Weeknote 24th February 2023

TW: Bereavement

What did I do to make a difference this week

I spent some time in the office catching up with colleagues face to face, listening to their views on the new organisational restructure, getting their feedback and digesting the information as a collective, delving into how the structure helps us to deliver our intended outcomes and challenging our thinking on how it could do it better.

I met with colleagues across the new organisation as well as external subject matter experts to input into a draft digital inequalities framework and look at how our inclusive design work will feed into it. I also worked with colleagues on next year’s financial planning to ensure we having budget in place to achieve what we want to next year. As a research participant I input to work on the future of the service manual which helped me reflect on where other current work intersected with the manual and where priorities should lie.

I worked with colleagues to plan a session with senior leadership which we needed to get clearer about. We were under pressure to do this and for many reasons I was struggling to clearly grasp the nub of the issue, so I asked what was in my head — what is it that we are trying to achieve with this session. Turns out this made others stop and think and cleared the fog it turned out we were all in. Whilst we are on the topic of clarity, big thanks to Eva who pointed out some useful words in an official document that completely unblocked an approach to a conversation I needed to have.

I also hatched a plan with colleagues within my local community and my wider family to create postive action and greater awareness that could save lives, in memory of someone we lost this week.

What I need to do to make more of a difference

I need to keep an eye on myself and make sure I take the time I need to process things that have happened outside work. This week was a really tough week for me personally. Someone in my wider family passed away and it was in very similar circumstances to my mum so it brought up a lot of feelings for me. Their funeral was also this week as in our faith we hold funerals as soon as possible. Whilst I knew she might pass at the beginning of the week, that didn’t make it easier when it did happen, nor can I say waiting for the news didn’t affect me. Whilst I am feeling ok now, I need to keep checking in with myself and make sure I have the space I need should I need it.

Plans for next week

• More collaborative digestion of the proposed org structure
• Catch ups and link ups with colleagues across the new NHSE to see how we can be greater than the sum of our parts
• Moving forward inclusive design and digital inclusion work
• Commercial stuff