Have you noticed? Everyone in a job today has a grand title - Vice-President, General Manager, Chief Executive Officer, Director, Executive Manager. Sometimes even the ‘real’ people (those that do the useful work) have elaborate names. I read of a visitor to a company who was greeted in the foyer by the Director of First Impressions. This was the receptionist.
Our beloved council has a Director of Liveable Communities. (He’s also responsible for the cemeteries. Presumably, if the cemeteries are filling up, the liveable communities must be shrinking. So, I guess smaller cemeteries mean he’s doing his job properly? Just a thought.)
A long time ago, a smart fellow named Laurence Peter figured out what was going on. He gave his name to a theory called the Peter Principle which states that:
- In time, every post (in business, government, the military services, education, etc.) tends to be occupied by an employee who is promoted to their level of incompetence, and:
- Actual productive work is only accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence.
When we have a problem, the trick is finding the still-competent ‘real’ people. According to Peter, they’re usually the ones (without grandiose titles) at the lower levels in the hierarchy. The ones who are still on the front-line, who know how to work the system and still feel they have a duty to us - the ratepayers, the tax payers, the customers, the people who are the reason for their existence.
Sadly, though, we must avoid recommending these ‘real’ people for promotion!
TH
(This article was prompted by the extreme frustrations expressed by residents at the last NACCAi meeting who were trying to deal with government staff.)
