How to fail, but look good doing it

Back in my corporate days, I learned of an email concept we abbreviated as CYA, short for “Cover Your Ass”.

This concept is applied to avoid trouble by engaging in email follow-ups, alerts, and any communication that could later be used to indicate that you’ve resolved your obligations, so in the event that something goes wrong, it could not be your fault. Or at least, there’s less risk of somebody saying it’s your fault.

The ingredients of a CYA email are pretty simple: 1 cup of showing you’ve done what is expected, a dash of foreshadowed expectation management, a sprinkle of taking ownership of the action, with a tot of passing the responsibility onto another and some ambiguous uncertainty to taste. Blend it in with some ‘who likes whom’ corporate political context and you’ve got your ass covered, unless somebody Gordon Ramseys the recipe better than you.

But the CYA culture goes far beyond office emails. There are examples of it all over if you know how to look. From CEOs who have made decisions “on the advice” of rather expensive consultants, to attempts at passing the blame of a space shuttle explosion, CYA is everywhere. Even in politics!

So much so that it has been reported that when George Bush was warned about a terrorist strike 36 days prior to 11 September 2001, his response was: “Okay, you’ve covered your ass now.”

Those tasked with warning the president of terrorist attacks could hardly be blamed for what followed, thanks to that.

South Africa is no different.

Politically we’ve been CYA-ing long before I can remember, as most state of the nations brace us for tough economic times and debates in parliament rage over issues that politicians can report to have taken to their constituencies, though decisions may not get made (for example, how’s that Domestic Partnership Bill from 2008 going?). And now, we have a number of political responses to Covid-19.

Before the conspiracy theory mob rushes in, there is no evidence I can find nor am I making the allegation that the government’s responses to the pandemic are informed by CYA. And even if I were making that allegation, so what? Due diligence is important in the decision-making process and it could be labelled as such and most would be none the wiser.

The important issue is what we are and are not willing to accept once all is said and done. So if no more people die and the world keeps spinning, great. Best case scenario we can possibly foresee, and no doubt that will be acceptable.

If no more people die from Covid-19 and an economic collapse slams millions into poverty, would that be acceptable or if more people die during lockdown or a transition from one level to another? What if now that alcohol is available again, thousands land up in ER and outbreaks occur in hospitals? Would the state then be in a “told you so” position?

Whatever the outcome and however they’ve managed to do it, be it deliberately or by coincidence, the government has positioned itself in a space surrounded by explanations and reasons for most of its responses to the pandemic.

This is challenging for a citizenry who may wish to question their representative’s actions, because if a question has an answer, even if it’s one you do not like, its existence cannot be disputed, and with CYA culture, it’s existence is all you need.

But that is as far as CYA can get one; an answer/response/clapback, and understanding that is fundamental to overcoming it.

When your report is late but you sent an email 3 hours ago to Sam asking for his comment, it may seem like you’ve passed the buck onto Sam but really the person waiting on the report isn’t waiting on Sam, they’re waiting on you.

Similarly, it should never be okay that the state has merely done something to address the spread because whatever it is, that something must also be plausibly effective. To merely accept “oh well they’re doing something” is to say we care less about the actual result and plays into the “as long as we can show we’ve absolved our duties” narrative.

There have been errors. Those are to be expected as we’re shooting in the dark. Some have even been admitted to, which is refreshing. In many respects, I still trust this task team, perhaps not as far as the economy is concerned, but certainly in terms of their desire to save lives.

What I worry about is why there are frequent reminders that we’re still expecting a spike, why economic projections are looking glum, why there is so much emphasis on preparing for the worst, while at the same time we’re taking such drastic steps to avoid loss of life and have already begun lifting those steps while the numbers keep rising.

So let’s cook!

Take 1 cup “we had one of the most intensive lockdowns in the world”. Add a dash of “the spike is yet to come with economic difficulties but we must come together”, a sprinkle of “as government we have taken the following measures”, with a tot of “we need you to bear with us”, and some “we must take some precautions but not other precautions, though we don’t know all the effects of the precautions so just take whatever precautions, because to take precautions is to be precautious” to taste.

Blend it in with some “lives vs economy vs access vs suffering vs privilege” context and you got yourself something almost anybody can eat.

Some may still find it delicious but knowing the recipe may make you think twice about whether you can stomach it.

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