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Reglomania is a disease identified by Dr Roy Gilbert, in “Reglomania: The curse of organisational reform and how to cure it”.  The characteristic of the disease is an one‐eyed or one dimensional attitude brought about by obsession with strict adherence to an organisation's written rules, regulations and strategies.  Managers who suffer from this disease are called reglets• they have allowed their minds to become strangled with red tape• they have chronic mental inflexibility• they have chronic mental inflexibility• they have lost the capacity to evaluate• their clients are short changedWe – as clients ‐ can tell the difference between knowledge and insight.  We can also do so if we are Q‐factor people.  Reglets are driven by ‘facts’ that pass for knowledge and have a clear and dominant R‐factor.  Questioners or Q‐factor people use knowledge as a basis for insight and understanding.  We want more of these people.Story 1The Australian constitution was prepared in the late 1800’s and signed into law in 1900. It was intended to establish the protocols for how an otherwise merely adjacent group of states and territories were to become a nationa nation.Over the last century or so there have been almost 50 attempts to change elements of the constitution. Only 8 have succeeded. Only about 50 words have changed, but the interpretation of the written word has been quite different and continues to evolve.On the other hand - at the State level: the driving laws can be quite different on one side of the border from the other – and for our safety, 2

R‐factor and Q‐factor people ‐ Reglets and Questioners can be differentiated on a number of criteria.• Reglets are driven by the written word especially the specific requirements of 

their position description• Reglets tend to take action based on ‘what to do’ as a series of tasks• Reglets often confuse output with outcome• Reglets are most comfortable in highly structured organisations• Reglets are motivated by the written word• Reglets are motivated by the written word..  They also like arrangements where disciplines separated.On the other hand Q‐factor people …

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This is THE approach ‐ provenStep 1 ‐ Clarification• Clarify the purpose of the organisation or work unit• What caused the organisation to be created?• What problem does the government or owner of the organisation want 

solved?Step 2 ‐ Indicators of achievement and performance• Establish separate sets of performance indicators for the outcomes desired• Establish separate sets of performance indicators for the outcomes desired 

and the tasks to achieve those outcomesStep 3 ‐ Strategies• Correlate strategies with outcome indicatorsStep 4 ‐ Structures• Design organisational structures which facilitate accountability and encourage 

experimentation – to fulfil the client’s needStep 5 ‐ Control• Develop a strategic management information system which will guide and 

control the programsStep 6 – Leadership by YOU• Gain recognition as the leader in an open management style• Clarify what caused the organisation to be created?• Repeatedl confirm hat problem does the go ernment or o ner of the• Repeatedly confirm what problem does the government or owner of the 

organisation want solved?Is the problem solved?• Move to next problem

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To reduce reglomania – important to recognise 3 warning signs:‐ Omnipotence of the written instruction – Parliament or HO directives‐ Closely associated with this is a clear tendency to accept rather than to 

challenge.  They rarely question, unless it is to defend the status quo.‐ Narrow minded ‐ “if you are fully equipped with a hammer, everything looks 

like a nail”.Story‐NBureaucracies are often obsessively hierarchical with layer upon layer ofBureaucracies are often obsessively hierarchical, with layer upon layer of cramped intellect each ‘worried’ by its neighbours ‐ ‘to hasten slowly' is seen as a mark of maturity.  ‘Frank and fearless advice’ is spoken about, but never provided.  Many insiders in any bureaucracy know of at least one manager who efficiently implemented the wrong program – and possibly got promoted (the Peter Principle).

Story 2Several agencies perform various functions with ‘prisoners’. Police arrest people take them into custody. The Courts consider their case and decide if they need to stay in custody for an extended period. Corrections hold them for extended periods, or perhaps Mental Health.The agencies each have their own suite of legislation corporate cultureThe agencies each have their own suite of legislation, corporate culture, organisation structure and decision making processes. And yet the management of people who are denied/ deprived of their liberty –prisoners – are a common thread. The escorting of prisoners is critical to each – but it is not ‘core business’.I was given the task of developing a contract with one provider to do all manner of prisoner escort activities across all of these agencies – a world 5

Story 3 - The Taj MahalIf only all decisions could be reversed at no cost. A few years back I was working with the executive of a government agency in Western Australia to develop a strategic plan. I was telling them a story from Roy’s book about the Public Works Department of the Victorian Government that had been requested to build a new police station at a place called St Albans, as the old one had seen 'better days'. St Albans and the surrounding area had a population of about 80 000St Albans and the surrounding area had a population of about 80 000 people. The police station was planned to accommodate about a dozen uniformed and office personnel. Several hundred kilometres to the north was another town called St Arnauds. This town had a population of about 2 000 people. There was no police station of any merit there either, nor could a building be justified as there was only 1 solitary officer. Now there is hardly a person outside the bureaucracy in the state of Victoria who y p ywould ever confuse St Albans with St Arnauds. In the dusty little village of St Arnauds, there arrived 1 day a team of professionals to undertake the task of designing and constructing the new police station. After surveying the site and observing the surrounding environment, it never occurred to them that something was wrong. They didn't question the fact that the proposed police station would accommodate almost as much office space as the entire CBD of the townaccommodate almost as much office space as the entire CBD of the town. When they went back to Melbourne they went straight back to their drawing boards. St Albans missed out on its new police station while St Arnauds got a monument to reglomania – probably as a result of a typographical error in the written instruction.Well the executive doubted the veracity of the story. We decided to take a break. The Manager, Assets and Manager, HR burst into the coffee room 6

Story 5The Barossa Water Filtration Plant has a capacity of almost 200 Ml/ day, serves a population of almost 100 000 and is about 30Km away from any town. Convention required 24 hr/ day operation and 24 hr/ day attendance according to the requirements of the Metal Trades Award. We tried to come up with all manner of improving the lot of the working life of people working shift, including their coping with the disruptive effect on circadian rhythms We also sought adequate compensation by way of variation torhythms. We also sought adequate compensation, by way of variation to payment under the award for the specific circumstances of the Barossa.The Union told their members, my workers, that life was tough and they should get on with it. Bad call.I diverted some of the resources at the plant, as a loan, to the purchase of materials to make wheelbarrows, trailers and go-carts. People on shift work were able (if they had time) to supplement their income. For the next ( y ) ppseveral months the shift workers learned how to respond more effectively to alarms, including better discrimination of alarms. At least one thing they did was eliminate alarms arising from overflowing sumps – by making use of the plant being on the side of a hill. They repaid the investment. On the other hand they also demonstrated that they did not need to be there 24 hrs/ day and that they could supplement their income more conveniently by other means They decided to end continuousconveniently by other means. They decided to end continuous attendance.The Union sought to prevent their initiative. The workers rose up against their union. Within five years the approach was adopted by all other water treatment plants in South Australia. Almost 20 years later, as part of outsourcing the management of all manner of similar activities in SA, tenderer’s were amazed to see the level of staffing. The practice is now 7

Key phrase is often – “The extent to which …”‐ As evidenced by …Activity is almost always a measurement –Story 11Outsourcing and public private partnerships (PPPs) often include the development of key performance indicator’s (KPIs). Strange, in that they were rarely developed or available when the service was provided by the public sector Doubly strange and even perverse when one considers howpublic sector. Doubly strange and even perverse when one considers how many suddenly appear, often with poor or even no definition and they confuse activity with achievement. And then even more perversely when they start to affect payment for services provided by the private sector under contract.’How is it that: the government spends so much time and effort to find the best enterprise in the world to perform some public service – and soon after the contract is signed they treat the enterprise and the key people in it as though they were incompetent liars and cheats.How is it that the contract administrators place absolute faith in KPIs that they defined themselves so recently and without broad based testing and confirmation? KPIs that were not used by their own agency to benchmark or otherwise test performance.How is it that personal professional relationships are so different fromHow is it that personal professional relationships are so different from these professional relationships in a work setting? We do not pay our own hair-dresser, or dentist or doctor more or less depending on any criteria of ‘performance’ we might decide.Do we as contract administrators or the government expect innovation and sensible risk taking, as an element of continuous improvement to prosper or perish in an environment of penalties and bonuses driven by KPIs? 8

Story 12Genuine reglets see no difference between indicators of activity (AIs) and indicators of performance (KPIs) simply because activity and achievement are identical to them. There is no difference between hours of maintenance and hours of availability of a machine, between calls made and sales, between sales and profit and so on.On the other hand, the providers of some outsourced services relish in their ‘performance’ against KPIs They even celebrate their ‘performance’their performance against KPIs. They even celebrate their performance in various PR materials. They then feign surprise when they are not even invited to respond to an RfT when the contract expires. The constructively ‘misunderstand’ what customers/ users want and thus the client agency has been prepared to pay for. Reglets exist in all sectors.Creative management is assisted by the presence of simple cues which automatically spark a questioning process to support Q‐factor thinking.  Indicators play such a role, but they must be correctly designed.  They must be separated into two distinct categories – activity and performance.They must be targeted at client need or objective NOT at the level of activity or taskFor the Program Manager:• There is no point in patting yourself on the back for being on time, and to 

b dget ith an impro ed inp t/ o tp t ratio if the tasks o p rs e do notbudget, with an improved input/ output ratio if the tasks you pursue do not solve client’s problems.  

• It is not good if a client’s problems are solved several years too late and at double the initial cost estimate.

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Story 18A few years back a sporting group was in major dispute about the conduct of the final – the main event. The problem was described in terms of the ability to move almost 150 000 people leaving the event at the same time. The government called in the 'road experts' and the ‘public transport experts’. They solved the puzzle – several millions of dollars for new physical and services infrastructure - but not the problem.The problem was passed to the Transport Ministry a more senior andThe problem was passed to the Transport Ministry, a more senior and generalist grouping. They stretched their minds and proposed train and tram solutions. Again a solution to the puzzle – because they had not appreciated the real problem.The real problem was that people would choose to leave at the same time. Why not provide some additional, supporting activities so that departure would be spread out over time and existing physical and services p g p yinfrastructure could cope. Winners all round, benefits shared in a kind of cross-sponsorship. How many major events are sole events? The approach has been replicated.Remember the maxim – “You win the Nobel prize for the right question, right answers are relatively trivial”.

Creati e and sef l strategies and programs are facilitated b the clearCreative and useful strategies and programs are facilitated by the clear identification of the problems for which the organisation was established/ maintained to solve, and an equally clear description of the outcomes which would indicate that the problems have either been solved or are being solved.  And a range of Q‐factor managerial devices flow from this.  • As per the slide 10

Some key elements of the right structure – BUT be aware that there is no perfect structure, particularly for large and complex problemsStory 25Building regulators in one jurisdiction were concerned at the level of illegal building works. The problems arising were many and varied – some genuinely affecting life and death. The works might be as trivial as an unauthorised power point. Or they might be an external air-conditioning unit in a multi-story building Or an additional floor to a relative low riseunit in a multi story building. Or an additional floor to a relative low rise. Or subdivision of a flat with access through a fire stairway. Or the closure of a lift and conversion into flats with no view. In briefing materials the client agency indicated as many as 500 000 such breaches.Our investigations suggested that there were more than 20 million illegal building works on the outside of the building estate.Our investigations also revealed that other government agencies were rather supportive of the illegal activities. People could register ownership and trade in illegal units. People could legitimately organise services –water, sewage, telephone, mail, rubbish collection and the like.We were able to recommend a proper role for the private sector in addressing the issue. It received little interest, until the head of the agency was almost killed by a falling air-conditioning unit. But this too was short lasted Ten years later not a lot has changedlasted. Ten years later not a lot has changed.

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There are 3 principle’s for consideration• Purpose• Internal liaison• External co‐ordinationThere are only a few options• Project• Line / Staff – Funder/Purchaser/Provider• Process• Product• Workload• Geographic• Market• Know‐How• MatrixTh bl t b id dThere are many problems to be avoided• Multiple Masters• Crowd Controllers• Deputy Dogsbodies• Pecking order – cf ‘flatter structures’• Hell jobs• Telephone ExchangesTelephone Exchanges• Flying Elephants• Send three‐and‐fourpence

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Ideas are born within organisational settings, so it is important for managers to spend the time to design structures which enable creative energy to surface, to flourish, to be recognised and to be rewarded.  The stifling effect of excessive bureaucracy on staff attitude is often over looked.  However, never rely totally on HR to supply creative organisational solutions, as reglomania can infect this area as well. • The Resource implications.  This should include consideration of all relevant 

resources including: financial physical human assets and intellectual propertyresources including: financial, physical, human assets and intellectual property in the short and long term – the whole of life cost/ price of the objective.

• The Operational implications.  This should include the entities ability to interface with its clients, with its colleagues and with its providers (including contractors) so as to achieve objectives.

• The Client implications.  This should include the potential impact upon such basic considerations as:

• Project effectiveness.• Accountability and transparency.• Affected individuals and communities.• Equity and public access.• Consumer rights.• Security.

• The Stakeholder implications The potential impact on interested 3rd parties• The Stakeholder implications.  The potential impact on interested 3rd parties.

Also important to realise that ‘structure’ in a necessary but not sufficient role in reform.

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Story 26When I took up the role of commissioning a water treatment plant in the Barossa Valley in South Australia we had a problem with a very poor telephone system. Specialists and liaison people in our organisation at various levels told us that for various specific and written reasons we could expect no better, indeed we should be pleased for what we were given. RubbishI tried another approach My brother worked for the phone people II tried another approach. My brother worked for the phone people. I asked him to arrange for it to be fixed. He did try – without success. But, he gave me some valuable information. He told me that their efforts to fix a problem were proportional to the number of complaints about the problem.Wow! I had people on shift 24 hours a day and 6 lines out. Over the next few weeks we managed to elevate our problem to that of commercial g pcatastrophe. The State Manager of the telephone corporation came out to look at the situation (possibly related to our location in the middle of Australia’s wine region) and the problem was fixed in a few days.Another benefit was the lesson to the people at the plant. We were a team and there was not much we could not achieve – even take on the might of one of Australia’s largest corporations. Yet another, was to the people in our own organisation work with us or we will work around youour own organisation – work with us or we will work around you.

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Step throughStory 31An early assignment related to the administration of Community Water Grants. The administration unit consisted of almost a dozen people, all of whom were committed to environmental management and most of them had a PhD in the science of doing so. They hired myself and a couple of colleagues to assist manage the process of receiving grant applications, considering them paying grants and administering the projectsconsidering them, paying grants and administering the projects.The group were keen on best use of new technologies – like the net – but they were interested amateurs. They were critical of administrative overheads – but were not good at choosing between critical detail and administrivia. They were swamped when the applications started to come in and were almost double their expectations.We envisaged ourselves as applicants (though we could not talk with any lest we breach probity) and established protocols. We established the critical data – technically and administratively. We drafted a new grant contract with schedules to facilitate contract formation and administration with minimum administrative overheads.The result was a process that finished 3 months ahead of schedule and cost $3 million less than budgeted. This then meant that an additional 500 grants were made Returns from the projects implemented were500 grants were made. Returns, from the projects implemented were almost 95% (previous best practice was barely 10%). The grant program was so successful that it was repeated 4 times and the administrative approach replicated in all other grant programs of the agency.The Minister was especially happy, at least partly because the Auditor General was satisfied.

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The use of the two management information tables helps to ensure that new ideas are captured, followed up and implemented, and that assessments of performance are used in a constructive way.  The tables are an important part of the methodology for inspiring Q‐factor thinking within an organisation.  Without them, there is a strong possibility that the focus of management's attention will gradually drift away from the why and concentrate solely on the whatwhat.  These tables link the two.  What is done in a program is important only if it solves the client's problem as reflected in the outcome performance indicators.Story 29Proper definition of problems is not always simple, nor without risk. I often quote from Mant re: the frog and the bike:“Intelligent leaders understand that complex systems are more like frogs g p y gthan like bikes. You can disassemble a bicycle completely, clean and oil all the separate parts, and reassemble it confident that it will work as before. Frogs are different. The moment you remove any part, all the rest of the system is affected instantly, in unpredictable ways, for the worse. Binary 'leaders', and quite a few management consultants too, really do think that complex organisational systems will respond to the bicycle treatment They think you can get a realistic picture of the total system bytreatment. They think you can get a realistic picture of the total system by simply aggregating its component parts. They are not wicked, just dim.”And adjust the elements of the story to suit the circumstances at hand.A private provider of detention services developed a comprehensive approach to risk management and compliance. The approach was thorough, though not necessarily directed to the specifics of each contract. The approach was based on a paper trail for seemingly every element of 16

YOU as the leader at some levelStory 34At the beginning of the calendar year an apprentice was granted approval to travel 300 kilometres each month from Canberra to Sydney to attend a TAFE college as part of his formal training. Each month the apprentice would religiously complete a form seeking approval to travel and pass it to his supervisor. The supervisor would read it, recommend approval, sign it and pass it on to the senior supervisor The senior supervisor would readand pass it on to the senior supervisor. The senior supervisor would read it, recommend approval, sign it and pass it to the director of works. The director of works would read it, recommend approval, sign it and pass it on to the Assistant Secretary of Works. This person was classified in the 'senior executive service', among the elite of bureaucrats. But, it seemed, still the decision could not be made. He read it, recommended approval, signed it and passed it to the First Assistant Secretary of Works; a member g p yof the super elite. Would he make the decision? No, not yet. It was an administrative matter and so it had to be seen and approved by the First Assistant Secretary, Administration — another member of the super elite.Where was the real decision making in this chain? Many people think it is at the supervisor level. In actual fact there was no decision making at all. The decision had been made back at the beginning of the year when the apprentice had been granted approval to attend the course All that wasapprentice had been granted approval to attend the course. All that was required each month was a polite reminder from the apprentice to his immediate boss that he would be away for the day. Why the first assistant secretaries would need to know defies explanation. More important, with scores of files carrying such administrative trivia, it is impossible to find time to think constructively about matters of real substance and so the opportunity to exercise some of that questioning insight is unlikely ever to 17

After extensive experience of reform programs in over 50 government or semi‐government organisations, I have come to the sad conclusion that, despite the presence of intelligent and hard working people, genuine fundamental reform rarely comes easily.  ‐ Not enough is self initiated‐ The common sense of the few is swamped by the prejudices of many‐ Moreover, many of those with the common sense are seldom in the positions 

of power which makes the task of implementing change even more difficultof power, which makes the task of implementing change even more difficult‐ In many government organisations there is a surprising lack of honest 

experimentation and little genuine testing of ideas‐ There are some people who just do not like being subjected to scrutiny. In explaining the methodology, an attempt had been made to keep the language simple, avoiding unnecessary jargon‐ There is always the danger, however, that only that which sounds complicated 

is perceived as being of any real use‐ But the 'no pain no gain' theory, which often is applied to building the body, 

does not necessarily apply to developing the mind‐ There is no need to embellish the practice of management with verbose 

mystique‐ Management is both an art and a science, and its fundamental principles and 

concepts are relati el simple to learn and nderstandconcepts are relatively simple to learn and understand‐ The real difficulty is getting people to implement them‐ It is hoped that the reader has found it practical – “there is nothing so 

practical as a good theory”‐ If your organisation is encountering some difficulty in its corporate planning, 

this simple approach will hopefully provide some new insights.  The stories ‐ could have come from anywhere and anytime 18