Maren Deepwell

Tag: #ds106radio

  • New adventures in podcasting

    For the past few years I have indulged in my love for internet radio. DS106 has been the most fun, a valuable way to connect with colleagues and friends, to have some fun during lockdown and beyond.

    Last year I started remote working radio shows on DS106radio, sharing the story of writing my book, ideas and insights and had some wonderful special guests along the way. It was a great season of chat and music and a wonderful way to connect with listeners.

    The one issue with the radio sessions was that it proved difficult for folk to catch up with it, and it was a challenge for me to schedule the sessions live. I ended up having to reschedule often, and it made it hard for everyone who wanted to listen live or catch up worth the recording.

    So this year, I am embarking on new adventures – this time in podcasting. I love listening to podcasts and I am excited to learn how to record them and make them available.

    It’s been fun and interesting to learn about a new medium and to think about how I want MY podcast to work, given that up to now I only had the opportunity to be on other people’s podcasts.

    And I love it! I enjoy the experimentation and figuring out how to connect with all the different platform, which is definitely still a work in progress.

    Each episode includes tools, resources and strategies for different aspects of hybrid working, and links to blog posts and further reading.

    I hope you enjoy the show. As always, share your ideas and feedback in the comments, or on social media. If you have a specific questions or comment, contact me . I look forward to hearing from you.

    Listen to the podcast

    Recent episodes

  • Virtual Teams Book – Monthly News, June 2022

    Virtual Teams Book – Monthly News, June 2022

    Book news

    Work on the book is making good progress at the moment. I am focusing on working through edits and responding to feedback from reviewers.

    Meanwhile I am also working with the publisher on the format, layout and cover. As Leading Virtual Teams will be published online under an open licence, we want to make it as accessible as possible.

    This month I am also planning ahead for the summer, setting out deadlines for the final stages of the editing process before the book gets sent for copy editing. Summer is my busiest time at work as we have our flagship conference in early September and there is always a lot happening in the run up to that. So work on the book may be a little slower for the next period.

    Logo for remote working radio show showing an illustration of a podcast host at the microphone.

    Remote Working Radio Season 1

    As I have been working on my book Leading Virtual Teams, I have been talking about working remotely on DS106 Radio on the Remote Working Radio Show. What started out as a lot of music and a bit of chat from me and sharing updated on the book has grown into an hour of chat with special guests, exploring how we work from home, what challenges we encounter and tips for developing your own practice.

    The show is taking a break over the summer, so here are the recordings from season 1 for you to catch up with and enjoy. A huge thank you to my guests who joined me on air and shared their insights. We will be back on air in the autumn for season 2.

    Recordings

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  • Remote Working Radio – Season 1

    Remote Working Radio – Season 1

    As I have been working on my book Leading Virtual Teams, I have been talking about working remotely on DS106 Radio on the Remote Working Radio Show.

    What has started out as a lot of music and a bit of chat from me and sharing updated on the book has grown into an hour of chat with special guests, exploring how we work from home, what challenges we encounter and tips for developing your own practice.

    The show is taking a break over the summer, so here are the recordings from season 1 for you to catch up with and enjoy. A huge thank you to my guests who joined me on air and shared their insights.

    We will be back on air in the autumn for season 2.

    Recordings

  • How to make working from home 1% more comfortable

    On this month’s remote working radio show on DS106radio we talked about how to make working from home 1% more comfortable… and improve your work wellbeing in the process.

    The idea comes from practices like yoga and meditation. As you lie down in order to relax or sit still to focus, your teacher may prompt you to move, wriggle, to use a pillow or a cushion, anything to try and make yourself a little bit more comfortable.

    Most of the time, pausing to consider what you can do to make yourself more comfortable in itself is the most valuable part of that process and can really help you gain more awareness of what’s going on in your physical self.

    So, it’s worth asking yourself that very question, in particular when it comes to working from home.

    The past two years have been tough, so anything and everything you can do to make things even a little easier is welcome.

    Where to start

    If you haven’t done so in a while and especially if you have recently moved things around, checking in on your work set up from a basic health & safety perspective and reviewing display screen equipment guidance is a good first step.

    Many of us become blind to constant factors that make working uncomfortable, like glare, noise, a bad chair and so forth. Try and look at your set up with fresh eyes.

    If someone else had to use it for a week, what do you think they might like or find difficult?

    25 obvious, but effective, ways to improve your working environment

    There are a lot of things you can try, and what will make a difference to you depends on the way you work and your personal preferences. Here is a list of 25 things to get you started:

    1. a plant
    2. a nice coaster
    3. a new mouse mat
    4. wrist rest/mouse rest
    5. glare protector
    6. photos/pictures/art
    7. lights for different times of day, i.e. a work lamp, fairy lights, a candle
    8. scented candle
    9. diffuser for aromatherapy oils
    10. foot rest (cushion or yoga bolster can work, too)
    11. cushioned slippers or shoes (particularly handy for standing desks)
    12. find a window sill or high shelf you can use as a place to have meetings with your laptop
    13. headphones that suit your ears
    14. a mouse you like (mine glows in rainbow colours)
    15. a selfie or ring light
    16. eye mist
    17. an alarm or similar that reminds you to take regular screen breaks
    18. a water bottle
    19. new flavour hot (or cold) drinks to try such as new herbal teas or coffees
    20. a secret snack stash (healthy or not)
    21. music
    22. a mat for your chair/you to stand on
    23. a rock or shell from somewhere you like
    24. cleaning products for your workspace, i.e. eco wipes, disinfectant, screen cleaner
    25. A place for a pet to be… if you can persuade them

    Moving beyond 1%…

    Support from your employer with purchasing office equipment for home working (or if you are self-employed here in the UK, you can apply for support with office equipment costs from the Department for Work) should help with making bigger changes, such as buying an adjustable desk, a suitable chair and other equipment.

    And there are other ways to improve your home working environment, especially when things are stressful. One example are resources you can dip into during short breaks or a subscription to an app like Calm which offers work-focused support.

    Over the past two years many of us have started to value support for managing stress and finding balance more and more. Asking yourself how you could be 1% more comfortable may lead to answers that are less tangible and more about mental wellbeing.

    What are you going to try to make your day tomorrow 1% more comfortable?

  • Virtual Teams Book – Monthly News, January 2022

    Virtual Teams Book – Monthly News, January 2022

    Writing Retreat ahead

    At the end of last year I completed the first draft of the book and I am really pleased that despite everything that was going on last year, I managed to reach that important milestone. Along the way I made some changes to the structure of the book and now that the draft is complete, I can also see overarching themes emerging.

    My plan was to continue editing the draft chapters over the holidays, but when I finally reached the end of the working year and having had my booster jab, I decided to take a complete break instead. It was much needed and I am glad to have had some proper time off.

    My plan is to still fit in some editing this month before heading on a week long writing retreat at the end of January.

    Talks and events

    This month I am speaking at fewer events as many of the planned conferences have been moved to later in the year. In many ways this is a blessing as it gives me more time to focus on writing. At the end of December I looked back at the talks and articles I published in 2021 – and that were more than I expected.

    One key focus for 2022 is going to be continuing work on the Framework for Ethical Learning Technology and I am looking forward to taking part in the THE Digital Universities Week and Ahead by Bett to share process and new developments.

    Join our monthly radio meet up on DS106radio talking about the journey from learning online to working in distributed teams on Tuesday, 11th January 2022 at 19:30 GMT on DS106 Radio – chat with me or submit song requests #DS106radio.

    Coaching update

    I have had excellent coaching on my journey to becoming a CEO. My own experience has given me an understanding of how powerful the right coach can be and how valuable for developing your approach to being a leader.

    In order to become an accredited coach, an ICF Associate Certified Coach, I am taking part in Katie Linder’s Higher Ed Coach Training. I’ll be blogging every month sharing my experiences and how this relates to leading virtual teams.

    Writing buddy update

    Posey celebrated her 1st birthday this month, so she gets featured 🙂

  • VIRTUAL TEAMS BOOK: … EXTRACT FROM The Introduction

    VIRTUAL TEAMS BOOK: … EXTRACT FROM The Introduction

    Progress since the last post

    Since my last post, I have been working on the Introduction to the book and that has been very helpful. It’s prompted me to write an overview of how all the chapters hang together and it’s help me get a clearer sense of the overall structure.

    Apart from the conclusion, I have now drafted all chapters. I have decided to incorporate what was going to be a chapter on addressing inequality and inequity in remote work into each chapter as those questions came up again and again.

    So now that I have a clearer sense of the shape of the book, I want to make a plan for revising and improving the drafts that I have completed so far, building up to a week long writing retreat in late January.

    Remote working radio:

    It’s time to start what will hopefully turn into a monthly radio meet up on DS106radio talking about the journey from learning online to working in distributed teams. The first one of these will happen today:

    • Date: Wednesday, 1st December 2021
    • Time: 19:30 GMT
    • Where: DS106 Radio
    • Hashtag: Chat with me or submit song requests #DS106radio

    See you on the airwaves.

    Chapter: Introduction

    Below is an extract from the draft introduction chapter:

    In 2017 I embarked on a journey of organisational transformation as the CEO of an independent charity, as we took our organisation from a traditional, office-based model of operations to a fully virtual, distributed team. In comparison to many businesses who were forced to adopt home-working in response to the global pandemic, we made the transition for strategic reasons over the period of a year. Instead of sending staff home with a laptop one day and starting home-working the next, we went through formal consultation periods and implemented the transition gradually, providing support and training at every stage. As a result we made a very successful transition and started to focus on how to evolve our approach to working as a virtual team beyond practical considerations from the outset. 

    When I set out to create a new vision for what working for our virtual organisation would be like I came across a lot of practical advice about infrastructure and business processes and I also read a lot of management books that seemed intent on helping leaders and managers to translate traditional power structures from the office to the virtual workplace with a strong emphasis on productivity, cost-savings and employee surveillance. None of what I came across helped to answer my questions. 

    What I was looking for was authentic insight into what it’s like to manage people remotely and to lead an organisation from home, and to do it well. And by doing it well I mean not only meeting budget targets and KPIs but to balance business needs with employee happiness and wellbeing. I was looking to find creative and fun ways to work with people you may never meet in person and to build meaningful working relationships.  I was looking for ethical ways to work online that respect employee privacy and build trust between the organisation and its staff. In short, I was looking for the opposite of the ‘office-deficit’ model. 

    This is why I wrote this book. It’s the book I wish I had when I was setting out on my journey to lead a virtual team. I hope it will provide a source of inspiration and a prompt for reflection to my readers and will be of practical help with managing hybrid, blended and fully distributed teams and organisations.

    If you’d like to keep in touch with book progress:

    • Subscribe to my newsletter;
    • Join today’s monthly radio meet up on DS106radio;
    • If you’d like to invite me to speak or write, get in touch with me directly.