Annette's Blog

A few days ago, I co-facilitated one of the LnD Connect unconferences along with three fabulous people I know thanks to Twitter and the insightful chats we often join, along with many others, via #LDInsight.

This is not an attempt to describe the day in full. Indeed, there would be little point as I believe everybody involved will have experienced it differently and taken away their own ideas and inspirations.

Any of you who have experienced the Open Space Technique/Technology will know that it has quite an unstructured approach leading to the co-creation of discussion topics from whoever is there. Those in the room are the right people and the discussions that take place are the right ones that could have happened. People have 'permission' to stay with a conversation or to move on - they can hover like a butterfly or stay, pollinate the conversation like a bee, then fly away to cross pollinate other discussions. As a facilitator, this can be quite daunting. I was so nervous, ye…

I was looking in my back-up folder for something else and came upon this piece of reflection and advice to myself for the future – written just over 8 years ago, before I blogged or tweeted. I remember sitting down to write this within a few days of completing my involvement with a large-scale change that included a complete restructure and, unfortunately, some redundancies. I nearly said ‘a headcount reduction’ but we all know what that really means!
With some minor editing and anonymisation, I’ve decided to share it in a three-part blog. In part 1, I covered making sure the HR team is resourced, prepared and supported, the importance of accurate data, and engaging with staff, specific and contextualised communications. In part 2, I included timescales and planning, organisational culture, and practical considerations such as consultation, voluntary departures and to use or not to use slotting in.
In this final part, I cover governance, upwards management, appointment processes, more a…