Marco Polo is the coolest

Hey MCAT gang.  I'm in.  Time to rock.  Pantera UR hot.  Looking forward getting into some action and hopefully the crude masters of Medicare will swing into action as well.  This is a testing field for me.  I have quite few horror stories to tell.  But let's see how this things develop first.

This blog a is like a surreal dream.  No one knows anybody here, yet we all come from the same outfit (Medicare).  The MCAT was long coming.  I was one of the testers for Chill, but he's too careful, and worries too much.  Let's ignite this blog and put some hot rocks under the bums of the coaches and supervisors.  They are having too easy.  Their people management skills are "superbly fine tuned", like the elephant's.  

Yeah, they like doing this to their subordinates.  Those who after all, still kiss coaches' and supervisors' butts prosper and get the high performance score.  More to come :)

I'm thrilled - Panthera

Hey MCATs! Panthera has joned in Have you seen the executive blogs published by the occupiers of the Ivory Towers? Hmmm... what can I say, what can you say? The usual self congratulating and self glorifying stuff. How boring. The M.C.A.T. blog is hot,

it rocks and I love it. Finally we have our own blog, finally we have a say - whether anybody will listen i'm not sure. But hey at least we have a place to meet and bitch a bit.

Thanks Chill creating M.C.A.T. and putting together the blog. I'm still a newby in handling the many features, but'll learn.

Thanks Marco for creating the discussion forum. I'm not sure how to start. So if you read this message, please contact me.

Love Uuuuuu allll

Who needs a Coach?

About a month ago I met with Peter Irvine, one of the most successful business leaders in the world and one of the founders of the Gloria Jeans Coffee worldwide franchisee empire. He is a truly remarkable individual. We had a good discussion and shared many thoughts and views regarding life, business and leadership. As a freelance political and business writer for the Business Resource & Lifestyle Magazine (download the article page 18), I was interested to learn Peter's perspective on important issues of life and business. After our meeting I walked away with a book he has written: "Win in Business". Let me quote from the book: "If Tiger Woods – the greatest golfer in the world – needs a coach, who says you don't need one! By 'coach' I mean find someone who is going to be positive, someone who is going to be able to sow into your life. Find someone who doesn't think with "bottom of the pile' mentality." Do Medicare Coaches fit the category of a good coach? Not according to my experience. Some of the coaches I have encountered in Medicare have the potential to be good or even outstanding coaches. There are some who are sort of Ok, but most are with ingrained "bottom of the pile" mentality. But why is this so? Why there aren't any outstanding coaches within Medicare? I submit it is because of the culture of utter mediocrity within the Medicare; a culture where excellence is often mentioned in slogans and countless statements and charters, but when it comes to application of excellence, at any level of management, the picture is quite different.

Once I attended one of those useless training programs, where the program instructor described the "official" role of the coach within Medicare is to execute the instructions coming from the coach's superiors; full stop. Wow, what an impressive position statement! Sure enough, it appears that those coaches who excel in being the whip of their masters do get the promotion and the accolades from their supervisors. On my floor we have a couple of coaches who are famous for spending their time on spying and pestering SOs; looking for opportunities to "catch" and reprimand SOs for every little, real or perceived mistake.

Instead of amplifying individual's strengths and ability and building up teams based on individual and collective strenghts and abilities, these coaches are more keen on tearing down individuals. These coaches are completely void of people management skills, yet their "bottom of the pit" mentality is rewarded. It is for this reason that our coaches are mediocre at best.

Some of Medicare's leaders and supervisors mimic Wilhelm Klink, a social climber, who surround themselves with "I know nothing! Nothing!" Sergeant Schultzes.

"The Ignorance is bliss!" and the "What you don't know won't hurt you!" attitudes have permeated the organisational culture of Medicare deeply and are promoted so vigorously that even the truly capable individuals have yielded to such attitudes in order to get the promotion. The sad thing about all these is that once they suck up to the mediocrity, they seem to be entrapped in it forever. I have met some really smart, potentially great coaches and highly capable managers in Medicare, yet, by their own admission they are not willing to challenge the small mindedness of the system, for the fear of being marginalized. Others, well, they have had enough of sucking up to and glorifying the mediocrity and have abandoned the organization, benefiting other organisations with their skills and know-how, leaving Medicare even more saturated with mediocrity.

Recognise some of the coaches / supervisors?

Sucking-Up:


I see Nothing!


Flip Flopper

Oz Meidicare Discussion Forum

Marco Polo has put together a discussion forum for us. An outstanding effort. Whilst M.C.A.T. is a blog, which is essentially where mcats just off-load what bothers them, Oz Medicare is a discussion stream, where mcats can chat and carry on with a discussions, form various forums and groups/teams and discuss topics. Essentially Oz Medicare is a chatter box :)

It may be a bit confusing at the start but in fact it is super easy to use once you grasp the basics. If you managed to learn CDMS, you'll have no trouble using Oz Medicare.

PUBLIC SERVICE ain’t DEAD- it’s JUST FORGOTTEN

(by an x-employee)

Medicare – you have a lot to unwind
It’s not too late to rewind
You must move forward with online
Don’t keep the path too close to the spine

EMBRACING eBUSINESS is not a foolish time
PBS funding we surely know as our CORE BLOOD LINE

But foolish men
Stay close in lost sight.
Wise men look first behind,
then ahead to the light.

Online channels
Travel above the eye
Look Out! Look Up!
Ebusiness is above.

It’s not too early,
It’s not too late
To show MORE LOVE TOWARDS OUR FATE.

The priority is now for online
Against the primary core ‘cheque’ing time.
As we register all those on the web
We see all previous process tasks as, well, dead!

WOW this online – it is great!
Who do I call when it breaks?

We must prioritise ALL online though
So I guess we’ll close the hours of our show

Let’s cut out weekends,
because we can

Because at Medicare
Three mice ran.

“Tell them we care and we’ll call em sometime”
“ If after 3 days, I’ll coo-ee this old rhyme”
“oh but it will be only available online
download it between 7 and 9!

NO NO NO, NOT like PBS
They can’t measure our success!!

“Off online? Are you dear?”
“Come along, and sweep it under here.”
“We can’t weigh it, so it must be free”
“Free of work by you and me.”
“If we can’t count it as an old processing task”
“Let’s just ignore it – until it’s a right blast”

“I’m sorry we called you,
but you weren’t on the list,
your claims have failed,
I guess that’s a BXXCH.”

Online is truly sublime,
Please re-submit by telling our
1800 line.

TO go FAR in governance
Especially in the e
You must add
YOU and ME
And then we get
FARYOUMEe;
a paraphrasing for e-invisibility!
- a PKI with no port
- against everything that we’re taught!

E is for easyclaims
But that’s not online –
It’s not Allied Health
But we do that too sometimes
It’s not PBS
But we do their PKI
It’s not manual claims
But we’ll assist an EFT change

PDS reporting
Sure I can help,
Never seen a report; but who cares how we felt?

Ebusiness services all of the sorts
Actually across all programs it supports
I’M on ebusiness
This busy nest,
Don’t tell me to mind my own biz ness.

It is just like our learning time
20 quick minutes
to donate your
flesh and your brine.
I’ll give you my heart,
but that too is undefined!
Beads of sweat,
blood and tears
Please Medicare help us to remove our fears.

Can you prove you’re a goer-
We’ll cut you some slack-
Send you a TSP payment
Like some random act –
We’ll do it breaching privacy
And strive to ‘second’ time get it right,
Next time we meet,
We’ll have more insight.

Since when is a ‘charter of service’ fair,
Shall we call on Buddha, to see if he cares?
“We cannot provide you a reasonable time –
We cannot prioritise another teams’ rhyme”

“If it has been missed-
please, resend the claim-
if it has been missed – try paper this time-
if it has been missed – we will return-
to the OLD CORE processing PROMISE THAT WE HARSHLY LEARNED.

ebusiness is critical
And is under in support
If due to timing
I cannot accept this report.

Hear ye hear ye
Gather round this ebusiness tree.
It is 11 past the 7 and the word had passed around,
it has been 2 months since medclaims closed down.

As this magic e-carpet takes you up for a ride
The most fortunate thing is the people by your side.
Ebusiness Saints
YOU ARE ALL TO ME
As self proclaimed as they could be.

Demand and supply
Have their ecomonic cycles
Lucky we’ve had our Kashi and Micheal.

Your ebusiness robot is unavailable today
Please login your regular way.

E is for ebusiness
E is for our BUSY ness
E is for everything we love
E is for empowered tasks
E is for the time it takes-
to learn e-success from e-mistakes.

E is for the business NEEDS
to embrace
at every entry to this race.
Renovating old networks is best.

WHAT we need is NETS that WORK
A future for ebusiness quirks!

Public Service ain’t dead, it’s just forgotten
A minimum glove
to do our
Public love

Ebusiness is safe
in our embrace.
It is enjoyed
between client and cso of
Specialist joy!

Must be the virus’s and flues – of all types
Medicare empowers illness all right!
And if the scales of Medicare justice, so do graph,
Anything more than a hypothetical mismatch!

My fairytale is one of ethics grand
Where policies of healthcare are passionately found!
So here it be-
The way to embracing each-other (you and me)

Genuine delivery and power to all staff
HEALING this organisation is a start.
No more PBS dollars to count
No more anxiety pills to dish out.

This is my fairytale,
One for ethical care
Where out Governments fund health repair.
I have a fairy tale
It comes from e-light
Of eternal and idealist,
public delight.

Why M.C.A.T. Forum/Blog?

M.C.A.T. was born out of my and some of my colleagues' personal experience that despite the lofty rhetoric propagated by the Medicare HR and the management about:

• being "employer of choice"
• equal employment opportunities
• fair performance assessment
• impartial and merit based promotions
• care for the wellbeing of employees and their families
• respect for individuals and upholding the rights of individuals
• seeking employee contributions and ideas for workplace improvements

we have concluded that Medicare Australia management does not practice seriously what it preaches. Our experience taught us that most of the managers, supervisors and coaches are more pre-occupied with grand standing, catching employees at the slightest stumbling and punishing the front-line staff for most trivial issues, whilst at the same time same managers, consistently failing to lead by example in leadership excellence, productivity performance and good governance. Sadly, my and other colleagues' experiences indicate that this perverse practice has permeated all layers of management and has been going on for years. We have addressed these issues on numerous occasions at various levels, including ministerial level, but all to no avail. The last straw for me was when just a few months ago I was discriminated and treated unfairly so unashamedly and bluntly by some of the managers that I had a gutful of such shameless conduct. Reported to the HR – how naïve – and just as in the past the HR was not interested. I worked for many organisations of various sizes, yet have never seen such a dysfunctional HR outfit. Two managers – not from HR – called and all they tried to do is to compel me to drop the issue and forget the whole incidence. From HR I got two emails mawkishly advising they'll think about the whole disgraceful case and will talk to me. Months later; yep you guessed it, HR is still missing in action. So here I am, taking the case to the people via the M.C.A.T. I trust that as the time goes on M.C.A.T. will bring to surface what's going on behind the cheesy face façade. M.C.A.T. has the people power. Trough M.C.A.T. things can change for the better. M.C.A.T. support base is now over 100 Medicare employees. Majority are openly supportive, many are tacit supporters for fear of retribution from their "masters". How sad it is that in this country decent people are fearful. This is not right and we need to change such fear inducing environment.

I say enough of the theatre and the phony grand slogans and posters about respect, fairness, equality, care and performance. It's time to Act! M.C.A.T.

The M.C.A.T. Journey

Finally we are up and running! It wasn't a smooth journey. I had to overcome many technical difficulties in constructing this blog; however, whilst some of the technical difficulties and glitches were substantial, it is the human and the social aspects which were the most challenging. Some of the challenges I faced and had to overcome:

• Discouragement: Sometimes I felt: "What's the point?" But thanks to some of my colleagues, who kept encouraging me not to give up.
  
• Intimidation: Yes some have attempted to intimidate me; sometimes subtly, other times quite bluntly
  
• Scoffing: Ridiculing and scoffing at my efforts
  
• Paying the Price: Indeed I paid a price. I was sternly reprimanded for establishing M.C.A.T.
  

 As time goes on, I'll share all the above experiences, which illustrate how difficult it is to break through the hard crust of mediocrity that has spread throughout many layers Medicare Australia's management, which employs punishment as the predominant way of exerting pressure and exercising control over the subordinates, and "sucking up to the superiors" – as one of the aspiring coaches once so eloquently and descriptively put it – as a sure way to gain promotion.

Despite the sweet proclamations of being approachable, the upper echelon has surrounded itself with gatekeepers whose purpose and mandate is to isolate and "protect" their masters from the working class, and filter out anything that may challenge the bosses, including workers' concerns, prejudices, and unfair treatment of employees. This has led to antagonism not only between various levels of employees but also within teams.

With few exceptions, coaches and the supervisors rarely listen; they rather prefer to use outdated, crude and manipulative tactics as means to control the subordinates. But I have had enough of such practices. I do not care for the grand slogans which serve no other purpose but to white wash the fundamental problems, as well as spread the blame unto the front line workers. I won't stand for such practices any longer. I won't allow to be pushed around and then be ignored. It's time to stand up and speak out against the injustices, recriminations and manipulations. Join me in speaking out for our rights and against the shameless practices. M.C.A.T. Is an open and a safe forum to voice your concerns and share your experiences.

Welcome to M.C.A.T.

Important notice:

MediCare Action Team – M.C.A.T. is an open discussion forum/blog for current and former Medicare Australia employees. M.C.A.T. is an independent forum; it is neither affiliated, nor supported, nor sanctioned, nor endorsed by Medicare Australia. This forum has been designed and maintained by Caprizant, the author and the administrator of the forum.

Who can contribute to M.C.A.T.?

Only current and former employees of Medicare Australia will be able to contribute to the M.C.A.T. discussion.

Moderation and Censorship:

I firmly believe in the freedom of speech and expression without any fear of retribution, therefore contributions will not be moderated or censored.

Code of Conduct:

Anything goes except profanity which will not be tolerated.

Privacy and Confidentiality:

The identity of contributors or members of M.C.A.T. will never be disclosed to anybody. Information about the members or contributors will never be disclosed, passed to third parties or sold.

Identity Protection:

It is up to each individual to guard his or her identity. Whilst M.C.A.T. intentionally will never release any information about the participants/contributors, once the content is published by the individual, the content becomes available to anybody viewing the forum. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contribute anonymously, however, you will not benefit fully from ongoing feedback chain from other contributors. Alternatively, create an alias web email account which will not identify you explicitly. In this case you will be able to contribute to the M.C.A.T. forum without disclosing your identity. There are countless providers of web email accounts; just to name few: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Opera, FireFox and so on. If you require assistance with an alias email account drop me a line or just ask (as anonymous) through the M.C.A.T. forum.