Thanks for the comments yesterday about admin. It seems that broadly speaking my thesis that youth workers are not natural administrators was correct. The good advice was appreciated as were the links, it does seem however that the tri-une neccessities for Youth work admin are the In tray, the shredder and the bin!
It actually looks quite an impressive system until you realise that the In tray is just a holding point before stuff makes the complex transition from tray to shredder to bin, or the simpler 'tray to bin' manouvre. I also note that there is a vast swathe of stuff that never even touches the In Tray!!!!!! I'll not suggest any organisations or style of literature that might be in this catergory ;-)
Further to my thesis I reckon that this is because youthwork values are applied to paperwork ...
Voluntary participation = I don't have to read that stuff
Informal education = I'll absorb the information through process not by reading and filing
Relational Approach = If its important enough, someone will tell me about it
Empowerment = I'm giving people the opportunity to take responsibility by having to find new ways of getting information to/from me
ht for above picture to amazing time management secrets via Len.
In an effort to be an example of good stewardship - I replace the bin with "the recycling box" then I feel good about not reading all the gumf that appears on my desk!
I figure that if it's that important someone will mention it to me again at some point!