Work and Pleasure

Mixing work and pleasure: went dancing with Sophie and the first person I spoke to is a teacher at Leicester College. First thing I mention is the large ASB workshop the YC ran last year, but straight away Sophie says "I'm sure you want to talk about work on a night out" sarcastically. Fair enough I thought and changed the topic. 

Now here's the problem, that was a lost networking opportunity for myself on the YC and actually now I think about it, for her also because she could've increased her profile at the college by helping organise an event. I get Sophie's point though and in the future I shouldn't thrust networking in peoples faces, keep conversation non work, but remember anything work related and bring it up at the right time. E.g. Rather than mentioning the YC, say that it's interesting she works at the college, ask what she teaches and how many pupils (but not 21 Q's), then remember these useful facts and write them down somewhere (get a networking notepad?). Wait until the next dancing session and ask if she would like to go for a drink with me and Sophie afterwards, or Coffee over lunch, then take the opportunity to talk about your job, the YC, and book an event. That's networking! But more subtle. Play your cards right.

I'm only just starting to figure out what those cards are... 

Victim Support Transferable Skills

Transferable skills from Victim Support: active listening, empathy and understanding of victims experiences. Active listening is useful for communication with anybody really but especially so for the youth commission when facilitating events and meeting new people. Empathy is essential (though not in the job description) to working with young people and that is the Youth Commission, working with young people who (in many cases) have been affected by crime. Having empathy for other peoples experiences adds a lot of value to the conversation I have with people and often leads to a decent outcome. It allows me to work more effectively with those taking part during events because I can empathise with what they have been though when they talk about being involved in crime or being a victim of crime. Most 'criminals' have also been victimised at some point in their lives, therefore understanding of victim experiences again add more quality and understanding to the conversations I have with people on the Youth Commission.  

Communication and Confusion

Communication is going well and I get on really well with the youth commission members. My role is much more noticeable this year because the members are not confused about if I work or if I'm a volunteer. The ones that need it appreciate my support, so far anyway.

Thoughts on sharing information:

Kaytea didn't want me to share the presentation with Royston. Why did I? I know Royston is busy to I don't expect him to read it, but by sharing the information it shows progress on the project. Maybe I should only share it when it's finished but I value Royston, Paul and Tom's input in areas they know about before sharing a final version with Sir Clive and Paul Stock. Royston knows communication, so why shouldn't I ask for his in put? Why are Rose and Kaytea so anxious about who I share information with? I know who not to share it with, outside stakeholders, but the OPCC is not only a partner, they'll be taking it over next year so shouldn't they start having more of an in out? Otherwise I risk what has already happened: sharing the 'finished' product with Paul Mac and then Paul recommending changes. He doesn't know its the finished product so why shouldn't he? But then I've got to.explain to Rose why Paul has suggested the changes and therefore the product isn't finished. Henceforth it makes more sense to share my work with Paul (and relevant colleagues) and ask for their input, which I know they'll give, rather than naively presenting it as a final product.

Its wise to hold of sharing work till the right moment, maybe I'm misjudging the moment...

Although Kaytea and Rose have final say, most of the time I don't have half a day to wait for their in put and this doesn't make sense when practically when Paul (for example) is sitting right next to me. Even without their in put, sometimes I just need to make a decision.

What if somebody else had taken the project coordinator job? Surely they wouldn't pass every decision through Kaytea and Rose. Unless they were at the same level of inexperience as me. As much as training people to develop their skills (like Rose is doing though SHM) this also gives Rose and SHM more.control over the YC and other projects, because somebody with extensive experience is less likely to pass a decision through SHM when they're contracted to work locally. As I am with the LeicYC.

So the question is, how much autonomy do I have?

I also realised that the logical reason for SHM paying me with funding they get from the OPCC also means that SHM gets final say on decisions locally, through me (the coordinator) because I work for SHM and not the OPCC. Though it seems illogical not to just get paid by the OPCC and work for them, this is the only logical reason I can see. 

Up Managing

Had a really in depth conversation with Tom Moore, despite how skeptical Rose has taught me to be, he is a nice guy (either Tom, Paul and Royston are genuine or they all have some ulterior motive for the youth commission... Do Rose and Kaytea not realise by now that I have the best interests of the youth commission at heart, or are they afraid of me being me being manipulated by the police? Rose is concerned about them taking over the YC). Tom taught me about 'up managing' and fortunately he wasn't surprised when I'd never heard of it, he said it takes making a few mistakes to learn how to up manage and keep your boss happy whilst also advancing your career. Well considering I have Tom, Paul and Kaytea all offering to mentor me, I don't intend on repeating any mistakes.

So, up managing is essentially matching your values to those of your manager so that when you speak, they may as well be speaking and therefore you get listened to. You do this by keeping them updated on their needs: Sir Clive wants numbers, "by the way we reached 200 people at tackling drugs week that I set up with Leicester College" is what I want to say, and "Paul I've set up a series of workshops with hard to reach people from the South Asian and Somalian communities in Belgrave" is what I want to say to Paul after setting up workshops with Watershed Youth Centre in Belgrave. Therefore keeping Paul and Sir Clive happy.

By finding gaps (gap analysis) in the project which also match the values of the organization, I'll be able to have an influence by introducing new ideas without them impacting on the project. Tom explained this by asking why I think people are sharing their work with me? It's so that I talk about it and everybody knows how they're contributing to the organisation (police). I can now introduce my idea of YC Certificates because Tom is interested in piloting it with the new police cadets because every single one who applied failed the application, that is the same as the Specials application, that asks for customer service skills. The certificates would improve customer service skills that the cadets need (gap analysis) and match the organisations goals of training police cadets without impeding on the YC (up managing) because Tom is going to take it out of my hands. If successful I'll then be recognised for my contribution, setting up the new partnership, and then this can be piloted as YC certificates next year. I'll have then 'up managed' by keeping Sir Clive, Paul and Rose happy by focussing on the YC, but also by promoting myself within the organisation  by contributing to the Police Cadet training and improving the youth commission. Everybody's happy.

Learning to Say No

Is something that I hope I'm starting to learn sooner than my peers, indeed my manager even admitted it took her until she was much older to say 'no'.

So what have I learnt this week and at the end of my first month on the Youth Commission?

• Communication is important, even if I'm (apparently) 'articulate Matt' which I'm sure some of my friends would disagree with (this worries me how I've changed), I still find it difficult to communicate in writing without having to double check every email and think hard before I speak. This is a good thing you may think, but it's also very time consuming! My future communications will be specific and to the point. I've learnt from feedback on my Business Admin NVQ that when communicating during meetings a point needs to have a reason to be made, a valuable contribution and not just speaking for the sake of it. I've also learnt from my first coaching session with Kaytea that when communicating, emails should be short and relevant, speaking over the phone should be to the point, and when texting YC Members (young people) only include information relevant to them. As a result of this I've cut out a lot of unnecessary information from emails and made phone calls without hesitation because I know that I can get to the point if I just relax and remember the purpose of the phone call in the first place! Saying 'no, sorry I'm too busy.' Is just as important as saying yes to every single opportunity! Saying yes to everything usually means nothing gets finished!
• My job roles have felt confusing when they overlap, such as going to a training afternoon with staff from WCE when the real benefit for me is for the YC. Hopefully people should start seeing me for me and not for my various job titles.
• Further to job concerns, do I carry on at WCE or find a job in Leicester? Considering there is nothing for me to do most of the time I'm going to start looking for a second part time job in June.
• In learning to say no, I've had to (almost) say no to Victim Support.
• I've learnt to be more organised with my ideas, rather than running away with ideas for the youth commission and inviting everybody to take part, I've learnt to balance my priorities and think carefully about who we involve. I.e. when speaking to a potential new partners, I let them know (after a decent discussion) that I'll send them more information, but I don't commit to anything. I then communicate this with Rose, Paul and Kaytea to see the next plan of action. So instead of just emphasising that this is a good idea, I think carefully about how a new partnership would benefit the youth commission , then explain those benefits to my superiors.

Do I really have time for VS?
I really don't want to stop volunteering there because I really enjoy it but I don't seem to have the time to commit regularly every week. Monday and Tuesday is for the YC and these are my busiest days of the week. WCE keeps me out of Leicester till 7pm, but this may not continue after June. Maybe but VS on hold till after June? If I don't continue, then use this time for VS. If I do continue or find another job in Leicester the I won't have time for VS. Why do I want to continue with VS? Over the phone support is quite limited, the reason I joined was to provide face to face support and I haven't even done that. If I am ever going to provide that then I need free time during the day, that I just don't have...

Do I have time for Talent Match Project?
The commitment is to weekly planning meeting first, then monthly meetings and events after that. I can also do this as part of my role with WCE, so if I do continue then it's worth taking commitments to this project. If I don't continue with WCE then I will be looking for another job and likely won't have the time to commit. See what happens in June...

Youth Commission Week 1

First week of the Youth Commission has been hectic, or have I made it that way? I've tried to get everything set up, put a plan in place and now I feel in a much better position than I did last year. Why am I resentful of receiving feedback? I need to learn to accept feedback as a positive thing. Part of the purpose of this is to learn and develop my skills of working with young people, so that next year the OPCC will have a Youth Commission expert who can continue this for the next 2 years.
I have the right attitude, I'm friendly and motivated, but sometimes my motivation can take over my rapport. I need to relax when communicating and be genuinely interested in every single person I interact with. Aim to learn something new about each person in the OPCC every week.
It's ok to dress in a more friendly, less smart fashion. Instead of shirt and trousers, wear long sleeved black polar necks, smart jeans and shoes. Keep the shirt, tie and shoes for formal occasions.
I need to learn to switch off and manage my time flexibly, but also specifically. So, Mon-Tue is the Youth Commission, I'll need to be flexible to manage working with people in the OPCC and YC Partners, as well as young people. Best time to work would be 10-6pm because this gives me the morning to get some initial work done, the afternoon to contact partners and go to events and the evening to contact YC members and go the events etc. Later than 6pm and people will be having dinner.

Career Reflection Post Graduation

Learnt so much as a Leicester ambassador, I know I realised that I do indeed want to worm with people and I don't necessarily need to gk abroad for that. I took experience from the engagement team to think of new ideas for engaging with people by learning from the reasons people were not interested in careers. Victim support opened my view by teaching me active listening skills and making me realize that everybody is different. I then applied the empathy I learnt from vs to understanding why people become involved with crime. I already had this understanding based on personal experience and my degree but vs taught me new skills that.I then applied. So rather than thinking, yes I've been there, I now use active listening to really take in what people are saying and recognise their thoughts and feeling to get to the root of their emotions. Then using my vs training I can put their thoughts and ideas into context to develop practical solutions. Everything I did on the YC, I would not of been as good at, building relationship with so many people, without my experience as an ambassador

Since then? I applied for many jobs but only after starting the apprenticeship did I realise that I'd handicapped my career by only taking temp roles to gain experience. Was this deliberate? Did I always intend to return to the YC? I wont lie that I almost jumped at the opportunity to continue getting paid for something in passionate about, but I have learnt to restrain myself. Don't just accept what initially seems like a good offer, ask questions, get the person offering you an opportunity to work for it and explain why you should take the offer. But use tact and be polite, not arrogant. Only ask a couple of question and genuinely consider the offer. Then accept. I've now been able to continue the internship and the YC! On 2.5 days instead of 2! My patience paid off. 

So now what? Develop your patience into maturity, you're self employed so don't jump an every opportunity to complete a task manage your time effectively, you're a busy man and people now it.

Going forward?
I want the YC to function as a policy thin tank where new ideas and be tested and trialed before being implemented. Where young people have a voice in the whole process but also learn to understand how the process works. While this happens I want them to be given the opportunity to get accredited for the skills they develop. I want there to be a real incentive to join the YC and make your voice heard. I want, going forward, the YC to be a useful tool for everybody, young and old, to learn new ideas from each other and put those ideas into practice in a way that will ensure maximum benefit.