I first managed a children's project back in 1984. Well, I say manage, but it was more co-operative than that. Management was a dirty word in children's play in those days. How could you be hierarchical and still do parachute games where there was no winner? Our structure tended to work though, and there was a mutual respect between us all. And whatever else happened, I always made sure that I did lots of face-to-face work with the children.
Times move on. I have been working for several months now as manager of a new children's service. But it's not the same kind of management as of 20 years ago. The world has changed. We now have legislation and frameworks and a whole gamut of bureaucratic tools by which we can measure whether our service is hitting the mark or not. And that's fine. Hopefully it means that we are more accountable than in the old days.
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