Changing Tack

07 Oct Changing Tack

Sometimes, dealing with bureaucracy feels like you are banging your head against a brick wall. It can feel like you are swimming against a strong tide, with nowhere to go and no lifesaver in sight.

In fact, most of the time, bureaucracy works well and we don’t notice it, because it is working as it should do – doing what we expect it to do.

So what to do when bureaucracy isn’t working as it should?

This is where it can be useful to change tack. After all, if you aren’t getting anywhere, there is no harm in trying something different.

Let me give you an example.

In a previous job, I flew interstate a lot. Most of the time, everything went well and we arrived at our destination on time, or even ahead of time.

But sometimes, nothing seemed to go right. It felt like once a couple of things went wrong with a flight, the airline “gave up” on that flight, prioritising the flights (and passengers) that were not experiencing issues. Eventually, we arrived at our destination – late, frazzled, frustrated.

On one occasion, I was flying from Canberra to Melbourne on a hot summer’s day. It was over forty degrees. The previous flight had been cancelled. There was some delay with our flight and we were kept in the terminal. We were wondering if we would fly that day. Then, they boarded us into the plane. Next, the pilot announced there was an error with the paperwork. I had to laugh at this point; he was taking no responsibility for the paperwork error.

Well, by now, there was a full plane of passengers sitting on the tarmac. You may recall this was a hot summer’s day. It was getting uncomfortably hot in the plane. Passengers asked for the air to be turned on, and the hostess replied that the air did not turn on until the engines were turned on. It didn’t take her long to stop responding to the increasingly annoyed passengers.

As a very frequent flyer, I was at the front of the plane, right next to the open door and (relatively) fresh air. I was feeling queasy and giddy; not to mention the sweat. I didn’t want to think how it felt at the back of the plane, further from the open door.

Eventually, the plane took off and we sweated the whole way to Melbourne – the plane still wasn’t comfortable when we landed! In fact, I felt unwell until the following day.

I complained to the airline. They assured me everything was fine. I then asked for the air quality reports for that flight, from before we boarded. They again assured me everything was fine and within standards. This was getting nowhere.

So, I changed tack. I thanked them for their response and told them that the next time I was feeling ill in a hot plane, the safest option would be to phone the ambulance. Now maybe it’s just me, but it feels like the company took seriously the ramifications of an ambulance on the tarmac to treat heat-exhausted passengers where the company dismissed my concerns. Ever since, this company’s planes sitting on the tarmac have the air turned on when passengers board.

Arguing with bureaucracy didn’t work – changing tack seems to have created the space to resolve the issue.

This article comes from my column entitled “Here to Help” in Hunter Local, October 2021. If you have an everyday problem just begging for a simple, real world solution, send it to “Here to Help” and let’s see what we can achieve.

Elaine Abery has a closet full of great ideas and empowering solutions. She’s also the Director of Unravelling Red Tape, a company dedicated to helping everyday people, not-for-profits and companies change the world through improved decision-making and legislation.