Posted by Margo Williamson, Strategic Director
I Chair a group of staff who are putting together an action plan in response to our Investors in People award. They are a group of talented, committed staff who tell me what life is like working in different areas of the directorate. Last week they suggested I write my own blog and I will, but for now I thought I would offer another contribution to the Children & Learning Blog.
A few weeks ago I had lunch with a former lecturer of Northern College, John Cheyne. He was an inspirational teacher when I was a student and then I had the pleasure of working with him. John, a resident in Angus and ever provocative asked, “So what does a Strategic Director do?”
In an attempt to answer his question, I thought I would share with you my week; a typical week in the life of a Strategic Director.
I swim every morning at 6.30am so let’s get that out of the way. I always have lunch, no matter if I only have 10 minutes in which to eat it and I always read fiction before I switch off my bedside light. I am currently reading, Anne Tyler’s latest novel.
Monday
St. Margaret’s House 9am, the Heads of Service and me gather for our diary meeting. We outline our week; we discuss our challenges, any overlaps or ‘please takes’ and get a general impression of how we are all working with and for people in Angus that week.
I went on to have a 1-1 meeting with the Interim Head of Adult Services. Our discussion focused on Self Directed Support and the implications for people living in sheltered accommodation.
Monday is the day the Executive Management Team meet the Leader and Depute Leader of the Council. This is a key meeting of the week where we consider any ‘live’ issues and short term planning challenges facing the Council. This week we discussed concern about sheltered housing and shaped the all Member/Officer group (MOG) planned for 26th November on budget.
Sandwich in hand, I headed to Chair the Council’s Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce group where we finally completed and signed off our draft Youth Workforce Strategy for Angus Council. This will hopefully be approved by our elected members on 10th December.
Spin class, yoga class, late – very late dinner, then bed.
Tuesday
The Executive Management Team meet every Tuesday morning. We are over half way through the financial year and it was appropriate to consider the impact of innovation, the Transforming Angus Programme and savings to date. There was a lot to praise staff for in terms of their achievements and, their efforts were truly recognised.
Lunch bag in hand I made for the car and a drive to Brechin. Being a good citizen, I did not eat and drive but got to Forster Roofing in time to meet John Forster, Maureen Douglas, Steve Scott and six enthusiastic, confident, young, modern apprentices. My evaluation on leaving: I want to work for such an ethical firm with clearly evident values leadership. I am just not sure about the cold, the rain, the heights and my age regarding an apprenticeship as a roofer. Forster’s are planning to increase their footprint in Brechin so a career change may be a possibility.
Teatime took me to The Strathmore Centre where I had tea with some young service users and the Children with Learning Disabilities team. The care, support and diligence with which the team tended their young charges to ensure they have every opportunity to lead a happy, healthy life had me driving home humbled once again by the selfless commitment of our staff.
Wednesday
I had competing priorities- a five authorities meeting about the Dartington wellbeing research in Perth or Chair the People Directorate Senior Leadership Team (SLT) meeting. A Head of Service who lives in Perth took the wellbeing research meeting while I met with the SLT.
My afternoon was with the Convenor and Vice Convenor for Children & Learning. I updated them on a range of issues and we discussed Committee on 10th November.
Finally for the first time this week, I had a couple of hours to respond to emails, make some calls and complete some tasks, a key one being some work on the preparation of Angus Council’s Best Value Audit likely to take place this winter.
Thursday
I would prefer to write about last Thursday where I had the delight of teaching S5 and S6 of Arbroath Academy but that would be cheating. So, sticking with this week, 5th November, was the monthly Transforming Angus Board meeting where we monitor progress against the main projects:
– Angus Digital
– Cultural & Leisure Trust
– Agile Working/ Accommodation
– School Estate Major Projects
– Help to Live at Home
– Passenger Transport (inc green fleet)
– Procurement Review (attached)
This was followed immediately by a regular meeting with the link inspector of the Care Inspectorate. She was keen to explore progress around our action plan for Adult Services; integration with Health and next steps regarding our preparation for an inspection of Children’s Services. No date on the horizon but what was clear, our focus on self-evaluation and improvement remains a priority for all of us.
A dash to the dentist proved unnecessary. The waiting room which I had ample time to study was beige; painted woodchip with a brown corduroy carpet; Wave radio which everyone tried not to tune into; and newspapers thumbed by many and out of date.
Friday
I started the day with a phone call with the Leader of the Council to make arrangements for me substituting for him at Remembrance Sunday wreath laying. (I must remember, Newtyle, Sunday. I must remember). I had a teleconference about Foundation Apprenticeships and then I tagged on to a short walk out to the loch with two of my team.
As a trio, we quickly got into co-coaching mode offering angles on challenges we were not seeing. Sometimes the best work appears to be carried out in the most unusual spaces.
In the afternoon, I wrote two Committee reports, commented on several others written by a range of authors and went to the vending machine to buy chocolate bars I did not need to eat.
Back at my desk, a colleague responded to my feedback on his work….
He was gracious but joked he felt like Baldrick with his poem!
I had to look it up…. (not having watched Blackadder)
Blackadder commented that “it started badly, it tailed off a little in the middle and the less said about the end the better — but apart from that it was excellent.
Perhaps my subtlety was not as subtle as I though!
Reflection – tread lightly on other people’s efforts.
