Technology & Time

Occasionally my role takes me overnight to some exotic locations – yesterday it was Birmingham, jewel of the West Midlands. Stayed in a recently opened hotel, which had decided to go as high-tech as possible. The first obstacle to overcome is check-in, I must of appeared bemused in search of a reception desk, when I was kindly and gently informed by a member of staff that, basically, that front desks are practically luddite and they had a new system of self-generated check-in. The impeccable staff member took me through the simplified process that promptly failed to work – twice. It became quickly apparent that all the hotel team must had been on a recent and comprehensive ‘customer service’ course and over-attentiveness was the name of the game. After finally overcoming check-in I asked where the lift was, instead of directing me I am accompanied to the lift which was about 30 feet away, I then receive more help when the staff member pressed the button to call the lift. I was glad that I was left alone to move myself into the lift and managed to negotiate pressing Button 4 all on my own, which filled me with some sense of pride and achievement.

Following a meeting with one of our funders, there was a half an hour to explore Birmingham’s premier shopping arcade – the Bullring – a building that is significantly more impressive on the outside than in. Popping into Selfridges I saw two concessions of note, firstly Primark proudly stood in the midst of its designer competitors and secondly a body piercing / tattoo studio – all very convenient for the busy man and woman about town.

The meeting time allowed us to have a chance to chat through plans we have at Local Solutions for a consultation event in September to consider our work in Intense Mentoring. This project supports young people who are hardest to engage and have been within the temporary homeless system for a significant amount of time. Intense mentoring supports these individuals and is having a transformational effect. Our consultation will hopefully be bringing together workers, academics and funders to assess the work we have done so far and see whether this model could be replicated elsewhere.

On the train back, a guy from one of the big banks, sits adjacent. He spends the 81 minutes yapping on his phone to, from what I can gather, anyone in any office within the company to ‘touch base’ and discuss vague future plans. The art of sitting and just staring out of the window is dying, nearly dead.