Inspirational summer reading

So holidays are gone and just as normal England start winning the cricket. Hey ho. I  saw the Lord's defeat. To those of you returning to work I hope you had a great time. To those of you about to leave have fun and enjoy the break.

As usual I did plenty of reading while away, a mix of genres to inspire, plan and make me think. Chris Froome's biography The Climb was a tale of dedication, single purpose and tenacity in the face of multiple obstacles with a thrilling end. It also gave me the excuse to buy some new lightweight bits for my bike which I did as soon as I got home. And I worked out that if I can lose another 7lbs I will be two minutes quicker up a 10%, 10km climb. Game on.

Admiral Collingwood: Nelson’s Own Hero by Mark Adams was a revelation. As an amateur student of 18th and 19th century naval history it contained so many relevant lessons about management, leadership, strategy and operations in the 21st century. It also served to remind me how lucky we are today with our work life balance and how important duty is as a personal attribute (he was away from his family at work for the last six years of his life!)     

Back to work matters I have spent the last two days focusing on corporate performance and budget issues and how these need to be factored into our autumn annual planning cycle. More of this anon.

 Speak again soon when I hope we can celebrate a third test victory and series win of the summer for England. 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.

Springfield Community Campus preview

The holidays have finally arrived which when we were in the depths of the floods during the first quarter of the year seemed a long way off. For those of you going away over the next few weeks, have a very peaceful, safe time with your families and friends.

Last night I attended the Corsham Area Board where the community previewed the first phase of its new campus. It is a truly spectacular building – bringing together previously separate council services located in different, expensive buildings, the Police, the voluntary sector and a myriad of different community groups. Children and young people toured the new facilities first – they were surprised and delighted when they saw the climbing wall right next to the library space. In a moment of madness I seem to remember challenging one of our elected member to a climbing completion when it opens in a few weeks time. I’m hoping Cllr Packard forgets. There was a real buzz about the place which was exactly what we wanted to create when we started this project 3 years ago.

Last week we had the Local Enterprise Board (LEP) which comprises 12 business leaders from across the county together with the two elected leaders from Swindon and Wiltshire. This group is charged by the government with leading economic growth and increasing jobs, housing and delivering increased employment land for the county. The boards plan – the strategic economic plan (SEP) has just been given the green light from government and we have been awarded around £120m over the next six years to deliver our economic projects and create many thousands of new jobs. This is great news for the county and our communities. We were awarded the third largest amount per capita across the 39 LEPS in England.

Speak again soon when I hope we can celebrate a first English test victory of the summer (I may have said that last time and the time before that, but it didn’t happen and I remain optimistic). 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.

Carlton

Busy week around the county

 This week has been fun – lots of out and about around the county. On Tuesday I was privileged to meet Lord Heseltine with our Leader Jane Scott to discuss our strategic economic plan for Wiltshire. He is always insightful and I do like the way he sees life, whether political, social or economic and is able to expertly link these areas of public policy. The government will be announcing on Monday which aspects of our economic plan they will support. We are expecting a positive outcome from which we can get on and deliver the projects that will provide additional high value jobs and homes throughout the county for the next six years. This is important for all service areas as people and families in good jobs are able to thrive and live their lives as they wish.

On Wednesday I visited one of our Chippenham depots (we have two… one ex district and one ex county – I’m on that case) to meet our waste service loaders and drivers. We do this a couple of times a year where we share the sort of information and discussion that we have in the staff forums that we recently ran across the county. I’m very proud of our waste service – it touches every household every week and provides a very high quality service right across the county. It’s also one of the biggest services we provide – costing us around £30m per year to collect and dispose of our waste.

Next week I am meeting up with political leaders and chief executives from across the country at the Local Government Conference in Bournemouth. This is an important opportunity to shape national and local government policy and to ensure the voice of Wiltshire, its communities and residents is heard loud and clear on the national stage. Most Wiltshire Council political group leaders are attending for the same purpose.  

Speak again soon when I hope we can celebrate a first English test victory of the summer (I may have said that last time, but it it didn’t happen). 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.

Carlton

Holiday Reading

Whilst on holiday the week before last I read a great book by Michael Neill called “Supercoach: 10 secrets to transform anyone’s life.”  I am usually highly sceptical about books with such titles (usually written by PhDs) that claim to fix everything, but I was at Bristol airport with nothing to read and I was in the mood to study something about coaching. So I paid my money…

And wow did I learn some great things about coaching, thinking and working inside out rather than the other way round. Michael’s book is packed with incisive ideas, experiences, real world stories of what has worked and how for both coaches, those being coached – in fact anybody trying to make sense of the stuff happening in their lives and around them. I share below his 10 secrets and you really need to read it.  

1. The world is what you think it is. You are creating your experience of the world moment by moment.

2. Well being is not the fruit of something you do; it is the essence of who you are. There is nothing you need to change, do, be, or have in order to be happy.

3. There's nowhere for you to get to - you're just here

4. What you decide will never impact your life as much as how you handle the consequences of that decision.

5. Every emotion you experience is a direct response to a thought, not the world around you.

6. No matter what seems to be going on in your life, you don't have to do anything. Everything you do (or don't do) is a choice.

7. You create other people by how you listen to them.

8. You can ask for anything when you make it okay for them to say "no".

9. Financial security doesn't come from the amount of money you currently have; it comes from your ability to get more of it whenever you want. Master the art of serving others and you will secure your financial future.

10. There is never a good reason not to hope.

Speak again soon when I hope we can celebrate a first English test victory of the summer. 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.

Carlton”

European election and council's strategic direction

My first blog for a few weeks after a very busy European election period and then a week off!

The Euro election went very well indeed thanks to the near 1,000 staff, volunteers and others who worked so hard under the leadership and guidance of the elections team. Elections are always a tense time as there is so much at stake for both the candidates, political parties and the wider electorate. The count on the Sunday went quickly and we were all finished by around 6pm – 4 hours ahead of the deadline to return the results to the regional returning officer. Fortunately we required no recounts.

On Monday this week we met with Cabinet to start a series of conversations leading to the development of the strategic direction of the council over the next five years plus. The changing landscape of the public sector, social policy, austerity, next years’ general election, and most importantly the priorities for local elected members are all factors that we need to consider and plan ahead for. It was an energising discussion and a good start to the process.

For those of you interested in coaching to develop both your performance and that of others, you should be aware that the next coaching network event is planned for July 2. For any of you aspiring to coach others, perhaps as part of your management or leadership role then do please come along and find out what we’re up to. There are about 30 of us involved thus far but this is growing steadily.

  

Speak again soon. 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.

Carlton