Day 170 – 8 October 2014 Are you enjoying Customer Service Week? Today was another big day for us as we held an ICT Awareness Day in the Durham Room in County Hall. We kept the Senior Leadership Team meeting to a couple of hours to make ourselves available for the event but having a … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 170
A year of work in progress – day 168
Day 168 – 6 October 2014 Happy Customer Service Week! It doesn’t seem five minutes since the last one. Each year the Institute of Customer Service holds a week of events to try and raise the focus on customer service. I think that similar weeks are held in other parts of the world as well. … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 168
A year of work in progress – day 167
Day 167 – 3 October 2014 Have you seen the movie Parenthood? There’s a scene where Gil and Karen Buckman, played by Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen, are talking about the way their lives are and Gil says how he hates messy. Just then Grandma comes in and says: “You know, when I was young, … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 167
A year of work in progress – day 166
Day 166 – 2 October 2014 Bob is someone I have mentioned a few times. He is the Managing Director of Accenture here in the North East and is passionate about skills and development. He’s worth taking to if you can get a moment with him but he is a busy man. I met Bob … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 166
A year of work in progress – day 165
Day 165 – 1 October 2014 Half the financial year has gone and three quarters of the calendar year. What happened to September? It is time to check on progress with the service plan. It turned out that once again I am on call this week in case we have any major incidents. I forgot … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 165
A year of work in progress – day 164
Day 164 – 30 September 2014 The day of the restructure announcement was never going to be a good one. Getting to this point has taken an enormous amount of effort, not by me I hasten to add but by my team. There were some last minute things to sort as always, but it was … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 164
A year of work in progress – day 162
Day 162 – 26 September 2014 Today was ‘European Day of Languages’, or ‘Eŭropa Tago de Lingvoj’ as they say in Esperanto, a language I toyed with in my youth in a desperate attempt to become multi-lingual. I suppose it appealed to my idealistic view of a Europe united under a set of common values … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 162
A year of work in progress – day 161
Day 161 – 25 September 2014 I decided to come back to work a couple of days earlier than planned, not because I had a bad holiday, far from it but rather to save a couple of days for later. Without these I would have had no break until Christmas (a first world problem). Two … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 161
A year of work in progress – day 160
Day 160 – 19 September 2014 Dawn breaks on another day in history. It looks like Scotland has decided to stay after all though a significant number of the populace said yes to separation. Was it a genuine desire to see a split or just brinkmanship? Is the nation state an outmoded concept in an … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 160
A year of work in progress – day 159
Day 159 – 18 September 2014 I over-scored yesterday. Last night’s visit to the Teesdale Action Partnership put the seal on an already difficult day. I lost my composure and responded badly to some of the questions. I find it very hard to separate some of the things I do from who I am. I … Continue reading A year of work in progress – day 159
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 