I am, what I am

Do you currently feel outside of your comfort zone? If the answer is yes, then you’re not alone. If the answer is no, then you’re missing an opportunity to grow, and I hope that this short story, about a recent experience of mine will encourage you to seek opportunities to better yourself both personally and professionally.

Public speaking to large crowds of people has never been something I ever felt any good at and it’s something I have been largely able to avoid throughout my career. After all, who wants to put themselves into a position where they feel out of their depth and cause themselves unnecessary stress and anxiety? However, over the years I have realised that confronting these things head on by operating outside your comfort zone is a critical component to personal growth.

So, I finally did something about my public speaking challenge thanks to some advice from a colleague [Jane White] and, a few months ago, joined Toastmasters International which is a US headquartered, non-profit educational organisation that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of promoting communication, public speaking, and leadership. I joined the club in Plymouth and as part of the educational pathway, I have been challenged to speak to audiences on various topics.

My first speech was called “I am what I am” and is based on a quote from Charlie Chaplin:

“I am what I am: an individual, unique and different, with a lineal history of ancestral promptings and urgings; a history of dreams, desires, and of special experiences, all of which I am the sum total.”

The pathway and club provide a safe environment to learn and prepare for my first speech. But, even so, as the days counted down to the big day, I felt the pressure building and had to spend time in the evenings and weekends to prepare for this inaugural speech. I have to admit there were times when I thought about delaying it as I was too busy at work and I would be better resourced to do it in 4 weeks. Thankfully, I kept to the mission and set myself some small goals, creating a plan taking me up to the day of the speech. I found that this really helped and each time I met the goal I felt an achievement which gave me the motivation to reach the next goal and so on.

Writing the content was the easy part; reflecting on whether it was DNA, life experience or both which made me who I am today. Having done some research, I concluded there is no easy answer and therefore felt that it was a combination of both. I touched on my humour which I know I got from my father, he was a funny man, and like me enjoyed the “work hard, play hard” motto. At the end of it all I really enjoyed writing because it came from a place of interest and desire to better myself. 

After plenty of practice the night finally arrived, and I had to deliver this first public speech to a virtual audience, hearing the words “ready when you are”. There was almost a moment of “oh no” but the robot switched on and I went and delivered my talk. Throughout the speech I continually focused on body language, facial expressions, vocal tone as well as remembering my cues which were on a little cheat sheet stuck to my screen (the benefit of virtual presenting!).

On finishing the speech, I felt like I had been on an emotional rollercoaster and I felt shattered later that evening but also elated after a real humbling amount of positive feedback from the evaluator. I am now planning my second speech, so if anyone has any ideas for my next topic do let me know.

Why am I bothering writing this? Well, it’s certainly not to bore you. I hope to inspire and encourage you to push yourself out of your comfort zone. I have always been an advocate for the saying “you reap what you sow” and opportunities rarely land on laps, so seek out those opportunities and don’t give up. I am still in the ‘sow’ stage but hope, one day, to be able to stand on stage in front of a large audience and achieve my long-term goal. Hard work does pay off and I encourage you to go and grab any opportunities out there for self-betterment and above all else – pride!

Paul Jones, Chief Information Officer

Photo by Aatik Tasneem on Unsplash

Mental Health – a journey not a destination

Mental Health Recovery – it’s a journey not a destination. At least that’s how I have come to view my own experience.

I’d love to tell you that I am on the road to recovery and whilst I can see the end it isn’t a finite chequered flag of success. It’s filling my car with all the necessary paraphernalia to keep it running smoothly and knowing what those things are. Sure, there are going to be bumps, the odd breakdown but in the end, I keep moving forward. And that’s all anyone can do.

My battle with anxiety started when I was around 10 years old. 20+ years on and I’ve collected up the titles of Anxiety, PTSD, Depression, Seasonal Anxiety and Post-Natal Depression. Gulp! Typing it out doesn’t sit too comfortably to be honest so this isn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever written.

Ironic isn’t it? My job is to tell the stories about the amazing people and work Delt [and it’s staff] does yet writing my own story feels overwhelming, vulnerable and, if I’m honest, sets off my little anxiety chimp who is screaming at me ‘but what if everyone hates it!?’

Deep breath, here goes…

This post, whilst fully intending to raise awareness of the barriers of Mental Health and the difficulties in talking about it. I’m also writing it as an open thank you to all those who have and continue to support me – including Delt.

I was lucky enough to be given access to crucial Mental Health services, Plymouth is pretty well resourced compared to some parts of the country. When I had my son, I was put on a regular visiting programme through my Health Visitor which meant she saw me weekly (something most mums would never have and not at all during Covid). Alongside that I was referred to Perinatal and CAMHS/IMHT who equally supported me through my PTSD and Post-Natal Depression.

Three years on, and I have since accessed additional therapy, worked on self-educating myself on what is good and bad for my MH. What makes the anxiety more bearable (if that’s possible) and avoiding things that simply make it skyrocket. Of course, that is easier said than done in some cases. Because the reality of children is that they manifest a whole other version of your anxieties. Everything I learnt; all the coping mechanisms I skilfully deployed pre-child became obsolete. Useless. I had to start again.

Amongst all of that, something compelled me to find a new job. I needed stability, routine and an opportunity to think about something else. Focus on something other than what was deemed to be ‘wrong’ with me and stop allowing it to weigh me down. It pushed me out of my comfort zone but into a place that was somewhat familiar to me. I always enjoyed working before Maternity Leave, but it felt scary this time around.

Yet, with Delt I needn’t be fearful. Delt prioritises employee wellbeing, and it shows. They supported me through a really difficult period of grief – and continue to do so. Their resources are pretty cool too with a 24-hour Employee Assistant Programme, wellbeing portal filled with workouts, healthy recipes, self-help guides and so much more. Alongside that the business has trained Mental Health First Aiders who are an initial point of contact for anyone who may need some guidance on where to go and who to speak to.

I know these things aren’t unusual in modern workplaces, anymore, but the thing with Delt is that they go further. From small gestures to ensure you know that you are appreciated and valued to regular wellness check-ins throughout the pandemic to ensure no one feels isolated.

It’s been a tricky year for many of us but working for an organisation that is not only willing to offer support but cares enough to do it well has been invaluable to me. It’s made coming to work easy, it’s given me the drive I need to keep moving forward for myself and my family.

If you’re struggling, there are places and people who can help please don’t be afraid to reach out. It could change your life!

DevonMind
Livewell South West
Mental Health Foundation
First Response 24/7 helpline for adults living in Plymouth 0800 923 9323
Young People 24/7 helpline for those under 18 living in Plymouth 01752 435122
Samaritans Helpline 116 123

Jessica Turner, Marketing & Communications Manager

Photo by Vlad Bagacian on Unsplash

When you needed something yesterday

It’s a question we ask often “When do you need that by?” and sometimes it is met with a date in the not-too-distant future and others it is a case of ‘yesterday?’.

To support our customers with the amazing work they have, and continue to do, Delt have become very good at taking a deep breath, asking exactly what they need and getting to work (at sometimes what feels like lightning speed). I’m always impressed to see how quickly the wheels can start spinning when everyone is working towards a collective goal.

That was exactly what happened when the request came in from Devon CCG for a way to manage Covid-19 vaccination bookings for thousands of front-line key workers. This came with a couple of caveats,

1. It needed to be ready and live within 3 days to support the rapid roll out of the first vaccination doses.
2. It had to be relatively budget friendly.

 “An easy one then?” from me feeling slightly nervous but followed by getting stuck straight in. This ended up leading into a very rewarding piece of work and an incredible collaborative team effort mainly done through a MS Teams chat simply titled “Help!” and a lot of virtual meetings and cups of coffee.

The first challenge was identifying what tool could could provide the best solution and be up and running – fast! Luckily, I had done a bit of work earlier in the year, for the customer, supporting their Flu Vaccine programme for staff. We had used the Microsoft Bookings tools for this, so that seemed like a good place to start.

Nothing is ever that easy though, right? The spanner in the works was that this was for members of the public and coordinated across multiple hospitals who all had different requirements for the information they got sent and when they needed it. We settled on expanding the functionality of the Booking tool with the Power Automate tool. As both of these were available within their existing Microsoft subscriptions it simply meant reusing what was already available. Big win all round! 

This led to many hours of working with their Digital Team to get the flows and data export that was needed. As anyone who has developed in this way before, and by that, I mean fast and with constantly changing requirements, you will appreciate that it is an emotional roller coaster. There is nothing quite like spending ages trying to get a flow or bit of code to work to get that final wonderful movie moment where you see the words Test Successful on the screen.

In the end, I am proud to say, that we produced a solid booking system with integrated reporting that was up and running in just 2 days; and ready to go live in 3. By the 4^th day hundreds of people had used it!

I talk to a lot of people in my role about the power of the tools available to them and being able to use them in different ways, but it was great to get stuck in and utilise them to have real impact during such an important time. I would also admit that I quite enjoyed the pressure of it and having to problem solve quickly, I guess that’s part of the reason I volunteer as a policer office in my spare time… but that’s a story for another day!

Helen Day-Cocking; Product Manager, Modern Workplace

Photo by @veri_ivanova on Unsplash

A Small Cog in a Big Machine

Vaccinating the entire UK adult population as quick as possible strikes me as quite a daunting task. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t know where to start. But thankfully that isn’t the case. There’s a whole load of dedicated healthcare professionals who know what to do and are dedicated to tackling the greatest challenge, the country,  has faced since World War 2. There are so many cogs turning in the overall vaccination machine to make this work, it is impressive that it is in place and working smoothly. The UK is currently the 3rd highest in the world in terms of the percentage of doses administered to its population. And I find that pretty impressive.

When I think back to November last year when Delt were appointed to be just one small cog, in the overall vaccination machine, to ensure that the IT for the Primary Care Networks’ mass vaccination sites, within Devon, was arranged, set up and ready for the start. Ok, I do know where to start with that, and I knew that the teams at Delt could  do it. With a large proportion of the sites not being located at GP surgeries but rather at leisure centres, bowling greens, perhaps even a function centre with a bar. The scale of the task certainly didn’t pass me by and it was going to take some planning but I felt certain we would make it work. Above all else, this had to happen in a few weeks as programme would be moving at pace. I’d better strap myself in. This is going to take some doing.

And so, the work started to gather as much of the requirements together as possible. What locations were the vaccinations going to take place in? Do they already have a network that can be used? Is it fast enough to handle, potentially, a lot of users? How many laptops do they need? They need barcode scanners as well?! It was a lot of information to gather in a short period of time. Luckily, I was not alone and had Joe Unwin from the PMO co-managing the project with me. We were able to split the work up between us and get a solid picture as to what was needed.

Before long, we had laptops ready to go and scanners being delivered. We had brokered deals with other organisations to use their networks at their sites. We had bought additional 4G routers as back up plans (and there can never be enough back up plans!). By mid-December, the first week of sites going live with vaccinations had arrived and, with the help of some very dedicated members of our Service Desk, we were delivering IT equipment out to sites and having one final check before the big day. From that point onwards it became a bit of a blur. There was so much activity throughout the rest of December that we didn’t have time to pause for breath. But looking back, we played our part in getting the IT ready for all these sites, enabling them all to go live and come away unscathed without any insurmountable IT issues. 20 sites all up and running with the IT all in place and no major problems (I’d better touch wood when I say that…). Achieved by the dedication of numerous teams and individuals across Delt who put in the hours to make sure we were able to put in place what was needed and be ready to support them afterwards.

Fast forward to now (March) and the rate of vaccinations is still speeding up. I’m over 40 so I hear my time for a jab will be soon. And when I roll up my sleeve and try not to pass out at the sight of a needle, I will think back to the previous 4 months and how impressive the overall machine of the healthcare sector has been to put this all in place. And I am glad that Delt has been able to play its part by being even just a small cog in this machine.

Andy Fleming, Project Manager

Photo by Bill Oxford on Unsplash

Why I love Working in Technology… and you should too!  

When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up as a child, I would have said something between zookeeper, doctor and dancer depending on the time of the day. To be honest if you asked me today, I still probably don’t know but I do currently work in a field I enjoy and feel like I make a difference… which I think is really all that matters in the end. I have met and worked with incredible women. From those who are technical wizzes and code like they speak another language, others who are passionate about teaching digital skills and how much impact it can have on people’s lives and then those like me who solve problems and tell stories. However, what I can say with some certainty is there are not enough of them! I want to try and encourage women and girls to get into technology if I can, and I hope sharing some of my experience compared to what I thought it would be like can help do this.  

I have always been a nerd, the 3 science at A levels then studied Zoology at university variety, but I still never really considered working with computers. I even fished out an old report card the other day to find I had failed IT, so that wasn’t a strong start for my future career. I think one of the things that meant I never considered it, and might be the same reason for other girls and women out there, is the misconceptions I had around it like… It is a male dominated industry, so I will not fit in. I like to be creative, and computers are boring. I love working with people and want to make a difference and technology is all about machines.  

The first one is still true in some ways, it is a bit of a male dominated industry, but this is not by design and it is changing. The barriers are being broken down everywhere around what a “traditional” career looks like for women. I have always felt welcome in the tech community, there have been some obstacles and a couple of moments where someone has commented on me having a role that might have previously been a filled by a man, but I do not take that negatively. I am always proud that I am walking a new path and helping make change. If I can inspire a few others along the way even better.  

One of the main reasons I love my role is how creative I get to be. A large part of what I do is storytelling; listening to what problems people want to solve or the things they can’t do and telling them stories of how the future could be. I also know that coding is an art form, enterprise architecture is design work and innovation is all about ideas and thinking creatively. I think the roles in technology are also far broader than I ever imagined supporting the ever-changing nature of it. As a result of that you can find a way to be creative and carve out a role that you really enjoy. There can no longer be a set path when the destination is always changing, and the jobs around today weren’t exactly in the career booklet when I was at school.  

My final reservation was about people. I am a people person and a problem solver and what drives me is making meaningful change and helping people. Working in technology allows me to do that. It may all be run by machines, but it is useless without the people it aims to help. I see the real impact that modern technologies can make on people’s lives from the small everyday improvements, like using digital tools to manage their workday better, to big life changing moments where technology helps people be independent at home. I talk to people every day and I share stories with them and help solve their problems, and for me, that is what I love about this industry. This is also why I want to encourage more incredible women to join and be part of shaping the future of technology.  

Helen Day-Cocking
Product Manager, Modern Workplace

Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash