Friday Footnote # 69

Each week we share loads of content amongst Team ION and with our network. Content that inspires us, which we find helpful, or just makes us smile. We thought we would start sharing these insights every Friday. Welcome to Friday Footnote.

Hybrid Working

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for Thursdays ION Open Doors learning event where we were joined by Rachel Wilson from Chwarae Teg who discussed agile, flexible and hybrid working, and how they have supported businesses across Wales to adapt to a new way of working. This is obviously a 'hot topic' at the moment as things start to get back to normal.

Rachel's presentation led to some great conversations amongst the group (as we would expect) and it was great to hear real-life case studies from businesses across Wales discuss how they are adapting, and from individuals about how they feel personally about the future of work. The consensus amongst the group was that there was no 'one size fits all' approach to returning to work. 

Welsh Government is encouraging an increase in remote working and has set a long-term ambition for 30% of the Welsh workforce to work away from a traditional office. The Welsh Government's plan for remote working hubs came up during the conversation with many people feeling they were a great idea (as long as they were near somewhere good for lunch!!). You can find out more about the planned remote working hubs on the WG website.

Thanks for joining us Rachel, and running a great session.  

It's all about impact!

We love hearing from our alumni, and our current delegates, about the learning they have taken from our programmes, and how it has made a difference in their business. Our Research and Evaluation Lead Llewelyn recently collated feedback on 5 of our recent leadership programmes. In our latest blog, we share some of the findings.

#Swans

It's been a busy week with our friends at Swansea City. First up, we were delighted to be in attendance for last Sunday's South Wales derby against Cardiff City. What a game, what a result, what a day. It was amazing to then be able to follow up that win with another fantastic victory against promotion favourites West Brom in mid-week. Keep it going Russell and team.

On Thursday night, Kaye joined friends from the Swans commercial team at the Swansea Bay Business Awards at the Brangwyn Hall. A fantastic night was had by all, congratulations to all the winners. Special congratulations to alumni from Ouma, VortexIoT and Intuety who all picked up awards on the night.

On Friday morning, Adam and Kaye joined businesses from across the area for the Swansea City Business Network 'Marketing Masterclass' with Digital NRG and Swansea City themselves. Digital NRG gave those in attendance some fantastic insights, as well as practical hints and tips, on search engine optimisation (SEO), paid social and the importance of making decisions based on data. Katie and Fraser from the Swans then delivered a hugely interesting session on the marketing of their kit launch for the 2021/22 season.  

Inspiration

• Are you ready to reframe operations for resilience and sustainability? (EY)
• Wales needs to stem its brain drain if the economy is to thrive, says minister Vaughan Gething (Business Live)
• Free support and therapies to help sickness absentees back to work and health (RCS Wales)
• How humble leadership really works (Harvard Business Review)
• How businesses can serve everyone, not just shareholders (TED)

How can Swansea University work with you and your business?

Our friends at Swansea University have a proven track record of successfully partnering with thousands of SMEs and public, private and third-sector organisations. They can help you develop new and existing products, processes, services and experiences, applying their world-leading research, development and innovation expertise and global reach to solve major challenges. And they want to work with you!

Check out the latest Swansea University Business Newsletter (we might feature a few times!!) and also their latest short film explaining further how they can help you and your business.

Become an extraordinary leader

Our leadership programmes that start before the end of March 2022 will be fully funded, and we have just announced details of our next ILM Level 5 Leading Growth programme, starting in January 2022. You can find out more about our latest programmes on our courses page.

We'll be taking a break from #FridayFootnote next week as it's half-term, but we'll be back the week after.

Missed previous #FridayFootnotes?

Diolch. Team ION