Ellie McCarthy

"You spend a huge percentage of your life working, so do it for, and alongside, people you like, and who charge your battery rather than drain it. Use your time wisely."

Happy 20 years @wjdesign.bsky.social . And thank you to you, @chrishammond64.bsky.social and Steph ❤️

How to bring more play into your team – and why you should Bringing more play into your team is not about forcing fun, it’s about creating space for laughter, positive thinking and presence. When play is part of…

Every leader wants their team to do great work and feel great doing it. What if the key to unlocking that joy and productivity was as simple as play?

How to bring more of it into your team ⬇️

www.williamjoseph.co.uk/blog/how-to-...

How to run effective retrospectives by making them fun, flexible, and… However, to keep them valuable, it’s essential to mix up formats, connect discussions to current events, and ensure a positive, action-focused atmosphere.…

In our latest blog, we discuss retros.

They’ve become a big part of our way of working and have helped the team become closer and collaborate more effectively.

Read on to get practical tips for keeping them fresh and useful, and get in touch if we can help.

Love this group so much and incredibly proud people keep coming back 📚

Thank you so much for sharing @ruthstokeswords.bsky.social, we're so glad you enjoyed it.

It was a really special group at the first Content Community of Practice, and we can't wait to share a summary of the themes in the coming weeks.

Well done @yasgeorgiou.bsky.social for making it happen

It's been an exciting couple of weeks for us since the new @booktrust.org.uk website launched, and we're really pleased and proud to share the new booktrust.org.uk with everyone involved in getting children reading 📖.

Problems to solve: a simple technique to shape your project Discover how shifting from traditional requirements gathering to a "problems to solve" approach can simplify your digital projects, improve focus, and…

Ever been in a project kickoff where the list of “must-have” features keeps growing… but no one can quite explain why?

Focusing on problems to solve instead of just gathering requirements can transform the way you build products, websites, and services.

www.williamjoseph.co.uk/blog/problem...

Networking events: how to survive (and even enjoy) them if you hate… But here’s the good news: networking doesn’t have to be like that. So, if you’d rather do anything else than ‘work the room’, here are some practical ways…

There are lots of ways to make networking events feel a little less intimidating...

🤝 Bring a networking buddy
🎯 Set low-stress goals
🎤 Volunteer to introduce a speaker
🧠 Do your homework before you arrive
☕ Find the quiet spots (the real third places!)

www.williamjoseph.co.uk/blog/network...

Designing for equity in practice How the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Film & TV Charity are designing for equity by tackling systemic barriers in funding and the creative industries.

Equity needs leadership, not just good intentions. Designing equitable services is not just about doing the right thing. It’s about doing better work. We've shared how we’re putting equity into practice in real design projects ➡️

www.williamjoseph.co.uk/blog/designi...

Charity Book Club - May (in-person) We’ll be meeting in person to discuss Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

We've been supporting @charitybookclub.bsky.social for over 5 years with the space to meet, refreshments, and a donation to a chosen charity.

Next event:
🗓️ Tues 6 May
🕕 18:00-19:30
📌 The Perseverance, Lamb's Conduit Street, London
📘 Doppleganger by Naomi Klein

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/charity-bo...

Our impact 2024 As a certified B Corp, we are legally bound to consider people, planet and profit when making decisions

🌍 March is #BCorpMonth. We'd proud to have been a B Corp since 2021.

We use the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to categorise and measure our impact. Find out how we did that in 2024 in our impact review ⬇️

www.williamjoseph.co.uk/our-impact-2...

Remote-first is people-first This has allowed us to work with people from a wider variety of perspectives than would have ever been possible before. If you’re part of a team then that…

Remote-first is people-first.

We believe that the way we work should support our people to do their best work. That’s why we’ve built a remote-first culture that prioritises flexibility, collaboration, and trust.

www.williamjoseph.co.uk/blog/remote-...

Charity Book Club - May (in-person) We’ll be meeting in person to discuss Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

📢 Our May event is here - Doppleganger by Naomi Klein 📢

🗓️ Tuesday 6 May
🕕 18:00-19:30
📌 The Perseverance pub, Lamb's Conduit Street, London
📘 Doppleganger by Naomi Klein

Sign up for your place:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/charity-bo...

Screenshot of zoom call with book club members

Screenshot of zoom call with book club members

Easy-read, interesting-concept, basic, reflective, imaginative, comforting, fascinating

Thank you for all our wonderful book club members that could join us this evening to discuss The Midnight Library.

We had a rich conversation about science fiction, mental health, choice, and what it means to reflect on your life.

We scored it a 7 out of 10.

Digital leaders retrospective January 2025 Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and X are key social media platforms for many charities and not-for-profit organisations and the digital leaders shared…

Our January digital leaders retrospective covered a broad range of topics:
🫠 Navigating the changing Meta and X landscape
🎖️ 2025 team development priorities
🛠️ Digital upskilling and decentralisation
💜 Recognising how important culture is for AI policies
www.williamjoseph.co.uk/blog/digital...

🗓️ Our first event of 2025 is fast approaching! 🗓️

Join us virtually on Tues 11 Feb to discuss Matt Haig's The Midnight Library.

There's still plenty of time read the book and come along for wonderful chat about mental health, regret, and the meaning of life.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/charity-bo...

Well done social team @rnib.bsky.social 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

I’m biased, but this event is brilliant for charity digital leaders and spaces go quickly ⬇️

Spotify Wrapped - top song was Let it Go

Spotify Unwrapped - top 5 songs all from Frozen or Sing 2

Top 0.1% fan for Indel

Tell me you have a 3 year old without telling me you have a 3 year old

Running in a winter wonderland this morning ❄️

Running 1-2 times a week is one of my non negotiables at the moment

Business planning: how to get the best out of digital Here are a few guiding principles on how to approach business planning with the strategic, transformation-focused mindset that digital leaders need.…

'Tis the season... business planning shouldn’t be about stacking projects onto a roadmap – it’s about setting a real direction for your organisation where digital can drive lasting change.

We've shared some guiding principles for approaching business planning with a digital mindset

Oh thank you lovely, you’re the second person to recommend her today

Such a lovely idea from Charity Digital Benchmark - thanks for having me at Cause, Cake & Chat this morning to talk about donation journey optimisation for homelessness.

@elliemccarthy.bsky.social doing a brilliant job of curating this @wjdesign.bsky.social #techforgood list 🔥

Comment/tag on the post to add people! ⬇️

A Tech for Good starter pack we're playing with at @wjdesign.bsky.social - go.bsky.app/2QUg1ZB

Who are we missing?

Mum talk: I stopped breastfeeding my now 3 year old when she was 10 months old, just before my hen do. I still feed my 13 month old, but I’m ready to stop. He refuses a bottle or cup
at nursery so I feed all through the night 😬 any messages of hope?!

We had a wonderful evening with Katherine May for a Q&A on her book ‘Wintering’.

We talked about a huge range of subjects including wintering rituals, cultural differences in how people read the book, cold water swimming bucket lists, and how to inspire others to slow down.

5 Steps to Ensure Your Charity’s Website Rebuild is a Success Planning a website rebuild for your charity? Learn 5 actionable steps to streamline the process, avoid common pitfalls, and create a website that delivers…

What should you do at the same time as rebuilding your website?

1. Make the most of the chance to speak to your audiences
2. Get your people familiar with your content
3. Clear your diary - and your head!

...find out the rest in our latest blog from @yasgeorgiou.bsky.social

When I joined Bluesky last year, alt-text was new to me, and it seemed tedious, and kind of scolding.

Since then, I feel it as an act of kindness, care, and inclusion, and it’s become automatic to include descriptions on every image.

I hope it becomes like 2nd nature for you too.

It feels good.

I was thinking only the other day how I have missed you buddy!