Managing Remotely workshop - inclusion of managing hybrid teams (Summer 2020)

In response to feedback received from previous attendees on the session, the Managing Remotely workshop has been updated to include best practice in managing hybrid teams, to acknowledge that a number of teams now have some staff working on campus and others working at home.

A-Z added to the SL&D StaffNet site (Summer 2020)

We received feedback that some staff were struggling to find information on our StaffNet pages. In response to this, a new A-Z search tool has been developed to help navigate our site. This can be used to search for a specific topic or course, or to simply view the range of resources and information that is available. 

University Welcome Event (Summer 2020)

During lockdown a number of new starters joined us at the University, and in many cases had not met their new teams in person yet or had visited our campus. In July, the University Welcome Event was offered to new starters virtually for the first time, to provide them with an opportunity to find out more about working here and meet other new starters and member of the University’s leadership team.

The SL&D team ran a focus group to understand how new starters experienced the event, and crucially what could be improved to make it the best possible welcome into the University. As a result of this focus group, some key improvements were made to the event:

• More information before the event so new starters know what to expect on the day
• A follow-up pack of information with key contacts and links sent out to everyone who attended
• The groups for the activities during the session remained the same throughout to give a better opportunity to get to know people
• Examples were provided of how staff are living the University values to help bring them to life

Thank you to everyone who attended the focus group and gave feedback.

The University Welcome Event continues to be offered virtually for all new starters who join the University. 

Review of learning priorities with shift to remote working (Spring 2020)

With the recent period of change and move to remote working, in May we asked what your learning needs are working in this context. A total of 56 staff from across the University gave feedback and there were three key areas that were highlighted.

1. Managing staff remotely was highlighted by 74% of staff as a learning need in the current context
2. Career development and planning was identified by 72% of staff as a priority
3. Leading a virtual team was highlighted by 58% of staff

In response to your feedback, the SL&D team have been developing a number of learning resources and programmes to support the learning needs of staff during this period:

• Managing Virtually, a new remote workshop facilitated via Zoom has been launched aimed at managers with remote teams or individuals
• A Career Development Guide has been developed to support staff with planning and developing their career. It is structured based on the amount of time you have with quick-access materials that will take you 10 minutes, through to more in depth online courses which will take up to 3 hours
• A collection of resources has been curated with relevant topics to support staff and managers whilst working during uncertain times
• Our existing Leading Through Change and Developing Personal Resilience for Change workshops have been developed into virtual sessions to enable staff to access while working remotely