We had a village conference on the Organogram here at Newton Dee a few months ago. The five of us (Katy, Emma, Euan, Nora, and Marjan as well as Terhi Geider and Kristine Milleres) were in a School of Learning group where we worked on drawing an Organogram. The Organogram is a diagram that shows how we make decisions at Newton Dee. In the version we created, you can see the mandated working groups in the centre, each connected to the management group by a representative. The Newton Dee Meeting, the Responsibility Group, and the Newton Dee Council surround the mandated working groups in concentric circles, and the Guiding Vision Statement acts as a leading star above the entire organisation. 

During our School of Learning meetings, we talked and we did lots of drawing. We looked at the pictures we drew together in the village conference on the Organogram. We then drew symbols to represent the mandated working groups. We used our imagination to think about the groups and each of us drew a few symbols. For example, Katy drew the symbols for the neighbourhood and the finance group. She thought it was fantastic to be in the School of Learning Organogram Group. Euan drew the symbols for the land, building, and workplace. Euan thought it was good, drawing the trees. Emma drew the symbol for the Newton Dee Meeting Preparation group, which is a group of chairs. She enjoyed the School of Learning because she thought it was really great talking about the mandated groups and how they’re connected together, a bit like a big family. She got to see in a wider picture what we aim to do in Newton Dee. Terhi drew the symbol for health and safety, Nora drew the symbol for Ways to Quality, and Kristine drew the symbol of two hands shaking for Human Resources. 

Nora gave a presentation on the Organogram to the Ways to Quality group and asked for feedback, and brought their ideas back to our School of Learning Group. We will continue to work on the Organogram during this years’ Ways to Quality audit. We welcome feedback about the Organogram - please talk to one of us if you have ideas about it!