A Toolkit for New Professionals (June 2014)

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A Toolkit for New Professionals

Catherine Lillie and Nicola Owen

Manchester, Friday 27 June 2014

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Welcome and Introductions

By the end of the day you will be able to:

• Understand a range of approaches to workload planning, time management and prioritisation

• Consider how to use resources and solve problems effectively

• Have a greater understanding of how to work well with others

• Have an appreciation of communication skills

• Know how to identify your own competencies and confidence in a range of professional behaviours

• Adopt a planned approach to career development

• Share best practice and learn from the experiences of others

• Take a range of tools and techniques back to the workplace

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Introductions

• Who you are

• What you do and where

• Two images-

1. how you feel right now

2. where you’d like to be by the end of the day

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Personal Effectiveness

In this section:

- Time management

- Managing workload

- Prioritisation

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Time management

Wasters and drains

Top tips

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Time management

Last minute

Emotional response

Lack of control

Under prepared / unconfident

Unprofessional / demoralising

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Time management

Last minute

Time squeeze

Focus efforts

Other tasks slip

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Workload management

Group exercise:

It’s 9am and you have just been asked to complete two urgent reports, for two different managers. They will each take around six hours to complete and the deadline for each of them is 9am the following morning.

What do you do?

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Task management

Identify goals Project manage Work backwards from deadlines

Plate spinning

Action plan

Say no Don’t

procrastinate

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Prioritisation

Exercise: In Trays

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Refreshment break!

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Role Effectiveness

In this section:

- Creative problem solving

- Lateral thinking

- Using resources

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Problem solving and lateral thinking

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Problem solving

EXERCISE:

communication break-down

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Using resources

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Lunch!

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Working with Others

In this section:

- Dealing with challenging situations

- Understanding yourself and others

- Negotiation and influencing

- Delivering feedback

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Dealing with challenging situations

“It’s my tag”

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Dealing with challenging situations

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Understanding yourself and others

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Understanding yourself and others

Other tools and diagnostics to find out more about yourself and others:

Schein’s career anchors 360 feedback

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Delivering feedback

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Delivering feedback

Feedback Criticism

Seeks solutions Seeks to apportion blame

Forward looking Dwells in the past

Is objective Is subjective

Is tough on problems Is tough on people

Giving Feedback - Balanced - Observed - Objective - Specific - Timely Receiving Feedback - Listen - Clarify - Analyse - Respond

Taken from the Pansophix Useful Guide to Feedback

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Negotiation

The process of…

- Identifying variables*

- Discussing options

- Agreeing terms

* 3 Variables

1. What you must gain, retain or are not prepared to lose

2. What you would prefer to gain or retain

3. What you are prepared to lose

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Influencing

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Working across office boundaries

Delegation

Two decisions:

1. Which responsibilities or tasks do you want someone to carry out on your behalf?

2. How much authority you are giving them to complete it?

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Working across office boundaries

Managing Upwards

Knowledge and understanding Be prepared Give concise

information

Know when to escalate

Share the good news

Identify alternatives

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Good Communication

In this section:

- Professional writing

- Using meetings

- Getting your message across verbally

- Effective Powerpoint

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Professional Writing

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Using meetings

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Verbal communication

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• This is not the best way to get your message across by PowerPoint.

• There are too many words and bullet points on the page and some long paragraphs.

• There is a lot of detail, but it will make very little impact. You might as well give people a written paper rather than present by PowerPoint.

• You cannot read small font very well on the screen and some people will be short sighted.

• If you just speak to the words on the screen, you will not communicate well. PowerPoint is only one part of a presentation. It is a communication aid but only as part of a wider range of communication methods, such as verbal and non-verbal. It can help provide a structure and narrative to a meeting but it is not a crutch for you to use to ensure that you remember what to say or don’t have to look at the audience. Modulate your voice and do not drone on.

• The point of your slides is to illustrate or expand what you are going to say to your audience.

• You should know what you are going to say and then visualise it – so planning a script is important. Have a narrative – a beginning, middle and end. Use one point per slide – people will read the slide and if you give them the next points they will have already moved on and not concentrate on you. Use animation to reveal your points. But not too much or it will cause nausea. And use images sparingly.

• Sometimes it is best not to use PowerPoint at all, or present and then use one slide to circulate as an aide memoire.

Effective Powerpoint

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Effective Powerpoint

Make 3 Points

Tell a Story

Keep it Visual

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Refreshment break!

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Career Planning and Development

In this section:

- Careers in HE

- Career planning and recording development

- Using the AUA Accredited Membership Framework

Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there

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Career Planning and Development

Career (n): one’s advancement through life, especially in a profession

Career (v): to move or swerve about wildly

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Careers in HE

Did you intend to build a career in HE or

was it an ‘accident’?

Was your current role a planned and managed career move?

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Careers in HE Potential factors impacting on career progression for UK HE

PSS staff

Career Progression

Appraisal

External Factors

- Hera

- Financial climate

- Labour market

PESTLE

Professional silos

External appointments Advice,

support, training

Restructuring

Development opportunities

Line Manager

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Career Planning

Visualisation Exercise

Spend two minutes imagining you could design your perfect job description- with its own pay

structure, working hours and conditions and job elements. Note down your ideas.

What would you do in your career? What

elements of your current role would you keep, lose or change?

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Planning and recording development

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Planning and recording development

Reflective practice

Concrete

experience

Observations and reflections

Formation of abstract concepts

(Experimental) actions

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The Accredited Membership Framework

CPD

Capability

Reflection

CPD

Capability

Reflection

Accredited Member

Member Fellow

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Evaluation and reflection

• Understand a range of approaches to workload planning, time management and prioritisation

• Consider how to use resources and solve problems effectively

• Have a greater understanding of how to work well with others

• Have an appreciation of communication skills

• Know how to identify your own competencies and confidence in a range of professional behaviours

• Adopt a planned approach to career development

• Share best practice and learn from the experiences of others

• Take a range of tools and techniques back to the workplace

www.aua.ac.uk inspiring professional higher education

Evaluation and reflection

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More information at www.aua.ac.uk

Email: aua@aua.ac.uk

Call: 0161 275 2063

Association of University Administrators (AUA) @The_AUA