Playing Chess in a Foriegn Langauge...by Wendy Hind

So Simon came to see me yesterday. At any other time, the idea of having a meeting with my Manager, in my own home would be completely unthinkable. I would have been really unhappy to do so.

Yet I requested and welcomed this opportunity to interact further than a Zoom conversation. I did wonder how we do this, if he is in my home, and has difficult news?

We are in a foreign world - differences between work and home have been irrevocably blurred.

A lot of this is incredibly positive, resonating with Justine’s earlier blog of learning through “play” - I find it a lot easier to express difficult concepts. We can bring our whole selves to work.

I can possibly bring added value from my own lived experiences of being disabled and registered as vulnerable, what that “feels like” and what people might potentially be seeking right now. Everyone is different and difference = equal.

The analogy of “Chess played backwards” comes to mind. Our role is to be ahead, to lead from the front, generate new ideas and direction, and create focus and strategy.

We are as a team now looking around us, helping other teams to change the use of the hubs which were created for C19, looking at outputs and new ways of working, assessing our different levels of flexibility and having an increasing focus on identifying which groups in our City need more support, and in return could engage further with us, creating a new “intake” of scrutineers and reviewers.

No-one is yet used to the portal and working online – that is going to be the new normal and we all have to play our part. This needs to be like opening email, or looking at your phone – we are looking to upload new content on a weekly basis, and you can too.

The art of chess is anticipation – can we figure out the new style ambassador reviews together? What we can now start to work towards?

Together we are stronger and this is a marathon and not a sprint for the line. I am incredibly proud to hold this post and looking forward positively to whatever is there for us to change on the horizon.

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