I have been the People Connections Co-ordinator in the north west for some time now and I finally decided to take the plunge and enrol myself onto the programme. Here's my first update.
As I have been very much involved with the design, development and administration of the People Connections programme, I’ve also been keen to be part of the process myself now for some time.
There are lots of reasons why I wanted to try it out myself. Firstly, I wanted to road test the product and see how it works. What does it feel like to be linked to someone from another government department? Does the process work? Are the supporting products practical and easy to use? Is there anything that could be improved? Secondly, I’m doing it for my own self development. My entire Civil Service career has been in DWP. I want to learn about other government departments and how they work, maybe engage in some job shadowing. I want a mentor who will guide me and help me to develop appropriate examples in line with the new Competency Framework with a view to progression.
With that in mind, I have been partnered with Paul Cushion from HMRC who is acting as my mentor. Paul is also from Liverpool which makes meeting up convenient and he’s already been through the process himself. He was the one being mentored last time, so this is a new experience for him too.
We had our first partnership meeting a couple of weeks ago. We agreed objectives for the year ahead and completed the People Connections Partnership Agreement – which is very user-friendly. We’ve decided to meet every month to begin with and see how things develop. It’s my responsibility to drive the process and I’ve been set a number of tasks to be completed by our next meeting. I’ll be keeping you posted on my progress over the next twelve months.
Anyone wishing to know more about People Connections should e-mail me for details. or post a comment on this blog.