Baby

By chance (nothing new there) I ended up where I am 9 months ago. One could say that the gestation period is over now and it's time for me to pop.

A feather in my cap - potentially - following a personal recommendation which seems to have taken off at work. Some years ago, whilst in the employ of the Mouse, I was fortunate enough to receive some management coaching sessions, which came off the back of some workshops for the 'team' I was with at the time (I feel a bit of a pseud using the word team sometimes) In my current post, I thought it might be useful for this trainer to come in and lead some sessions to help us all approach a forthcoming time of enormous change in a more positive frame of mind.

After several discussions, and about 4 different iterations of the programme, it was finally agreed that he would be engaged to work with around 80 people across the country in my organisation. It is of course possible that if it all goes tits-up (though I don't for a moment believe it will) that I will be the one who carries the can, and if it all goes well (which I am absolutely sure it will) that my name will magically be forgotten, but I'm doing all I can to ensure that that doesn't happen.

The sessions have been fascinating so far (though I do object to somehow being saddled with the logistics of the damn thing) and needless to say have already identified a deep-seated management sickness within the organisation. Hardly surprising in the public sector, you might say, resulting largely from a perception of people as 'things' and a tendency to forget that they are after all human. All wrapped up in a total failure to communicate.

It has started me thinking about myself. As I have been organising the sessions, and emailing invitations, some people have naturally assumed that I am the sponsor. One of the key points raised so far is that there is a 'leadership vacuum in the change management programme' (there I go again) and that there could as a result be an opportunity for me to take it on. Ever since this was said on Friday, I have been mulling it over. At the moment, I cannot claim ownership of the coaching programme, although I am doing most of the hard work, because the official sponsor is some way up the chain from me, even if she hasn't met the guy or (probably) read his proposal in any depth. If I were so inclined, I might push this and see where it got me. I have, after all, little to lose and potentially quite a bit to gain.

I think the 6 goals we put past Pompey yesterday have got to be a good omen. Oh yes!