Saying sorry

Rend your hearts not your garments (Joel 2:13)
Am I alone in being shocked that British companies report that their offer of PPE (personal protective equipment) was refused by our government and, as a result, large quantities of it are being shipped abroad while we suffer a shortage? Meanwhile we are buying PPE from Turkey and shipping is taking longer than expected. I know about international trade and the global economy but that seems crazy.
Worse than that the government's lame explanation about differing standards between Europe and the UK and the vague attempt to cover their tracks in promising PPE earlier than it came, feel like year 9 students telling me that their printer broke. The worst was that nonsense about not getting the email from the European Union about bulk buying of PPE. That's on a par with my dog ate the homework. Though to be fair I have a letter in my memories box from a parent saying just that. Anything can be true on occasion, just not this time.
So I have a suggestion. It's not a political one, as scoring political points is, well, pointless. It's this. When you get it wrong own up and promise to do better next time. In our corridors of power there is too much rending of clothes and not enough, if any, rending of hearts.
But not just in the corridors of power. Too often we find an unwillingness for people to admit mistakes. I understand the motive. In an atmosphere of empty blame then no one is going to own up to getting it wrong. Why should they? All they are doing is providing a scapegoat, which allows everyone to avoid having to work out what went wrong.
The new boss of Ford, appointed just after their near demise, set up a system by which every factory head got together to share what was going wrong. On the first occasion no one owned up until one brave soul admitted to a problem with a boot actuator. Immediately the new boss placed him on his right hand side, instantly promoting him to number two on the team. It was the beginning of the turn around for Ford. I sense our leaders might learn from that example.

The amazing flowers of the Horse Chestnut tree


Comments

  1. Alan Guy28 April 2020 at 09:37

    Yes, I think there is much more respect for those who actually admit (our) mistakes in every walk of life. Admit our weaknesses. Learn from them. Not just our politicians.
    I also dislike trial by TV to be honest (I didn't watch the programme being talked about this morning). There are plenty of questions that need to be asked about this pandemic, especially in the lead up, and so much to learn - politicians, scientists - the list is a long one. True, on the face of it, the evidence so far seems to suggest a severe lack of prep. I have to declare that for several reasons, I do have more empathy than many perhaps for our politicians. It was very interesting to see the huge govt response (govt.uk) after the Sunday Times article a little over a week ago. I think everyone deserves a defence, a counter argument. It's rarely as straight forward as the media like to portray. Though it's really important they ask the hard questions and dig into the detail.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. George Moody28 April 2020 at 16:31

      I found this article interesting: https://www.thearticle.com/media-questions-at-no10-briefings-are-woeful-here-are-20-they-should-ask.

      Delete

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