Well it seems that I have hardly been away – doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun on your holidays. I‘ve had a good break and actually managed to catch some sun as well as spending an unhealthy amount of time in front of the telly watching the Olympics. The withdrawal symptoms are steadily diminishing now...
This week has been quite quiet, so time for me to catch up, think and plan ahead for everything we have to deliver through the autumn as well as starting to think about the new Council that will be elected next May and which will run from 2013-17. We will start to consider all the aspects of this – vision, communities, customer, performance and resources so that we have the information required by members of all political groups as they start to think about the new council, their objectives and what they wish to achieve. Always good to be prepared!
I have also completed SAP appraisals for four of my service directors. The new system works very well and has enabled some good conversations between us as we completed the appraisal process. Please strive to get these completed through September, I think it is vital that every one of our staff has a proper appraisal. If you haven’t had yours yet please ask your manager.
I moved into the new part of County Hall yesterday. Open plan with limited storage! I must admit I’m blown away with the building, how it looks and feels and am very excited about the possibilities this way of working will open up for us all. The break out space will really help to change the culture of the organisation into a modern, fit for purpose public sector operation. Intra-team communication should be greatly enhanced too with no walls and little rooms to hide away in. I’d like to thank the teams from property, ICT, transformation, service engagement and all the others involved in making the transfer so successful. Everything works so well so far.
Finally, we will open the staff survey shortly to everybody. It is important that we all complete this – yes I always do too – so that we can capture where we are and where we wish to get to from our staff’s perspective. Keep an eye out on The Wire for further information.
For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.
Thanks for reading. Talk again in a week or so.
Carlton
Friday, 24 August 2012
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Wednesday 1 August 2012
It’s my last blog for a couple of weeks before I jet off to the back garden for a couple of weeks furlough. I must admit I can’t wait – I’m highly addicted to the Olympics already and will watch the rest of the games on the telly I think. Mrs B might have other ideas of course...
Yesterday we held the staff awards for July and a great occasion it was with the Council Chamber full of staff who have individually or as part of a wider team gone the extra mile for our communities and customers. I always feel very inspired reading the entries and deliberating over them with colleagues as we select the winners. The individual employee of the month winner was Karen Moles and the team winner was the Diamond Jubilee / Olympic Torch Events team made up of hundreds of staff from all departments. Thank you and well done to you all. In September we will be launching the categories for our end of year celebration in February / March 2013. This year I would like to hold this event in our new atrium facility that opens at County Hall in a few weeks time. We’ll see.
Talking about inspiration, I was fortunate to meet Ben Parkinson yesterday. He is a soldier – from 7 Para – who was severely wounded in Afghanistan. In fact he is the most severely injured soldier to survive from his tour of duty in that part of the world. What a guy. A wicked sense of humour and the most engaging smile I’ve seen. He’s about to do another parachute drop next month too which makes me frightened just thinking about it. He was at County Hall to present Jane Scott with a picture that she had bought on Armed Forces Day, by a local Trowbridge artist – the proceeds of which go to the charity of which he is patron (www.pilgrimbandits.org ). This charity works with soldiers whom have been severely wounded and supports their rehab through adventure activities. Very humbling.
To those of you about to go on your holidays, have fun and enjoy yourselves. For those of you working through the next few weeks – thank you.
For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.
Thanks for reading. Talk again in a couple of weeks.
Carlton
Yesterday we held the staff awards for July and a great occasion it was with the Council Chamber full of staff who have individually or as part of a wider team gone the extra mile for our communities and customers. I always feel very inspired reading the entries and deliberating over them with colleagues as we select the winners. The individual employee of the month winner was Karen Moles and the team winner was the Diamond Jubilee / Olympic Torch Events team made up of hundreds of staff from all departments. Thank you and well done to you all. In September we will be launching the categories for our end of year celebration in February / March 2013. This year I would like to hold this event in our new atrium facility that opens at County Hall in a few weeks time. We’ll see.
Talking about inspiration, I was fortunate to meet Ben Parkinson yesterday. He is a soldier – from 7 Para – who was severely wounded in Afghanistan. In fact he is the most severely injured soldier to survive from his tour of duty in that part of the world. What a guy. A wicked sense of humour and the most engaging smile I’ve seen. He’s about to do another parachute drop next month too which makes me frightened just thinking about it. He was at County Hall to present Jane Scott with a picture that she had bought on Armed Forces Day, by a local Trowbridge artist – the proceeds of which go to the charity of which he is patron (www.pilgrimbandits.org ). This charity works with soldiers whom have been severely wounded and supports their rehab through adventure activities. Very humbling.
To those of you about to go on your holidays, have fun and enjoy yourselves. For those of you working through the next few weeks – thank you.
For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.
Thanks for reading. Talk again in a couple of weeks.
Carlton
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