A manager in action

Ten week timetables, session plans, lesson plans and schedules is the basis of my working life as a college lecturer. Planning, planning and more planning is the order of the day, preparation ensures outstanding outcomes for both students and employers in my world.

What hinders our organisational outcomes is the lack of management direction, authority, decision making and laissiz faire attitude. I was in the Munich train station waiting in line seeking to purchase rail tickets to Prague, Vienna or Budapest when approached by what was the manager of die Bahn asking how he could offer assistance. In his softly spoken American accent, he listened to my plans and offered not only advice, he was back and forth to the counter grabbing brochures for me to read. It wasn't only just me, he worked his way down the line helping everyone.

He told me to wait for a certain booking staff as he was a guru for booking these particular fares, when it was my turn, he walked behind the counter and gave his booking agent a full run down on what we had discussed and he started looking for the best and cheapest solutions. He then grabbed his copy of the International New York Times newspaper, placed it under his arm and headed off for what I guess was a well deserved coffee.

The role of the manager is of course to manage budgets, accounts and financial statements, however, their role is more than this. Here was a manager who knew his product well, what he didn't know, he sought advice from frontline staff who did, he treated his staff with respect and understanding not encroaching on their technical domain and micro-managing their job, he possessed excellent communication skills and demanded respect by his actions.

I look to the management I am forced to endure with their poor communication skills, petty attitudes to team members, lazy demeanor and condescending attitude; they don't need to undertake a management course, they just need to spend one day with this guy to learn how to be a hand's on manager, getting out of the office and doing what they are supposed to do instead of just shuffling numbers around a spreadsheet. Yeah, I know you take daily hour and a half lunch breaks.

I am sure both Warren Bennis and Peter Drucker would both agree with me. We walked out of the office in a rush as we had less than 30 minutes to get fed and organised for our rail trip to Prague - now, that is an outstanding result.

Derby day 2013

Derby day was upon us, the 14th of July 2013 - the epic battle between the Fremantle Football Club and the West Coast Eagles Football Club. One could argue a battle between good versus evil, a family club and a club aligned with organised crime and prolific drug use.

My afternoon was spent down the Mount Hospital, right on the of Kings Park, my father had his chest opened up a week or so before, he was out of ICU and in the general wards with the rest of the mob wandering the corridors clutching a small pillow to their chest to make certain they didn't split their stitches open and rupture their sternum.

Eleven months later, I myself was having a heart procedure. Mine, of course, was much less dramatic as I wandered into the hospital at 7 am and out again on the same day at 3.30 pm. My old man had a couple of those as well before the cutter got hold of him, you don't have to be at the game to support the team.

We are back in derby week again, last year's grand finalists are seeking to cement their position in the top 4; West Coast on the other hand is seeking to consolidate their position in the top 12.

Not only did my old man recover, he was able to make the journey to the MCG for grand final day, looking good for 2014 as well, pretty much a year later, he will be at the game cheering from the three tier stand.

My brother-in-law, another long time Fremantle supporter was not so fortunate; his rapid onset of a lung & heart condition ended his life prematurely, he won't be attending any further games.

A year ago, much was happening in the life of my family, it still is touch and go, purple blood flowing through the veins - Fremantle to the end.

Is Lonely Planet as we know it in terminal decline?

A number of backpackers bibles fought for shelf space in bookstoors from the Rough Guide, Frommer's, Fodor's and Lonely Planet. Writing this post in Prague, I see many people still clutching city guide books in various languages wandering around enjoying the sights and restaurants.

However, the number of people with Galaxy smart phones and tablets seems to be far outnumbering the paper based variety? The quality of photograph produced by the Galaxy and iPhones camera also seems to outnumbering digital SLRs and compacts.

I am a member of the Lonely Planet website, this is more of a forum than guide in my eyes. Why would Lonely Planet canabalise their own sales of printed books to provide free online information? However, with the emergence of TripAdvisor, Booking.com and Hostels.com, is the Lonely Planet business plan looking shaky?New travelling websites are appearing along with high profile bloggers, with WiFi all around us, is the paper based guidebook in decline?

Joining a trade union

I now view joining a trade union as a penalty incurred for poor and incompetent workers based on my experiences working for the state government. To a degree, government workers represent the last bastion of union influence and power. Union membership is rapidly declining in power, in no small part due to union management and corruption.

However, there is some value in negotiating wages and conditions collectively, the state government has shown tonot bargain in good faith at times and industrial action is sometimes warranted. I have no issues with unions per se, my issue is how they are run, tactics used and how officials are elected.

Hailing from twenty years of employment in private enterprise, I was used to individual bargaining. I am glad I came from private enterprise to the public sector, I would have not liked to have picked up the work practices of some of my colleagues who have spent their entire working life in the federal and state government workforce. They are just plain lazy holding such a poor work ethic, I don't think they would last long in private enterprise where they are held accountable for productivity.

I now don't have to join a trade union against my will, we have choices. Based on my current and past employment, the people who needed union protection were inefficient, unmotivated and antaganstic towards the job. Being self-motivated, I hated being stood over and supervised closely in a manner that offended my personal work ethic, just hand out the job, leave me alone to get the job done and support me in my endeavors to suceed for the business enterprise.

The sad part is, we need unions, workers need representation - so how did we get to our current state of affairs? Instead, we have union officials interested in building and maintaining their personal power base. There is corruption, lots of it with the worker paying a percentage of his or her wage for union representation. Their union dues go into federal political advertising, slush funds and programs benefitting union officials.

There is no accountability, the union pays no tax, in many cases maintaining poor financial controls and not reporting to a federal body, in short, the books are not audited and union officials have no demands asked of them.

Australian unions are run on the same lines as British unions, that is, militent and seeking confrontation. With just 12% of workers holding union memberships, union management has to ask, what did we do wrong? Ironically, the highest proportion of union memberships is in the education and training sector (my job), public administration and safety.

Google Maps and backpacking

The technology travellers and backpackers have at their disposal is mind blowing. A device such as a tablet with GPS independent of WiFi is brilliant, we were booking online and were emailed the accommodation details along with a map from Google.

Getting off the train or bus allowed us to walk to our accommodation without requiring a taxi. The small map from the booking agency isn't great resolution or size, but will show you the approximate location.

The GPS gives you not exactly pinpoint accuracy, I reckon it is within about 25 metres. I found this out in Milan, we had been in the Duomo di Milano and were now standing outside the church close to the wall, the GPS indicated we were still in the church but within the arc radius displayed on the screen.

The only time it caused an issue was in Venice, I was sure we were on the other side of a canal, yet the device showed us to be standing on the other bank, within the accuracy of the device. Not a real problem, we just started walking and all of a sudden, the device showed us to be on the correct side and we were off.

On a funny note, when near the Grand Canal in Venice, the device showed us to be in the middle of the canel, yet I wasn't swimming or even wet. Still in Venice, when we needed to move quickly to the bus station and we were right on the outer edge on the other side of the island, we used the device to plot our exact location and our progress to our destination when we were unable to use the watercraft for transportation due to the strike.

Unfortunately, my older Samsung 7.0 does not give location without a WiFi connection, I knew this from playing endlessly with the device.

It also has different options such as road map, When I purchased the newer 10.1 with upgradable software, I learned the GPS worked independently and could be used without an internet connection. The inability of the 7.0 to upgrade software forced my hand to purchase a newer and larger version, that is a shame as because I used to the features of the device needing to learn how to navigate the newer software and the fact the newer 7.1 models were slimline and similar in construction to the 10.1 model.

My old backpack

It's still another two years until we hit our twenty year anniversary; yanked off the top of the wardrobe and thrust back into action, my old Mountain Design backpack still does the job as required.

These last nine years, I generally travel overseas four to five times per year for short trips. For these mostly diving trips, I take my High Sierra bag that doubles as a small backpack. At 65 litres capacity, this backpack is just too large for short trips lugging diving equipment with me, I choose a much smaller capacity kit. Of course, I have a duffel bag only for dive equipment.

Now I have long service leave, three and a half months on the road starting in Sydney, Dubai, Italy and then onto who knows where for two months before spending the final four weeks in the United States. It was high time we got reacquainted again, it feels like we have never been apart.

Italian trains

I have always had difficulties navigating the Italian train network, there has been plenty of incidents over the years including missed trains, being kicked off trains in the middle of the countryside, arguments and, of course, finding the correct platform for departure. The system makes perfect sense for Italians, the rest of us just struggle - or it just me?

Noriko and myself had a departure from Rome Terminal to Florence, we purchased the tickets at 10.21 am from the main ticket booth for a 1.03 pm departure, a bit of a wait for three hours was required - no big deal. 15 minutes before departure, the platform still hadn't been allocated, I was getting nervous, I had seen this before and I already had visions of missing the train.

Finally, the platform was announced, it was platform 2 exl - maybe something to do with delayed? We had a short time to get to the platform, then the train was delayed 13 minutes - phew, breathing space.

I went and asked some staff for directions, they spoke Italian (makes sense in Italy) and we were not able to communicate well. I did however understand 350 metres down the platform, they gestured something about number one, I wasn't able to understand though.

Noriko wanted to go and stand down on platform 2, I said no, we need to be together and move quickly, it was already about 1:10, we had three minutes before departure, I was starting to sweat now. An old man with only one tooth approached me offering help, I gratefully accepted as we were standing in of the departure board looking very perplexed.

He then told us, it is platform 1 we need to be on, as he was running us down it became apparent, there is platform 1, then right down the end (350 metres away) it is split into a further two platforms numbered 1 & 2 (of course).

We only just made the train, it wasn't more than a minute from pulling away from the platform. In the past, I have chased departing trains down the platform for no luck - with the help of the old man, we made the departure. I gladly reached into my pocket for some change, he was genuinely happy to receive the €4 I handed him, I was genuinely happy for his assistance.

Once in the safety of the seat, Noriko was a vessel of knowledge of how we nearly missed the train, I don't recall her offering such wisdom in real time except to go and ask somebody, I do recall her wanting to go and stand on platform 2, an empty platform with no train waiting. She didn't want to get up and moving with 15 minutes to departure - I just love retrospective advice.

I did ask three guys standing together in train company uniform, English to Italian translation was the problem, they showed no real interest in helping us and pointing us in the right direction. As it was, I had to interrupt their conversation, the third was busy sending messages on his phone and I guess they resented me, a non-Italian speaking tourist asking for directions in English.

So now I know, platform 1 is the standard platform 1, right at the end inside the station, then outside, not under the cover of the roof, it splits into a further 2 platforms numbered 1 & 2, not a) & b) as a sane person would expect. I would think the main departure board to state platform 1, ext a) with a sign pointing outside to the extra platforms just over a quarter of a kilometer away.

I will now know for future trains, I just wished they had posted the departure platform earlier so we had more time to prepare. We made it on time, plenty of luck involved, so no complaints.

Independents selling the country out

Both Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott were too spineless to face the electorate after their decisions to support the ill-fated Gillard government. The pair voted against their electorate's wishes to support a period of fiscal ineptness, their weakness delivered the most dysfunctional government in Australia's history.

What ensured was the most unstable period of government in the modern era, that is a big call after the chaos of Kevin Rudd and incompetence of Gough Whitlam. Rob Oakeshott stated that he would only support the minority government if Julia Gillard remained leader in 2010, when Bill Shorten reinstated Kevin Rudd as leader of the Labor party and Prime Minister of Australia in 2012, Oakeshott, however, refused to remain true to his word.

These fools picked the loser, we endured a further three years of incompetence, dysfunction and failure only to have Tony Abbott emphatically win government three later and begin the process of rebuilding the nation. Now, collectively, due to the decision of these two, we are the losers.  

Is Facebook a spent force?

Like so many others, Facebook was my primary social media interface, now I'm jaded with Facebook, but why?

The millennials and Gen Z aren't interested in Facebook, is it cool to be friended and watched by the olds? That is both parents and grandparents, don't think so. Gen Z is already online at school and socially, they are seeking new platforms to hang out.

What gets me upset is the sponsored posts on your newsfeed. Yes, I understand as a listed company, Facebook has to generate revenue and the best revenue income is sponsored adverts. Still, as a user, it is more than annoying, I am now seeking new platforms, the problem lays in the social confines of your online social group. Yeah, I still log on and update Facebook - sure.

Backpacking technology

Backpacking has certainly changed since I first left the comforts of Perth in search of excitement, challenges, enlightenment and culture in the mid 90s. It is now 2014 and technology encroaches on our every day life. As I wandered Dubai and the streets of Rome, everybody was using a Galaxy smartphone, or to a lesser degree an iPhone to organise their lives.

My choice of technology is my 10.1 Galaxy tablet, I also have an older 7.0 as a back-up device, both fit easily into my bag, the 7.0 is easier to carry around but lacks some of the functionability of the newer device. This wonderful device not only doubles as a camera, it has almost rendered my FujiFilm digital camera obsolete, it is able to immediately upload pictures to my G+ or Facebook account as soon as an internet connection presents.

My digital camera firstly has to be connected to a computer, pictures uploaded to the drive and then online. The quality of the images is astounding, I would never had expected such quality from the lens provided.

The GPS function allows you to exactly pinpoint your position without the need for WiFi connectivity. When travelling on the train and the bus, this important feature allows you to track you current and proposed location with a road map indicating streets and major features such as train stations, monuments, hotels and hospitals. If you fall asleep, you can immediately find your location - I wish I had this feature a decade or so ago, it was literally impossible to carry the full array of maps for multiple countries if you wanted some space in your backpack.

Researching and booking accommodation is easy, Trip Advisor, Booking.com or Lonely Planet is an excellent tool to connect to such services, prices can be checked and compared. Once upon a time, a guide book gave the best backpacker accommodation details, the information could be obsolete before the book went to print. Now, immediate price comparrisons are made ensuring best value and competition, furthermore, you are able to critique and rate establishments - they can't pull any of their old style stunts to rip-off unsuspecting travellers, word gets around so quick in the information age.

Finally receiving my degree

It has been a long time coming, I completed the requirements for my Bachelor's degree in Training and Development in 2013, but I decided to start directly to a double degree in trimester 3 in 2013, the university added that unit to the current degree extending the qualification, holding back my graduation until 2014.

I didn't even bother flying over to New South Wales for the graduation ceremony, instead opting to receive the certificate in the mail and saving my money for a European trip.

It is with some irony that I am in Prague on paid long service leave at the time the certificate arrived. I found out via email from my father, when I return, I will scan the certificate into my computer for employment purposes and my mother can have the certificate.

The genesis can be traced back to early 2005 when I was asked to submit an application to an American company, having worked for the Americans previously, I knew they valued qualifications. I frantically rang around seeking to gain a business qualification at any level to put in my CV.

I ended up gaining recognition of prior learning for the Certificate III in Business based on evidence produced as my time as the operations manager of a tourism business. This was really a process and not training so i didn't feel like I had achieved anything.

As I already had all the presentations, pricing structures, schedules and planning on my computer, it was a relatively easy process to produce evidence of both knowledge and application in the workplace. After all, it was all my own work and easy to verify.

However, I still felt I did not earn the qualification and enrolled in the Certificate IV in Frontline Management at the Challenger Institute of Technology Leadership Centre in 2005. That was really the beginning of the institutional learning process as I worked on an extension to the Certificate IV in Business. 

I later undertook Business Management before tackling a series of Diploma of Business and Business Management. In the Australian system, a diploma is equivalent to the first year of university studies, essentially a alternate way to receive university credits at a proportion of the cost; the skills and knowledge are equal.

So starting back in 2005, it has been a longer and arguably more difficult route; I have been fully employed during that time. I never needed to take three years off work to complete an undergraduate degree. 

With the qualification fully paid for by the time the certificate is issued, there was no hangover debt to pay off. I will complete my second undergraduate degree in Organisational Leadership towards the end of 2015 from the University of New England Business School.

While it is not a Harvard, Stanford or Wharton business degree, course material was sourced from diverse institutions including Oxford University in the United Kingdom and other internationally recognised institutions as well as numerous Australian facility ensuring an Asia/Pacific focus.

So now it is time to start negotiating with institutions for credit and advanced standing towards the Master's degree, in an uncapped business environment, they are willing to deal, all of a sudden, I have leverage.

Has Perth become a bogan backwater?

I am a Perth local, I grew up as a kid in the 70s when Perth was basically a big country town. Even during the 80s, there were times I left the keys accidently in the ignition of my car overnight, on the road out the front of the house and it would still be there in the morning.

At times, Perth was described as a quaint place time forgot, television writers had the option of killing off a character by death if they were not returning to the show and needed a ratings boost, the other option was move to Perth keeping alive a character to return to the show in the future.

Lonely Planet describes Perth as a city of cashed up bogans with money to burn on cars, beer and drugs. Then there is the associated by-products of the boom years, the attitude that goes with the success, I feel it is more a by-product of Perth's isolation and the lack of worldly knowledge held by a large proportion of the population.

Perth is now a truely cosmopolitan city, much needed investment has been poured into infrastructure, yet with the growth outstripping supply, the city is always playing catch-up. I just hope, Perth's social status can improve from the perception of the cashed-up bogan to a refined livable carefree isolated oasis.

Why I will never again employ a PADI Course Director

As both a former dive store owner and dive instructor, I thought the PADI Course Director was the pinnacle of non-commercial dive employment - I was wrong. Notwithstanding the oversupply of Course Directors PADI has created, it is both the quality of the product they churn out and the attitude that PADI instills in their highest designation that irks me.

Firstly, let's get this straight, I am not a frustrated wannabe who missed the opportunity to rise to PADI's highest level. I was offered canditure on the course, I was neither a PADI Staff Instructor nor a Master Instructor.

I easily met the con-ed ratio, had the correct number of certifications and experience. When you have a high certification dive centre pushing you, they find ways, they have confidentiality clauses to ensure you don't let the diving world know what really happened.

But lets face it, that can be manipulated as I once did to get one of our Staff Instructors on the course as a dive store manager. Strangely, he wasn't even the best instructor we had, but he had the money to pay for the course and even more importantly, he was friends with a high profile PADI Course Director.

As for me, I refused the offer of a free Course Director course a number of years later, even though at the time I was working for a high profile PADI dive centre. I knew I didn't want to go down this route, I had to stand by my personal convictions and refuse because I knew I could not keep my end of the bargain.

Nothing is free, I would have been encumbered to the business to pump out instructors at a great rate of knots. That's fair enough, but I would also be required to be down the business every living moment. Actually, I was anyway at that stage but it was my choice and I could leave at any point with no ill feelings.

A Course Director is a dive instructor first and foremost, if you have entry level divers that need training, that is their job. Likewise, if you need tanks filled, equipment sorted and washed - they need to get in and work too.

I have had the case where as the business owner, I had to get in and do entry level courses because our messiah like Course Director refused to do so. Salary wise, you pay over and above a normal dive instructor so they had better make sure they perform above an average instructor, mind you - the money as a dive instructor isn't much.

Likewise, as per the PADI code of ethical behaviour, you would expect such a highly rated PADI designation to adhere to the ethics and not act in a dishonest manner, steal from you or send your customers to your competitors or act in a fraudulent manner. Yeah, try and take on the might of the PADI Quality Assurance department and see how you fare.