Sensing connections to people and groups

In one month, the second Women’s World Championship of tackle american football will be held in Finland.  Although I am not going this year, I was surprised to be looking forward to the event just as much as if I were.  I was an official (referee) for the first WWC in Sweden in 2010.

It is not so much that I feel a connection with the players, as the sense of cameraderie with the other women officials.  Each one was eagerly anticipating the final selection list, and making plans for travelling there even though we were unsure.

We have a social media site to post messages specifically about the events, so it is fairly easy to stay in touch.  I think the best part about the second WWC is that I have been made to feel part of it, even though I won’t be going.  Other women officials have shared the group spirit of support and encouragement, too.

It has been very worthwhile keeping up the connections.  Subconsciously, I have been checking my e-mails quite a lot more than normal to find out the latest.  Now the crews who are going will have to focus on the event and also organise their lives while they are away in Finland.  As it only happens every three years, it is a very smooth-running event with lots of support.

It is a bit surprising that the momentum has kept going since 2010, but the interest locally has been building amongst the players, officials, media and support people.  I am very pleased that it generally is part of positive involvement in the sport regardless of age, gender or background.

Today has been an odd day, though.  I have been very happy thinking that a teaching contract or two were possible, for a week here and a couple of weeks soon after.  However, I discovered that I am only able to undertake supply teaching, which is more like unexpected absences rather than planned absences.

So I am feeling a little confused right now after thinking I would be busy at schools, with new adventures.  Instead I expect to be in a new and unexpected position, sharing the cameraderie of the crews both in Finland and other places around the world as we watch and wait for the second WWC in Helsinki in one month’s time.

At least I have my writing and studies in Education to provide structure and discipline as it is all sorted out in some distant place.  Yet none of it seems distant.  Even the writing seems to be directly linked to changes in my world.

How bizarre!  I guess the first WWC was so new that nobody had time to think about it.  This next month will be different for those familiar with the event and the new ones who are starting for the first time.

There will be concerns about how to gain a profit from broadcasting rights, no doubt, to help fund other events.  I do hope it all goes well and that everyone involved has a wonderful time.

Organisational psychology

I had a new understanding in my thesis final chapter related to the importance of psychology in organisations.  I’m not really sure what psychology is, given that it seems to be a way of working with philosophical concepts in a business environment.  My training is more along the lines of semiotics and decoding philosophy.

At least I can see my way clear to making up two full days of writing a week, with a focus on finishing the thesis by the end of this month.  Zina messaged me on fb about coffee with the girls.  They are my first thesis-support coffee group, so that would be perfect.  I love catching up over coffee!!

Coffee groups are the best type of organisation, from my point of view.  Flexible, adaptable, full of ideas and news, occasional and able to be copied with different personnel.  Perfect!

Meanwhile, I have uploaded a content management system to the server for my website, after hours and hours of keeping the web page open while it installed.  The instructional information is clear and easy to find and it seems very user-friendly. 

There is a link between types of organisation and website domain names, which is relevant to my role as webmaster for a sporting officials organisation.  I am trying to find out the details of audit requirements and having a registered incorporated entity as the governance structure.  Personally, I prefer not-for profit with ability to receive tax-deductible donations.

It is not easy to find out about the officials organisation, as there are changes in the State and national registration systems.  It seems there is more of a centralised system now.  Oh well, it gives me something to do in between writing.  Optimising the search engines on the government web site is obviously not a priority in the business registration area.

 

 

 

 

 

Web sites

On Thursday I looked up a well known web hosting company to check the information about hosting a web site.  I had made enquiries a while ago and had also received a good offer from them which I was able to activate.

This type of hosting service has interested me for a year or two now, so I thought the time is right to do something about it.  It was even mentioned in the webinar I attended on tailoring one’s job search to the specific industry.

Everything takes time to be updated through the internet, but I seem to have the best approach now.  My account manager is Miles and he sent some links to helpful videos.  I used Skype to telephone the company and found it worked really well this time.

Despite all the excitement of going back to web site design, I realised that the next three weeks are going to be extremely busy with writing assignments.  My discussion chapter absolutely has to be done and I have a lot of things to take out of my thesis.  I have my last assignment for Semester 1 in counselling well underway and some small assignments for TAFE. 

To make this manageable, I am trying to keep my Sundays free.  This should make it easier to focus and work properly during the rest of the week.  Saturdays are usually for tidying up and Mondays are often washing days.

So Max and I had a quick run this morning.  The Sunday paper turned up on the front lawn even though we have cancelled the subscription.  There was a big cover page invitation to join a fun run of 5 or 10km to raise money for cancer research, I think it was.

That’s a nice thought….

RAD and Business Requirements Analysis

This morning I was checking out the usefulness of Rapid Application Development (RAD) for business requirements.

Along with RAD is prototyping as related ways to obtain details from a client on their business requirements for a particular product or process.  It’s interesting that information technology plays such a big role in organising business processes when this side of consultancy is considered.

Also, project management methodologies can include this type of approach to align business requirements with resources and existing business processes.  Essentially a project is a way of marshalling funds to do things in a business that aren’t part of the regular budget.  If it was clear in the first place why the project outcomes are needed, the funds would already be there or the work would be part of existing processes.

This leads to the process of change management and leading cultural change in an organisation.  Through clever market penetration of hand held mobile devices and a range of increasingly portable laptops and tablets, people are well used to the change that is required to be able to be connected and productive in a bring-your-own-device (byod) environment.

There is not a disjuntion between the machines and training provided in an organisation to do the work of that organisation and the devices and skills being developed by the workforce to increase productivity and connectedness.

Finding out about 30-60-90 planning

When a person wants to plan and talk about it in a trendy way, it seems the 30-60-90 plan is the thing to do.

Having found mention of this, I looked it up using blunt tools such as Google(TM) and found three good summaries.

Although it can mean several things, in general it is about setting goals and analysing a business challeng/opportunity in monthly steps for three months.  Being proactive, you find out what the business environment and competition are like and start mapping out the networks and people skills required.  Check against performance targets and top standards for achievement and methodically check to see how things are progressing, based on goals and revision of goals.

Actually, I conflated this a bit with interview skills.  Giving and receiving performance feedback, paricularly for annual performance reviews, is part of the general picture with interviews.  I guess this is a bit like asking what are the selection criteria for progession in the company at any given work level.  There’s nothing like being direct and planning for a compliance framework.