“Guests to the left, graduates to the right.”

Posted on 20th July 2016 by Emily

The marquee is up. The coffee stops are busy for the time of year. Smartly dressed people with multi generations of their family in tow are milling around. It must be that time of year again… Congregation (that’s graduation ceremonies for those of you who don’t know.)

The culmination of all those years of hard work, study, fun and learning has arrived and the students are about to become graduates – at their very own degree ceremony, alongside their peers, at Newcastle University.

Encouraged by my colleagues, I recently volunteered to marshal at one of the first Congregations of the season. Expecting it to be quite a functional experience of showing people where to go, I found it quite a privilege to be able to share this special day with our new graduates and their guests. This day is one of life’s major events and I got to observe their special occasion. Directing people to their seats, offering assistance where required, and meeting other members of staff also volunteering from right across the university.

Congregations

If you haven’t ever volunteered at one of these events or even if you have, but not for a long time, I would really recommend it. So next time the call goes out to staff for volunteers, it could be you saying,

“Guests to the left, graduates to the right.”

Guests to the left, Graduates to the right

Emily Thomas

360 degree feedback: What is it? How can it help?

Posted on 12th July 2016 by Emily

Why do we use 360 degree feedback?

What do you think makes a good leader? Is it their technical knowledge, their ability, their interpersonal skills? Research continuously shows that it is the emotional and relational aspects of leadership and management (in other words, people skills) that are critical and that the self-awareness is often the one thing that differentiates between an ok leader and an outstanding one. Research also shows that a leader’s knowledge about themselves and the impact they are having on those around them becomes more important the more senior they get. This is where 360 degree feedback is really powerful as it offers leaders a “reality check”. They get to hear how colleagues view their performance and receive feedback on what their colleagues think they could do to improve.

SelfTeamPeersManager graphic

So, how does it work?

360 degree feedback involves gathering and comparing feedback on an individual leader’s performance from others who work in more senior roles, equivalent roles and more junior roles around them (hence the “360 degree” in the title). Most typically it is the leader’s line manager, peers and direct reports that are asked to provide feedback but in some cases feedback is sought from colleagues in other areas of the organisation or from outside the organisation.

Often the process is based around an online questionnaire; the leader completes a questionnaire themselves (self rates) and then asks colleagues to do the same (others’ ratings).

It is important to remember that the results are anonymised. Once questionnaires are received a report is generated which allows a comparison between the differences in perception between the leader’s own self-rating and the ratings given by others. A skilled facilitator then takes the leader thorough the report to help them understand the results, identify the impact they are having and where they may need to change their leadership behaviour which then informs development conversations and activities. We use 360 degree feedback here at the university but for some of our senior leaders the feedback is not gained via an online questionnaire, but by highly skilled executive-level coaches who telephone/meet the leaders’ key colleagues and gather the feedback face to face. This summarised feedback, which is often rich in real life examples, is then collated into a report and shared face-to-face with the leader.

4829 (002) 360 Degree Feedback photo

For leaders to develop, honest feedback is essential. Confidentiality throughout the 360 process is paramount and feedback is always themed and fed back anonymously. Many of our executives and leaders have told us that their 360 degree feedback exercises, whilst often not easy to do, have been the single, most powerful way that they have been able to reflect on their performance and develop their leadership impact. You can read some of their comments here

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/staffdev/leadership/tools/feedback/experience.htm

Lynne Howlett

Employability and Equality

Posted on 20th June 2016 by Emily

Last Thursday a group of HR colleagues attended the annual regional awards dinner for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). We were finalists in the ‘employability and equality’ category and our submission highlighted our great progress in this area.

But of course, our work on equality is not about winning awards, or ticking boxes or reaching quotas. It’s about making sure we have the best people possible to teach and inspire our students, carry out world-leading research and work with communities, policy makers and businesses.

I’d like to illustrate this with a quick example that is close to my heart. On Saturday I attended a conference in London at a charity called Retinitis Pigmentosa Fighting Blindness. They support people who have my particular eye condition, but also they help fund research into potential treatments and hopefully one day a cure. There I heard a talk from Professor Linda Lako. She runs a research group at Newcastle University’s Institute of Genetic Medicine at the Centre for Life. Her team has developed cutting-edge techniques for growing retinal tissue from stem cells and that work is giving hope to millions of families that one day they will be able to save the sight of their loved ones.

There are many more examples in all sorts of fields, but not enough, particularly in science and engineering, and that’s not good for us – our economy and our prosperity depend on it. So our gender equality work is about ensuring that as an employer we do everything we can to attract, retain, develop and reward more brilliant women like Professor Lako. We are making progress but there is a lot still to do.

Richard Boggie

Action on Pay

Posted on 27th May 2016 by Emily

You may have noticed that we have had some people on campus with placards and handing out leaflets. They are UCU members who are taking strike action over a dispute about this year’s national pay negotiations. The employers have offered a 1.1% increase to all spine points with a more substantial increase for staff on the lowest points. I know some people will think 1.1% does not seem like very much. I think we should remember that most staff in the public sector will be getting a 1% increase and the offer is well above inflation which was 0.3% last month. We should also remember that many staff will also receive an incremental increase in August and others will receive a performance related increase. The employment package is not only about pay: we also have good pension schemes, good holidays and other terms and I believe most staff think the University is a good place to work.

The other campus unions, Unison and Unite, have also rejected the 1.1% offer and are deciding what to do next. I sincerely hope that this dispute can be resolved without our core activities being adversely affected. I am sure none of us wants to do anything that could prejudice the future success of the University.

Thankfully, industrial action is a rare occurrence which means that there will be uncertainty and many questions. A set of FAQ’s been developed which set out the University’s position on industrial action. This will be a living document which will be added to as new situations develop. In addition, I and my team of HR Managers will also be happy to answer any queries you might have.

Garry Coupland

General Wellbeing – from a NU Women Workshop

Posted on 17th May 2016 by Emily

I feel Resilient today. Even more than yesterday. Do you? Could this be due to the recent NU Women event on ‘Resilience’?

I have been consistently impressed with the quality of the speakers and workshops that NU Women have provided and again they did not disappoint. The events are open to all (not just women!) and are always very well attended. If you have not been to an event yet – I encourage you to attend. (Although they were operating a reserve list for this last event as they were so oversubscribed.)

What a powerful way to start a workshop. The room was buzzing with positivity! Try it with me now – visualise yourself at your best – imagine waking up tomorrow and being at your peak in terms of well-being, resilience to challenges etc. What would be different, who would notice and what would they say or do? (Note to self: Remember these feelings. File them away for when you need to call on them in challenging circumstances.) This was the discussion topic to share with our fellow diners and participants over a nourishing lunch.

Mandi Sherlock-Storey from Northumbria University, gave us an interesting look at identifying and knowing our strengths, using them daily and cultivating those strengths that enable us to deal with challenges. The examples she gave to illustrate her points were highly relevant and recognisable to many in the room. Giving us practical strategies and sensible advice to help us all to ‘have a word with ourselves’! Focusing on our circle of influence – those things we can influence rather than those that are out with our control was another useful nugget.

Reminding us to be mindful of our self-care and our five a day for well-being, Mandi also encouraged us to become “strengths spotters”. If we see a colleague excelling at using one of their strengths – tell them! I did this today – it made my colleague feel good. It made me feel great. It all contributes to that all important support network that we have at work. Mighty oaks from acorns grow. Why not try it for yourself and contribute to our organisation’s general wellbeing?

Emily Thomas

Footnote: Find out about NU Women’s next event on 29 June 2016 via their blog:

https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/nuwomen/forthcoming-events/improve-your-confidence-workshop-wednesday-june-29th/

Mediation

Posted on 5th May 2016 by Emily

It’s good to see that our own internal mediation service is now up and running. As one of the trained mediators, I thought it might be good to share some thoughts as to the role of the mediator. To keep it brief, here are my 5 key points:

Managing the process – mediation is not part of any formal procedure, but the mediator still needs to ensure good practice is followed, e.g. making sure everyone knows how it will work and maintaining a safe environment where people can be honest about their issue.
Staying impartial – mediators are not there to pass judgement or assign blame. And when I mediate I’m not there in my role as an HR professional, I’m there as a mediator.
Finding solutions – this is critical. We will try to keep discussions positive and constructive and focus on the future – “What will make this issue work better for you?”
Clarifying and challenging – not in a negative way. At times we will have to do this to help people think about what they’ve said – is it realistic? What do they mean by that? How did that affect you?
Gaining agreement – ultimately we aim to help the parties to come to an agreement over how to move forward. The agreement won’t involve the mediator – it’s up to the parties to make it work.

There is good evidence that mediation works, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t here. More details on the NUMS website.

Richard Boggie

What is OD?

Posted on 26th April 2016 by Emily

Writing this post at the end of my second week as the new Assistant Director of Organisational Development within the HR Service, I can honestly say, hand on heart, that I’m really enjoying it! I’ve already had lots of meetings with people within my own team in Staff Development, as well as people from other teams across the university and my first impressions are great people who are already doing many great things but who are ready to see where an OD approach can take us.

Now I know many of you will be wondering, “What is OD?”. For me, in its simplest form, OD is about planning interventions in a strategic, holistic, joined-up way to improve organisational performance through people. My initial brief has been to come in with a fresh pair of eyes, being new to the sector, and really look at the way we do things around here in terms of people management and development, and question whether this what the organisation needs. This initial diagnostic work will help me to work with senior leaders to define the university’s OD agenda to support culture change moving forward.

For the last 2 years I have been in a similar, national role with Ofsted, leading them on their culture change journey and I’m really looking forward to doing the same at the university. Already I can see that there is some great OD practice going on in pockets across the organisation, but at the same time I can see some fantastic opportunities for more inclusive and collaborative working with people at all levels.

I’m really looking forward to the challenge and would love to hear from you if you have any thoughts or suggestions on where we could make improvements to the way we do things here. Just drop me an email, give me a call or even better, let’s arrange to meet. The more informed I am, the better.

Lorraine Masters, Assistant Director of HR (Organisational Development)

Let’s talk about USS…

Posted on 6th April 2016 by Emily

After many months of consultation, negotiation and preparation, last Friday, 1 April, saw the launch of the new USS. Whilst some will undoubtedly be disappointed to see the end of the link to final salary, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that we are still left with a scheme that offers really valuable benefits. Yes, we’re all having to pay more (contributions are going up for both members and the University), but we still have a scheme which offers:

1. Defined benefits (for salary up to £55k) – this means you know from the start what you can expect to receive when you retire.

2. A package of benefits that helps protect you and your family, including death and ill-health benefits.

3. The opportunity for additional savings with a 1% match from the University (once the new ‘Investment Builder’ section opens in October).

Yes, pensions are dull and complex, but definitely not to be ignored. We’ll keep you updated by email, but go to the USS website for more details.

Diversity Round-up

Posted on 23rd March 2016 by Emily

For our first ‘People Talk’ post, I thought a quick round-up of some of our work on Equality and Diversity might be of interest. There has been lots going on, but here is a flavour.

We still await the results of the University’s application for a silver Athena SWAN award, which recognises progress in promoting gender equality across all subject areas, not just science and technology. The School of English Language, Literature and Linguistics is busy preparing its submission – it will be the first unit from HaSS to apply for this award, and the Institute of Cellular Medicine will be applying for a renewal of their Silver award.

Many units who have applied for Athena SWAN awards have committed to more awareness training, including sessions on ‘Unconscious Bias’. Having attended a session with HR colleagues recently, I can recommend it as a useful reminder of how our personal background and experiences can influence what we might think of as our rational decision-making, usually to the detriment of minority groups.

Fancy testing your own biases? Take a look at these online tests run by Harvard.

Training delivery is being prioritised according to Athena SWAN action plans initially. Any queries about arranging training should be via your Unit manager.

Another set of online resources you might find of use is our own Enable guidance designed to support staff with disabilities. Following discussions with disabled staff, we’ve updated the website and hopefully made it easier to find what you might need. We’ll keep working on it, so let us know if there’s something you’d like to see added.

And finally, just to let you know a few of the key people now working to champion equality and diversity across the University. Prof. Judith Rankin is our Dean of Diversity, the three Faculties are also making Director of Diversity appointments, Prof. Candy Rowe has taken up this role in FMS, Prof. Kate Chedgzoy takes up the role in HaSS on 1 June, and SAgE will be recruiting in the near future. Jan Halliburton is moving into the SAgE HR team, so we are currently advertising for a new HR Adviser on Diversity.

Richard Boggie – Acting Assistant Director (HR Strategy)