Back at work

I had a lot of time left at the end of my leave year, so I’ve been out of the office for what seems like ages. Not posting either. Back now. Happy New Year to you all.

It was a close run thing, but the Trust’s poll for Green Father Christmas or Red Santa Clause was won by the Greenites our green FC at Standen was very well recieved, so I think we’ll be kitting out more of the region’s Father Christmases with green togs for next year.

Today, apart from doing a bit of administration for my team’s Personal Development Reviews,  I’m also looking at: our final brief for a pilot of updated tills; commenting on a partnership idea between one of our properties and a local mental health charity; trying to fix a meeting with Go Ape, t talk about the possibilities of future partnerships.

I’ve also had a look at a prototype site our central web-team have created, which shows how we might share user generated content, to create a far more personal and interactive interpretation of some of our places. It’s a bit clunky in this early stage, and uses the blog aesthetic, which somehow isn’t yet working for me in this context, but I’ll watch with interest as it develops.

We won! We won!

I mentioned before that we were shortlisted for a JODI award. Well I’m sitting in the ceremony now having just watched Heather, our Head of Access, and Steve go up on stage to collect the award.

I’m filled with pride, because I feel the virtual tours, whilst the work of many brilliant people, are my baby. And that feeling is not diminished by the example they showed on the ceremony being the one for the Homewood, which is the one I commissioned and which formed the basis if the “approved” tours now flowering in properties across the Trust.

Green Father Christmas, the debate begins

My post below quickly attracted a disapproving comment, and I’m happy to hear more opinions, but don’t just tell me. Our central press team are launching a national debate about whether Father Christmas should be red or green. We argue that for four hundred years Father Christmas, in the UK at least, has worn a range of different natural colours including green, and although he cropped up in red in the late Victorian era it wasn’t until the twentieth century that this became his dominant colour. He permanently adopted the bright red outfit that we all know and love after a 1930s advertising campaign for Coca Cola. Since then it has come to dominate grottos around the world. But whatever your opinion of our bid to bring today’s Christmas experience closer to its roots, have your say or if you are a member of Facebook why not join the green Santa group?

Father Christmas pays a visit

While at the National Maritime Museum, I got this photo from Michelle who was at Standen to meet Father Christmas. He paid a flying visit in an old Green gown of his, which I and many others think is particularly appropriate for his National Trust visits.

But not everybody.

In these last few months of the financial year, we need to work hard to attract visitors to our properties, against a public perception that the National Trust is closed for winter. One wheeze that our central office came up with was to turn all our Father Christmas’s green and make a big media splash with it. It’s not a new idea of course, but with the National Trust doing it, with FCs all across England and Wales, and with our reputation for being Guardians of the country’s heritage, I think it’s worth a column inch or two. I and my marketing team supported the idea, as did my colleagues in Devon and Cornwall, but most other regions turned it down.

Of course, if it’s not the whole Trust, or at least the majority, doing it then we loose the press impact. And without nationwide support, one by one our properties dropped out. All except Standen. But Standen are so excited, it feels so right for the Arts and Crafts house, and they were over the moon yesterday with the costume, which my fundraising coordinator made in her own time over the weekend (thank you very much, Lesley!).

Anyway, it looks lovely, and here’s a sneak preview.

On top of the world.

I’m taking a group of visitor services managers to Greenwich, to see how they do things at the National Maritime Museum, and especially, the Royal Observatory, where my predecessor has become Director. I’m early, so I’m sitting here enjoying the view. And what a view.

Volunteer conference

Today I’ve been at the first Volunteer conference of the year. The Trust are running three, this one in Elstree, one in Sheffield and one at central office: Heelis in Swindon.

It went really well. Which was a pleasant surprise. I wan’t sure how interested our volunteers would be in the Trust as a whole, as many volunteers tell me they volunteer for the places they help look after, not the organisation. And indeed we didn’t get as many volunteers as we originally hoped for signing up to come to the conference. But that turned out for the best, the 130 (approx) who came all had a good time, all had a chance to say their piece, and all contributed to the workshops and activities. More might have been a little unwieldy.

Fiona Reynolds was there and people really seemed to appreciate the chance to talk to her, face to face. I made good contacts with a number of volunteers who wanted to try new things, an internet forum for newsletter editors for example. And I also made contact with a supporters’ association in Belgium, who’d like to come under the wing of a region, so of course I offered them space in the South East’s nest.

All in all, a very good day, apart from getting on the wrong train with the Director General…

The invasion of the iPhones

A little footnote to the conference blogs. I saw a good number of colleagues using their iPhones, among the NT supplied Nokias and Blackberries. When I found one wasn’t using his for his Trust calendar and email. I showed him how. I should have checked with all the other owners, to make sure they also knew how. We want a groundswell of popular iPhone use to make sure that our IT department don’t turn off the the OWA function that pushes us our email and diaries!

While I was writing this post, I was interupped by our head of e-engagement. We talk about all sorts of stuff, but I ended up briefing a new colleague if his on how to use her iPhone for exchange access. The march continues!

A local National Trust

Fiona Reynolds speaks this morning about the curious dichotomy that is the strength, a local treasure looked after by a National Organisation. Last night after dinner Ellen MacArthur spoke about sustainability. And Fiona today talks about how for an organisation like he, sustainability is the only option. She talks about how we should use renewable resources.

She reminds us that some years ago (when I started) the big issue was “20% net gain”, which was the need to make a “profit” or operating contribution of 20% of turnover. She wonders whether now, we should have a carbon net gain. Part of the way to to that might be to become even more local.

A vision for the future

Simon Murray is our Director of Operations. He’s talking now about putting properties at the heart of everything we do, and strengthing the operational line, that is to say the cline from the properties themeselvestjrough the property managers, area managers, regional directors, and Simon himself, to Fiona Reynolds, the Director General.

He thinks the functions (Enterprises, Conservation, my own department) feel accountable for the delivery on the ground. But, he reminds us, they are not. Yet property managers still feel they are being made to deliver everyone else’s objectives.

If stretching targets (for example 75% visitors find their visit very enjoyable, rather than 55%) are required they will want, need, demand, functional advice.

If you delegate power to properties, you need to reduce all the guidelines to an absolute minimum.

He talks if the property manager coming into a Dragon’s Den of functional advisors. S/he comes with with their ideas if how to support the strategy, and seeks the function’s support. If the plans are good enough the he gets guaranteed funding for three years (or whatever) and then is let off the leash.

He also says there are too many projects, not enough little and often funding for continual improvement.

Sounds good, it does to me, and it’s the way I’ve been thinking since the talk about General Managers started. I’m glad, because it suggests I’ve been moving my own team in the right direction.

There’s a challenge, discussed afterwards, about how properties might be rewarded for acheiving those stretching targets. And how complicated must that reward structure be, when four out of five places don’t generate a surplus? If it is too complicated it becomes another layer of burocracy.

One property manager asks what happens to their head of department, for example Visitor Services Managers at properties. Ideally the General Managers should have the freedom to spend their wages budget where it suits the property best. But there is also of course the current economic climate to consider.

I think another question sums it up: as we go forward we’ll be making it up as we go along.

Leadership Conference

Arrived late for the conference, so we listened to the end of Fiona’s speech before our new Chairman, Simon Jenkins, got up to speak.

Simon started by talking about why he took the job. And right now he’s making us feel good by comparing us favourably to English Heritage. Almost all things to almost all men and women, he says, balancing the high art with the working farm. He senses moving from an era of protecting and preserving places for the nation, to one where we are almst handing the places over to the nation, engaging people in the work so much that we should almost put places at risk.

Now his knocking us off our pedestals, telling us that we present our houses to art historians, while people actually want to know what it’s like to live in the house. We should treat our houses like we treat our industrial heritage. Putting the houses to work: “if it’s a dining room, people should eat in it”.

He says we shouln’t shy away from controversy, but we should be carefull. We should respect the diverse views of our members, embrace those diverse views, not alienate the members that hold them.

His last point is about beaurocracy, and quotes Adam Nicholson saying “is the Trust slow because it’s big, or big because it’s slow?” He is shocked by the quality of the language in internal papers, too full of the jargon of large organizations.

He is followed by Peter Nixon. He onteiduces the theme of the conference, Conservation. He talks about it being the the carefull managementnif change, and highlights the uncertainty of the current times. He would like all staff to feel that conservation us their objective, not just the remit if the conservation department.

He mentions the controversy over Erddig, and talks about the lessons learned from that controversy. Especially, not assuming that if every who comes to meetings agrees, that everyone in the community also agrees.

He goes on to talk about how conservation (and other) advisors need to be supportive, to be realistic, to be positive and to be aware that the advice they give will have an impact beyond the specific area they are looking at, and beyond the properties too.

Interestingly he says it’s no longer acceptable that when there’s a irreconsillable conflict between access and and conservation, then conservation will prevail. Instead, he says, the irreconsillable has to be reconcilled.