HOW WILL THE PMSA DEFINE GOVERNANCE REFORM SUCCESS?
(And how can our schools ever recover whilst the 2017 Councillors, who were responsible for overseeing material failure, refuse to step down?)
The PMSA has recently announced the “completion” its governance reform process. Without much fanfare or too much publicity, we are all now asked to “move on”. And move on we must, but we shouldn’t be simply accepting that they have got it right.
Why? Well we have documented our views on the effectiveness of their reform trajectory in great detail over the last 2 years. We have written countless well researched blogs on “good governance”. They were right on point, but it seems, to little avail.
REFUSING TO ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS WILL NOT IMPROVE THINGS
Two of the most fundamental questions that we have repeatedly asked the PMSA to address are:
What PROBLEMS do the PMSA assert will be solved by the implementation of their list of governance reform measures; and
How will they DEFINE the SUCCESS of their chosen governance reform pathway?
These questions have never been answered by the PMSA. But they are fundamental and inseparable components of competent governance design. Their failure to address them as part of a “comprehensive” reform process demonstrates either:
a negligent lack of understanding of what is required to restore organisational trust effectively; or
a complete indifference to delivering an outcome that addresses anything other than the self-interest of the organisation itself.
Either way, our schools and their futures have been badly let down. But if the avoidance of these questions has been deliberate indifference then the PMSA has truly not changed its culture.
Without these two fundamental questions being comprehensively answered to the satisfaction of the community of stakeholders that the PMSA “serves”, there can be no let up in the critique of this organisation and those who direct its agenda – whether from inside it (or from above it).
How can our schools move forward without this Christian organisation moving past the fear of being humble enough to openly confront its own mistakes? And more importantly, why should a community of deeply affected stakeholders even have to ask this of a Christian organisation in the first place?
The biggest failure of the PMSA has been their catastrophic destruction of organisational TRUST. And nowhere in their strategic “plan” has the pathway to restoring trust been comprehensively been addressed. Nowhere in any published material has the PMSA identified the “root cause” of the 2017 failures. No problem or root cause was identified at all.
How can we have ended up with governance “solution” that aims to restore trust, increase declining enrolment numbers, retain quality staff and at the same time addresses NOTHING ? It’s a “Seinfeld” solution. It is a bandaid. It is a farce. The “do anything and it looks like you’re fixing something” attitude never works. Time will demonstrate the incompetence of the current governance pathway to us all. It will demonstrate a massive lost opportunity both in terms of financial cost and growth potential.
THERE CAN BE NO CHANGE TO PERCEPTIONS OF CULTURE WITHOUT ACKNOWLEDGING AND ADDRESSING PAST MISTAKES
The recent charging of the PMSA’s former Executive General Manager with Fraud serves as a case in point. The PMSA would no doubt prefer that public discourse on the existence of the police prosecution should be avoided and that they should be entitled to distance themselves from it on the basis that the PMSA is not a party to any current court proceedings over that saga. But that is not entirely true. Whether the PMSA like it or not, their serious mistakes in 2017 are like an unwanted gift that keeps on giving for our schools. The stain continues to exist. The PMSA’s own governance failings opened the gate for that saga, and their complete unwillingness to exercise the highest standards of probity and governance in response to those failings speaks volumes.
Even worse than that, now that the matter is in the public domain and the police charges are public, their continued unwillingness to come clean on the “robust” nature of their internal investigation in 2017 lays (on a generous assessment) the competence of the entire 2017 PMSA Council bare. The failure of the 2019 PMSA Board to rectify that does not lay glory on them either, and, to the continued consternation of all concerned, it continues to reflect poorly on our schools in the broader community.
A SAFE ECOSYSTEM THAT PROTECTS REPUTATIONS AND FEELINGS AT THE EXPENSE OF ANSWERING THE HARD QUESTIONS
Good organisations earn and sustain a reputation for trust over time. Poor organisations embroil themselves in continuing trust scandals.
The PMSA has a very sad history of falling into the latter category. For the moment, and given the precipice of the approaching Fraud case (and all that may potentially come out of it) that does not appear to be changing. Because of the attitude of the Churches and the remaining 2017 Councillors, (who still wield considerable and damaging influence over the current Board), the “cocoon” of group-think is still very much alive and well in the PMSA. The views of the broader community seem not to matter as long as the minority ecosystem that envelopes them whispers to them that “everyone else has got it wrong”. The reality is that their ecosystem provides safety and validation for ineffective and unqualified representatives to continue the pathway of damage under long and worn-out tenure.
Just as good organisations earn and sustain a reputation for trust, “Professional” directors succeed through maintaining and enhancing their reputations as competent stewards. “Professional” directors faced with the same public outrage would have resigned or been removed immediately for the good of the organisation. Our 2017 Councillors do not have the same aspirational logic. The context of their appointment does not align to similar aspirations. It is an end point for them – not a leaping point for further professional opportunity. Therein lies the problem.
The unwillingness of the 2017 Council members to fess up, resign and deliver the clean air that our schools so desperately need is inexcusable. Clearly they have no understanding of the depth of public perception about the quality of their continuing “contribution”. Instead, they fend off both public criticism as well as the “silent judgement” of the majority of their dissatisfied community of stakeholders by donning Teflon clothing – clearly believing that closing ranks, folding their arms and waiting things out will somehow repair public perceptions. It has not. It will not.
Effective contribution is all that matters in any 21st Century governance environment. (The key word here being “effective”). In the final analysis it doesn’t matter how hard a Board member “thinks” he or she is working if their efforts and skills continually fall short of expectations. Not listening to the temperature of the debate surrounding you is foolish and belligerent in the eyes of an extremely intelligent community of observant stakeholders. So to those remaining 2017 Councillors, we say your time is up. Do what the majority of the community really want and “depart” the scene for the good of your own organisation and the reputation that it projects upon our schools in the market.
BRAVE NEW LEADERS
The new members of the 2019 PMSA Board and management have hitched their wagons to a dangerous gaggle of recalcitrants in the remaining 2017 Councillors. They are dangerous, because the burden of demonstrating the effectiveness of any organisational response by the PMSA will continue to be weighed down by the continued presence of the old guard and their legacy of failure. Every action by the new Board will be tainted by the failure of the 2017 Councillors to truly listen. Their failure to change. Their failure to move on. No amount of marketing spin or snazzy announcements can change that. After 2 years that should be abundantly clear.
For new recruits, accepting a role on the current Board or in management comes with considerable risk, because until a TOTAL change-out of the 2017 Councillors occurs the current Board, and indeed the organisation as a whole, must be prepared to be judged alongside of them for the 100 years of poor cultural legacy that they represent. We don’t think that’s a fair burden for new change agents to have to endure. Future Board and management aspirations for those brave new leaders may be impacted if this saga doesn’t get resolved with flying colours in an exceptionally short space of time. The runway for that to successfully occur is still very short.
So, to those brave new (non-2017) Board members who are hanging in there to continue to drive change, we offer our encouragement. If you succeed and you are able to change the 19th century attitudes and the self-interested constraints that surround you, then your efforts will be appreciated by future generations of our schools community. We wish you luck – but that doesn’t mean that we will be going easy on our assessment of the current Board and its performance.
BEYOND PMSA’S ROLE AS ‘THE CONSCIENCE’ OF GOOD GOVERNANCE
Our role is now more important than ever and we will continue to educate our schools community on what it should expect from its governing body. Our commentary will remain constructive and informative. And when the PMSA and the Churches start to genuinely listen and implement responsive change, then maybe, just maybe – we can FINALLY reach a point where our commentary and activism can transform into ADVOCACY for this organisation in the same way that we continue to advocate for our schools. That is our aspirational goal.
Sometimes, just occasionally, we reflect on that aspiration and allow our minds to wander to a place where we can imagine how much better our schools would be now – if that dynamic had been allowed to take root through humility and self reflection over 2 years ago. If we had all been truly able to work together on a common solution.
Then we refocus. We are not going to die wondering. Our role in 2020 will be bigger than ever.
We are definitely not going away.
Thank you for your continuing support.
Beyond PMSA
