Belongil Regatta

- A Study In Bureaucracy -

Once upon a time Byron Council and Ballina Council decided to engage in an annual boat race on the Belongil Creek. Both teams trained long and hard to reach their peak performance. On the big day Ballina won by a mile.
The Byron team was rather discouraged by their loss and morale sagged. Senior management decided that a reason for the crushing defeat must be found and a project team was set up to investigate the problem and take appropriate action.
It was found that while Ballina had eight people rowing and one person steering, Byron had one person rowing and eight people steering.
Senior management accordingly hired consultants to study Byron's team structure.
For half a million dollars, the consultants advised that the team needed to be better coordinated so that more effort went into rowing. The new Byron team consisted of four steering managers, three senior steering managers, one executive steering manager and the rower.
A performance appraisal system was set up to give the rower more incentive and he was sent to courses run by the consultants so that he would feel more empowered.
The next year the Ballina team won by two miles. Byron council sacked the rower for poor performance, sold off the paddles and halted work on a new canoe. The money saved was used as performance bonuses for senior management."
Reprinted from the "Byron Shire News" 19.7.95