Friday, 15 September 2017

Hello,

Working as a relatively new team of four has been really enjoyable so far. Not least because we’ve given ourselves the opportunity to put our heads together and discuss lots of new ideas. 

It was great to meet, alongside the leader, so many new staff at the induction this week. Those new to the organisation bring a fresh pair of eyes and a different perspective, but the view of an experienced member of staff who has seen how we all work and thinks there might be a better way of doing something is of course just as valuable. If you’ve been here for 20 years or 20 days, we believe you all have something to offer. All we ask is you don’t keep your ideas to yourself – share them with colleagues, your manager and us. If you see us walking through the office please come and say hello and share with us some of your ideas and thoughts. 

Another new way to get your ideas across is through the EPIC ideas platform – which is a really quick, effective way to submit suggestions on how you think we can improve our way of working – no matter how big or small the idea. Submit your idea on grow and it will be directed to the most relevant person to assess how your idea can be made into a reality. To find out more please take a look at this short video, if only to look at the ‘acting’ of certain members of staff (we mention no names!).

As well as meeting newer members of staff this week we will have the opportunity to meet with all of you in a couple of months at our staff engagement forums. This is always a great chance to discuss new ideas and issues. To get the most out of it we want the sessions to be as interactive as possible. You will be able to book onto a session from Monday so please keep an eye out for details.

Cabinet met on Tuesday and discussed some big ideas including the transport plan, business rates scheme and urgent care procurement. It all went smoothly and you can watch a replay of it online. Also, one new idea and initiative reached its big culmination this week – Men’s Health Week. Our occupational health team put on a really varied and important programme of events and we would like to say thanks to them and the members of staff who put themselves forward to talk about their own health experiences, which was very powerful. Among the week’s activities was the council’s first ever webinar, which almost 200 people tuned in to. It’s definitely something we’ll be looking to do more of as it’s a really convenient way for staff to get information and the format for this particular one was conversational and informal, and worked really well.  You can also catch up with this online if you missed it.

As mentioned in last week’s blog, please let us know how you think we should be communicating. We know some people like face to face but others prefer different methods so please email communications@wiltshire.gov.uk by the end of today (Friday) with some of your ideas.

That’s also the deadline for submitting your nominations for the next Achieving Excellence Awards. Can you think of anyone, or a team that you’ve worked with you think deserves recognition? It’s a gesture which doesn’t take a lot of your time but has such a positive effect on those you nominate. So, please nominate someone today.

Overall it’s been a great week, full of new exciting ideas – here’s to more of the same next week…

Have a good weekend.

Alistair, Carlton, Carolyn and Terence 


  • Yesterday, Carlton visited the print team in the basement of County Hall. Why spend your time stood at a copier when you have a print team that can do everything for you? They offer colour and black and white and an assortment of sizes and finishes. Central copying is located in the basement at County Hall (where the old Byways restaurant was).
    Please email PDFs with an order form (that can be found on the Wire) to Centralcopying@wiltshire.gov.uk. If you have a specific requirement please email them and they will do their best to help. Feel free to go and have a tour around the print room and a chat about their services. All print requests should give five working days’ notice but if your job is urgent then drop them an email and they will try their best to help.


No comments:

Post a Comment