dwp executive office

Spoke to a nice chap called Oliver at the executive offices of Department for work and Pensions. He was not in an official position to make a decision, and so at first he suggested that I should write information about the idea. I told him about the manner of my engagement, and the ideal or principle I am following, and he was very kind in trying to work out a solution that was mutually agreeable.

He finally suggested I speak to external managers, Darren Woolfenden and John Reid of London and Scotland respectively. I thanked him and asked how he would like to leave it and so I gave the contact of this blog. I found myself apologising for its state, since it is not something which looks very convincing. After all, I am merely an individual, and any form of organisational structure goes against the potential of realisation of the idea. I thought about putting a link to stuff I wrote last week, and perhaps, Oliver, you might want to check it and give some feedback :)
http://www.43things.com/things/view/2375192/emplayment-a-positive-credit-crunch-confluence
for the initial idea
and
http://www.43things.com/things/view/2388695/swell-the-wave
for processural learning...

So far, I have talked with two or three people. They are all very nice, though they are definitely constrained by the system in which they are in. After all, they are employed to carry out such and such a process. I find that those lower down the structure are more constrained, they have little executive decision-making power. What I am suggesting, is that I am happy to give them this executive power. In fact, I was ready to leave something alone when I spoke to Lucy at the GLA. Her advice, Olivers, meant that my idea or principle would miss the opportunity, that of implementing an idea to deal with the expected 800k+ people in these two first months of 2009. They recognised this, and hence I asked them to come up with an alternative. They have both been lovely in trying to help.

It is actually very uplifting. I believe that by honouring the person, genuinely, we can make substantial progress. For example, I would be happy to include Lucy or Oliver in any executive meeting should one ever materialise, if they believe they have something useful to contribute.

So, no matter what happens, whatever the outcomes, I am happy with the genuine response of humanity I have engaged today.