It's all a game really - the past week at work

Monday

Meetings in the morning, including a meeting with Tom D, my immediate boss just back from holiday.

"I've had good reports about you from other managers" he told me.

More meetings in the afternoon, including a collaborative meeting with two government departments over a joint Directory we want to produce - they were not very positive about the idea.

Still working on the marketing plan.

Tuesday

We have decided to go ahead with the Directory unilaterally. It is an example of the "white" publicity we do (we also do "black" publicity, but I cannot write about that). I have given the project to the Research team, and it is good to see them excited and enthusiastic for a change.

Giving them this project has probably saved them from redundancy.

At lunchtime I walked to the lakeside cafe, compacted snow underfoot. The wide shallow lake was frozen. A smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel and an almond pastry, with a cup of coffee.

In the afternoon a long meeting with Paul Preston (manages the Innovative Development team) about his section of the Marketing Plan. He agreed with all my proposals, but not without an excessive amount of talking. I am unsure whether Paul Preston is a sincere person or not.

At the end of the working day a talk with Felix S (wooden, haltering, very old for 45) about evaluation measures for the marketing team. He is in charge of evaluation for every section of the NGO. He told me (privately) that evaluation means whatever you want it to mean - I interpreted this as a friendly hint that he would support my work.

Wednesday

Another day spent attending an "informal" meeting of the NGO's "stakeholders". I am the only person from the NGO to attend these meetings, which are not minuted. When I return to the office I have to give a verbal report to Tom D and to the NGO's CEO Alec Pressberg.

Anyway, a long drive into the Midlands to the impersonal luxury of a big hotel. In one of the meeting rooms (silent, plush, beige-coloured) the Steering Committee gave their various reports. Despite the prohibition against taking minutes I had to make notes otherwise I would not have remembered everything.

I caused a stir when I announced that the NGO was going ahead with the Directory project, funding it directly ourselves.

After the meeting lunch was served in the wide corridor outside. Looking to the right I could see the remains of other lunches, presumably left by other meetings taking place in the hotel. Not for the first time I felt how insubstantial everything was, and also how bland (bland people, bland hotel, bland food etc).

Thursday

Every few weeks Tom D holds a review meeting of all the departments under his control (Marketing, the Research team, and Statistics & Evaluation). I met several of the Research team for the first time, as normally they work from home. Half-way through the meeting Carmel (Special Projects launch) called me out to reveal that the celebrity booked for her launch had just cancelled.

In the afternoon I went to an awards ceremony held at a university college. The Baroness giving the awards launched into an attack on the government. The food was very good.

In the afternoon a meeting with Ryan M who manages the Operational Team (aged about 30, hyper-active, swears a lot). He has been one of the most difficult people for me to liaise with, but I cannot ignore him as his department is so important. I had prepared a draft of his section of the Marketing Plan and attempted to talk it through with him. He was petulant and unco-operative, and dismissed my proposals without suggesting any alternatives. Normally I would walk away from such an unpromising situation, but I do not have any other choice but to try to get Ryan M to contribute to the Marketing Plan. So I sat there for an hour being pleasant and polite and trying to get agreement.

Later, when I was walking behind one of the partitions in the Reception area, I heard Ryan M loudly denouncing the Marketing Plan to Alan Pressberg.

At 5 o'clock, just as I was preparing to go home, Yasmin S (HR manager) flopped into the desk opposite me and told me how she hated making herself unpopular with her subordinates. This confession from such a strong young woman surprised me. I told her it was not possible to be friends with people you have to manage.

Friday

The offices were strangely quiet when I arrived this morning, many people taking the day off because of the bad weather warnings (there is also a tradition of civil service laziness, which the NGO has adopted, that means very little gets done on a Friday).

News that the Special Projects launch has been suspended because of funding difficulties (Carmel was cynical about this: "It's all a game really, no-one here takes work seriously").

To my amazement all the sections of the Marketing Plan have been signed off by department managers, including Ryan M. I discussed the Plan with Tom D ("they have either accepted the Plan because they havn't read it, because they havn't understood it, or because they are going to launch a counter-attack at the Board Weekend"). Finally finishing this Plan is a great relief for me.