Amend as follows:
Dear Hon Tariana Turia, [your MP] and [if appropriate your local Labour MP]
Copy and paste bold text.
Well I never thought I'd blog about rugby league, but...
To borrow from P!nk and Nate Ruess' single, "Just Give Me A Reason", it makes you think society is more broken than bent when a sports team is "reprimanded for displaying a relaxed and carefree demeanour in the aftermath of one of the NRL club's 'darkest days' as management react to a record loss to Penrith".
Come on, people, it's just a game. Actually I think the Warriors should be praised for their good sportsmanship and generosity of spirit.
So, after my last post about bad customer service, if you're wondering how hard it is to get it right, here's an email conversation I've just had with Hallensteins' web team:
From: Philip Patston [DiversityNZ.com] <philip@diversitynz.com>
Date: 17 May 2013 18:17
On the back of talking to the NZ Herald about this little furore created by Air New Zealand, I thought I'd share my story...
Last Friday two colleagues and I were booked on Air NZ 461 from Auckland to Wellington. My power wheelchair malfunctioned before we checked in and, because of the time taken to try and fix the problem, we arrived three minutes late to check in and, of course, the flight was closed.
As we explained to the ground staff member at the special assistance desk the reason why we were late and enquired whether an exception could be made, we were "told off" by the staff member for being late and, we felt, rudely told we would be transferred onto the next flight. This flight did not have an airbridge, adding further inconvenience as I had to be fork-lifted onto the plane from the tarmac.
A commenter on my last post rightly pointed out that, in some situations, "confrontation is likely to result in ... someone vulnerable, usually the person offering the critique, however justifiable, getting a knuckle sandwich." Hopefully, things will rarely get that physical but, it's true, negative feedback, however carefully prepared for and framed, isn't always taken positively.
As I replied, I had planned a follow-up post about things going wrong for sometime in the future, but given the comment I thought I'd write it sooner than later.
First up, I failed to clarify that, for the last post and this one, I am writing from a leadership perspective. I am assuming that, as someone in a leadership role, I am giving feedback to a subordinate (excuse the authoritarian term), a colleague or someone senior to me but who respects me in my role.
Show me someone who has never been told they got it wrong, or someone who hasn't had to break the news to someone else, and you'll show me a liar. Let's face it, we've all stuffed up and we've all been pulled up for doing so.
The question is, how was it communicated? I'd say 95% percent of the time, it was by punishing or being punished, shaming or being shamed, losing it or being bawled out.
It doesn't have to be that way. Nor is it useful. It causes ill-will, arguments, bad relationships, violence and worse.
Another example of the National Party's complete disregard for a civil society. Shame on you Tony Ryall. Such a dishonourable response.
Big ups to Kevin Hague for taking a stand.
GREEN PARTY MEDIA RELEASE
It's hard to understand that the allegations against Parklands, a residential facility in Pukekawa, south of Auckland, run by Linnaire and Neil Joslin for over a decade, have attracted such little public outrage.
The Joslins have probably received hundreds of millions of public money to allegedly abuse hundreds of disabled young people and adults.
Child Youth and Family have been referring youth-at-risk to the Ministry of Health Disability Support Services funded facility. The facility has been a dumping ground for disabled people too.
This morning I read a blog post by Seth Godin. He's one of my favourite bloggers, mainly because he's brief and uses ideas from one area and applies them to others.
Here's what it said (I've taken the beginning, middle and end — you can read the whole post here).
If your writing feels like nothing but easily defensible aphorisms, as if you're saying things that are obvious... Consider the alternative. Say the opposite.... And then tell us why. We'd love to know how you're going to wriggle out of that. And along the way, if your story is a good one, we might even give it a try.
Today, as Parekura Horomia died, I finalised my will, enduring power of attorney and advanced directive for health care.
I've been reading tributes to Horomia on Twitter. He was a humble, generous and liked politician, by all accounts. A good man.
He was one of what Google says is nearly seven billion people in the world. He was the only him.
