Day 79 – 2 May 2014
Can you believe we are into the fifth month of the year already? I don’t know where this year has gone.
I woke up early this morning to the sound of crashing plates. Some of them had stopped spinning and had fallen to the floor while others seemed to be wobbling on their sticks. It’s not a good sign when thoughts of work wake you up and every so often there comes a time when you need to stop what you are doing and rethink your approach. Today was one of those.
It seems that we have had an influx of things to be getting one with and we are relying more and more upon the same resource to deliver. Like whirling Dervishes we are spinning faster and faster and if we are not careful someone will fall over and hurt themselves.
Our normal approach to such situations would be to shout louder or to set more stringent objectives and pile even greater pressure on those we rely on but that’s not appropriate as it may fix a short term problem but just mortgages future pressure. Like Spandex you can squeeze all you like but it has to pop up somewhere.
My first meeting was a review of quarter 4 performance. There were some good things and some not so good but it was good to have the opportunity to talk these through. I guess that thinking about this meeting had added to my restlessness.
Next I met with Gerard my 29th tier 4 colleague. He is the Asset Services Manager in Regeneration & Economic Development and looks after our asset strategy (covering buildings and land), the individual service asset plans and estate management including evaluations and disposal. We covered the usual issues of coming to work to make a difference, enjoying the variation and the commitment to public service. His support of Sunderland football club led us to the inevitable discussion about would they stay up or not. I’d be more than happy for them to be 17th.
The rest of the day was free and so I locked myself away and drew everything on a white board that I was tring to come to terms with. It was a big list and looked like a dog knitting at first but once I’d drawn some rings around things and moved some stuff about I was able to start to see through the issues. I don’t know if I’m a visual learner but sometimes you need to be able to see the bigger picture
Learning points for today: A spiral staircase is a metaphor for life, do you take the inside curve for speed or do you stick to the outside for safety; the council owns a lot of the former colliery land as well as some farms; sometimes you need to be by yourself and; we have holidays for a reason.
Today’s enjoyment rating 7/10 – I could do with a long weekend.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 