In this week’s Weeknote, I went with this template: 3 things that happened this week. Describe what happened and why it was important.
1. I realized that we might have other parallels and models for seamless settlement, within the sector
I was asked to help connect post-arrival orgs with pre-arrival orgs to discuss how a more seamless settlement experience might create better client outcomes compared to the current model of dedicated pre-arrival and post-arrival services. While I previously had been looking outside the sector for models, I’m realizing there are some within the sector.
In this case, I was looking at OCISO in Ottawa, which is already connected to pre-arrival mentoring with 2 existing pre-arrival providers. I kind of knew that, but then I saw that they are connected with Greater Halifax Partnership’s Connector program.
Like the pre-arrival service network which has 10 agencies, the National Connector Community has 35 agencies across Canada replicating the same model. It’s a national replication project.
I’m wondering if they might be able to provide some interesting insights about the differences between how the national pre-arrival and national mentorship/Connector programs and networks work and what could be learned to improve both!
I don’t know the internal workings of the Connector program, but I do know how it all started in Halifax, and that it is a great model that has grown and evolved over the years. It might be interesting to explore how similar or different it is from pre-arrival.
2. Someone asked me to share how I find, source, collect, curate, and share information
I realized I haven’t actually changed my strategic approach in over 17 years. Which is both a testament to the people I’ve learned from, as well as how learnable this is for anyone. Sources and tools, yes. But not the overall approach I continue to use today. I thought I’d share what I wrote back. After I shared my email, I realized it was a good enough blog post.
So I started to post it.
Then I thought about how I might augment it to bring it more up to date. In particular, to acknowledge newer people in my network who I’ve continued to learn from and whose approaches and models have influenced and improved my work.
Then I realized I already had been writing and talking about them!
So I’m adding those articles to my post to create a bit of a curated article about how I do what I do.
Feels good. Here’s the final post.
3. I stopped feeling imposter syndrome for a while!
This was a good week for me to feel like I know my stuff!
I generally feel fairly confident and have written about how I’m figuring out more and more what I think I’m good at and where I want to focus my work. But I work in such an interesting and innovative area that it feels hard to keep up, know enough, and be able to share it in useful ways with my sector.
This week was a week of reinforcing things I’m good at and feel good at. So instead of feeling imposter syndrome, I’m feeling good about my place in the sector. A couple of conversations, summarizing a workshop that went really well, and discussing some potential work with an existing client, all helped me see where I can plug into sector information and service flows and add value.
Add value.
I know that’s a buzzphrase. But it’s what I think I can do well. Bring what I’m learning that others need to know about to them in ways that make sense to them. That’s my Knowledge Mobilization ethos. And this week I had a bunch of different interactions where I was useful. Helpful. But also learned from those I spoke with.
I work on my own. I like that. But this week reminded me to keep setting up calls with peers and colleagues to just check in, share, and learn from each other. Two conversations this week are already leading to more. Because we both realized the value of our interaction and that we had a lot more to say and discuss than we had time for in this week’s meetings.
It’s only Thursday, but it’s been a good week.