Earlier posts outlined some of the features of a flourishing organisation, and ways that agencies may need to think differently if they are to make progress. These arose from thinking about cities. They can equally be used as a framework for reflecting on any set of activities – and here are being used to assess where my own work (captured on this website) might be going.
This has highlighted some of the things that I will need to emphasise more over the next three years. These include:
- Being able to clearly articulate why I wish to occupy myself in this way; the purposes behind what is being done; with sufficient presence confidence/ self-determination whilst still being tentative/ modest.
- Responding to current concerns and interests without slipping into populist reactionism; still being at least a little bit different in what is being undertaken; having more challenge to the aspirations, pushing myself in what I am comfortable doing.
- Reflecting on what is being done, without endless internal activity that is of little value to anyone else
- Being more active in engaging with others (authentically rather than simply clocking up more and more links/ likes/ followings); countering it being a solitary undertaking; looking for more things that might require collaboration with others.
- Actively promoting content/writing, and asserting myself as author, without unnecessarily heavy self-promotion
- Maintaining an approach that is based on puzzling, wondering, being curious for its own sake; as well as aiming to produce stuff that could be of value/use to others.
- Covering costs without being a money-driven set of activities; with most things being freely available to anyone; things done voluntarily.
That’s it: I have my list of commitments that I have already signed-up to, and this sense of next-step directions to follow. Time to get on with it all.
