I won't be a Lumber Jack - my Fight against Canadian Windmills.

Being a management consultant specialising in process efficiency sometimes makes life more difficult. Let me tell you what happened with my Canadian eTA application, a new visa waiver programme for Canada, similar to the American ESTA programme. 

I booked a flight to Calgary, wanted to spend a week and a bit in the Rocky Mountainsm, hiking and stuff; and after having paid the air fare I went on the Air Canada website to find out about eTA. I went on the eTA website and applied. One question was: Do you take regular medication? And I instinctively knew there was a problem. I had some form of skin cancer last year and need to take a pill a day. I stood in front of a dilemma - should I lie and say No I might face the risk of getting caught at the border. Being stamped a liar I'd never be allowed back into Canada. Should I not lie, I knew I'd have to go through a questionnaire or so and it would not be as easy to obtain an eTA as it would have been if I had lied. 

I didn't lie, told the truth, and I got the following message: 

Your application for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) has been received. A review of your file is underway. You will be advised within 72 hours of next steps regarding your application.

You can check the status of your application by using the Check eTA status tool. To do this, you will need the application number noted above and details from the passport you used to apply for your eTA.

72 hours it says. Well..... 168 hours later, this is 7 days, I received another e-mail from them: 

Status: Pending – Client action required

eTA number: V30786838x

Passport number: xxx

A review of your Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) application is underway. In order for Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to continue processing your application, we need some documents from you.

Do not submit your documents by email. To submit your documents, you will need to create or log into your secure MyCIC account at www.cic.gc.ca/mycic. CIC will request documents from you through this account.

Once you have created or logged into your MyCIC account, you will need to link your eTA application to your account by clicking on the “Link eTA application to this account” button.

For future visits to your MyCIC account, go to www.cic.gc.ca/mycic. Select the “Continue to GCKey” button and enter your GCKey user ID and password.

During the review of your file, you are not considered to hold a valid eTA. As such, you should not plan or undertake any travel to Canada until you are advised otherwise.

Right, I have to open that link and sign up and submit some papers. I guessed it was the travel insurance or a certificate of what kind of illness I had. I still had that paper that I completed my radiotherapy sessions and was about to scan it. Whatever. I clicked on the link and an error message occurred. I tried with my Mac and at work with a normal windows computer. I always got this message: 

Server Error

403 - Forbidden: Access is denied.

You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied.

I was annoyed. I clicked myself through some website, Canada.ca, and found a link where one can report any system issues. I submitted my problem and received the following: 

Thank you for contacting Canada.ca.

This email has been automatically generated to let you know that we have received your message.

The Government of Canada privacy policies do not allow us to forward email messages on your behalf to any other Government of Canada organizations, programs, services or representatives.

We do not respond to correspondence that contains offensive language.

I waited for a day or so and received the following message: 

Canada.ca does not maintain the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.

Information on how to report technical difficulties encountered with the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website or on how to obtain related assistance is accessible from the "Help Centre" section of the Department’s website at the following URL:

What do I do if I run into technical problems with my online application to CIC?
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=799&t=23

Good Lord! I clicked on the link and opened up a help section and reported my problems. I got the following message back: 

*** Please note that this is an automated message. ***

Thank you for contacting Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

You may expect an answer if:

*   you have submitted an application;

*   your application has exceeded normal processing times<http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/index.asp>;

*   you wish to report important changes or an emergency situation;

*   you wish to report a technical issue with Citizenship and Immigration online services.

Please note that we will not respond if you have not provided all the mandatory fields in submitting your question.

For general questions on the Citizenship or Immigration programs,  visit the online Help Centre<http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/index-featured-int.asp> on our website<http://www.cic.gc.ca/>.

Submitting the same request multiple times will not expedite the processing of your enquiry.

The turnaround time for a response is of 10 business days for online technical difficulties and 30 business days for case specific inquiries.

Please note that Citizenship and Immigration Canada can only communicate with you in one of our two official languages: English or French.

Thank you.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada

10 days. I have to wait 10 days now!!!! 10 days????? Okay, I waited for 10 days. In fact, I waited for 15 days and am still waiting for resolving my IT issue I had with the site. 

Last weekend I called a phone number which I found on their website. I got something like the following automated message:

"Invalid number, no phone calls answered."

I was about to cry! Please God, I don't want to steal from the Canadian health care system, I am happy with the NHS. I only want to travel to see Calgary and the Rocky Mountains, and that only for a week. What on earth is going wrong there??? 

After 3 more days I received the following message: 

Status: Closed

Application number: V30786838x

Passport number: 

Following an assessment of your application for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), it has been determined that you do not meet the requirements for an eTA. Please see the attached document for the reasons leading to this decision.

 Your application is now closed.

You are not considered to hold a valid eTA. As such, you should not plan or undertake any travel to Canada. Should you decide to travel to Canada, you may experience delays at boarding or on arrival, and you may not be allowed to board your flight or enter Canada.

I do not meet the requirements? I haven't had a single chance of doing anything but wait, wait for more than 4 weeks now. What's wrong with you guys in Canada? Can't you implement an online visa procedure and system and get your interdepartmental communication right?

Basically, that's it, right? My mistake was that I did not lie, telling the Canadian authorities about the pills I am taking daily. This triggered the whole issue, I am sure. 

As management consultant I can conclude the following: 

- No sufficient project management planning for introducing the eTA system.-

- No IT knowledge to send out links that actually work.

- No contact possibility

   -  e-mails can't be sent, other than via the website that didn't work.

   -  the call centre did not answer any messages.

- No communication link between their IT department and operations department. Those operations people should have seen that there was an open IT ticket.

- No time keeping. In both cases they exceeded the time promised to get back to me. 

And what are the consequences? 

- No holidays for me in Canada.

- Loss of money, as I will have to return the ticket. Also, the eTA had to be paid.

- If I should I ever want to enter Canada again, I would always have to answer the following question: Have you ever been denied entry into Canada? I'll always be brandmarked. I will always have to explain to some immigration officer about this. And nothing is my fault. 

CANADA, PLEASE SORT YOUR PROCESSES OUT!!! 

One of my problems is, as management consultant I understand processes and know exactly when processes go wrong, like in this instance. The frustrating thing is, that there is nothing I can do. I could open a new eTA case, but I'd get the same over and over again - being denied, being sent a non-working link, being made to wait and wait and wait and nobody to talk to. 

I am hoping anyone from the Canadian Immigration Authorities will read my blog and do something about this situation. 

---------------------------

I posted this blog entry last Thursday, 25 January. I thought the case was over. No, it goes on. 

Also on the 25th I wrote this Twitter entry:

Thanks Canada. Feedback about ill-working processes en route to implementing eTA.  http://roland-brunner.blogspot.de/2016/02/i-wont-be-lumber-jack-my-fight-agains.html … 

@CitImmCanada

This morning, the 27th I have received the following message: 

Dear Roland,

Thank you for contacting Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

In order to access your MyCIC account we suggest you to try this link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/e-services/mycic.asp

If you are still experiencing technical difficulties fill out this email form choose Electronic Travel Authorization - General and Technical Enquiries located in the drop down menu under the heading Enquiry,and include:  

Sincerely,

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
www.cic.gc.ca

I do still have my ticket, but I am somehow on the verge of losing interest in flying to Canada and am pondering whether I should simply leave it. My enthusiasm for hiking through the Rockies for a few days is dwindling.

Guys in Canada, you should really sort your inefficiencies and processes out, please!

I'll send another message to them to their twitter account and will also write to this e-mail address. If that doesn't work, I'll give up. 

----------------------

Today is the 9th of March and I have given up. I returned the airline ticket. I tried to get another eTA but when I ready "Were you ever refused entry into Canada?" I decided this is too much to bear. Somehow, I completely lost interest. It's just such a shame that they can't implement a visa IT system and get their processes right. 

----------------------

The story goes on: On the 12th of March I have received the following after I, in fact, replied to that one e-mail from the 27th. In that e-mail I copied in this blog link asking them to read through as I could not possibly write the whole shebong. I also wrote a bit about what happened. Of course, nobody ever read that blog entry (as I can see in Google Analytics). As a result I have received this automated e-mail, yes, yet another automated e-mail. All in all, I must conclude that I had to deal with such an amazing degree of incompetence that it's hard to believe if I hadn't collected all those e-mails as evidence. 

Status: Closed

Application number: V3078683xx     

Passport number:           

Thank you for contacting Citizenship and Immigration Canada regarding your application for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA).

The status of your application is: Refused.

In accordance with Section 11(1.01) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), an electronic Travel Authorization may be issued to a foreign national if he or she is not inadmissible to Canada and meets the requirements of the Act.

Subsection 16(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act states that a person who makes an application must answer truthfully all questions put to them for the purpose of the examination and must produce all relevant evidence and documents that the officer reasonably requires.

You have not submitted proof of funds, proof residence and itinerary details as requested on 2016/02/09 to be provided by 2016/02/19.

Please note however, that clients who do not submit required documents within the deadline provided, or clients who do not submit the documents that were specifically requested may see their applications being refused. As such, you may want to submit another eTA application, ensuring that all required documents are submitted within the timeline granted and that issues raised earlier are properly addressed.

You are not considered to hold a valid eTA. As such, you should not plan or undertake any travel to Canada. Should you decide to travel to Canada, you may experience delays at boarding or on arrival, and you may not be allowed to board your flight or enter Canada.

Sincerely,

Citizenship and Immigration Canada

I am wondering if anyone from Canada will ever read it. It's such a great case study of what can go wrong. 

If I should ever get a reply from them, I'll copy it below here. 

Just to link my travel blog to here, an entry from my last trip to Canada in August 2010. I flew to Halifax and took a tour for a few days, PEI, etc. 

http://rollsgoesworld.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/halifax-nova-scotia-canada.html 

ESTP - The Doer and Entrepreneur

Today I did one of those tests that bumped into me on Facebook. And this is the result: 

As an ESTP, your primary mode of living is focused externally, where you take things in via your five senses in a literal, concrete fashion. Your secondary mode is internal, where you deal with things rationally and logically.

ESTPs are outgoing, straight-shooting types. Enthusiastic and excitable, ESTPs are "doers" who live in the world of action. Blunt, straight-forward risk-takers, they are willing to plunge right into things and get their hands dirty. They live in the here-and-now, and place little importance on introspection or theory. The look at the facts of a situation, quickly decide what should be done, execute the action, and move on to the next thing.

ESTPs have an uncanny ability to perceive people's attitudes and motivations. They pick up on little cues which go completely unnoticed by most other types, such as facial expressions and stance. They're typically a couple of steps ahead of the person they're interacting with. ESTPs use this ability to get what they want out of a situation. Rules and laws are seen as guidelines for behavior, rather than mandates. If the ESTP has decided that something needs to be done, then their "do it and get on with it" attitude takes precedence over the rules. However, the ESTP tends to have their own strong belief in what's right and what's wrong, and will doggedly stick to their principles. The Rules of the Establishment may hold little value to the ESTP, but their own integrity mandates that they will not under any circumstances do something which they feel to be wrong.

ESTPs have a strong flair for drama and style. They're fast-moving, fast-talking people who have an appreciation for the finer things in life. They may be gamblers or spendthrifts. They're usually very good at story telling and improvising. They typically makes things up as they go along, rather than following a plan. They love to have fun, and are fun people to be around. They can sometimes be hurtful to others without being aware of it, as they generally do not know and may not care about the effect their words have on others. It's not that they don't care about people, it's that their decision-making process does not involve taking people's feelings into account. They make decisions based on facts and logic.

ESTP's least developed area is their intuitive side. They are impatient with theory, and see little use for it in their quest to "get things done". An ESTP will occasionally have strong intuitions which are often way off-base, but sometimes very lucid and positive. The ESTP does not trust their instincts, and is suspicious of other people's intuition as well.

The ESTP often has trouble in school, especially higher education which moves into realms where theory is more important. The ESTP gets bored with classes in which they feel they gain no useful material which can be used to get things done. The ESTP may be brilliantly intelligent, but school will be a difficult chore for them.

The ESTP needs to keep moving, and so does well in careers where he or she is not restricted or confined. ESTPs make extremely good salespersons. They will become stifled and unhappy dealing with routine chores. ESTPs have a natural abundance of energy and enthusiasm, which makes them natural entrepreneurs. They get very excited about things, and have the ability to motivate others to excitement and action. The can sell anyone on any idea. They are action-oriented, and make decisions quickly. All-in-all, they have extraordinary talents for getting things started. They are not usually so good at following through, and might leave those tasks to others. Mastering the art of following through is something which ESTPs should pay special attention to.

ESTPs are practical, observant, fun-loving, spontaneous risk-takers with an excellent ability to quickly improvise an innovative solution to a problem. They're enthusiastic and fun to be with, and are great motivators. If an ESTP recognizes their real talents and operates within those realms, they can accomplish truly exciting things.

Triggering Epiphanies

Have you ever had those moments when you suddenly and completely out of the blue decided something which has had a long-lasting impact, which has changed your life? Those are "epiphany moments". One has to cherish them, as they don't come often in life, but once they are there, we need to grasp them and just go for whatever there is to do! Epiphanies should always result in actions. That's why coaches and consultants like me like them so much. 

There is always a way out!

I have had a few in my life, they tend to appear very sporadically, unexpectedly, some are stronger, some are weaker, and of course, the stronger the better. They can reach levels of excitement to an orgasmic scale.

I had one recently:

It happened on 30 June 2015: I got up, had a coffee, decided to go to the local gym and sign up for membership, went to my wardrobe, packed a bag, went down the hill to the new local health and leisure centre, signed up without having seen what the place looks like, and started to exercise. I did it as if I had been remote controlled. I walked down the hill like a zombie that has smelled fresh human flesh.

Me on day 1! 

I am still amazed about it, as for the last 15 years I avoided the gym and any kind of physical exhaustion like the plague. Suddenly this! Now, 4 weeks after, I am quite happy about it and I like going there. I don't overdo it, I don't think I ever will; looking like Arnold has never been on my to do list, but a little bit of exercise is actually quite nice. 

Some of those epiphanies can be triggered, some probably come completely out of the blue. It must be similar to dreams; many stem from activities and occurrences that took place in our active lives, others come from deep within our subconsciousness. 

Epiphany moments in a business context are rare. I can imagine entrepreneurs probably have them when coming up with an idea and then take action. The role of a coach is to pave the way for them to happen. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It's like with dreams, you can't force anyone to dream something specific. 

Epiphany in Bulgaria, where on 6 January every year men throw themselves into ice-cold water to fetch a cross that has been thrown in by the local priest. My coaching method isn't that drastic...  ;-) 

I have an example where I managed to trigger such an epiphany moment: 

Imagine a factory, break time for the workers is at 11:00 and there is no canteen on site, just a vending machine with sandwiches, chocolates, and the like; and then there is this little van from a local bakery that drives from factory to factory selling warm food, no meals, just warm sandwiches and rolls. For our German speakers, they sold Leberkässemmeln, but I am refraining from explaining this in English. 

Anyway, whenever I walked around the shop floor I heard a siren at 10:15 and most workers left their work place and went to that van to buy their "Leberkässemmeln". Those were kept in aluminium foil to keep them warm in order to bridge over till 11:00. What happened though, in most cases, break started at 10:15 because people wanted to eat their rolls straight away. Production figures plummeted daily during that hour. 

I went to the plant manager and just enquired about that sandwich van and he proudly told me about managing to finally have the van stop at 3 different locations inside the factory so that his workers would not have to leave their work place too early in order to walk all the way to the main gate where the van used to stop in order to be able to buy their "well deserved rolls". 

One morning after sitting over the project goals, which was to raise output by a certain percentage and we were far from the target line, I said to him a little bit after 10:00, "I need a break, why don't we take a stroll to the coffee machine in the factory and I get us a coffee...?". We went and of course at 10:20 the factory was empty, as everyone was queuing up at the van outside. I said, "It must be break time, nobody is here anymore, the machines are all switched off..."

The sandwich van does not exist anymore and break time starts at 11:00 again. We discussed this issue with the workers' council and came up with a good solution. The plant manager told me after a while: "Roland, I was so embarrassed when you showed me what happened down there without rubbing it in. It was the moment when I knew we really needed to sort the business out and start pushing mountains". 

We did and managed the turnaround and hit the target line. Happy Epiphany! 

That's an epiphany gone wrong!

Freelance vs Employment

It is "in between project time" again and I am looking for something new. To get me started, I think I should use my blog again, as type of self-coaching tool, where I would sit and write about my steps in the process to look for a new job or project. 

One of the problems I have faced so far is: What on earth do I actually want? Headhunters call and tell me about some job they have and then ask whether I like it. I would say "yes" or "no" but in the end, I feel I am missing a list of things I should look out for more categorically rather than imagining I could do something or not. 

The first step today is to think about freelancing vs employment. What do I want? 


THOUGHTS ON FREELANCING:

I have been freelancing for the last few years and for me it works pretty well. I would be hired for a project and these assignments can last from a few weeks to a few years. I like freelancing, as it gives me lots of flexibility which I appreciate so highly. It also allows me to do my voluntary job whenever I want to do it and not necessarily on a weekend (I am not allowed to write about my voluntary job but I mentioned it on my blog somewhere. Let's say it involves the terms "law and order"). 

Recently, I started to wonder whether I should go back to employment, as there are also negative sides to freelancing: It is not so much those few weeks or months in between projects, it is also that one reaches a glass ceiling and the jobs out there for freelancers can all be a bit "basic" at times. Lucky me, mine were good so far, but I know what's out there. I am ready for more in my life and feel I need to push my career a bit more. Nonetheless, I would still go ahead with freelancing and projects as I find it satisfying and rewarding to help my clients to be successful. 

Typically, these are the areas where I would see myself working in:

- Management Consultant/Project Manager/Programme Manager/Project Director/PMO for a consultancy company that specialises in operational excellence, efficiency and performance improvements, coaching, change management, manufacturing and supply chain.
- The same as above, but contracting directly to the end-client rather than through a consultancy company.

Freelance heaven would be, if I had a list of all sorts of clients who I could call or who would call regularly for shorter assignments and keep me busy. 


THOUGHTS ON EMPLOYMENT:

Employment is a different beast. Even though flexibility seems gone, this does not mean that I would enter a life of boredom and being restricted to the daily treadmill. Employment is still an essential way to climb up the career ladder and put more long-term meaning into one's work life, rather than hunting from project to project. 

What would I like to consider where I could use my skills the best? That would be of course any position where one is needed who can detect causes of all sorts of problems arising in companies and deal with them effectively. I can imagine this to be a board or "reporting to board" position, possibly in Operations. 

It would be an industry job, somewhere manufacturing or supply chain. Or in the internal consulting branch of a major international player that is looking to strengthen their continuous improvement efforts. 

I am a bit hesitant to work for another consultancy company. Somehow I have done that during the first few years in my life and it feels I have done it enough. I would not like to rule it out though, as I could possibly like a Regional Operations Director role or anything similar to that. 

Last week I met a headhunter who is looking for 2 positions: The one is for a company that looks to get outsource contracts from the national security industry and the other one is one of the major international property services companies. For the first I am interesting because of my voluntary job AND my knowledge of performance improvement, for the latter only my consulting knowledge would be of advantage as I would come in to ask all the right and difficult questions which would then enable them to think "improvement and change". 

What I like about these 2, those are completely new areas for me. I never worked in either, the security nor building industry. What a challenge to tackle!


EXPERIENCE AS FREELANCER:

If my conclusion is that in the end I should possibly consider another full-time position, would that mean I have to automatically say freelancing was not worth doing? Absolutely not! One learns so many essential skills as freelancer; the best thing for me is that I know I can rely on myself and can do it all alone. I learned to ask for business and find opportunities, as in the old days I always expected work would be there for me one way or another. I am responsible for whatever I am doing and there is no organisation in which I could hide and wait till the storm is over. These are all extremely good skills and I am very proud of having them.  

In the end, freelance work or employment, it does not really matter. Once I commit to an assignment or job I do it full-heartedly. So yes, let's get this job hunt going and see what I will come up with.

Isle of Man

I have forgotten one project. The company was situated on the Isle of Man and produced kettle switches. It was an extremely peculiar project. The local director, a Welshman, had to sleep on a camping site as his company did not want to pay for a hotel; he also had to pay for his flights home every week or fortnight.

And what I have also learned, one ought to wave good-bye to the ferries leaving the island, otherwise it would bring back luck.

Our hotel, the poshest one in town, and an old Victorian one, was the draftiest place on earth with the worst service ever, and beds with mattrasses hanging through to the floor.

We were always scared on Friday afternoons that there was no storm, as otherwise Manx Airways would not leave the airport and we were caught on the island for the whole weekend. Scary thought.

The project as such was rather basic. It was a production project where we improved machine and labour efficiencies. I was responsible for the training and coaching.

One of the managers was a girl called Sue. She was from Liverpool. I had absolutely no clue whatever she said. I just sat there and happily smiled at her and nodded... ;-)

What you see is what you get

Talking about operations management consultancies there are generally 3 main products a client can get, at least as specified with my first company I worked for - performance enhancement, management training and skills training. The first 2 are interlinked and compulsory, the latter optional.

Performance enhancement or operations improvement:
This part of the project will get the benefits cashed in. Consultants are allocated to specific areas and ought to develop them and implement what has been promised/sold to the client. I already talked about activity lists and manloading. That's one part of it.

Management training:
In order to make sure that those performance improvements "stick" with the clients' management (supervisors, managers and above) training needs to be given. The training programme needs to be tailor-made (or at least sold as such) to what the clients' specific needs are. The first few parts of the training are always the same modules though. But that's okay, those modules are vital.

Skills training:
Staff and workers get skills training. Projects like these might be "sales enhancement" programmes or "throughput optimisation" initiatives.

More detail to be found in further blog entries...