My "critical incident" this week was the bi-weekly Managers meeting on Wednesday. This meeting is a relatively new thing, they started up in November 2003 as communication between all the managers from both sites was identified as an area of weakness, partly because of geography , and also because of my and PT job share, where we never otherwise see each other.
To date these meetings have been useful, MM and CT, have been able too feed back information from SMT and CSMT that us Deputy Managers previously only got in a haphazard fashion. It also means that we all sit down face to face and can iron out any issues that may have arisen and discuss ideas for service provision etc.
Anyway, back to this weeks meeting, MM briefed that it has been decided by AG (head of the department) that due to comments made at a luchtime departmental meeting a few months ago that we all attended, Job-Share Deputy Managers "don't work" at the Laurence House Site and that in April PT and I are to be working at the much quieter GS site in Deptford and DR will be working at LH.
This was a total bolt from the blue and my immediate reaction was unease and mild panic about the logistics of actually getting to and from work. I explained that I am happy to "follow orders" but that I have 2 young children that I have to drop off to school and nursery and that even if I make adjustments to my childcare arrangements, there is no possible way I could get to GS by the required 8.45am.
The stress it would add to every morning and evening would be too much on a long-term basis. I said that if it was temporary, say 3 months, I would hopefully be able to make some temporary arrangements, rope in friends, grandparents and make partner adjust his work schedule, but if it is any longer I will have to start to look for alternatives as I wouldn't be able to work effectively, I would be constantly late and leaving early and this would have a very negative affect, not just on me personally, but also on the example it sets staff and the burden it places on the other GS manager EO.
Upon reflection, I was quite emotive at the meeting as it was such an out of the blue announcement, and even though I have now sat down and calmly and rationaly thought over all the possible options, there is no way possible around my childcare issues. I feel that this is really sad, as if this is to be a long term arrangement I will have to look for another job as I will be in an impossible situation.
I also feel that there is more to this !sudden change" than meets the eye, AG would not make a decision like this based on the comments of a PO1 manager at an open meeting, I feel that the comments are being used as an excuse to make the changes that for some reason AG wants to make to the management structure. I can come think of all sorts of reasons that AG would want to do this, but none of these really matter at the moment, i just need some concrete answers as to the questions I have raised so that I can evaluate my own position and move on from there.
After thinking about all of these issues on Wednesday and Thursday I spoke to MM on Friday asn asked for clarification of the timescales involved in the move so that I can make some informed decisions. MM will speak to AG and get back to me with a definate answer as to time scales.
I feel very unsettled now and also a bit undermined at work, everything in my future as far as work goes is up in the air, therefore my degree also, IT HAS NOT BEEN A GOOD WEEK!!!!!!!!!!
On a positive note, my manager is sympathetic and understands that I am not just being awkward, I am always flexible and will do whatever asked whenever possible, this just isn't possible long term.
Not a very productive week at work and quite frustrating too! My profile on the work pc's has been corrupted so I haven't been able to log in. This has meant that among other things I haven't been able to access my work email.
As I work job share, this is an essential tool in communicating with the other managers and keeping up to date with any developments or issues with staff members that arise when I am not at work. On average, when I arrive at work on Wednesday afternoon I have 80 unread emails from Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday Morning. Because I have been unable to log in all this week these will have increased to about 200 by the time I go to work on Wednesday next week.
Not only is it time consuming to go through all of these when I finally get access to my computer, I have missed important emails which means that my knowledge has not been up to date.
For example, on Thursday a member of staff that was meant to be in according to our Leave Book did not arrive for work. I wasn't in the office on Friday so when I arrived for work on Saturday and still couldn't log in, I had no idea of what had taken place on Friday; had she turned up for work on Friday, had she been spoken too about her unauthorised absence on the Thursday, was there a reasonable explanation as to why she didn't come in and didn't make contact etc?
I then had to approach her on Saturday about the absence on Thursday without full information about what had happened. This made me realise how important a tool email is in my work environment for communication. Something to think about, without it I am unable to perform my job effectively.
After reading in Firstclass how some other Ultraversity students found this a useful way to keep their learning journals I thought I would try it too. Up until now I have been keeping a traditional journal, writing my thoughts and recording events in a notepad.
When it came to writing last terms reports I realised that this was not the best way. Whenever I referred to my journal I had to decipher my handwriting from 3 months before and then copy up everything I wanted to refer to in my research assignments. This was very time consuming and not a very clear record of my thoughts and events that had happened.
By carrying out the first learning skills workshop and participating in the conversations in our online community I have thought about how I would continue with my journal this term so that it is the effective tool for me that Ultraversity intend it to be.
I have decided that I will still make notes in my notebook (on the train on the way home from work) each day and then once a week I will use writing my blog from these notes as a reflective exercise, I will look over what I have written and write up and reflect on those critical incidents that I have noted and use the reflective processes that I have been reading and learning about in the last couple of weeks to do this.
