Tributum Newsletter #21

Following on last month’s final comments about Getting Things Done (GTD) rather than being busy the following line I read on LinkedIn was a real good summary: “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all”. The line is attributed to management guru Peter Drucker from an article written in 1963 already. 57 years later it seems that lesson is still not widely applied, also in Government.

Governments and politicians, and not just in South Africa (SA), seems to have become so efficient in playing politics. But that is different from running a country or a city, so different from GTD. The Nelson Mandela Bay city council has played politics for so long that more than a Billion Rand grant funding has been withheld by National Treasury over the past 11 months and its release was only agreed to late in November. In a city that falls in arguably the poorest economic performing province, that is battling a crippling drought, severe infrastructure problems and just cannot seem to attract serious economic investment that is a disgrace. No, according to Drucker that is useless.

On the national front SA was dealt another economic blow when ratings agencies further downgraded our investment status. Maybe its time SA starts to heed their warnings – get Eskom’s house in order, stop funding SOE’s that just swallow cash, reduce debt, grow the economy, all those things that make sense right?  At some point someone needs to stand up and say – “This is enough, stop playing politics – GTD!”.

Oh yeah, someone did – Finance Minister Tito Mboweni tweeted on that topic on Sunday 22 November. And as with his draft economic recovery plan last year he was immediately slammed by trade unions for being irresponsible in his comments on SAA while being held responsible for its woes. Seriously? What is it with SAA? Or the SABC for that matter, where the 889 most highly paid staff earn more than R1 billion p.a? Are any of their jobs on the line in the retrenchment talks I wonder?

Now Government wants to impose local content quotas on Netflix. Again…seriously? Is playing politics not part of the cause of SOE problems? Requiring local content on Netflix will not GTD at SABC who just have not kept up with change.

Nothing and no-one is too big to fail. Just ask the Dinosaurs, or any of the 85% fortune 500 companies from the mid 1950’s that no longer make that grade today. Can anyone say “KODAK” or “Blackberry”? These “giants” are now but a shadow of their former selves, and I suspect with a much smaller workforce than at their peak. If a business’ product is no longer fit for purpose, its doomed to fail.  Yes, the employees may not be responsible for that failure, (unless of course there are too many employees for the amount work that actually gets done…), but that is the risk of being an employee. Even when working for Government there should be no guarantee.

Don’t get me wrong, any job loss is regrettable. But a rising tide raises all boats and surely economic growth should be the main priority tight now. That will potentially lead to many more sustainable jobs, and ones not funded by an already thinly stretched tax base. Is it not useless to efficiently try and save entities that should not be saved at all?

As Lockdown is eased and we enter what is supposed to be the festive season I urge you to be careful. Wear your mask, wash your hands and social distance. Stay safe, stay healthy. Until next time.