I work with volunteers on a day to day basis and with a small, dedicated team of people. Saying thank you and showing appreciation is something that is important to me personally and professionally, both on an individual basis and in my capacity as a leader and on behalf of my organisation. Saying thank you and expressing how much value the contribution of an individual or a group of people has is really hard to…
Category: leadership
Recently I contributed to a conversation around radical openness as part of the OLC’s Ideate online events, together with Robin DeRosa, Gerry Hanley, Leigh Graves Wolf and Rajiv Jhangiani. I was very glad to be invited and really enjoyed taking part. The session, described as a ‘community salon’ was described in the programme as an “opportunity for a group of thought leaders to engage participants in rich discussions around a broad topic intersecting with their…
It’s been a few tough weeks and there is more of this ahead. The longer it lasts, the more I read about how we are all finding this harder than expected. Fellow CEO David Hughes recently wrote on Coronavirus: ‘This is more difficult than I expected’ in the TES and the post resonated with me and many others. As a CEO, I am in a fortunate position in this crisis. I am not new in…
A friend of mine wrote to me today and talked about how working from home was going, something along the lines of endless Zoom meetings, and lots of good moments, but also low moments, missing having colleagues around to ask something or bounce ideas off. Many people I know are feeling that way, and in addition many are also juggling working in provisional set ups (sofas are not necessarily comfortable 6 hours into a long…
I have blogged about every OER Conference I have been to, and this year’s was a very special one. So I want to try and continue the tradition, but what can I say about the cancelled conference that happened online with 1100+ people? There’s nothing ‘business as usual’ about today, as a virtual team under lockdown works with volunteers from around the world to deliver a free online conference for 900+ people – give a…
I loved seeing tweets this week of signs and posters saying ‘daddy’s in a Skype call :)’ or ‘don’t come in – I’m in a meeting’… it gave expression to how much worlds are colliding just now. Whether you are a seasoned home worker or a newly (crisis) minted one, no one has experience of working from home during a global pandemic during lock down, without childcare and alongside every member of their household, pets…
For the past two years I’ve been blogging about our approach to leading a virtual, fully distributed team for ALT, the Association for Learning Technology. Together with my colleague Martin Hawksey I have charted our journey in podcasts and blog posts. Your own ‘journey’ may be only a few hours, a day or a week, probably not by choice and at a time of global emergency. So here are the tips & tricks I wish…
Be warned. This is a blog post about strategy… which is not the most exciting of topics (usually). I was trying to find a good title for this post and all the ideas I had sounded awful: What a difference good governance makes… The privilege of being a CEO The power of really listening Making stuff happen… Anyway. If you are still reading this then I am grateful as I really want to share some…
This month, February 2020, is the third time I volunteer to curate the @femEdTech Twitter account. If you haven’t come across it before, I encourage you to: check out @FemEdTech on Twitter and to follow the #FemEdTech hashtag; find out how volunteers work together to curate this account and support this growing network; visit the FemEdTech Open Space and learn more about what’s going on including the FemEdTech Quilt of Social Justice project. When I…
Now, an ‘I love me’ wall is something Jim Groom introduced me to, ‘basically a space dedicated to all the stuff you’ve done..’. And I’ve come to embrace that concept wholeheartedly in my work space at home. Home working has never looked so stimulating and that’s a major plus on days when the heating is broken, the cat has been sick on the carpet and the doorbell rings with yet another delivery for next door. …