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Category: leadership

Leading a virtual team: mental wellbeing for virtual teams

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week and here in the UK restrictions are lifting and things are getting a lit bit easier and from next week, the slow return to offices and campuses is entering a new phase. Whilst the weather is still a bit mixed we are slowly moving into a brighter time of year. In this month’s post, we are checking in with mental wellbeing for virtual teams. We are NOT going back Over…

April ’21 (WE DID IT AGAIN)

In personal news Lots happened in April and I am glad to start this month’s post on a personal note, as I was able to get my first vaccine early in the month: Grateful to have received my vaccine today 🌈🙏 pic.twitter.com/9LKkoRro9k — Dr Maren Deepwell (@MarenDeepwell) April 10, 2021 This was a big moment for me and I am deeply grateful to the NHS here in Wales for a super professional and easy process…

Leading a virtual team: do my ‘workers’ have the right to disconnect?

Ministers urged to give UK home-workers a ‘right to disconnect’ https://t.co/77NRGHxEZY — Dr Maren Deepwell (@MarenDeepwell) April 13, 2021 “Ministers urged to give UK home-workers a ‘right to disconnect’ is a headline that grabs my attention as the CEO of a virtually-run organisation. I regularly keep up with new legislation regarding home-working, such as the increase from £18 to £26 for Expenses and benefits for homeworking and the ICO’s guidance for working from home. But…

My March ’21 in 10 Tweets

March has been full of adventure and as we near the end of the month lockdown rules here in Wales have been relaxed and I look forward to slightly more options to venture away from home… safely. Cause of (cautious) celebration. So this is my March in ten tweets: FemEdTech Curation and International Women’s Day 2021 It was my privilege to reflect on my fourth year of volunteering as a guest curator for 2 weeks…

Leading a virtual team: blended is BEST

We’ve previously written about how important a blended approach is to leading a virtual team (in this post from 2019 about delivering in person events as a virtual team and in this podcast) but the past year has changed that conversation on a global scale. What’s best? Getting ‘back to the office’? Staying with working from home? Who decides and what should we base this decision on? Having led my team from being office based…

That was February… with max funk

Dedicated to the one and only @CosmoCat #ds106radio – listening along https://t.co/dq8h8SKCu2 rockin' this Sunday Special https://t.co/6ANQQqjvbw — Dr Maren Deepwell (@MarenDeepwell) March 7, 2021 This Sunday’s Sunday Special has a special International Women’s Day theme – and we started the show by playing an awesome tune by last week’s guest Chahira Nouira and her band the Max Funk Institute 🙂 Plants! One of my strategies for getting through lockdown/pandemic burnout is to have a…

Leading a virtual team: life work balance

Last month, we, that is my whole team, blogged about celebrating three years as a virtual team! It was really, really enjoyable and rewarding for me as CEO to read the words and hear the voices of all of my colleagues. I am so grateful that some took the plunge to blog for the first time and others made time to contribute in the face of a big workload. It was a big deal for…

Drawing 2020 – a bit of strategic ‘visual thinkery’

Earlier this year, I blogged about that I feel I am starting a ‘new job’ as things have changed so much over the past year… so this week on Friday I am having a strategy away day, pandemic style. CEOs often get asked what success will look like in 3, 12 and 36 months. Asking yourself that question is a useful way to get your own thoughts in order and prioritising short, medium and long…

Strategy Away Day – pandemic style

Next Friday, I am having a Strategy Away Day – pandemic style. In past years, when I need time to really focus on strategy, I was often able to take an afternoon or a whole day and spend it with some members of my Board, colleagues or external contacts, having conversations over coffee or whilst walking in a park. My first mentor Margaret and I often spent hours walking through whichever city we met in,…

Leadership lessons from office plants…

One of my strategies for getting through lockdown/pandemic burnout is to have a lot of green in my workspace. I can see at least six plants from where I sit each day. Some of them are good at cleaning the air, some grow in intricate pattern and some grow in interesting shapes. Having discovered that I love succulents, I went about finding a local supplier and thanks to the wonderful Blasus Succulent Emporium, which is…