'It was a sad story and it wasn't of much interest to me.'* I think Cardinal Pell, through this rather brutal response to a question from the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, has provided us all with an important point of organisational, personal and cultural reflection.
Having conducted many organisational reviews and self-assessments, and studied organisational dynamics and systems thinking, I have learned that in trying to find the origins and rationale for such responses, our understanding of how the world works expands exponentially.
Speaking as a survivor of child sexual abuse I can fully understand the disbelief, shock and outrage that such a blunt, offhand comment has provoked. The effort to apportion blame and seek justice for the evil that was allowed to evolve from such an attitude is expected and should be respected.
As the funding body, we the community also look to this royal commissions to provide us with as detailed an understanding as possible of how wide-ranging institutional child sexual abuse commenced, carried on, was covered up and in turn uncovered; and how we might recognise its beginnings in the future, and what steps we will need to take to prevent it.
This includes discerning the culpability not only of those who were actively involved, but also those who decided consciously or otherwise that it wasn't of much interest to them.
In many organisations individuals often 'feel' something is wrong. Things gnaw away at the edge of their consciousness, unsettling and making little sense as they conflict with the agreed notions of what the organisation is, what it holds dear and how it is believed to work
Many times I have been working with a group and found some bizarre structure, practice or policy, and when I asked why it had never been challenged before I heard Because no one ever asked; We felt no one was interested; They put it into place or obviously agree with it so who am I to argue?
I'm too busy. My work is too important. KPIs must be met. Budgets must be balanced. Such attitudes are often the workplace wedge that removes the individual from their moral responsibility to other human beings, and drives them to see the organisational good as the greater good.
Accepted organisational and cultural norms overwhelm the voice of conscience that is hardwired deep inside all of us. Stepping out from and criticising the group is a very lonely