Welcome to my bulletin! My name is Mike Goodwin. I am the Senior Management Officer (SMO), Entry Clearance Manager (ECM) and Consul at the Embassy. I arrived in Budapest with my wife Kerry and our two daughters in 2004. However, this is not my first posting to Budapest - I was posted here to do visa work for about six months back in 1983 (a 'summer swallow' as we used to be called) - I suspect before some of my present colleagues were even born! Plenty has changed both in Budapest and at the Embassy since my first stint here. And the changes continue. My job is very much about helping to implement locally the organisation's change initiatives.

 

One of the Embassy's big changes/achievements was receiving Investor in People accreditation for the first time back in 2005. This was a major success achieved through a lot of hard work carried out by colleagues throughout the Embassy - business planning, induction, appraisal, communications and learning and development were all reviewed in the run up to assessment and lasting improvements made to the various processes. But since accreditation we have not rested on our laurels - we have worked on continuous improvement e.g. introducing a quality control board to maintain appraisal standards and introducing performance related pay. I have chaired quarterly meetings of an Iip continuation team and more recently we have widened the team's remit and re-branded the group - the Human Resources Policy Team. Over recent months, the team has considered a variety of HR issues from sick leave through to home working. Diversity is one particular theme near the top of the team's current agenda - in my role as our newly appointed Embassy Diversity Champion I helped put together a Diversity Action Plan covering a range of issues from recruitment through to training. I sense some of the diversity concepts are a tad alien to some colleagues but I think we are making progress.

 

Another big change to 'hit' the Embassy in recent years was the introduction of an Oracle based finance and procurement system called Prism (some wag colleagues in the early days referred to working it as being a bit like being in 'prison' - they may have had a point!). The transition here from cash to resource accounting was not easy and we suffered casualties amongst our accounts staff along the way. But we got there in the end by getting the right people in to work the system, and win over the hearts and minds of sceptical colleagues through presentations, additional training and the introduction of a Prism Core Users team. The result has been a success - the system has undoubtedly improved our financial management, budgeting, and buying processes, and is now providing more meaningful real time management information both for us here in Budapest and colleagues back in the UK. We pride ourselves in Budapest on being near the top of the organisation's global Prism Performance Indicators table. 

 

The next big changes on the management related horizon are the arrival of a new IT system (as a result perhaps more regional/remote working) and the outsourcing of some administrative staff under the terms of a new facilities management contract. But change is not just confined to the management side of my work. On the visa side, Budapest will shortly be part of a Warsaw centred hub and spoke operation that will see me lose my ECM hat. However, I will carry on as Consul. Work on the consular side here not only includes the routine issuing of passports and notarial work, but also includes ad hoc issues such as updating travel advice, carrying out emergency exercises and providing assistance for British visitors including supporters from visiting football teams. In my time, we have had two such visits - one by Millwall and the other by Manchester United - in the former case not without its problems!

 

My job continues to provide plenty of challenges, lots of variety, and rarely a dull moment. But unfortunately it will shortly come to an end and a return to London looms. I shall be sad to leave both the Embassy and Budapest, but such is the life of a diplomat. Budapest is a great city with lovely people - the four years have simply flown by!

Mike Goodwin

Senior Management Officer
9 May 2008