At work:
- Engagement in social care: under way, building conversations with partners and finding opportunities to carry out creative engagement with different target audiences.
- Service strategic review: my proposal for facilitating a half day strategy session has been accepted (yay!), and we had the introduction and kick off meeting this week. I have a bunch of relevant documentation to read and digest, to build a mental picture of the service.
Deliverables this week:
- Strategic EDI session: finalised the prep and made all the resources the day before delivering, so it was all fresh in my mind. Delivered the all day session (this was for a large housing association) to a group of about 25 people, including board members, senior leaders, the EDI Lead and the members of the EDI group representing all the departments acorss the organisation. It went really well, I’m happy with my delivery, and the feedback was great too, so nice that we were all on the same page 🙂 I’ve typed up all the raw notes (which always takes longer than I remember, every time!) and now finalising the event report to send over; this will inform the draft version of the next strategy. Got some really lovely unsolicited feedback the next day too.
“I just wanted to thank you once again for your exceptional facilitation at yesterday’s strategy day. Your ability to keep us focused and on time, all while guiding us effortlessly through discussions about our current situation, future aspirations, and the steps we need to take to get there, was truly impressive.
I’ve already received numerous compliments from attendees who were particularly appreciative of your calm and composed style. Your expertise and approach really made a significant impact on the success of the day.
Thank you once again for your outstanding leadership and support.” - Mentoring sessions with local health board leaders are ongoing, but starting to draw to their close. I did the last (6th) session with one of them this week, and it’s inspiring and hopeful to see how the stuff they talked about in a jumble in their first session (6 months ago) has come together – they created the conditions for their teams to thrive and co-produce, they have removed obstacles, smoothed the path, paid attention to governance and accountability, and created a space at the highest level for these conversations to stay on the agenda. Beautiful work, and I am honoured to have walked alongside them in the process.
“The sessions have been highly valuable and have had such a positive impact in supporting me to reflect and positively challenge the work we are enabling and embedding within the health board and wider partners. During my sessions I have felt listened to, empowered and enabled to take positive action moving forward and which has supported me in making significant progress in the work that I am supporting as part of my strategic role. As well as sessions leaving me feel inspired, motivated and valued.
I want to say a huge thank you for the opportunity as these sessions have been highly valuable and I would absolutely recommend anyone to complete if there are future opportunities.”
Development this week:
- I had put in an expression of interest for an associateship with a consultancy that works on community cohesion. I was scheduled in for a meeting and informal chat with the team in a few weeks, then in the meantime the meeting changed to an interview format with quite an exacting task, and then they emailed (quite casually) to rearrange. It went from an exciting opportunity to work in partnership with cool people doing cool things, to feeling extractive and disrespectful, with a sharp power imbalance. So I have withdrawn my application.
At home:
- Facilitating an all-day session is a joy and a real high but also sustained high attention. All day I’m watching, thinking, evaluating, observing, adjusting, performing, interacting. I love it but also it takes ages to wind down from it, so after the strategic EDI workshop I took myself out on the motorbike to decompress. The weather was horrible, but I tested the new waterproof overtrousers I bought in Norway, and crikey but they are GOOD. Norwegians really know how to make great outdoor gear. Despite the rain seeping through my jacket (which needs re-waterproofing), my legs stayed dry and the overtrousers unzip every which way so that they can come off without wriggling them over your boots! Fantastic design. 10/10 recommend.
- The cat’s not well. He had a visit to the vet this week, who said he is a Handsome Boy (which he is), and we’re trying to settle his dicky tummy. He’s all skinny and sad right now.
- I sorted out the garage and made big sorted piles of things to go to the tip. I have spent the past year or two putting stuff up there “to deal with later”, and The Time Had Come. In getting ready for the winter I needed to bring some things out of storage and put some summer things away. It’s nice to know what’s what and have a bit more order and space there now.
- A new addition to the household for this winter: this bioethanol stove! It’s gone on properly today for the first time, and while it’s windy and wet outside it is warm and snuggly inside. What a difference it makes. New best friend.
