Most of us, in one way or another, have heard of bullfighting. Some call it a blood sport; others call it artistry.
It is a traditional spectacle that is particularly identified with Spain, Portugal, southern France and Hispanic Americas countries.
There are elaborate costumes, rituals and a large cast of characters. The informed audiences focus primarily on the central character – the matador, as he executes various formal movements around the bull, which causes excitement and appreciation.
In this regard, it is similar to cricket, when a master batsman is on song, executing a beautiful assortment of strokes against resourceful bowlers.
The big difference, of course, is that when the matador makes the bull miss, he is avoiding injury or possible death. Those who have successfully and artistically executed these choreographed movements over time, get the biggest “Ole”.
Lately, I get the feeling that we are engulfed in sea of matadors, waving massive red capes. We, the public are the bulls and the matador is yelling “Ole”.
Take, for example, the escalating scenarios of industrial relations gaffes such as the police commissioner firing, the Alexandra inquiry and complaints about ambiguous criteria for appointing senior public servants.
We have seen some fancy steps and public posturing on both sides of the political divide, with outcomes that clearly avoid taking definitive action. The matadors yell “Ole, that didn’t stick to me” as paying consumers (via taxes, job losses, higher taxes, and so on), feel the picador’s lance and the matador’s sword.
It seems we are expected to accept well-crafted excuses as a substitute for demonstrable progress toward meaningful outcomes. What changes must we ourselves make to break this pattern of rewarding “Ole”? Remember, effective leadership isn’t democratic.
How many times, just in 2013, have we been told that the Four Seasons re-start is imminent? The “Ole” of course, is that: “things are with the lawyers” and we can’t give any details.
Tourism projections are not being met but there is a plethora of programmes going in different directions without acknowledging a known root cause of the decline; consistently poor service.
We are spending money to find more people to disappoint. “Ole!” We are trying to preserve jobs, so let’s not disturb those who are clearly interested in jobs that insist upon meeting measurable performance standards.
Not to be left out, LIME by itself has come up with a dazzling set of manoeuvres, arising from being confirmed as having the lowest level of customer satisfaction among those measured by a NISE survey. These include: “the call centre shuffle”, the scapegoating and short-notice firing of employees at their sales outlets, and the migration of all its email services to Gmail, as a way to position itself as simply a provider of large margin, products and services with the messy people stuff being outsourced. For good measure, they have rolled a few heads at the top as a grand “Ole”.
If you, like me, are faced with services which have been severely compromised to a point that nothing is reliable; you will recognize that we are being given the big “Ole”. This time, it comes at the end of every service call; when they say: “Thank you for making it LIME”. “Ole!”
I hope this imagery will cause you to take a stand against being the sacrificial “bull”.
• Dennis Strong is founding president of the Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants.