I have quickly realised that as well as planning and carrying out my specific AE this year, I have to treat my new job as an AE in itself as well. I have been given a pretty free rein to develop the role in the way that I see fit, so I am currently evaluating the current situation; reading relevant reports, comparing with other departmnets and organisations, thinking about the aims of the job role as written in the JD and what my aims as the post holder with some experience and opinions are. When I have completed all of this, I will then be able to form a plan of action, start trying out my first actions and see where it all leads me.
On reflection, it seems amazing to me that a reflective AE style approach was pretty much my immediate response to my "where do I start" question, bearing in mind a year or so ago I didn't even know what it meant! Even if I had been aware of AE back then, I wouldn't have had the confidence in my abilities to make such decisions and to try things out and hopefully demonstrate what can be learned from carrying them out, even if they fail. If I do fail, I will be able to document and justify my approach and it will be a valid failiure (if that makes sense) as it will lead me on to a better more appropriate approach in the future.
What this new job, and my approach so far is also showing me, is the importance of the groundwork; the thorough evaluation of the status quo before taking any action. Otherwise, I will be making ill informed guesses at what might be good, what might work, based on nothing more than a vague idea. Although it is valid to fail and not achieve what you actually set out to achieve, it is important to start off with a detailed understanding of all of the relevant factors that may have an influence,when deciding what actions to take, so that you can make an informed plan. This will result in relevant learning, whatever the outcome of the process. Something to keep in mind when writing my proposal over the weekend.