Let’s talk about red flags in a team. Well maybe pink ones. (There’s no pink flag emoji quite yet)
‘I love my team, we get on really well.’
Now I’m not naturally cynical or averse to people having a good time. But I’ve learned to prick up my ears when I hear something like that. If our unit of measurement for a team is ‘how well we get on’ then we’re missing a trick.
Too much focus on how well we get on could be a sign that a team may be falling a bit short on delivering meaningful value to all its stakeholders.
Dig a little deeper and we’ve all been in teams like this:
Team meetings feel like wasted time, nothing much gets done
There’s a lack of momentum between meetings, and they often get moved
You find yourself holding back, not saying what you really think, or not saying anything at all
There’s a lack of creativity, innovation, risk-taking
It’s a group of individuals who come together to represent their own vested interests (or their own individual teams)
There’s a lack of respect or trust between each other, though this is rarely acknowledged. Remember, ‘we get on really well’
There’s no sense of identity. The team can’t really be effectively defined by anyone not in it. Or perhaps even by those who are in it.
No material outputs, just time put in
The team thinks at the level of the functions represented in the room, not at the level of the business or enterprise.
You dread team meetings when they appear in your diary
The same subjects get raised time and time again
No one chairs the meeting effectively, or holds us accountable for timing, actions and delivery
Stakeholders rarely get a mention
You’re just going through the motions, but it feels bit disruptive to rock the boat and point this out
Be honest, do you recognise any of these? Perhaps you’re in one right now? Perhaps you even lead one? There’s no judgement here. I’m convinced we’ve all been in this situation. So why the post?
My mind is being blown week after week as I study for my PGCert in Team and Systemic Coaching at Henley Business School . As I organise my many thoughts in the coming weeks, I hope to share them with you on the huge impact of coaching a team as an entity in its own right. If you suspect that a team you’re in could actually be working better, then keep in touch.
Great, impactful teams rarely happen by accident. They take thought and skill to commission and to run. But great teams are where competitive advantage can be found. Teams that are greater than the sum of their parts, rather than less than.
This article was written by Kenz Meadows, Lead Editor of Squarely Magazine. Squarely is The Square Club’s lifestyle magazine; as a member of Bristol’s Best Co-working space, you are able to pick up a complimentary copy! Find out more here.
Best known for the annual Oktoberfest bacchanal, Munich is a patchwork of old and new. The neon signs for gambling halls above an independent Birkenstock shop, monastic breweries and a world famous Glockenspiel just round the corner from the H&M make knowing where to look a bit of a headspin. But knowing where to go is a much easier task to manage. The rich tradition of monastic brewing and the beerhalls Oktoberfest celebrates are just as delightful an experience without the nearly six million international tourists the festival reliably draws each year.
Of course, the guidebooks will tout the most renowned beer halls like the Hofbrauhaus, that are sure to be on everyone’s list. While the beer halls still largely employ table sharing, seating multiple parties at the same table, walk-ins are not typically something this particular hall accommodates–not even in the off season. So, reserve your steins well in advance.
I spoke with Membership Manager, Pelin Yüksel, at our reciprocal Famtain Club, in the heart of the Altstadt–or Old City. A native to Turkey, she had an outsider’s perspective on Munich and how the club fits in to the city’s social scene. “Munich is very business-oriented — I think people have a hard time turning off and having fun. In response, Famtain focuses on being a social club–presenting opportunities for our members to relax, enjoy themselves, and socialize outside of an office environment.” And if you’re foregoing your office watercooler for social engagement, you could do worse than the Famtain. It drips with lush colours, delicate hand-painted wallpaper and extremely inviting furnishings. I could have easily overstayed my welcome. The restaurant has a revolving menu of seasonally appropriate dishes, offering fusion cuisine with effortless expertise.
As regards to Oktoberfest, Yüksel is pleased to offer our members all the same access to amenities their own members receive. However, if the beer halls are hard to get into during the off-season, they’re impossible to reserve for the festival. Book now. Better yet, book yesterday. And be sure to reach out to the Famtain Club when you do, it doesn’t hurt to have an in when arranging your own autumnal jaunt.
If, like I did, you feel compelled to brush up on your high school German speaking skills, I would recommend really committing to it. Nearly everyone in the city spoke enough English to reveal my German for the exercise in futility that it is. While plenty of nations embrace and admire tourists making the effort to speak the local language, I did not get the impression this was one. I would absolutely recommend getting out of the city for an afternoon. I took the train out to Hoehenschwangau, grabbing fresh pretzels and bottles of beer at a stop along the way. Watching the countryside roll by you, warm salty baked good in-hand, is enough to make anyone seriously consider a rural Bavarian lifestyle change.
While the castle was impressive, I was disappointed by the tour at Neuschwanstein Schloss. The quark donuts from a stand down the hill from the castle were ample consolation after the expensive English audio tour though. Back in Munich, the museum I enjoyed most was the Alte Pinakothek. The expansive collection was home to more than a few masters even I, a novice in fine art, was surprised to see in person. My highlight from the trip was absolutely the food, but specifically the food purchased off the cornucopia of vendors in the Viktualienmarkt. Don’t miss the pickles. Seriously.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered the government’s 2024 Spring Budget on 6 March. Here’s a round-up of measures and announcements relevant to businesses in the creative industries.
During his Budget speech, Jeremy Hunt referenced the creative industries. He said:
“We have become Europe’s largest film and TV production centre with Idris Elba, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom all filming their latest productions here.
“Studio space in the UK has doubled in the last three years. At the current rate of expansion, we will be second only to Hollywood globally by the end of 2025.”
In the full Budget document, the government said it is:
“…committed to the success of creative industries, a sector that contributed £125 billion in gross value added (GVA) in 2022 and employs 2.4 million people across the UK.
“In June 2023, the government published the [creative industries] sector vision setting out ambitions to grow the sector by a further £50 billion in GVA and support an additional 1 million jobs.”
The Budget included several announcements specific to the creative industries:
A new UK independent film tax credit (IFTC) will be introduced at a rate of 53% on qualifying film production expenditure. It will be available for films with budgets under £15m that meet the requirements of a new British Film Institute (BFI) test.
Films will need to meet at least one of the following conditions:
Productions will be able to make claims from 1 April 2025 if the film started principal photography from 1 April 2024.
Jay Hunt, BFI chair, said:
“The government’s new tax credit is a game changer for UK filmmakers, creating jobs and ensuring great Britsh stories continue to be told. By introducing the uplifted rate, the prime minister and the chancellor are fuelling the growth of the wider screen sector that contributes billions to the UK economy.”
Ben Roberts, BFI chief executive, added:
“This is a dramatic moment for UK film, and the most significant policy intervention since the 1990s. The positive impact will be felt across our industry, and through all the new films that audiences will get to enjoy.
The films we make are vital to our culture expression and creativity – they reflect a diverse and global Britain, and build careers – and we’re grateful to government, the DCMS, the industry and our friends at Pact for working together to realise this historic initiative.”
Following a consultation at Autumn Statement 2023, the credit rate for visual effects costs in film and high-end TV will be rise by 5% to 39% from April 2025. The 80% cap will be removed for qualifying expenditure for visual effects costs.
A 40% reduction on gross business rates will be provided to eligible film studios in England until 2034. The government said the relief will be implemented “as soon as possible” with bills backdated to 1 April 2024.
From 1 April 2025, the rates of theatre tax relief (TTR), orchestra tax relief (OTR) and museums and galleries exhibitions tax relief (MGETR) will be permanently set at 40% (for non-touring productions) and 45% for touring productions.
Funding of £26.4m will be provided to upgrade the National Theatre’s stages and infrastructure.
The following are announcements not specific to the creative industries but are of interest to businesses in the sector.
Freelancers make up a third of the creative industries so this measure is very relevant to the sector.
From 6 April 2024, the main rate of Class 4 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for the self-employed will be reduced from 9% to 6%.
The government claimed that combined with the abolition of the requirement to pay Class 2 NICs announced in the 2023 Autumn Statement, the measure will save an average self-employed person on £28,000 around £650 a year.
From 6 April 2024, the main rate of employee NICs will be cut by 2p from 10% to 8%.
The government claimed that combined with the 2p cut announced at Autumn Statement 2023, the measure will save the average worker on £35,400 over £900 a year.
The level at which businesses must register for valued added tax (VAT) will increase from £85,000 to £90,000 from 1 April 2024. The government said around 28,000 businesses will benefit in 2024-25 from no longer being VAT registered.
The deregistration threshold, at which businesses can deregister from VAT, will increase from £83,000 to £88,000.
The government’s Recovery Loan Scheme, which launched in 2021 to support businesses to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be extended to 31 March 2026. It will be renamed the Growth Guarantee Scheme.
The government guarantees to the lender up of 70% of funding provided to businesses through the scheme. Loans of up to £2m are available for businesses in Great Britain turning over up to £45m. For Northern Ireland businesses, the maximum loan is £1m.
Full expensing allows companies to claim 100% capital allowances on qualifying plant and machinery investments. In the 2024 Budget, the government said it will publish draft legislation and seek to extend the scheme to assets for leasing “when fiscal conditions allow”.
South West-based brand and communications specialist AgencyUK has announced record growth as evolutions in the company’s culture continue to drive unprecedented levels of performance, despite an economically turbulent period for many.
AgencyUK (AUK) achieved record numbers in their 2023 financial results, following two years of cultural alignment and investment in their new Senior Management Team led by founding members Sammy Mansourpour and Amy Stobie. The business has delivered 220% annual growth in revenue for each financial period since January 2020, putting them on track to becoming one of the UK’s largest independently owned agencies.
“Celebrating 16 years is a seminal moment for the whole agency. It really feels like a transition into adulthood. As an established agency business with a team rich in experience, it is in no small part down to our team embracing creativity and new technology. AI and data analytics have made a meaningful difference to our work, by fuelling our creativity and building in new features around advertising campaign performance. This has been instrumental for our clients, particularly those in the B2B space, where we have a particular foothold in the healthcare sector. And we’ve seen the agency grow exponentially because of it,” says Sammy Mansourpour, Managing Director.
In 2021, the Senior Management Team focused on expanding the agency’s client portfolio in the health, life science and pharmaceutical sectors, leading to a record signing of three top-tier new drug development organisations, as well as launching Our Future Health, a nationwide health research programme in partnership with the NHS, which now has over 1.2 million participants across the UK.
The agency now boasts a stronger B2B portfolio making up 50% of its revenue. The remaining 50% houses well-known food, drink, health and wellbeing brands, including beloved sweet brand Chewits, currently enjoying a renaissance since our amplified brand campaigns and award-winning work across social media.
In response, the agency has expanded its in-house teams by growing its creative department and assembling a new senior management team, recruited from its in-house fast track careers programme. Overall staff numbers have increased by 50% with a further 30% expected to be in place by January 2025.
“We are of course delighted with the performance of the business over the past five years, and we have no doubt that our long-term investment in developing the agency’s culture and staff careers plays a significant part in our success on the bottom line. We welcome turning 16 with open arms,” says Amy Stobie, Director.
The AUK leadership team has embarked on a comprehensive programme of cultural development, sustainability and community outreach. Framed around people, planet and community, these initiatives also form the bedrock of the agency’s commitment to being a certified B Corp since their accreditation in 2021, as well as an award-winning staff development and well-being programme.
Independent human-centred design consultancy Six, has kicked off 2024 in style by promoting Sally Gillo to Partner for Client Experience – making her the sixth member of the Board. Sally will be joining CEO John Argent, Partner for Growth Ruth Clarke, Partner Julian Barclay, Creative Partner Dickon Langdon, and Finance Director Alison Evans.
Over the last seven years, Sally has played a pivotal role in mentoring and leading the client experience team at Six. Her ability to build strong relationships by consistently delivering exceptional experiences has led to growing and leading the agency’s key accounts, including S&P Global, Lloyds Banking Group and bp.
As Six enters its 30th year, Sally’s promotion also reflects the agency’s increasingly strategy-first positioning. Central to Six’s growth plans, Sally will help drive the agency’s vision forward: to help every transformative strategy land with impact.
John Argent, CEO of Six, said, “Sally’s promotion is so well-deserved. Not only is she hugely talented, armed with great vision, energy and pragmatism, she has proved to be an exceptional leader and inspirational mentor within Six. Her drive and fresh perspective perfectly complement the blend of strengths in our Board – and will only help accelerate our progress in pursuit of helping solve our clients’ complex transformation challenges.”
On 24 November, we celebrated the first group of interns who took part in the Bristol Creative Industries Internship Programme with Babbasa as part of the OurCity2030 Pathway into Creative & Tech.
We had a wonderful night celebrating everyone’s achievements over the past six months. The graduation event, at the Gather Round co-working space in Bristol, brought together the brilliant interns plus many of the programme contributors, friends and family to reflect on the successes and learnings from the scheme.
We launched the programme earlier this year. It is aimed at young people aged 18-24 from diverse backgrounds wanting to gain more insight and real experience in the creative industries.
Two of the biggest challenges facing the sector are a long-term skills shortage and a lack of workforce diversity. This was highlighted by Bristol Creative Industries’ A Creative Force to Be Reckoned With report which found that increasing diversity and inclusion is a significant priority for six in 10 creative firms in Bristol, but almost half said they want help finding diverse talent from underrepresented groups.
The internship programme was designed specifically to tackle those issues and create more inclusive workplaces. We were delighted that brilliant agencies from the BCI member community stepped up to provide three month placements to the 14 interns:
At the end of the first placement, three of the interns used the experience to explore other projects, while 11 stayed to undertake a second placement.
As the pilot programme comes to an end, here’s an update on how taking part in the initiative impacted on the interns and what they plan to do next:
Abdifatah Kheyre is going travelling for a while but has some exciting plans to launch a new project with a friend.
Abdur-Rahman Shafi has been offered a continuation at his first placement at Noble where he will be doing an internship extension, with the view for being promotion to digital marketing executive after six months.
Ahmed Ismail is considering his options in design and software development.
Amy Smith has been offered a role as production runner at Aardman on an upcoming project.
Kayjay McDonald-Ferguson is looking to continue with his freelancing projects in design and strategy and is set to start a bootcamp coding course.
Laurel Beckford has been working with Babbasa on the organisation’s social media campaigns and is looking for further work in film production and social media.
Mohd Wani has gone on to study an MA in information experience design at The Royal College of Art.
Omar Ibrahim has started a front-end web development bootcamp and will continue to study whilst trying to get more work experience. He is looking for a junior level role in front-end web development.
Priscilla Kodjo is staying on at her placement at Time Machine Designs as a freelance concept artist.
Sara Matloob has applied to study with the Chartered Institute of Marketing and hopes to build a career focused on public relations and the experiential sector.
Sophie Kirk is continuing to pursue her career in film and television art departments, with her improved graphic design skills opening up more opportunities for freelance work.
Seren Spooner was offered a job as a junior designer at Armadillo, her first placement.
Touka Mostafa led an EDI audit at one of her placements and delivered her findings to the board. She has recently accepted an account executive role at Armadillo, one of the participating agencies.
Yasmina El Khatib hopes to continue her education and study a modelmaking course with a focus on fabrication. For now, she is looking for a design and creative role to allow her to save for her masters.
We asked some of the interns to reflect on taking part in the programme.
”The programme helped me find myself, be a better human and chase my dreams.”
Abdifatah Kheyre“This internship really has made my dream career happen. The continued support throughout has been great. I have also made some friends that I will have for life.”
Amy Smith”I took many learnings from the experience, but above all I learnt the importance of being an active learner. In a work setting it is important that you can communicate with the different departments and not be afraid to ask for what you want. In both agencies I felt comfortable to be myself and felt listened to. I like that the internship was tailored to what I needed.”
Kayjay McDonald-Ferguson”Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t always a straight path, and I was never comfortable to put my hand up and say I want to learn more. But I have to say, I’m so glad I sat in the uncomfortable space for a little bit because I pushed past that point, I managed to develop and grow in so many different ways. ”
Touka Mostafa”I loved seeing how many agencies were interested in diversity and inclusion and I really enjoyed the networking opportunities that came with the internship programme. I also enjoyed learning new skills during our Friday sessions and watching all of the interns develop new skills that they’re proud of.”
Sara Matloob
For more from the interns, participating agencies and other who took part in the programme, watch this brilliant short film:
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The Bristol Creative Industries Internship Programme is not possible without the fantastic agencies who take part and provide placements for the young people to gain valuable experience.
Here, some of the agencies reflect on their experiences:
“The best businesses need the best talent. The best talent is diverse. This programme has helped us collectively engage that talent.”
Nina Edmunds, Halo“We’ve always aspired to have an internship programme that promotes diversity and inclusion and encourages the community to open more doors, yet time and resources have been a barrier to achieving this. By joining forces with Bristol Creative Industries, Babbasa and other member agencies, we were able to make it happen.”
Lucy Rees, Newicon“Collaborating with peers from other participating creative agencies has been a great experience. It has allowed us to actively contribute to shaping the program while exchanging ideas and learning from one another, particularly in areas around HR, people & culture, and innovative working practices.”
Anthony Butterfield, Aer Studios“We wanted to be challenged in our DE&I efforts. We hoped this scheme would help us push forward on our learning and DE&I journey and it has done exactly that.”
Abigail Croft, Diva“Our intern was really keen to learn all the different roles within the agency and really engaged in everything she was doing. Seeing her confidence grow each week, so she was asking the right questions to allow her to execute the task in front of her was a real highlight. The fact we could see the talent was there enough to offer her a job shows what an impact she made, and that is the true highlight.”
Jeremy Bourton, Armadillo“This amazing opportunity provides a springboard for young people with a paid placement that can really make a difference to their professional development. On the other side of the coin, it’s made me a more rounded professional and helped me to evolve.”
Matt Woodman, Atomic Smash“The BCI Internship Programme is a golden opportunity to partner with community-facing organisations. It is a real opportunity to learn as well as teach, whilst being supporting by BCI who follow the interns through the whole process.”
Ceilia Hunt, Aardman Animations
All of the interns are now Bristol Creative Industries members. Please do reach out to them if you are looking for collaborations or for young people to fill junior roles. We will also be welcoming them to Bristol Creative Industries events in 2024, so you will get a chance to meet them.
We look forward to welcoming back the cohort as ambassadors for the programme in 2024 and to help inspire the next group of interns.
Conversations for the 2024 Bristol Creative Industries Internship Programme have begun with Babbasa as part of the next OurCity2030 Pathway into Creative & Tech.
If you run a creative business in Bristol and are interested in hearing more about how to get involved, contact Bristol Creative Industries membership manager Alli Nicholas on alli@bristolcreativeindustries.com
Big thanks to @eljaybriss for the images.
As filmmakers, we must adapt and evolve with the times to capture and maintain our audience’s attention while keeping purpose and authenticity at the core of our storytelling.
Many purists would consider the idea of ‘versioning a story’, that is adapting it for different ‘channels’, to conflict with the very soul of the storyteller. A story should simply have the time it needs to be well told.
But what works ‘best’ depends on the context of the telling. We no longer communicate sat face-to-face around an open fire but through multiple and proliferating digital media. We have been suddenly removed from millions of years of storytelling evolution.
However, the need to communicate across multiple media can be an invaluable opportunity for stories to reach and connect with wider audiences. Film narratives need to be crafted into multiple variants to engage, not as auteur works of art, but as purposeful tools with a central unifying message.
But how fast can you tell a story with a sense of context, character, place and emotion, whilst also letting it breathe, before the story falls apart and the essence is lost?
Of course, our attention span depends on viewing context and on how invested the audience is in your subject before they take their seat.
So, you need different versions to engage different audiences watching with different levels of pre-existing attenuation to your message, from the active listener to the casually curious.
Well yes, but not in one step. Editing, unlike say sculpting, is a non-destructive process of refinement. So by a careful process of distillation, each step yields a shorter yet distinct form that can be used to connect with audiences in different ways, each time stripping away more of the context and complexity whilst bringing the essence more sharply into focus.
Here’s a recent example of this creative versioning process in action.
The brief from our colleagues ImpactEd Group was to reveal the transformation of a child enabled by the concentrated attention of an adult, herself guided by the skilful evaluation of data.
Each version of the film had to convey more and more succinctly both the context and emotion of a transformative experience.
‘How can data help transform the life of a child?‘
Edit phase 1 (8 days)
5’00″ version for a Campaign Launch for a pre-invited captive audience
Edit phase 2 (2 days)
2’30” version for Branded Channels for a partially engaged remote audience that has navigated to your domain
Edit phase 3 (1 day)
1’00″ version for Social Media for an audience with passing curiosity surfing your content via media feeds guided by hashtags and leading text.
What remains is the transformative essence of a relationship. An adult really listening to a child.
“I didn’t have that one person I could talk to. And now I have.”
So attention is in short supply.
As the attention economy pulls us into a vortex of distraction, we need to fall in love again with being.
And films, as channels of emotion, can remind us of the very essence of who we are.
All we need is someone to listen, and someone to listen to.
How do stories work? A newsletter for storytellers, changemakers and dreamers:
Got a story to tell? Or purpose to communicate? Need some friendly advice?
#AttentionEconomy #CreativeProcess #FilmmakingProcess #SparkFilms #FilmsToBelieveIn #TurningChanceIntoDestiny #Purpose #Authenticity #Filmmaking #Storytelling #HowStoriesWork #DocumentaryFilmmaking #WhatMakesAGoodStory #FilmProductionBristol #VideoProductionBristol #BristolFilmmakers #BristolStoryTellers #DocumentaryFilmmakerBristol
Originally posted to www.carnsight.com by Leigh-Ann Hewer
Being a PR can be really fun and exciting. That coverage buzz you get when you land a piece you worked really hard on is incredibly rewarding.
But it’s also not an easy job.
It’s an incredibly fast-paced industry and requires PRs to wear a lot of different hats. You have to be resilient and tenacious. You have to be great at writing and creative problem-solving. You have to be able to work with all kinds of different people.
The most challenging part by far, however, at least as far as I’m concerned, is learning how to balance the mental load.
As a PR, you have a lot of plates to keep spinning. You’re working across a number of different accounts and likely have a number of projects on the go for each of them. If, like Carnsight, you work across different sectors, these accounts could be vastly different, requiring different processes and approaches on any given project. Any given day, even! Your tone of communication is likely to shift from one email to the next. You’ll likely have to shift mental gears multiple times throughout the day.
Luckily, when you’ve had a bit of practice at it, it gets easier and easier until most of the time you don’t have to think much about it at all.
But that can still take a mental toll. It’s a lot of mental work. It’s a lot to balance in your mind.
I definitely found that this balancing act was the trickiest thing to master when I joined the industry. In fact, I still struggle with it at times. Maybe no one ever does master it completely. But there are definitely things you can do to help yourself, and today I wanted to share some of my top tips for managing that mental load.
It’s paramount you don’t try to keep everything stored in your brain. It’s too much to ask of yourself to remember everything. Instead, write everything down. To do lists, notes, even little sketches. Get as much of the information out of your head and on to paper. It’s much easier to manage when it’s there.
If all you have is one massive to do list then you’re quickly going to become overwhelmed. Try to group tasks and to dos together in a way that makes most sense to you. Maybe it’s by client, maybe it’s by type. I usually go with the former but I’ve also tried batching tasks related to how long they’ll take to complete as well eg. 5min tasks, 15min tasks, over an hour tasks.
The advice, eat the frog (or the elephant or whatever) first is great. But I do think there are times when the opposite might actually be helpful.
Eating the frog first is basically doing the hardest task on your to do list first. That way you might have the most energy for it and you’ll get the big dreaded thing out of the way before anything else. I love this, an it can be a great way of ensuring your prioritising correctly and using your energy in the most efficient way.
However…
Some days, eating the frog is just too much. It’s important to know how to check in with yourself and understand what your brain needs on any given day. Sometimes, on harder days, letting myself start by ticking off some nice and easy quick wins allows me to build a bit of confidence and momentum before getting stuck into the big hard task.
Know yourself well enough to know when you need to eat the frog and when you need to nibble away at a few side dishes first.
In an ideal world, our working lives and personal lives would remain entirely separate and sacred, but unfortunately our complex brains mean that regardless of how great our work-life balance is, one will usually impact the other.
This is especially the case when it comes to managing the mental load. If you’re stressed and overwhelmed in your personal life, it’s going to be very hard not to carry that into work. The same goes the other way around too.
In order to be your best self at work and at home, you have to get good at taking care of your own needs as well as rushing around after others. It’s so much easier said than done, right? Many of you reading this might have children, be caring for someone or be working multiple jobs or balancing multiple projects. It’s so much easier to give the advice than to take it. But it is worth bearing in mind.
Being your best self will look different every day, just like your needs both professionally and personally will change every day. Be as kind to yourself as possible and remember that it’s nothing to be ashamed of if your work or personal life seems to be bleeding into the other. Just take note, take a deep breath, and ask yourself ‘what’s one small thing I can do today to feel more at peace in my work/home life?’ (or in control, or happy, or fulfilled – whichever feels most resonant to you).
Despite what society likes to tell women all the time (
) no one can be perfect and no one can have it all and get it right 100% of the time. You must and I mean must know when to ask for help or delegate some of your overwhelming mental load to someone else.
This shows strength, maturity, self understanding, effective communication. The list goes on and on. Asking for support is vital. Find someone you feel secure asking, and if you can’t find someone, well frankly reconsider who you keep close by – both professionally and personally. Everyone deserves a helping hand when they juggling a lot.
So there you have it, my quick tips for managing mental load at work. They’re not anything ground breaking, I confess, but I hope if nothing else this serves as a reminder that if you’re a PR struggling a bit with mental load at work, you’re not alone.
Celebrate those coverage buzz wins, take breaks when you need and remember, you got this!
For more tips on mental health and productivity at work, check out my blog on managing stress in PR.
Bristol Academy of Voice Acting (BRAVA) today announces their support of the world premiere of Shakespeare’s Women; a new play by playwright Lorien Haynes – performed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe, London, on 7 January, 2024. BRAVA has pledged its financial support.
The piece is set in modern-day London and shines a light on ten of Shakespeare’s female characters who meet in a domestic abuse recovery group. Centuries have passed, yet nothing has changed and while they eat biscuits and talk they reveal their darkest secrets. Funny, hard-hitting and prescient, the play allows the women to survive their men and their narratives and finds out what they would have to say today.
All profits from the event will be donated by the producers to Refuge, the largest domestic abuse organisation in the UK.
Melissa Thom, Founder and CEO of BRAVA, said:
“Lorien is passionate about amplifying women’s voices – particularly those not easily heard or silenced. At BRAVA, we align with this and are keen to support women’s stories that go untold. It’s a privilege to help bring this performance to life. We are proud to support Refuge in this way and to add our voice to raising awareness and funds for this hugely important cause.”
Lorien Haynes, playwright and author of Shakespeare’s Women, said:
“It’s fantastic to team up with BRAVA, who are kindly helping us bring this new piece to its first audience. The themes that come up in the play are shocking, yet common. One in four women experience domestic abuse and one in three sexual violence in their lifetime. Our aim is to raise awareness and funds for Refuge, who work tirelessly 24/7 to support those who experience domestic abuse.”
To support Refuge and purchase tickets to this performance of Shakespeare’s Women on 7 January 2024, click here: https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/shakespeares-women/
BRAVA offers personalised training in the art and business of voiceover and is aimed at professionals who are interested in adding voice acting to their skillset.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Refuge
All profits will be donated to Refuge. Refuge is the largest specialist domestic abuse organisation in the UK. On any given day Refuge services support thousands of survivors, helping them overcome the physical, emotional, financial and logistical impacts of abuse and rebuild their lives — free from fear.
Refuge helpline no: 0808 2000 247
Tickets: https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/shakespeares-women/
About BRAVA
Founded by experienced voice actor and communications consultant, Melissa Thom, BRAVA brings together acting and voice experts from the UK & US to deliver best in class training and advice about the industry.
Training is offered as personalised sessions and cover a wide range of topics, including Getting Started in VO, Corporate, Commercial and Narration, Characters, Audiobooks, Performance Techniques, Home Studio, Marketing, Vocal Health, Acting, VO & Shakespeare, Voice, Presence, Impact, Presentation Skills and more.
Find out more at www.brava.uk.com
Join Weston College in the heart of Bristol to learn more about supporting the next generation of creatives! Are you looking at offering work placements? Internships?
Looking to grow your team?
Give back to a new generation through guest lecture and project work?
Want to find out more about Weston College? We may surprise you….
The Faculty of Creative Arts Employer Forum is designed to work alongside industry to deliver industry aligned curriculum, work experiences, progression and employment routes and pipeline talent. Courses covered at Weston College and University Centre Weston include:
Game & Animation
Creative and Digital Media
Broadcast, Journalism and Podcasts
Performing Arts and Theatre
Art and Design – including fashion, textiles and business
Photography
https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/creative-arts-and-design-courses-16-18-year-olds
Tuesday 7th November
6-8pm
Bristol Training Institute, 12 Colston Avenue, BS1 4ST
RSVP lynsey.mckinstry@weston.ac.uk
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