Day 117 – 7 July 2014
Back at work this morning after seeing the Tour de France go through Burley in Wharfedale over the weekend. It was something I hadn’t expected to see in the north of England and was glad we went down even though there was a bit of waiting around. Today I had my own bit of a grand tour, criss-crossing my way across Durham. I started at Meadowfield with the third presentation of this round before making my way across to Spectrum for the fourth.
I don’t normally get that many questions at the presentations but today I was asked where I got my shoes from, what is a silo and if I could provide a copy of the video as someone’s sister was on it. I must be making some headway.
Back at County Hall I met up with Kevin, the latest tier 4 manager on my list. He is the Corporate Public Relations & Policy Manger and has, in his words, a mixed bag of functions to look after. Part of his team provide policy monitoring and analysis by scanning government web sites and other sources of information to provide a variety of reports covering major (and minor where relevant) policy announcements. We subscribe to a parliamentary monitoring service which looks at all of the relevant committees, stake holders and key white papers. The other half of his team has responsibility for our internal and external comms.
I always ask the question why do people come into work and what it is that gets them up in the morning? Kevin said that he likes taking complicated stuff and translating it into an easier language. I saw a lot of parallel in this and my own role. He also enjoys the variety of his work which is a common theme among his colleagues.
Over lunch I attended a meeting on agile working and how the council is going to use this to change its culture. Finally I’m starting to get some traction on number six of my ten things I’m going to do this year.
In the afternoon I went back over towards the coast for a visit to East Durham Homes. We meet quarterly but our relationship will be changing as the new County Durham Housing Group comes together. We’ve built up strong relations with each of the three housing associations involved and it is both exciting to be doing something new but a shame if these relationships were to start to unravel. It is in our gift to make sure that they don’t and so something else to keep our eyes on.
Learning points for today: Never trust a man who wears blue shoes (my grandmother told me that); bringing organisations together produces a group dividend; if we meet every week then things are more likely to get done; people are different face to face than on email and; if I want a pool car I need to plan ahead.
Today’s enjoyment rating 8/10 – a couple of meetings I wasn’t looking forward to but both turned out fine.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 