The smothering blanket of August lethargy has descended on the office, and the difficulty of doing any work while your colleagues and contacts are on their holidays becomes rapidly apparent. A simple email out is met with autoresponses – the phonecalls go straight to voicemail. Still, onward!
The weeks prior to Parliament entering recess were ones where the details we drafted regarding SNR were copied to appropriate minister and civil servants. I’m now charged with scoping out the members of relevant committees and the peers who’ve previously expressed an interest in regional data (or better data use) and to try to formulate a plan of contact once August is over. I’m also following up Lord Lipsey’s “Campaign for Real Statistics”, launched earlier this year.
I’m going to be attending the conferences of the two main political parties (and potentially the third party too), for a single day as an observer, to dip my toe in the world of lobbying and networking. I’m charged with establishing the value of attending as an exhibitor in the future, given the cost implications of that activity.
I’m also spending the quiet time of August working on some network aspects – a staff directory on the wiki, with an interests / expertise list, and populating the research database with current updates. Hopefully this will provide me with more to demonstrate at September’s meeting.
I am catching up on reading – the flurry of releases at the end of July can still be worked through (UKSA Code of practice consultation – data sharing report – the list goes on) and digested or marked for action.
I’ve had a first meeting with my potential mentor, which bridged an interesting gap of work and personal reflections. Some of the questions posed were as much about my assumptions in my current way of working, and how to address or change those; and my ability to understand and evaluate my strengths and weaknesses and the extent to which they fit with the role.
