Tuesday 29 March 2011

First off my apologies for missing my blog for the last two Fridays. I was in London last Friday with six other unitary directors doing some learning around our respective budgets and business plan situations. The week before that I was in Exeter undergoing my election training ahead of the Alternative Vote Referendum being held on May 5. Busy times... Today I was at Urchfont all day with Cabinet and the other members of CLT. We spent our time together planning the detail of how we will deliver the Business Plan: the transformation programmes emerging as well as the investment programmes to be delivered. Once we had defined those programmes we then identified the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that we will use to measure our progress and the overall end results. This was challenging as we have to develop KPIs that measure the results experienced by our communities and citizens AND relevant internal measures ensuring progress within the organisation. Once these discussions are finished over the next few weeks, I’ll share these plans with you so that you all know how we will be managing this work. We have our spring team day on Friday of this week. I’m preparing my speech, which I always find a little nerve racking. It’s worth remembering the ten ways to present with panache (and confidence). These are borrowed from this months’ Management Today and annotated with my comments and thoughts: 1. Know your audience (yes all 1100 of them) 2. Keep slides to a minimum (I have 2. But I might ditch one of them... ) 3. Make eye contact (important but scary) 4. Stick to the point (no waffling) 5. Keep it brief (always) 6. Think about tone 7. Share your own experience (tell your own stories) 8. Vary the pace 9. Remember: practice makes perfect 10. Relax – but not too much Oh god please let me remember at least three of these on Friday! I look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it. Talk again next week. I shall Blog on Friday as I am taking next week off on holiday. Plenty of fishing methinks. Carlton