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.