January 21 – not the start we hoped for

I was lucky and thankful for Debs Smart covering Christmas so I was able to take 13 days off. I really missed the team though, particularly after our end of year team award ceremony got a bit emotional, and was relieved everyone was still well when I returned. 17 days back at work and wow it’s crazy busy.

Just before the Christmas break our draft digital vision went to overview committee, this is more about pulling together a framework of the work we are doing and our approach, so people working with us know the direction of travel and ambition in Dorset. It’s taken some time but was positively received with words like ‘excellent’ and helpful feedback from councillors on the priorities, so I felt a little bit proud that it had come together.

It was more brilliant when Cllr Laura Miller showed support by inviting me to speak about it this week at the Adult Social Care stakeholder group, there was a bit of pressure due to the build-up I had been given but I hope people found it inspiring.

But none of this would be possible though if it wasn’t for the awesome people we have in ICT ops, Digital Place, Digital and Change and across the business. I continue to be inspired and proud of the work colleagues do in difficult circumstances at the moment. In readiness for a STEM focused careers event next month Sam McLaren has put together a short film (thanks Sam for your patience with me in getting it to the final cut) to help us attract future talent in Digital and ICT.

I am loving the digital leadership practitioner course I signed up to that has kickstarted my year and got the brain cells jiggling about. It helps that Mel Ross (Adapt2Digital) the facilitator is fantastically engaging and knowledgeable. I may already be boring people with what I’m learning (sorry!) but it’s really helping me to step back, reflect and think what I want to do as a result (handy as we are kicking into planning season albeit it juggling with ongoing COVID response). Focusing on the journey and presence, rather than tasks and activities to judge your progress has been interesting and made me approach my work differently – time will tell on the impact.

We had our first customer success meeting with Placecube and it feels like we are getting to grips with our plans, its always hard when you are in that contract mobilisation phase, getting familiar with each other and products. Our main challenge is we don’t want to replicate how things are done now by just migrating stuff into a new platform, we want to make sure we get the agility and flexibility that a platform can bring to an organisation but that requires everyone to think and work differently #wewillgetthere.

It was a joy this week to interview with HR & LD colleagues for the Senior L&D Lead, this involved rapper names, a wild mouse, and a moment where the tech for a candidate was touch and go! At one point Amanda Grant who is retiring was asked what she enjoys about her role, her answer brought tears to my eyes as she loves every bit of it, I’m really going to miss her and how she is helping to incorporate digital mindset into the learning programmes we are developing.

Prompted by our Exec Director for Children’s I dug some of my favourite shoes out of the wardrobe this week and wore (its been wellies or flip flops for 9 months!), it’s amazing how small things can boost your mood, thanks Theresa 😊