ACEVO’s first-ever week-long digital festival takes place on 16-20 November, bringing together social sector leaders to reflect, reboot, rebuild. The full programme is available on the website and in this blog series, you will get to know our speakers a little bit better.
A narrated version of this blog is available at the bottom of the page
Catherine McLeod is the chief executive of Dingley’s Promise. At #ACEVOFest, she will talk about leading digital transformation.
How would you describe your time working from home because of lockdown in five words?
Productive, quiet, intense, monotonous, innovative.
What was the best thing you did for your own well-being in the past few months?
I kept the weekends free of all work. It was really important for me to make sure that as much as possible the weekends were significantly different to the weekdays and so I filled them with silly and fun things – even if it was only a Zoom quiz or a box set it gave me some kind of routine and feeling of progress.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
Don’t be shy about applying for emergency support because you are optimistic about the future – now is the time to fight for your charity’s income, because those charities that may not be here to deliver vital support by the end of the year.
What was your favourite digital discovery this year?
While we had used Zoom before, I think the flexibility and adaptability of this tool really came through this year. Not only could we use it for training small groups of people (as we did before), but it could be used to run a remote play session for children, drop-in support for families such as coffee morning and evening catch-ups, virtual Centre tours, team building activities like quizzes and even our annual team day!
If you had to leave a message to yourself to read a year from now, what would it be?
Well done. You stepped up at a time when it was vital, and Dingley’s Promise has more reach and impact both in the local area and nationally as a result. Remember that no matter how much pressure you are under – you have to step back sometimes too. There is always something else you could be doing – but it isn’t possible to do it all, so give yourself a break sometimes.
