Well you would have thought so from this pathetic article defending those responsible for the party's election disaster by using the excuse of legitimate concerns about staff welfare.
What Caron Lindsay and the Lib Dem Voice Team are failing to realise is that by letting Ryan Coetzee, Tim Gordon, Hillary Stephenson and other senior (and highly paid) exectutives avoid legitimate criticism of their decision making, they are doing the party a big disservice. Those at the top are not 'party staff' - they are executive management and it was their actions and decisions that determined the Lib Dem campaign. They were the people carrying out the 'comfort' polls, writing the messaging, and advising the leadership on what to say and when. In short they were responsible for the failure of the 2015 campaign. And they should take responsibility and resign (like the Leader of the Party).
One final thought - if Coetzee is such a shrinking violet and unable to take criticism why then would he write a superficial and frankly deluded article for the Guardian (and reproduced by LDV) basically saying he ran the best possible campaign and wouldn't even change it now knowing its result.
If you're foolish enough to try and polish a turd in public - then don't complain when several buckets of the stuff get thrown back in your direction.
What Caron Lindsay and the Lib Dem Voice Team are failing to realise is that by letting Ryan Coetzee, Tim Gordon, Hillary Stephenson and other senior (and highly paid) exectutives avoid legitimate criticism of their decision making, they are doing the party a big disservice. Those at the top are not 'party staff' - they are executive management and it was their actions and decisions that determined the Lib Dem campaign. They were the people carrying out the 'comfort' polls, writing the messaging, and advising the leadership on what to say and when. In short they were responsible for the failure of the 2015 campaign. And they should take responsibility and resign (like the Leader of the Party).
One final thought - if Coetzee is such a shrinking violet and unable to take criticism why then would he write a superficial and frankly deluded article for the Guardian (and reproduced by LDV) basically saying he ran the best possible campaign and wouldn't even change it now knowing its result.
If you're foolish enough to try and polish a turd in public - then don't complain when several buckets of the stuff get thrown back in your direction.
Actually, Dan, there was plenty criticism of that article in the comments and in my article itself - it's just that it was managed without being horrible about the staff.
ReplyDeleteIf you have an issue with a staff member, feed it into the review process or contact their manager. Don't abuse them on LDV. It does more harm than good.
Either you believe in due process or you don't.
Here is a link to Amnesty's latest country profile of North Korea where Kim Jong Un relies on repression and torture on a daily basis. The analogy is quite distasteful. http://www.amnesty.org.uk/north-korea#.VWLg0aaJkjA
ReplyDeleteI believe in due process - it's just that it doesn't and shouldn't work in the same way for those at the very top who are paid to take responsibility for the strategic success or failure of the organisation.
ReplyDeleteWho is running the review process? How will the Chief Exec and General Election Strategy director interact with it? What if you have a complaint against senior management or Chief Exec?
Those at the top need to recognise the calamity happened on their watch (even if they disagree that they had any influence on it - in which case they were incompetent). Clegg as leader understood this - why do Gordon and Coetzee not realise this?
Giving them cover to wriggle off the hook is the wrong approach.