This is a conversational blog post (cross-posted here) between Martin Hawksey (@mhawksey) and Maren Deepwell (@marendeepwell). We are using this approach to create some space to think together in ‘unprecedented times’. It’s open leadership in practice and in pandemic times. For regular readers this is a slight departure from our regular ‘Virtual Teams’ posts (you can read those on our Virtual Teams summary page) taking a broader view of work whilst midst global pandemic. We…
Maren Deepwell Posts
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…
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…
It’s a few weeks into lock down and the last couple of Sundays, Anne-Marie, Tannis and I have been getting together on the airwaves, playing tunes and sharing stories on DS106Radio. Many of us are tuning into the live stream in recent weeks: Our first live broadcast, on Sunday 29th March, was an improvised conversation and playlist, organised very much by Anne-Marie, who figured out the technical set up required to mesh Skype call and…
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…
It’s International Women’s Day #IWD2020 and this year I am writing this post about washing. What is this about? Women’s labour? Household chores? Automation of domestic labour?No. What I am thinking about is the concept of ‘openwashing’ and similar kinds of ‘washing’ and how to avoid drowning in that kind of dirty laundry. I came across this first at the OER15 conference in Cardiff in a memorable keynote by Cable Green: As an aside, OER15…