Kerre Woodham: There's a value in setting targets

Love a target, love a list, and yesterday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon released a new list of to-dos, this time in the form of targets. And while some on the left have roundly criticized him for having the temerity to set targets, what on Earth have they got against realistic goals? I didn't hear them shouting and jeering when Jacinda Ardern announced that her government was going to build 100,000 houses in 10 years. If that's not a target, and that's not a goal, I don't know what is. But if ever there was a time for jeering and shouting, that would have been it. Because even as somebody who can't hammer a nail in straight, even Bob the Builder, a cartoon character, knew that building 100,000 houses in 10 years was an impossible and unachievable target. But there was no jeering and shouting then was there? When the target was set?  

Anyway, Kiwibuild has come and gone, and a new government has announced its own targets. These ones infinitely more accessible, ambitious but accessible. Christopher Luxon was in full statesman mode yesterday, despite the hard work of frontline staff like police, nurses and teachers, he said New Zealand has gone backwards. Our government is bringing back public service targets to focus our public sector on driving better results for New Zealanders in health, education, law and order, work, housing and the environment. He reiterated the targets were not going to be easy to achieve, but he said we're not here to do what's easy, we're here to do what is needed to reduce crime, shorten healthcare wait times and improve educational achievement, no matter how difficult.  

Now the targets were on very nicely set out graphs. You know, if I was marking his homework, it would definitely be an A-, perhaps I would have put it up to an A if under the ‘How will we keep track?’, the only thing I would have done would have been to say, now let's just see exactly how it's going to be delivered. How are you going to get that change? We understand why it's needed. How will we keep track? Well, that's just measuring the numbers. I wanted to know how it's going to be delivered. There's a little bit in there, but not nearly enough to satisfy my curiosity.  

Nonetheless, the targets have been set 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker. 80% of students present for more than 90% of the term. 75% reduction of households and emergency housing, and so on. Other targets include those around greenhouse gas emissions. As the PM says, it is not going to be easy. What will it take to get BBQ man or Nature boy into paid employment? They were very happy, thank you very much, on the benefit and thought we were all schmucks for getting out of bed and going to work. When the borders were closed it became apparent that not only were there Kiwis who could not work, there were Kiwis who would not work. However, when you have a public service that's been instructed to go easy on those, drawing a benefit. Where on Earth is the impetus to go into paid employment?  

Former WINZ boss Christine Rankin told Mike Hosking she absolutely sees value in setting targets. 

“What the reality of this is, is a government that understands leadership and the fact that you have to tell people what you want them to do, and then you have to measure the hell out of it. And that's what they're doing. This can be done way under the time frame that they've put on it. The problem is with six years of a government that wanted people on a benefit, for what reason, I cannot work out, there are a lot of people who've been very comfortable for a long time and the benefit isn’t much, but there's also ways to supplement it, and that's never been looked at either for a long time.” 

That was Christine Rankin talking to Mike Hosking, and that's quite true. I mean, I always think what a miserable existence it would be to be on a benefit, to have to try and scrape by. It would be soul destroying. That grinding poverty is soul-destroying. But many people not all, but for many people they supplement their income in other ways. The benefit is not the only income coming into a house. And I accept that targets aren't the be all and end all. There are ways and means to finesse targets, to massage figures, to make them work for you, so that when you report to your manager, to your chief executive, to your Minister, you can fudge the numbers a bit so that you look better. But what happens when you don't have them? The last six years happen, that's what. When all the important metrics by which we measure the national well-being fall. And I totally understand trying a different way.  

We've tried going softly, softly, being nice, appealing to people's better natures by treating them with kindness and respect and hoping that we get the same in return. Hasn't worked. So, we tried, it didn't work. An unfortunate experiment, if you will.  

So, let's try setting expectations, goals and targets, and let's see where we end up.  

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