Improving the Workplace
August 11, 2015Great News for Local Heritage
September 12, 2015I think in many ways we can be sure that summer is over. Outside it feels very autumnal. The mornings are cold, not quite frosty but there is a definite nip in the air, and the nights are drawing in. It won’t be long before there are Christmas adverts on the TV!
I have to say that the end of the summer holidays has come as quite a shock work-wise! My little boy is full of independence and trotting off to school almost by himself (I am no longer allowed anywhere near the classroom) so I find that my day is much more orientated towards work with the school run now reduced to a very minor interruption. Chatting to other mums at the school gate seems to be a thing of the past already. And, on the other hand, I seem to have so many new projects on the go that I really appreciate the new focus.
New projects are fun. I love the early stages where you are generating lots of ideas and there is a real buzz to a project. And, right now, almost everything I am working on is new which is so exciting. It is also pretty daunting to have everything in early stages – I spend most mornings looking at very long to-do lists with very few things ticked off! So, the thrill of the new is countered slightly by the realism of what needs to be achieved. This is where I find that lists help so much – breaking things down and agreeing short term deadlines really works for me and my clients. Nevertheless, my diary is very full and I am working most evenings to keep everything on track. Communication is key too and my email is certainly very busy at the moment.
To give a flavour of the balls I am juggling right now, this week I have:
- Completed a first draft of a new project proposal which will support local communities and people with mental health needs to access nature
- Spent a day talking with partners Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, Northumberland Wildlife Trust and Forest Research about how to engage audiences and monitor attitudinal change as part of a new national-scale project to conserve the red squirrel
- Spent a day working with the Tyne Rivers Trust to explore new project ideas and develop a funding strategy to resource these
- Started work on an Evaluation Framework for a new participative evaluation contract for Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s DerwentWISE project
To say that I am excited about these new projects is an understatement. Really, they are all such great initiatives and I am pretty proud to say that I will have a part in them. Of course, they each deserve a blog post of their own and so I will be sharing more from them over the next few weeks.