My colleague Kimberley Goulden, BSF Project assistant in our Building Schools for the Future team sent me this e-mail after her induction session...

"Chris, I was at the corporate induction day yesterday and Eamonn mentioned that you love to receive idea's for new ways of working. I have been here since April and in that time I have heard several people complain that the teams within Education Leeds don't communicate with each other and often schools are invited to conflicting events. I have raised this previously and it has been passed on to the communications team, however I feel that a wider approach needs to be taken and each team should be taking responsibility to ensure any event they arrange is passed through to the events calendar. I have a few idea's how this problem can be overcome and I think from a business perspective we need to give a good consistent approach from all teams to all of our colleagues and partners. If you think this is an issue, maybe I have experienced a blip in an otherwise well working company, I'd be happy to work with the appropriate team to resolve this. Kind regards, Kim.
P.S Dirk's presentation to the group yesterday was very well received - when everyone summarised their favourite part of the day, most people said it was Dirk's presence and enthusiasm."

I think Kim has picked up on something that we need to work on here at Education Leeds. There is so much going on and so many new initiatives that we sometimes forget about the schools seeing all this activity as unconnected and lacking understanding of the complex nature of their work. Is anyone else keen to help Kim and the communications team improve this aspect of our work for next year?
Chris