What is my Vision?
What am I trying to achieve? Ultimately, I want to enable everyone to have a happier, healthier and more rewarding work life. I also focus on improving ways of working for neurominorities, those of us who think differently from the majority (e.g. people who are autistic, ADHD, dyslexic).
My Healthy Working Life crowdfunding video runs to 6 minutes - that's longer than average. This is because of the broad scope of the problems I am addressing and the relatively complex nature of the solution. If the solution was obvious, both easy to understand and to implement, then the vast majority of people would already be enthusiastic about their jobs and have a great personal / work life balance. The video also covers my reasons for seeking funding at this point.
The Journey so far
Freshly qualified as a computer scientist, I started my first job in 1987, over 35 years ago! To be honest, I probably couldn't wish for a better start to a career - I'd go as far as saying that it was fun. In 1990, there was a noticeable change in ways of working - unfortunately, not for the better.
Over time, I observed more and more aspects of working that didn't seem to make sense. People were prevented from doing their jobs effectively and anyone who pointed out that there may be a problem or proposed a different approach were criticised for being negative or causing unnecessary friction - people were meant to just get on and do their jobs as they were told. Being highly sociable, I talked to many people across many organisations and started to realise that there were common patterns in the observed dysfunction.
In the late 1990's, I decided to try and do something to make the world of work a better place. Twenty-five years later, I have successfully defined a system that actually tackles the observed issues in a pragmatic manner, covering all types of organisation, business sector and role. A recognition of the importance of human diversity is also at the heart of my approach. For those of you who wish to learn more about my background and the evolution of my approach, please see my About page.
In January 2023, I launched the Healthy Working Life website. This is a critical milestone, as I now have my own, independent platform that I can use to publish 'uncompromised' content that will make a real difference to how we work and our working environment.
Why I'm Seeking Funding
So, I have developed a system to help improve the workplace, with plenty of 'raw' data and models built up over a period of 25 years. I also have the platform to publish the content and resources derived from this work.
I am now entering the core "product development" phase, in which I steadily generate the training courses and member-only content that will enable the Healthy Working Life social enterprise to be self-sustaining.
Q2 2023 (April to June) maps to the 'start-up' phase for this initiative, during which I will create sufficient member-only content and course material to allow me to enable the membership subscription capability on the website and to launch the beta version of the first online training course. I have set the duration of this crowdfunding project to 6 weeks. This represents a mid-way checkpoint to verify progress, following which I intend to launch another 6-week crowdfunding project to cover the remaining period of this project phase.
The donated funds (subject to crowdfunder platform / transaction fees) will cover the remaining website development and operating costs, as well as basic living expenses, allowing me to focus on content creation. The funding will also help support collaborative projects with other organisations that are focusing on better support for neurodiversity in the workplace.
In exchange for your pledge, you will receive a period of 'supporter' membership as a reward. The more you donate, the longer the period of membership. Membership gains you access to detailed, actionable insights on healthy working practices and on pragmatic steps to facilitate true neurodiversity in the workplace. It also gives you the opportunity to provide valuable early feedback on the evolving content - effectively a beta access programme. Larger donations will be recognised in a new sponsor area on the home page of the website.
My vision is of a world with healthier, more sustainable ways of working for everyone. Your donations will help to make this a reality.