Relationships, new experiences and learning new stuff

Well I wonder if there is anyone out there, I feel guilty because I think blog, I dream blog, but I have not been writing blog ………………

So here goes, lets start and see where the muse takes me.

I have now become Chair of Relate Nottingham ……………….. this is a case study of how not to do it, but does reflect how the many volunteer driven organisations operate http://relate-nottingham.org.uk (http://relate-nottingham.org.uk)

I saw the advert on REACH  Reach Home (a good place for professional people with time on their hands) I turned up for a discussion with the Chair, I went to three Board meetings as an observer, though I have to admit I did take the opportunity to speak out, correctly or not. So I was happy to become a Trustee but then the Chair stood down, the Vice Chair stood down, both had exceeded the 8 years limit, several other Trustees packed their bags and I indicated I might possibly consider it ………..there were no other candidates and I became elected !

As is my want, I now find myself in the role of Change Manager ………. the future will see what direction this takes. Anyone in Nottingham area fancy being a Trustee, let me know. More musings may result as I steer the ship into unchartered seas or onto the rocks.

That leads to to another theme, that of life long learning. OK thats a management buzz word but the truth emerges when as above you need to learn new things. The other new thing is that I am on the path to become a Chair of the Bench in the Magistrates Court. For those less familiar and overseas readers, a bench of Magistrates is normally three people, one Chair and two wingers. Only the Chair can speak directly to the court to the defendant, solicitors etc.

Now I have observed this as a winger for a number of years and in view of advancing years, JPs must retire at 70, I hesitated to put my name forward for training but decided why not, once again retirement allows you freedom, if I didn’t like it then I just stop !

The training as always was OK, now I know that my background in learning & development makes me more critical in a “I wouldn’t do it that way” attitude, anyway after two days of training including role plays, I started on first practice sessions, these are however in real courts with real defendants, solicitors etc and whilst I felt that I had done things like this before I was surprised to get a dry mouth, losing my place and trying to listen whilst thinking about what comes next. Of course the Legal Advisor is helpful.

I have done three of these but trying to do multiple things at once taught me that I have to be specific with delegating jobs to the wingers and being clear about peoples’ names. Especially in a court with lots of different cases, we had evading train fares, not sending kids to school, breaches of fines and other court orders and some others that have disappeared from memory. 

I now start next week with the first of three appraised sessions where someone sits either with me or observing from the courtroom and then presumably we discuss and fill in a form. I understand the reasons but in maturity the actual process of being a ‘junior learner’ is quite challenging. I reassure myself that if I fail, so what, I can still continue as a winger. Let’s see what happens over the next few months, I don’t know if I get a certificate or a letter to say I am competent or it just happens ……

So a brief catch up, I will resolve to write regularly, maybe a bit of politics now the Election is over, maybe some observations on that which never fails to illuminate, the behaviours and views of other people, or ………….feel free to suggest topics.