What I’ve been doing
It’s been a week that started with face to face time with the rest of the team at our monthly meetup. As well as uncovering what each of us did to first make some money we worked through progressing some of our projects and fundraising efforts, where that face to face focus time really adds value. As the summer holidays approach there’s lots of leave booked across the team so it was also nice to just all be in the same space together which will happen a bit less for a bit.
Most of my time has been supporting logistics around our exciting event, “Who should Labour listen to on AI, tech and public services?” coming up (free, online, one hour) on Tuesday 25 June. It has been wonderful seeing how rapidly that was pulled together by Adam and others in the team, and now how many people are registering - wanting to attend. (If hustings are more your thing then check out this which CONNECTED BY DATA has been involved in too).
We had our final end of year accounts received so I’ve been dealing with some of the outstanding tasks we’ve had waiting for those. Amongst those is a due diligence check with Charities Aid Foundation (America). They’re checking us on behalf of another US based Foundation that we’re hoping will give us some funding, but their process will also open other opportunities too which is exciting.
I unexpectedly had to host the Data and AI Civil Society Network meeting this week. It was an interesting test for me as I have no concerns around hosting a meeting but knew I would be able to contribute very little in terms of meaningful content. The group were kind though and I don’t think I put anyone off coming again. I did have renewed appreciation for Gavin’s ability to keep track of who had introduced themselves though!
What I need to take care of
I made progress this week on operationalising fundraising and created an action tracker. I’ve got more work to do there and also to then get focus and effort on some of the actions. It’s coming together, just slower that it should.
Next week is the closing date for the Public Voices in AI People’s Advisory Panel and so I’ll be supporting the selection and onboarding for that.
It’s also payroll week and I’m picking up the project management of another of our projects so need to get stuck in and absorbed in that.
What I’ve been inspired or challenged or moved by
I used to work in the criminal justice system and whilst in various roles I was an active part of the Gay Police Association (the staff support group for LGBTQ+ members of the “policing family”). Part of that involvement included being involved in a lot of different ways in a lot of equality, diversity and inclusion training. I’ve seen all manner of delivery including some which aren’t worth anyone’s time and some that felt really impactful at the time. But we all know that a truly inclusive approach is evidently not present across all policing so something isn’t working (those trainings I sat through were 15-20 years ago and the dial hasn’t substantially moved).
This is preamble to a place I find myself in now where I am an associate of Senseia - an organisation that takes a very different approach to building inclusive leadership (I’m working with them in the policing sector). It’s a fascinating thing to be part of - a lot of the time I really struggle with the content because it is so different to anything I’ve experienced before (it is based on neuroscience tools) and I’m still not entirely sure it is going to work - but…but…it feels like it has the potential to be the revolution policing needs (and they’re expanding into the Fire Service at the moment which I imagine will equally benefit). Recently the co-founders of Senesia spoke to the Police Federation about what we’re doing (and two Chief Constables that have engaged our services share their experiences of it to) and there’s a YouTube of that input here.
What I’ve been reading
I never buy new books but I’m so excited about @Susie__Chan’s I even pre-ordered it! She’s such an impressive person and it is already proving an inspiring read. (One of my running highlights was getting to run 5K with her for #PeoplePowerRun in 2017 …I’m sure that made it into the book … not!)