Despite tangling with a variety of things that defied a timely or permanent resolution, I’ve ended the week feeling pretty good. *shrugs shoulders* Yeah.. I don’t really understand it either. Perhaps it’s because the tangles have been challenging but worthwhile .. or because I’m mainlining sugary confectionery as I write this.
Things I’ve been thinking about…
I’ve been encountering and observing some interesting legacy IT behaviours. Including one instance where the IT department in an external organisation is enforcing a change that will impact a service we jointly deliver, whilst also refusing to volunteer any information or support regarding it. In the words of my mother, I’m not angry… I’m just disappointed. What are we all here for if not to help our respective organisations do stuff!?
Turn The Ship Around has popped back in my head this week. I’ve been thinking about coaching & mentoring. About how we might give people more regular opportunities to stretch themselves and their abilities in a supportive and resilient way (ie. not just delegation of safe, approved, prescribed actions).
There’s been a real wealth of great weeknotes following UKGovCamp (an unconference for the public sector). A particularly interesting thread I picked up on was about people who’ve known each other ‘from the Internet’ for a while, but feel discomfort when meeting in person because they might not feel as polished as their virtual persona. I totally get this, and have sometimes walked away from real life meetups with people I know ‘from the Internet’ thinking.. “Real me just did a piss poor job of representing Internet me”. As Louise Cato observed, some of this is no doubt down to the unusual spot some of us inhabit where we first form relationships through quite open and vulnerable interactions on blog posts and tweets. A sort of modern day equivalent of pen pals. Our digital selves have plenty of time to craft eloquent, thoughtful responses. Maybe we need to give ourselves permission for real life interactions to be a bit messy and awkward.. and that’s okay! For me, I’d really like to be okay with being imperfect and vulnerable in real life (many many many excellent books from Brene Brown on this) and ensure my Internet persona is exactly as human and imperfect as I am… or ‘authentic’ as those leadership thought leaders(*1) on LinkedIn might say.
I’ve been reading…
- “Using our ‘contact us’ pages was too difficult — here’s how we’ve made it easier.” ← I love this. This is the attention to detail to which I aspire for services in social housing.
https://wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/contacting-citizens-advice-was-too-difficult-heres-how-we-ve-made-it-easier-a4bbeacf0310 - Weeknotes #6
https://weeknot.es/weeknotes-6-793764cd2938 - Notes from GovCamp #ukgc19
https://medium.com/@stamanfar/notes-from-govcamp-ukgc19-37dbb84de739 - UKGovCamp 2019: Reflections
https://medium.com/@dasbarrett/uk-govcamp-2019-reflections-c2eb14c782a2 - How to stop it being crazy at work.
https://medium.com/@mcleanonline/how-to-stop-it-being-crazy-at-work-47be3c9af7ca - Time for the (social housing) sector to get better at talking about failure.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/59881 - Lloyds plan to cut costs with startup IT’s platform.
https://www.ft.com/content/ae57bfcc-1e50-11e9-b2f7-97e4dbd3580d - If we want different relationships, the doing must be new & different too.
https://paulitaylor.com/2019/01/25/if-we-want-different-relationships-the-doing-must-be-new-and-different-too/ - Making the whole greater than the sum of the parts.
https://medium.com/@curiouscatherinehowe/making-the-whole-greater-than-the-sum-of-the-parts-262f4068c59f
*1 I need you to know that I loathe the term ‘thought leader’ with a fiery, unending passion.