Staff Development

We offer a range of Leadership and Management Programmes to suit those at different stages in their careers. From open courses to our accredted programmes we are here to help support you through your leadership and management  journey.

Management Modules for Professional Services and Academic Line Managers

(formerly Middle Management Programme) 

The first Inclusive commitment of Aberdeen 2040 is to “care for the wellbeing, health and safety of our diverse community, supporting and developing our people to achieve their full potential”.

One the ways in which we aim to achieve this objective is to provide our Managers/Team Leaders and Academic Line Managers with the skills and knowledge to feel confident and empowered to support their staff, through the duration of their empoyment. These interactive sessions will also provide a great opportunity to network and share practice with colleagues from Directorates and Schools. 

We have renamed the training to extend access to colleagues who may not be in a middle management role but who still have line management responsibilities and will also benefit from attending the modules. If you engaged with middle management programme last year the modules remain the same so no requirement to attend again, however you are welcome to book on the new modules that have been added to this years’ schedule.

Aims

Colleagues from key areas across the University have contributed to the delivery providing you with their expertise to support you in the operational aspects of your role. The modular approach is designed so that you can choose which sessions you would like to attend to enhance your knowledge and skills in that particular area. However, a discussion with your line manager is recommended to help identify development needs and planning around attendance.

Launch event

We would actively encourage participation in the online Launch event where Karl Leydecker will be setting the Management Modules in the context of Aberdeen 2040 and managing teams in a University setting. The event will take place on the 6^th March from 14.05 to 15.05. Please see booking information below to register for this and all other Modules.

Attendance

All modules will be delivered face to face and online (please note face to face sessions will have limited places due to venue capacity). The modules will be delivered twice throughout the year.

As with all our traning sessions, we would be really grateful if you have booked to attend a module that you are able to commit to joining on the day (extenuating circumstances being an exception) .The facilitator reserves the right to cancel the session if the attendance falls below 10 people prior to the event or on the day.

Reminder e-mails will be sent two weeks prior to the module date. Please note the Teams link in your calendar to access online sessions or it can also be found on your course booking.

Schedule

Please click here for all the dates and modules.

Booking your modules

All modules can be booked by visiting the online course bookings system: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking

Contact

If you require any further information, please contact clare.trembleau@abdn.ac.uk

Leading and Managing 101

We are pleased to launch a new 3-part course, Leading and Managing 101, this replaces the ever-popular Essential Supervisory Skills and is pitched at an Introductory level to support staff who have just started to, or are aspiring to, line manage or supervise other staff. 

To find out more about this course or to book click here.

ILM Qualification Courses

The University of Aberdeen has been an ILM accredited centre since 2012, allowing us to offer University specific programmes in Leadership and Management Development coupled with the formal qualification from the ILM.

We offer:

• Aspiring manager: ILM Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management
• ILM Project Management Course
• Experienced Manager: ILM Level 5 Certificate in Leadership and Management

For full details of all the ILM courses on offer please refer to our Leadership Course Booklet here.

Mentoring is about one person, usually more experienced, helping another to make continuous improvements in skills, knowledge, work or thinking, outside the normal line management relationship.

It is an excellent developmental opportunity that affords many benefits for the mentee: helping individuals to integrate; to deal with change; to acquire increased understanding and knowledge of the organisation and its culture; to acquire new skills and to grow in confidence; to help them take responsibility for their own development, and to become self-sufficient in resolving issues.

If you do decide to become a mentor, it would be helpful to ensure your StaffNet profile is up to date. Guidance on this can be found here.

We have produced an interactive guide which gives more information about the scheme and how it differs from coaching, buddying, counselling and probation mentoring.

• If you feel you are ready to sign up as either a mentor or mentee then you can do so here.
• If you are a new mentor and would like to book on to the mentor training, click here.

Mentoring Support for Parents/Carers

We now have a number of Mentors trained to support Parents and Carers. You can register to request a Mentor or to become a Mentor if you have experience in this area through the link below.

https://sumac.ac.uk/account/university-of-aberdeen/university-of-aberdeen-mentoring-scheme

The Staff Development Team are here to support new members of staff and their line managers in ensuring a smooth induction process. The central process is:

• All new staff are emailed and should look over the Online Induction Pack prior the them starting and use this as a reference point as they begin their careers with us.
• The line manager and new member of staff should complete the Induction Checklist within the first month and return this to staff development to support the local induction.
• The line manager and new member of staff should discuss the Onboarding activities document to ensure the new member of staff can access information, staff networks and different teams that offer information support and professional development opportunities.
• All new staff will be emailed an invite to the bi-annual New Staff Networking Event to help them embed in to the wider University community.

If you have any queries then please get in touch with us.

Birkman is a psychometric tool that allows individuals and teams to better understand their personality The Birkman methods measures several aspects of personality including us at our best, what our expectations of others is and what happens under stress.

They represent a unique aspect regarding one’s approach, style, and areas of motivation. Both Clare and Caron are Birkman Certified Professionals and can administer the questionnaire and a feedback session for both individual development as well as for in-depth team development.

If you would like to learn more about how Birkman can help you or your team then please get in touch with us.

For more information click here.

Both Clare and Caron in the Staff Development Team are accredited practitioners in Belbin Team Roles and can help you to unlock the full potential of your team.

We can work with you to put together a bespoke workshop to give you these insights along with individual and team Belbin reports.

To find out more please get in touch by email or phone to see how understanding Belbin can help increase the productivity and satisfaction of your team.

For more information click here

The University of Aberdeen in partnership with St Andrews University have a pool of qualified coaches available help to you reach your professional goals. If you are interested in being matched with a coach, then please register here and a member of the Staff Development Team will be in touch.

A full list of available coaches across both Aberdeen and St Andrews is available here

We also offer the ILM Level 3 Award in Effective Coaching to enable staff to become a qualified coach and join the coaching pool. If you would be interested in learning more about this course please contact Clare Trembleau.

While we try and run a range of programmes and courses to suit the majority of needs across the University sometimes there may be a requirement for something more bespoke.

If you feel you or your team have a particular need that is not captured in our Staff Development Interactive Guide, then please get in touch with us to discuss your needs further.

To find out more about the team and how we can support you please see our Staff Development Interactive Guide.

Tel: +44 (0) 1224 27 3963

Email: staffdevelopment@abdn.ac.uk

Along with all the other Learning and Development opportunities that we extend to all staff, this resource provides some helpful links for Technician Specific Development. 

These events are run independently of the University and may incur a cost so please discuss any attendance with your line manager and book directly with the provider. 

MI Talent

https://www.mitalent.ac.uk/TSN

National Technicians Development Centre 

Higher Education and Technician Educational Development (HEaTED)

To enable staff to learn at a time that suits them we have partnered with Skill Boosters to make available a range of eLearning sessions to supplement our existing live courses and workshops. These are free to access for all staff and have been divided into three main categories: Working Effectively, Leading & Managing, and Inclusion, Equality & Diversity.

To see all the full range of courses click here to visit our dedicated page.