Week 31: 11-14 April

Funny what a break can do. I hadn’t felt particularly tired. This week I’ve woken up before my alarm has gone off each day. And I completed my five goals for the week.

I had some spare time in my diary this week and a little list of things that I’d wanted to move forward but weren’t sufficiently urgent. With any luck the TDA will be discussing them in the next week or so and they will be small but significant things which unblock our ability to deliver our strategy. I also needed to tidy up the ‘capstone’ from the end of my course – a short essay applying what I’d learnt to our context. I’d already submitted it but wasn’t particularly happy with the drafting; but it was starting to drag.

In a similar vein, the technology strategy is now basically finished but also needed a copy-edit to make it a bit sharper and simpler. A bit of extra context would also help us respond to a recent audit on our approach to supplier disaggregation – and I was able to find some time on Friday evening to commit to that.

The goal I was most excited about, however, was to deliver an effective monthly strategy call with improved ratings from last month. It was important because the second album is always difficult. But also because it was the end of the first quarter and just six weeks since we introduced OKRs to the whole directorate so it was a moment to celebrate the key results that we’ve achieved and set the tone for how we’re going to do this.

I certainly invested enough in the presentation but at some point during delivery I realised that it didn’t have quite the same energy and engagement as last month. I thought I had a lot, possibly too much content so I rattled through it and finished too soon. I had kept to the format that I adopted for the first one but I fear that also made it feel a bit rehearsed. And at the end of the meeting, I asked people the extent to which it had increased their understanding of how their work contributed to our strategy. I got an average of 3.7/5. Now, a 74% satisfaction rate isn’t bad for a meeting. But I was aiming for higher, and last month it was 82% (and, I think, a larger attendance).

On the upside, I asked attendees for feedback and it must have been apparent that I really wanted it. Because five people got in touch with me afterwards – which is the most ever – to share their thoughts. I was really touched and it helped change Thursday evening from being one of self-flagellation to just mild disappointment. The feedback was also helpful and gave me some clear ideas for how to improve next month’s.

I’ve set three goals for next week:

  1. To set the baseline for at least two of the key metrics we’re using to track progress of our strategy
  2. To identify the path to live for our email automation tool in a way that’s replicable for future products
  3. To ensure we have a clear plan for the onboarding of the new phone system we’re using for our CPS Direct service