“Little aptitude and will to lead”: report calls into question SRK chairman Schmid-Federer

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In December, the Red Cross Council (RKR) saw off the director of the Swiss Red Cross (SRK), Markus Mader (59), who has been in office since 2008. Now the chairman of the Red Cross Council, former CVP national councilor of Zurich, Barbara Schmid-Federer (57), is under fire.

An outside company has been investigating the events surrounding the layoff – and suddenly the question arises whether Schmid-Federer could be the wrong choice.

The investigative report states that Schmid-Federer’s conduct in the Red Cross Council and towards Mader showed “little aptitude and will to lead”. The language is a lack of courage to face challenging or uncomfortable situations.

Accusations don’t sound enough?

The president has “not exercised or insufficiently exercised her administrative responsibility”. This is one of the main reasons why the situation surrounding Mader’s firing escalated, says the nearly 60-page report from Res Publica Consulting.

Moreover, the allegations against Mader are not so serious that the director’s divorce was the only possible response.

Schmid-Federer had also never officially confronted the director about the allegations against him, let alone defined measures to improve the situation. It gets even worse: with Mader’s resignation, the Red Cross Council violated the staff statute and Red Cross principles, according to the report’s authors.

The conflict has been smoldering for years

The investigation also revealed that the unclear division of roles between the SRK headquarters in Bern under Mader and the canton associations had been causing conflict for years. Schmid-Federer must have known this Zoff very well as a former president of the SRC of the canton of Zurich.

The language is about a structural conflict, which, however, has become more and more personified: on the one hand, the “confident director” Mader “with a pronounced creative drive”, on the other hand, the representatives of the cantons who did not feel that they were seen as equal partners.

While it was previously possible to strike a balance between the various interests, it was no longer possible under Schmid-Federer, as the experts criticize in the report.

On how Schmid-Federer saw her task, the study says: During the investigation, Schmid-Federer stated – probably to the surprise of the reporters – that she did not see it as her task to bring conflicting parties to the table.

Mader feels rehabilitated

For Markus Mader, the report is a liberation: “The report of the independent investigation means a complete rehabilitation for me,” he emphasizes to Blick. Personally, he was relieved and felt a certain satisfaction.

Despite several attempts, Schmid-Federer could not be reached for comment. She did, however, prepare a written response to the report together with the other members of the Red Cross Council. In it they criticize that the conclusion about the suitability of the president is “very poor and insufficiently researched and substantiated”.

They also reject the accusation in the report that the Red Cross Council violated its duty of care towards Mader. According to her, the extent to which the SRC’s personnel regulations also apply to the director is ‘disputable’. Termination was requested “with subsequent termination of the employment contract by mutual consent”. This did not happen because the director is now on sick leave.

The report and its possible consequences will be discussed during the Red Cross meeting on 24 June.

Source:Blick