Weeknote: S1 Ep 24

Four things about this week

1. Hanging out with project managers

We had our first ever team day on Wednesday. Tailoring the day to meet the needs of the team was really important. Our outcomes were framed around inputs provided by the team. This included some social time to talk about non-work things and get to know each other a bit. We spent a couple of hours looking at the changes the team has been through over the last four years and the impact on them as individuals and as a collective. It was excellent learning for me and together we shaped some clear actions to build on the positive impacts of change and move on from the things that left a negative mark. We finished the day by sketching out what a project life cycle might look like.

2. Wading into uncertainty

Karolina, Jatinder and Matt have been working through the research findings for the training needs discovery. They continue to be courageous in using new techniques to understand what they are learning and crafting insights. I take my hat off to this team and their commitment to working differently. There is some overwhelm as they make sense of all the things they have heard and experienced. This is normal and uncomfortable. But they are in touching distance now and a bit more shaping will hone some valuable insights.

3. (Another) overdue conversation

I had a “real life” coffee with Ed Houghton from DG Cities on Wednesday. It was good to hear his reflections on the digital inclusion pilot we have been co-delivering with public health. We have a tonne of learning about the impact of the work and how we worked together. This project hasn’t always been easy, but by pinpointing the challenges we can make a real difference in terms of what we do next. Key things for me:

• A multidisciplinary team to support the next iteration
• More “real time” collaboration with community centres to really hone our offer
• Using right people with the right skills for the right things

4. Adding the right kind of value

I’m trying hard to only do the things I can do. The list is long. This week I managed to progress a number of things, but nothing to a conclusion or to a point where I think I was able to add sustained value. I’m a single point of failure on a number of fronts and this is an uncomfortable place to be. It’s too easy in these moments to look at the summit in front of you and forget to turn around and admire the distance you’ve travelled to get to this point. I’m going to keep plugging away at defining my weekly goals, creating some space for deep work and meeting my needs so that I can support people more effectively.

Next week

I’m looking forward to:

• Digital board on Thursday — always to good to share with our work with colleagues from across the Council
• Some focus time in my diary to do some deep work
• First ever show and tell from the Greenwich Community Directory team
• A last minute trip to Bath to see my mum