Optimocracy

Strategy, risk & performance professional. I believe in a better world through critical thinking & collaboration, not ideological dogma, tribalism & division ☕

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

I have worked in the public sector for around 12 years.
My role is impacted by the staff reductions.

I don't agree with the way it is happening in every agency. It's horrible for those impacted & I sympathise with them. I'm not a coalition voter.
But I support the cuts. Why?

- I have seen first hand unbelievable levels of waste & inefficiency in the public sector.
- I have seen first hand the lack of accountability for leaders, managers & staff failing to deliver (& worse, in many cases them being promoted).
- I have seen first hand agencies not performing (& in many cases not even able to properly measure performance) & little to nothing changing except their head-count going up.
- I have seen first hand consultancies get rich on the tax payers dime while delivering little value (& in some cases making things demonstrably worse), & agencies not instead investing in building the internal capability required so they wouldn't need consultants.
- I have seen first hand good people coming into work every day & working hard because they genuinely care about our country & want to contribute - despite working under poor cultures, poor systems, poor leadership, poor management, poor strategies, poor execution.

Yes, our agencies do deliver some great work we should all be very proud of.
Yes, we do have some great leaders & managers in the public service.
Yes, there are many positives to celebrate.
But we are a long, long way from getting the return on investment we should from our public sector.

It doesn't matter which party is in power, the public sector needs recalibrating, with a real & genuine focus on measurable performance so we can, in future, make informed, objective, defensible & transparent decisions about whether we increase or reduce their headcount.
#nzpol @auditor_general

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

But the Govt *is* us (or should be?) ‘of the people, by the people’ etc. Its debts are ultimately our burden as taxpayers. Yes, bonds are our assets & the govt’s liability. But interest gets paid from taxes we fund, much of the debt is held by foreigners (not 'us'), & there's no magic asset we can sell to erase it. It creates real costs: higher future taxes, inflation risk, & less private investment doesn’t it? Not a free swap.

To my mind an asset makes you money, not adds to your debt & interest burden 🤷‍♂️

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@MusicalChairs14 @TaxpayersUnion Well, yes. But it isn’t that missing a material part of the calculation if that money was borrowed for example? Ie the private sector has an extra billion, but the govt (us) now has yet another billion of debt which still has to be repaid, plus interest.

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@MusicalChairs14 @TaxpayersUnion Doesn’t the outcome depend on where there that billion came from? I.e. from a balanced budget vs borrowed money vs increase in money supply? Possible Inflationary impacts worth considering.

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@freedomgirlnz Correlation is not causation. I encourage you to look into Professor David Nutt’s work on social harm & where cannabis ranks. The biased source material from which you draw your conclusion here is leveraging a questionable correlation to push his own anti-cannabis shtick.

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@grok @chrishipkins @grok So total net & gross migration figures from New Zealand to Australia for the period were?

In Chris Hipkins post above, is he citing net or gross figures?

Can you cite the specific NZ Labour policy changes?

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@tauhenare There was a trillion dollar transfer of wealth to the wealthy during Covid under Labour.
House & rent prices increased significantly under Labour.
Cost of living increased significantly under Labour.
This Govt isn’t the solution, I’m afraid Labour aren’t either.

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

I asked myself that same question. I’m writing something up currently to work through my thinking, should be done & published tomorrow/Saturday (time allowing). It’s been an interesting one to break down…I agree with need for logical comparison across roles, but govt have ham-fisted the process, badly. I do wonder sometimes who doing their strategic work…so much unnecessary political collateral damage 🤷‍♂️

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@Joe_Trinder https://t.co/nhO1l4DgjD

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@MariaSherwood2 https://t.co/nhO1l4DgjD

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@Feijoa_Chutney https://t.co/nhO1l4DgjD

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@AotearoaSam https://t.co/nhO1l4DgjD

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@KajensAngel The mental gymnastics required to try to justify it yesterday, then try to decry it today - without a hint of irony.
Tribalism is a legitimate problem, made worse by the fact each tribe thinks it's only a problem in the others.

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@cutaway_cafe The increase in tribalism & partisan binary thinking seems proportionate to a decline in critical thinking. Seems more & more people are outsourcing their thinking to their tribes narratives & unable to acknowledge any fault in their tribe, while only finding fault in others 😕

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@cutaway_cafe The increase in tribalism & partisan binary thinking seems proportionate to a decline in critical thinking. Seems more & more people are outsourcing their thinking to their tribes narratives & unable to acknowledge any fault in their tribe, while only finding fault in others 😕

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@FloorPlanGuyNZ @Evointegrity All good, I didn’t claim 75% for this govt but I get where you’re coming from 👍🏼

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@FloorPlanGuyNZ @Evointegrity I’m not sure which part of ‘I don’t support the current Govt’ is being missed here Pete 🤷‍♂️

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@baza_mcmahon I don’t disagree, but replace them with…who? The previous Labour Govt failed against nearly every performance metric despite a record majority bringing them into power (& no, this is not all down to ‘but Covid’.

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

@FloorPlanGuyNZ @Evointegrity Ok, “75% of the country who are eligible to vote & did.”
Seems 1.2m weren’t enthused by the available options either 🤷‍♂️

[Optimocracy @optimocracyhq]

Interest groups on all sides use smear campaigns to paint their opposition in the worst light, which their respective supporters conveniently ignore while they only point to the smear tactics against their party of choice. I don’t disagree this isn’t constructive. However that doesn’t change the underlying fact that Labour’s raw performance metrics were enough to demonstrate they needed to go. The problem is the the alternative is a different flavour of bad, hence my point we need a better alternative.