WE REFRESHED OUR LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT OFFER
People First Promise: We will create opportunities to build the capability of our staff
When our People and Culture Strategy, People First, launched in March 2018, we made a commitment to put our people at the centre of everything we do at Queen’s. Our last Staff Survey revealed that only half of you felt that there were opportunities for personal development and growth at the University. To address this, we’ve committed to ensuring that all of our people have the chance to build their capability, empowering them to take responsibility for their own learning and development while ensuring effectiveness in their current role and readiness for future progression.
To achieve this, we’ve refreshed our Learning and Development offer. Development comes in lots of different forms: experiential learning through on the job opportunities, coaching and mentoring from line manager or colleagues, networking internally and externally – face to face or via social media – online courses and resources and training courses. Staff are keen to have greater control over their learning and flexibility around how and when they access it, favouring bite-size development accessed in real time.
Learning for All
A comprehensive range of personal and professional opportunities are now available for all staff without grade restriction under a new programme, ‘Learning for All’. We have moved from the traditional one-two day courses to more easily accessible half-day sessions. There are currently 12 courses on offer, covering topics such as ‘Responding to Change’ and ‘Communicating Effectively’. You can access further information here.
There’s been lots of positive feedback from those who have attended Learning for All sessions, with one member of staff commenting, “It was really interesting to discover my communication style and how to work with colleagues who have a different style of communication. There was a real buzz around the room and it was great to network with staff from other areas of the University.”
LinkedIn Learning
To complement these short courses, we are currently trialling LinkedIn Learning, an online resource offering over 13,000 expert led online courses and video tutorials. LinkedIn Learning can be accessed in real time on a range of devices, providing flexibility for the user to manage their own development, choosing topics of interest and learning on demand at a time that suits.
Over 450 employees are involved in the trial. To date, they have viewed 7,500 videos across 1,500 courses. You’ve been letting us know what you think with one user commenting, “this is a great resource that everyone should make more of an effort to use”. To get involved in the trial visit our website
People Manager Essentials
The Employee Experience is the perception that employees develop about their workplace. This perception is created through experience of the key policies, processes and procedures at work and also every interaction from recruitment, induction, appraisal, progression, recognition, right through to when we leave the University.
Our People Managers have a significant responsibility for shaping the Employee Experience. Not only are involved in shaping and implementing many of the key policies, processes and procedures that influence how employees feel about working at Queen’s, but they are also set the tone for many of the crucial employee interactions.
To ensure that our line managers have the capability and confidence to be great People Managers, a new People Manager Essentials programme has been developed and a pilot is now underway. The programme is designed to build understanding, knowledge and skills to enable you to effectively manage staff with confidence.
For more information on the pilot, visit our webpages here.
Administrative Skills
A further aspect of our new L&D offering is an exciting range of Administrative Skills courses. Structured around the two strands of Fundamental and Advanced Skills, these flexible programmes made up of a series of half-day sessions include topics aimed at developing practical skills such as customer service, note taking and supporting meetings, as well as offering skills development around PA Skills, contributing in meetings and providing feedback to others. You can access further information here.
Leadership & Management Framework
The culture at Queen’s is influenced by the behaviours and example of our leaders. You told us in our last Staff Survey that we need to improve the visibility and impact of our leaders and we’re taking steps to address this. Our new Leadership & Management Framework defines what leadership excellence looks like at Queen’s. The Framework will be used to design a new suite of development programmes, Connected Leaders, to help build the capability and impact of our leaders. The Leadership & Management framework will be launched next month, with more details to follow.