Governance and Government....a good thing?

We'll do the easily digestable one first... Governance is a good thing and now contains less calories than motherhood and apple pie, I was trained in it this week.

I'm just a simple country lad and frankly a big fan of horse or what you may know of as common sense, for litigious reasons you need to have proof that you are leading your organisation properly. In life it is best to stay on the moral high ground, indeed it would be fair to say nobody ever drowned on the moral highground. Now the link to Government comes from my attendance at the Government Office North East stakeholders day....for a definition read on!

Stakeholders - some say, are defined as those people who can mess it up for you, so you are incentivised to look after them and make sure they understand where you are coming from!

Now Government Office North East is where top down meets bottom up.....pressure exists in this fulcrum position and probably the key role is one of translating what the government wants for the region in the region, as well as trying to get a feel for what the regional community of communities is looking for and would welcome - no problems there then! In pressurised situations I take solice from the truism that the only difference between coal and diamonds is the level of pressure it takes to produce them!

Can I complement the Government Office staff for the event...I think it is an important annual opportunity and would benefit from the presence of more private sector companies on whom the regional economy depends. I also had the chance, and took it, to have a quick drugs test in the crime and disorder area....having never taken any illegal drugs I was not surprised to have a negative result....if nothing else it raised my families collective eyebrows when they asked what sort of day I'd had at my 'meeting'.

Having a regional minister leading the day was progress and as Nick Brown opened my business park in 1999 as the Minister of State for Agriculture it is reassuring for me that he understands many of the key rural issues.

My training on Governance was by Groundworks - as I am a co-option on the Northumberland board; I thank them for allowing me to comfront my trustee responsibilities.

Ian

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