Re: [Aus-soaring] GFA Board Term of Office

[Robert Hart]

Tim Shirley wrote: The extent to which we embrace democracy in any organisation is somewhere on a scale between dictatorship at one end and popular votes on every decision, at the other.  Clearly one end of this scale is highly dangerous, the other is hopelessly inefficient. It is very reasonable for us to be discussing where on that scale we are and where we should be - but I don't think we should start out with an assumption that any move in one direction or the other is necessarily an improvement. Well, we part company right there. As Winston Churchill put it "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." I have had one Board member tell me during a Board discussion that "members are just children" (and therefore not to be trusted with any decision making). I was so gob smacked by that remark, I could not think of a fitting response (the ones I could think of were unprintable). The GFA exists for the members - not the converse and thus organisational control by the members appears to me to be the only logical situation - but that is very clearly what we do not have. On the subject of popular election of the major office-holders, the upside is greater accountability and more frequent judgement of performance - clearly a good thing - but the downside is that politicians and those with the "gift of the gab" may be more electable than those with the ability to really perform.  Popular and frequent election can lead to populist and short term approaches.  I'm not arguing against the idea, just pointing out that there is an effect that needs to be considered when moving in this direction. The current system of "election" has lead us to a situation where the membership has declined to the point where the viability of the sport is seriously threatened, where the membership is almost completely disengaged from the decision making in their sport and we still have yet to adopt a modern safety management system - which directly impacts on the levels of risk we face when we fly. (Go and look at the recent BGA 2008 accident review, which is publicly available on their web site if you want to see what we should have by now - 6 years after it was first suggested to the Board by GQ). I submit our current system of election of office bearers is clearly failing the organisation by giving us individuals that are failing the membership almost across the entire spectrum of their responsibilities. This system has provide failing leadership for many years - go and read the back issues of Australian Gliding from the 1980s to see just how far back the criticisms reach. The "risks" associated with "populist" successful candidates do seem rather trifling when held up against the current and historic non-performance of the system of leadership selection used at present. On the subject of Department Heads, the real question is whether these people are really Department Heads, or the GFA equivalent of ministers.  Ministers are politicians who are elected, and then appointed to ensure that the political agenda is carried out; Department Heads are appointed because they are experts in their fields and good at running their departments.  At present, the current crop of GFA Department Heads are expected to be experts, and as a result are elected by their peers in most cases.  I assume the reasoning was that the best way to choose a leader for the Instructor Panel was to ask the Instructors, rather than throw the election open to anyone who cared to vote.  I also expect that the reason they have Board and Executive places today is that at present there is no other way to get those expert opinions heard in those places. The current department heads (chairs of the M&D, Operations, Airworthiness and Sports C'tees) are (supposedly) the experts in their fields.  They are selected by their peers and are clearly equivalent to senior civil servants. As such, they should advise the Board on policy that affects their areas and serve on the executive, implementing the Board determined policy as it affects their areas of responsibility. They should have no role beyond that of furnishing expert advice where policy debates affect their area. That they have a major hand in setting policy in every area of the GFA is clearly inappropriate to their role in the organisation given their selection process as specialists. For me personally, the real issue is the continuing existence of State Associations.  We are a small sporting body, and can ill afford to engage in petty squabbles across state borders, or a structure that places the State bodies in the way between the membership and the National body - which is the only one with any clout. I haven't seen any 'petty squabbles" between regional organisations of late (or actually at all in my time in the GFA). The 'squabbles' have occurred between GQ and the central administration. At present, it is only because there is one regional organisation being 'difficult' about a range of topics (such as this strange idea that an organisation's members should control that organisation) that this debate is even happening. As for regional bodies getting between the national body and the membership, that's a huge joke. The (albeit minimal) opening up of the information flows between the membership and the national body is the result of GQ taking a crow bar and prying at the cracks to get some more information flowing. Despite this, even now, as a Board member I'm not permitted to talk about an issue with the people who elected me if someone slaps a "Board in confidence" stamp on it (at their choice for any reason of their choosing and against which there is no appeal). And you want to get rid of the state organisations? At present, that would ensure a win for those already entrenched at the centre of the organisation. Good solution, Tim! -- Robert Hart ha...@interweft.com.au +61 (0)438 385 533 http://www.hart.wattle.id.au

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