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Wow, Friday again and it’s nearly February. Where is the time going? I am three weeks into my Weight Watchers regime and have lost 10 Ibs which I’m pleased about. I’m hoping for the full stone by Monday night’s weigh in. Only another 60 Ibs to go (hopefully by the end of May)...
I read an interesting and thought provoking piece in the Harvard Business Review this week, adapted from some work by Scott Edinger. It’s worth remembering, particularly for all of you managers and aspiring directors.
Make Emotional Connections with Your Employees
The higher up you go in an organization, the more important it is to connect with your employees on a personal level. Show people you work with that there is more to your relationship than the job. Here are three ways to forge these connections:
Give your undivided attention. This sounds simple, but it's easy to overlook when you are overloaded with ringing phones and packed inboxes. In conversations, put everything down and focus exclusively on what's being said.
Remember emotions are contagious. If you're feeling particularly anxious or negative, make an effort to quarantine yourself. When you're feeling especially buoyant, go to more meetings and spend more time with others.
Get out there. Even if you’re an introvert, reach out to people, engage them in discussion, and actively provide feedback. You can’t connect from behind a closed office door.
Adapted from “Three Ways Leaders Make Emotional Connections” by Scott Edinger.
One of the major pieces of work that I’m involved in at the moment is developing and writing the new Business Plan for the organisation. This will be our plan for the next 4 years. When starting a piece of work like this it is important to reflect and think hard about what is happening in the world around us. I am using a PESTLE analysis to summarise the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental impact on our county, communities and organisation. I thought that I would share a section of this with you in my blogs over the next few weeks so you are aware of the thinking behind the plan.
These future scenarios will need to be explored further and then addressed in our Business Plan. I’ll share some of the economic influencers that we will have to deal with next week.
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 and we’ll talk again in a week or so.
Carlton
It’s been a great week. I spent today with Maggie and Carolyn plus all the service directors and some heads of service practicing our emergency response plan. It is very important that we do this regularly to ensure our preparedness for any major incident that occurs. The scenario was a major flooding incident in one of our major towns displacing 4,000 people which given the weather over the last few months was very apt. It was an excellent opportunity to network with colleagues and learn together. It was great to hear from the Public Health team – they told me that they’re settling onto the organisation and building quickly which I’m pleased to hear.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon at Longleat meeting with the CEO, David Bradley. He is delivering a major new vision and development on the estate to grow the business. It is vital that the council supports this because successful and growing business means a thriving local community with jobs and opportunities for many. He has been and continues to be a big supporter of our planning team – telling me how proactive and can-do they are in supporting the objectives of the development. This was great to hear and I’d like to thank the team involved, particularly Mike and Russell who deal with Longleat.
Earlier this week the corporate directors put together the final elements of the ’13-14 budget with Michael Hudson. It is good to get to a balanced position early so that there is plenty of time for elected members to challenge, question and amend this. We will be going out to all of our communities over the next few weeks to consult on their priorities and hear their views so that these can be incorporated into the final budget plan which will go to Council next month.
Next week I have half a day scheduled with the election team. We will be starting the detailed planning and rehearsing for the May 2 unitary and parish elections. As Returning Officer I have to ensure these elections are conducted properly and fairly and to promote democracy widely. As an election junky I relish this role. More on this anon.
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 and we’ll talk again in a week or so.
Carlton
Happy new year to you all and welcome back to work after the Christmas break. I hope you all had a good rest, I know I did. Raring to go in 2013...
This short week has been three days of planning and developing my objectives for the year ahead. I always find this a cathartic experience and provides the focus and plan I need for the year ahead. I will share these objectives with you over the next few weeks when I have had a chance to discuss them with Maggie and Carolyn and refine them a little.
In the meantime, thank you to all those staff who worked so diligently over the holiday period – supporting people and families in crisis and our communities facing the challenges of the weather and flooding. You all did a great job.
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 and we’ll talk again in a week or so.
Carlton
