts have been pitiful.

Now the Mayor of Christchurch in the aftermath of the earthquake & led up to the local body elections made a statement "I'm over democracy" or words to that effect. I would of though the current situation was right up his alley to prove his point.
Earthquake Engineering
When immediately after the main quake he had special powers & was able to get things done, but now it is committee after committee or commission & the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Commission(CERC)has no power it just recommends.

Of course a Camel is a horse designed by a committee or as one businessman I think it was said "a commitee is a place where good ideas go to die" or words to that effect.

We don't need committee's or commissions we need action.

It has got so ridiculous that one business contracted into assist with the recovery went to set up in the location recommended by the council but is now waiting on resource consent from the council to set up. The earthquake recovery act was supposed to deal with issues like that quickly, efficiently as was the minister. Both have failed!
Earthquake Damage: Inspection, Evaluation and Repair
The media are only scratching the surface of what is been passed on by concerned structural engineers as to information that is been hidden from people. It gives the impression that they are been hard on those who represent us but in reality it appears to be "you scratch my back & I will scratch your back".

So say this predicted potential big quake does hit around 20th March 2011 & this time people are killed. What then to these bureaucrats & politicians who do nothing?

I would say the anger & frustration will definitely boil over. About that time to add to the stress people's payments to cover rent(for temporary accomodation) from insurance companies is due to run out. With no word on what these people, who are paying both mortgage & rent, will get to cover this shortfall as yet many are moving back into their condemmed houses. The worsening financial crisis is making things just more difficult.
Advances in Earthquake Engineering for Urban Risk Reduction
I have said it before New Zealand has become a Risk Adverse country.

People would say to me but you are always on about Health & Saftey & Risk Assessment.

There is a difference.

In a very early blog someone criticized me for not naming the system of Risk Assessment I use. Those systems are designed to give people an excuse not to do anything.

Where as the other day I saw an editors comment about how the person whom the movie 127 hours is about is one of those persons who just ignores the risks or words to that effect.
Earthquake-resistant Concrete Structures
Actually that is the New Zealand perception been wrong again.

In business, life, the military & working in places like Iraq. It is not about ignoring the risk, it is about assessing it, mitgating it whilst still carrying on & I suspect without seeing the movie that is what this person has done. New Zealand used to be like that but not anymore. It just seems risky because people lack the knowledge or haven't weighed up the Risks.

Actually as I was typing that it reminded me of Charles Upham VC & Bar when standing on top of a truck to direct fire duirng the battle of Minqar Qaim. It looked dangerous & foolhardy to those around him, but his assessment was all the German shots were going low, so he was safer up high.

That is why people don't like my risk assessments as they see them as it will be used as a reason not to do something.

In fact I am looking at it the other way. Here is the risk, mitigate it so we can have a good event or safe society. But people here do not want to know & even when something does happen, within hours people are acting like it never happened. If you asked many of those people they would tell you it never happens in New Zealand or where they are.

I know it happened the other day within 24 hours of an armed robbery where people allowed others to enter in a manner that could very well be another armed robbery at the same location. A non New Zealand citizen did their nut at the staff for allowing it.
Risk Assessment Methods: Approaches for Assessing Health and Environmental Risks
New Zealand has become like the US Military when I first went to Iraq to work. Hint of issues or a suicide bomber they would lock down the Green Zone for sometimes days which gave the initiative back to the terrorists & insurgents(I well remember one Irishman during such a time saying he was going to pushbike to the Baghdad airport to get his plane out).

Compare that to the British reaction(& the Iraqis did) which was to flood an area after a shooting or bombing with troops on foot asking questions "What did we do wrong? Who was it?" etc. Then play a game of soccer with the kids.

Risks of been shot or blown up hadn't changed but their reaction was to try to get things moving. The British themselves observed in the end they stayed too long & lost that goodwill.
Earthquake Risk Reduction
Seems to me we are retreating inside our fortress, doing a lot of talking but nothing is getting done. New Zealanders tend not to say a lot even when things are wrong as they don't want to stand out. So if a lot of people are now talking it is time to take note & take action. Get things done!

As former Mayor Gary Moore said when questioned in one of the articles "Do I still have a sense of hope? No" & I would say that is a sentiment shared by many in Christchurch at present because there is no action & there is no leadership.

http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz

Poor Leadership making the Frustration worse!

Kia Ora,

Recently I posted about the corrupt bureaucrats hampering the earthquake recovery. Well they are still at it & what is emerging is the poor leadership at all levels which is assisting it.

First we start with the Minister who has quite rightly carried out question & answer sessions, except when someone makes a statement about their experience often the answer goes along the lines, "well that is not correct." Actually it is the case because someone has just told you.

Stop listening to corrupt bureaucrats & start listening to the people affected. They know what is happening to their property!

The same thing happened with the initial Foreshore & Seabed consultation where the Minister of Maori Affairs showed he was actually listening but the Minister driving the Act just told everyone after the submissions what was happening.

That resulted in the later loss of an election or it certainly played a big part.

Then there is the CEO who has done the same on radio. But worse has allowed the system to be driven by numbers.

Having a target set that can be unrealistic causes issues within the work force & don't promote a good working environment. Therefore people don't perform. KPI's(key Performance Indicators) promote this poor type of working environment.

Not all houses are the same so time taken can vary as can damage. Yes everyone wants it done as quickly as possible, but done properly with empathy.
What we don't know can hurt US.(Leadership and Self-Deception)(Video Recording Review): An article from: Training Media Review
So the six a day target should only be that. Ask people to do that many if they can but do their best. Get out on the ground with these teams, don't just set a figure & think it will be OK. Instead of sacking those that don't make it, keep them on so more properties are dealt with. Have a set payment with a bonus for number of properties seen(up to 6 a day).

For those who have never been in the military there are set rates of movement written down which work good in war games on maps but not in reality. It results in what we called 'other end itis'. An officer who had been away from the coal face would be looking at these guilde line rates & wanting to know why units were not where they should be. All their planning is based on these guidelines.

On one exercise a certain officer was really sticking to these guidelines, so for the last part of the exercise the Commanding Officer(CO)(a Vietnam Veteran) sent him out with our patrol to remind him of what it was like at the coal face.

First thing is this officer enjoyed it & said it made him realize again of how different things were. But then the CO probably got a better result than he could of ever wished for. One patrol got into a contact, another was ambushed as the company quite literally blundered into the enemy party returning to their base camp from different directions.

The map showed a nicely forrested area but what had happened was the area had been clear felled & all the trees were lying where they fell or had been stacked years before. Instead of 500 metres an hour as per the book we were doing 5 metres an hour then a battle erupted! Progress was in centimetres & total confusion!

It was great & a good officer learnt a great lesson in leadership & trusting those on the ground to give the best information(in most cases).
Leadership & Self-deception (The Hidden Key to Improving Results)
Then there is the inefficient way of dealing with properties. Yes the worst affected should be dealt with first, but as they have found many of the worst affected have said nothing early on.

Now relations in Rangiora tell us they had little damage but the way the four that come to their street was efficient. Seems they were working to a pattern.

What a novel idea!
The Four Conversations: Daily Communication That Gets Results
Meanwhile in Hororata, a small country town near the epicentre of the initial quake, news reports tell of the citizens mystified by the inefficient way it has been carried out. Check one house, miss out the next five then do another one. Then I expect from comments they come back on another day to do the others.

Now I grew up near Hororata & worked around there before joining the army. Later as part of the army for an exercise we searched the nearby town of Glentunnel. It is not rocket science. You pick the point you are going to start from & work from there in a methodical manner.

I am sure with a computer you can task it to return all claims within the township of Hororata or within 5km. In fact I know you can because you can do it with most other things.
Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box
Then again there is the point where people need to ignore the experts & get out there to talk to people. To be told that the experts said there is no damage in their area just adds to the frustration when your gut feeling is something is not right or you can see damage.

People know their property!

As the earthquake has shown one property can be perfect with the one next to it is munted(destroyed). So how someone who has not been on the property can say "no there will be no damage as that area is OK" is not credible.

There is a lot more to leadership than just telling people to do something. As some British units told us they learnt in the Falklands after all the years in Northern Ireland, sitting back & directing didn't work in a full on firefight. Leaders had to actually lead. Colonel 'H' Jones even got a VC posthumously for leading from the front at a crucial time in the battle for Goose Green.
Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves
Best the government & bureaucrats start showing some real leadership since they haven't yet & are loosing the people.

As I have said before you only have to look at what has happened in the likes of Italy & Haiti as the frustration grows & the security situation deteriorates.

Slower here because no one has died yet & hopefully they won't, but the financial crisis is just adding to the stress.
Self-Deception
Why does this concern me so much?

I have enough conerns of my own with a corrupt bureaucrat from the body corporate using any excuse to do nothing since he doesn't live here or own one of the units, but acting like fixing anything would be using his own money.

Because it is the likes of us in the security industry or the police who have to deal with the upset & frustrated people when they take their frustrations out on someone or something.

Allegedly the police have already had to deal with at least one relation of a Pike River Miner upset & frustrated over the disaster. A very hard situation for ayt police officer.

Some real leadership with people actually prepared to make decisions after the initial disaster period is what needs to be shown to lessen the impact of the frustration.

We just don't get that with government or bureaucrats. Any excuse not to do anything.

http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz

Book review shows lack of experience!

Kia Ora,

In our local newspaper this weekend there was a book review on an account by a reporter on a unit of the US military in Iraq.

There is an overview of what is in the book then the reviewer comments on what he sees as two problems with the book. His comments show a lack of experience in the theatre of operations, the conditions & the systems the US military were using at the time.

The first is the reporter sides with as the reviewer puts it the grunts. I was a grunt(infantryman) in the NZ army & just what little is in the review I can actually envisage the poor leadership from above coupled with what I saw whilst working private security in Iraq over part of the period covered.

Actually some officers are that bad as is implied just as some grunts or NCO's are that bad. But from a leadership point of view it needs to start at the top.
What we don't know can hurt US.(Leadership and Self-Deception)(Video Recording Review): An article from: Training Media Review
It was stated that one senior officer continually blamed the soldiers for any failure. Now it is human nature to blame someone else but having served under one officer who did that to an extreme it is easy to put myself in those soldiers position. This particular officer took it to the extreme that he reorganized his whole command structure of NCO's after a fail in an exercise assault. With the result been a retest no one knew each other & the retest was a shambles but we passed, which begged some questions itself.

Privately at that time it was communicated to me by two very senior Senior NCO's that they had never seen such poor leadership & the blaming of those who had actually shown some leadership & initiative.
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
More importantly I saw first hand what happened in the US forces when an officer spoke up & used his initiative. He was removed from command & busted to the ranks within his old unit which is unusual & of course causes issues in itself.

The problem with a military like those of the US been so large, they tend to take the idea for initiative at lower levels away. In conventional warfare that can be an advantage but in the post invasion situation it is the NCO's, soldiers & platoon commanders who are the ones who make a difference.

Poor decisions & leadership higher up just make things worse at the lower levels.
Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence
Not only that, even the Generals at the time who did have a good idea of what to do were hamstrung from early on due to the civilian running the day to day life of Iraq. They had little idea of what the soldiers on the ground were facing. Therefore they forced the Generals to carryout commands that put them off side with the locals & invited attack.

The second problem the reviewer highlights is the enemy.

Many of the reports we were receiving about the enemy(insurgents) were highly inaccurate or totally under estimated the enemy ability or resources.

As they rebuilt Iraq, the Iraqi reports were putting the insurgent numbers at over 40,000 at one stage from memory with support from 200,000 where as the US sources were putting insurgents at 5000. Sometime later the US claimed to have killed 15,000 insurgents. Which led to comments "so why are there still attacks since they have all died three times over."
Leadership 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know
Good leadership though would of lowered the casualty rates of this unit where as bad leadership will lead to a greater casualty rate. No matter how good the enemy. Colonel William Malone showed that at Gallipoli in particular at Quinn's Post, but in everything he did until Chunuk Bair. Even then he gave his soldiers their best chance of surviving by refusing to attack when told too.

When reviewing something based on a real situation people need to be careful as there will be people who were there or in the area whom will know of the conditions on the ground.
Leadership: Theory and Practice
Tone of the book though follows the message that came out in television drama based on an embedded reporters view of a unit he was with & again similar with another book by an embedded reporter with a third unit both during the actual invasion.

At the time it seemed to be an endemic issue within the US military that they seem to have taken a good look at. But again been a large military that takes time to change.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (J-B Lencioni Series)
Where as a British unit deployed to the same area as highlighted in the book been reviewed, changed its tactics immediately after one incident & let it be known they were changing.

Leadership can be a tricky ability to exercise at the best of times. In a war zone any short comings can be shown up very quickly. I got to see the good & bad & how different nationalities use different methods that do not work for others.

The comments re problems just showed a lack of experience by the reviewer in particular in that theatre of operations.

http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz

You have to ask is Honesty really the best policy? Corruption is rife!

Kia Ora,

A conversation last week with a former police officer set me thinking. We were talking about the NZ police today & his comments echoed those of current long serving police officers. Techniques might of changed but in reality the basics of how to police never change. But he is always getting told by young officers he doesn't understand policing today.

Ten years ago it was normal for police to encourage you to report suspicious activity & responded to them as not only did it impact on crime, even if the reported activity wasn't as suspicious as first reported it put the police in the area & also had an impact on crime.

Compare that to today where a call to report suspicious activity more often than not you are treated as the criminal with the grilling you get on the phone & then it is unlikely a patrol will show up.

That is not the police on the beats fault as they are under resourced & undermanned, but there is also a focus on getting arrests as opposed to impacting on crime from above when talking to experienced officers.

Not helping their cause though is the corruption that is rife amongst New Zealand bureaucrats which means their favourite method of dealing with issues is do nothing.

My recent experiences with bureaucrats which came to a head in the last week show why they police have to deal with so many upset people.

Not to mention security guards who also due to the low wages in the NZ Security Industry are likely to be having to deal with some of those departments in their own life.

The old bureaucrats trick of focussing on a red herring, to the side of the real issues, is to the fore.
Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Reform
As someone who has been bluntly honest my whole life (apart from those few drunken episodes for which most of us are not caught) it galls me to see those who have no care for others getting ahead by dishonest endeavours backed by bureaucrats.

Gone is the bureaucrat whose goal in life was to make life simpler for their community & like soldiers, police etc knew what the word service actually meant.

People have said it happens in all countries where bureaucrats hold things up. But as an Australian said who immigrated to NZ to launch a business opportunity he saw, "Mate setting up a company was the easiest anywhere, but after that nothing but apathy."

Having been around the world abit the worst I have seen is here in New Zealand. In the Middle East I actually found their open use of back handers quite liberating as it got things done. You just hired a fixer, budgeted for it & gone on with things.

In NZ to offer money would offend but then the hold ups due to requirement for committees (always remembering a camel is a horse designed by a committee) make the whole thing untenable.

New Zealand likes to think it has the perfect governance model, but it doesn't. That is those in governance give direction to those bureaucrats who are to deliver. Having been in Governance roles where I was also the beneficiary has shown that more often than not those in governance roles are actually in tune with those who are supposed to benefit.

Unfortunately the bureaucrats assigned to deliver are more often than not on a different agenda(the TV programmes 'Yes, Minister' & 'Yes, Prime Minister' spring to mind) altogether. Or to quote Ronald Reagan "the scariest words someone can hear is, We are from the government & we are here to help" or words to that effect.

It is why I find the TV programme 'Under cover Boss' so refreshing as it shows those in governance or top management actually finding out what the issues actually are for their business.
Governance (Key Concepts)
Bureaucracy today is more about how inefficent you can be. That causes frustration which in turn causes people to get upset. More often than not the first person who has to deal with it is the lone security guard.

Compare that to organized crime in particular here in New Zealand the gangs who in their own way tend to look after their people. Those that are better at it have less issues & make the job of the police harder as no one will talk against those who have looked after them when things have been bad.

Leadership is not all about been loud or giving someone the 'bash' to keep them in line. People skills are the first thing bureaucrats need to learn.
Corporate Governance Best Practices: Strategies for Public, Private, and Not-for-Profit Organizations
Oh the comment in the title of this book about best Practice. First thing I know from having been on the shop floor as soon as anyone says it, on the floor everyone knows its not.

If the bureaucrats could get their act together there would be a lot less upset people, the country would be saved millions if not billions of dollars. As I have said to one government agency in this last week, "I could run ... better with my little finger." Not only that have better people skills.

Corruption is rife amongst our bureaucrats & it really makes you think "is it really worth it been honest?" You are already seeing bureaucratic corruption at its finest in the aftermath of the Christchurch Earthquake.

http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz

Lack of Leadership Exposed!

Kia Ora,

Well the blame game has started in India over the state of the Commonwealth Games in the lead up to the Games.

A lot of fingers were pointed at one official, Indian Media have pointed the finger also at the New Zealander who was CEO of games on behalf of Commonwealth Games.

To my way of thinking both of those fingered in particular but right the way down the chain there has been a lack of leadership. As is shown in the programme 'Undercover Boss' those up the top often have no idea or have forgotten what it is like at the bottom.
Leadership 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know
They don't always have to do the work but just get out & see those that are & ensure things are done. Though not like one security operations manager who thought he would visit sites & patrols & when having to help do some work or do something that was out of his league, never came back, but harrassed everyone else. He never learnt a thing.

Or as I found in Iraq, different nationalities have different ideas of leadership & what works. All had their good & bad points, but to motivate people some of the leaders have to get in & do some work themselves.

We had a situation where that arose & on the first day the local workers worked very hard & were great. On the second someone from a different nationality thought all they had to do was yell & scream & nothing much got done. The third day same formula as first was tried but the damage had been done.
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You
Funny thing is all the criticism pointed at India can also be pointed at New Zealand.

The day after the state of the games village was exposed it was revealed similar conditions where found in Auckland eateries.

Within the NZ Security Industry the lack of real leadership is rampant & would be sorely exposed in a real emergency at most big events.

http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz