hutchblog

Was at a public meeting last night and was intrigued by the way some of it played out.  There was some much mental gymnastics to avoid the “elephant in the room” and a great deal of defensiveness by those in authority that I came away wondering why it was necessary to have the meeting.

On at least 6 occasions the assembled throng was told that it was ok to ask questions, questions were welcomed and expected.  However, asking a question demonstrated that this was not necessarily true!  I asked a question regarding finance – expenditure had been drawn back in all areas due to the credit crunch, except in one area that had seen an 80% increase.  The question was answered well from the platform and good reasons given but was immediately followed by a senior leader sitting alongside me (strong arming me?? – that would be a cynical thought!) and contradicting the answer from the front.  Most peculiar.

Another person asked a very simple question, purely out of interest – “how are the …….. going?” – the response was very defensive and after a long diatribe the comment came – “I only wanted to know how it was going!”

It was not a bad meeting and was well natured but it left me thinking about how our words and subsequent actions can give such totally different messages.  My personal desire is that my words and actions would have a consistency to them, mixed messages can be unhelpful and create doubt where doubt need not exist.  I have learned a few lessons on how meetings may be conducted – also the necessity of dealing with the blasted elephant, just hope it does not turn vicious!

had several meetings this week that have required me to chat with people about slowing down.  It is so easy to get into a mindset that gathers pace and that prevents people from stopping and reflecting and this prevents them dreaming of new opportunities.

There will always be times were the diary is full or overloaded…..such is life, but we are rarely able to maintain that without long term consequences.  My conversations have been reflected back at me so this weekend I will be slowing down – not stopping, but definitely slowing the pace.

In a wide ranging discussion on youthwork, churches and employment, I found myself blurting out (without any thought!) – “the problem with churches is the trend for vision statements!”.  Quite a statement and one that I do not actually agree with – what would have been better to say is “a problem that churches have is the use of marketing statements as vision”.

We need vision – it brings direction and focus – but there is a problem when we replace vision with ‘marketing tools for growth’ and assume that when these targets are not reached that we have failed.  Vision allows the marketing values to shift and change, marketing defines the way we travel, vision shows us the destination.

just noticed on my stats counter that that this incarnation of my blog has passed the 200 mark.

It is amazing how much rubbish and irrelevant stuff you can write without trying, one day I will learn to filter the noise and get to the important things!

One issue that raised its head with a young person recently, and if I am truthful for myself, is the reason for people ignoring/not following you on social network sites.  If they are ignored in a school/college setting there seems to be a better coping strategy as the individual is in the same “space” and so there is a contact (loosely speaking) of sorts and an ability to read signs from body language and activity.  This is very different in the electronic media as there is not always a redeeming feature to give clues for why someone fails to respond or ignore you.

There are no rules to demand that friend requests are accepted but there are times when the lack of response may be surprising.  The lack of response may sometimes lead to self doubt and the reasons begin to escalate in one’s mind as to the reasons behind the lack of reciprocation.  The truth is usually something quite small and often is an insignificant reason – sometimes sheer forgetfulness – yet for some it can be painful.  My question is, why do we care so much?  Why do some feel the pain of this?

In working with young people, do others find it an issue that they have needed to address?  How have you supported them?

update: *just heard reference to this type of thing on youthwork – the podcast 8″

just champion

Originally uploaded by thehutch

such an amazing achievement……..was good to see some of the celebrations as Dee Caffari has completed sailing single handedly round the world in each direction!