Friday Footnote # 92

Ysgrifennwyd gan A.R.Fairbank@swansea.ac.uk / 13/5/2022

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.

Our alumni have their say!

We can talk all day about the impact our programmes have on our delegates and their businesses. But we know it sounds so much better when the delegates themselves talk about it. We've uplaoded a load of new conversations with ION alumni to our YouTube channel this week. The channel was already packed with delegates testimonials, but this week we have added conversations with:

Another season over for the Swans

Last Saturday we attended the last Swansea City game of the season. We have loved cheering the team on from the stands this season, and it has been fantastic to be a sponsor for the last 2 seasons. We have been deligthed to be part of the City Business Network and have attended a number of face-to-face and virtual events, culminating with the Player Awards dinner last week.

A special thanks to Rebecca, Emma and Katie from the Swansea Commercial team for all their support.

Mental Health Awareness Week 2022

This week was Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme was loneliness. As detailed on the Mental Health UK website, 'Our society is changing fast. The pandemic has given rise to a sense of loneliness and isolation undermining confidence in daily routines'.

The website continues 'Our workplaces are also changing. With many adapting to home and hybrid working, we need to embrace this change while building and maintaining meaningful connections with our colleagues'.

There is plenty of support information out there:

Team Popmaster is back!

This Wednesday there were quie a few of us in the Swansea office, so it was brilliant to get back to our regular Popmaster session. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Popmaster was a staple part of our day - an opportunity to get together as a team for 10 minutes and have a bit of fun. The 'scores on the doors' on Wednesday were 27 in Round 1 and 36 in Round 2. Only our lack of knowledge of Cathy Dennis' back catalogue stopped us from getting maximum score in Round 2.

What's caught our eye this week?

5 ways to show you can lead - even when you don't have a leadership role (TED)
The importance of leadership development in a post-pandemic world (ION)
Swansea University Research & Innovation Awards 2022 winners announced (Swansea University)
Being engaged at work isn't the same as being productive (Harvard Business Review)
How our Bangor Learning Manager Felicity practices what she preaches (ION)

Europe Day

Europe Day took place on Monday this week. We are hugely thankful to WEFO for their continued support of our programme. Thanks to their support we have been able to support over nearly 1600 leaders in nearly 1000 businesses across Wales.

To coincide with the occassion, our friends at the South East Wales Regional Engagemet Team arranged a week long calendar of events as part of Europe Week. Our Finance manager Clare attended a Project Closure Workshop on Monday, and Adam attended sessions throughout the week discussing UK Government funding, European Strategic Investment (ESI) Funds, and the employability plan for Wales.

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