Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
Chandler House,
2 Wakefield Street,
London WC1N 1PF
0044 (0) 20 7679 4203
c.gardini@ucl.ac.uk
Learning & Development Network @ PALS
Career planning/development/progression
9 September 2011
We appreciate your comments on all aspects of the event. Please give us
some feedback on the event and let us know what other topics you would
like us to look into next time. Recently I have been asked to look at work-life
balance issues, stress management, goal setting etc. but you can make any
suggestion below.
Feedback / Comments
Thoroughly interesting session. Always knew of the concept of secondments, but a session
like this allows you to consider all the factors that you wouldn’t have done previously. As
mentioned throughout the morning, it is the genuine availability or otherwise that will
prove the greatest hurdle, but in the time (when the time really is right) I will now take a
more proactive approach to pushing this through. Today’s speakers were fantastic – very
engaging and made it easy to associate with all they were saying. Huge shame that Ian
couldn’t make it, but couldn’t be helped. Many thanks for organising the session, I will be
reporting back very positively to City University
Rated: 1=Excellent
Good speakers, good venue
Providing further coffee and lunch would be better.
Kept to time pretty well which was good. Practical hints and tips element was very good.
May be good ideas to encourage introductions (people sharing what part of the
organisation they are from) as new starter at UCL this would have been helpful – need to
avoid clique forming. Sign up sheet to set up email/mailing list discussions forum (even
social network) a good idea.
Rate: 2= Good
Very helpful to learn more about secondments as have not thought much about this before,
although it has also raised awareness about it as well (implications of returning to role and
what may have changed).
It would be helpful to keep having the sessions – made me think if we would introduce it
wider across UCL (to other departments, i.e. Computer Science etc...)
Possible other topics:-
Archive on regrading role – how to do this?
Competencies as mentioned by Nigel
Advise on professional training or accreditation maybe?
Richard Martins and Jon Renyard were outstanding – engaging and useful.
Next time ideas:-
Communication and Networking Skills
Team building & fostering inter-team working
Next event structure should allow for more ‘audience participation/discussion groups with a
mixture of people – internal/external/junior/senior staff.
Rate: 1 = Excellent
-
Very Productive
Open minded
Hope
New Ideas
Good speakers
Learned a lot
Good & Informative (content)
Please do it more
Suggestion: Creating a map of “in general” which kind of current roles could be moved
vertically and horizontally. Plus then brining speakers that would speak about these
possibilities accordingly to each role, (if not want to know more about this idea, let me
know, in case I am not clear)
Rate 2 = Good
A very interesting day.
Good length of time (a whole day can be too long) was getting to meet different people and
put names to faces but a shame that there weren’t more people attending. It was nice to
see some managers from UCL and have some direct contact.
Could the talks be filmed next time and put on line (as an administrator resource) for people
who are unable to attend. Would be great if UCL HR could make opportunities for
secondments more widely known – perhaps an area that Faculty managers could take
forward – a way of communicating possible secondments between Faculties.
Not sure if a whole day on Stress Management would work, perhaps combine this with
another talk about someone’s career progression. It is quite interesting to hear people’s
experiences especially if they have done something a bit unusual like going to work in
Australia. Would prefer not to have the day on a Friday next time if possible.
Rate: 1=Excellent.
This type of event is such an important one. Culture within UCL is that ‘development is for
academics’. The ‘culture’ needs to change. I would like to see more open discussion with
senior staff that can influence policy. Would like to see discussion about the L&D
strategies, not just secondment. The last staff survey was wholly geared towards enhancing
the profile of academics and research. A more balanced one is needed.
More staff should be encouraged to come to this there is an attitude of ‘this doesn’t apply
to us’. Equal opportunity policy @UCL stunts progression within Administration and crossschool development.
Rate: 1=Excellent
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I have really enjoyed the day. It highlighted and confirmed my perception that UCL,
centrally, doesn’t really support upwards progression or development in a wider or enable
context than that which is generally specific to our own roles. I think there should be more
advertisement of secondment opportunities and less of a “hearing on the grapevine”
situation. I, myself, am fortunate because my line manager is supportive of my career
development, but I would imagine outside of offices like mine, it is more difficult to develop,
and I only know of one instance in my school of secondment in the last few years.
I would very much welcome more of these events, as I think it is great to hear the
experiences of other people, and a positive forum for putting out thoughts and concerns
forward in the hope of them reaching the ears of people who are able to exact positive
changes.
Rate: 1=Excellent
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Good speakers
Interesting topic
Maybe better/wider advertisement of these events would be good. Our department only
heard about it last week.
The presentation and L&D programme has been very useful and informative. It has been
excellent feedback for administrative members of staff based within UCL. I hope to be a
part and see further such workshops in the near future with other issues for admin staff to
benefit from or be informed of UCL policy, procedures and support in place.
I really enjoyed the event and participants and guest speakers invited. The discussions were
fruitful and very useful.
I hope future programmes can deal with such issues as:-
Work-life balance issues
Stress management
Goal setting
Admin & Staff promotion
And also someone from HR (UCL) or external resources to go through issues relevant to
admin staff such as;
-
Secondments or leave (temporary) in the sense to pursue further education, linked
or non-linked to current role? If permitted or allowed and /or how long, i.e.
Masters, Diploma or PGCE etc for 1 year (like career break etc).
-
To further knowledge and skills, this can be used to role when a staff member comes
back to existing job. Leaves better flexibility and confidence in current role later etc
after attaining the qualification. Leaves more diversity and knowledge i.e. Such as a
PGCE, Diploma, MBS, ACCA, Masters etc in relevant field etc.
-
Work flexibility – discussing if hours can be re-arranged to fit around life style of staff
etc? (work-life –stress balance etc)
Rate: 1 = Excellent
I was not sure what to expect but have really enjoyed today. A range of subjects
that were hugely interesting and made me consider my own role, both present and
past. I think more members of the HR would really benefit from a similar event – it
provokes thought about ones career and what other options might be available or
worth considering.
Many thanks
P.S. Please have more!
Rate: 1 = Excellent
Secondments
Really interesting. Thought provoking. Will keep my eyes peeled for opportunities.
May not yet feel able/confident to go seeking.
Thank you, Cristina, for all the organising and hard work. Useful to have a time for
reflection and out of office. A nice ‘eye break’ time from the computer!
Ideas for next time:Team dynamics – focus on laziness/incapability of team members demotivating the
hard workers – how does a team cope/manage this?
Rate: 1 = Excellent
Very good event! Good mix of topics but with a cohort thread.
Future topics:-
Change management
Student experience
Goal setting
Shame there were no sandwiches but times are tough I suppose.
Rate: 1= Excellent
An excellent programme. I am happy I came along and will attend the next one if I
can.
One small suggestion! It would have been good if there was a small introduction of
participants at the start, so we would know who is who (it was a small gathering) but
a brilliant programme!
Rate: 1 = Excellent
Many thanks for organising this event. I have really enjoyed it and am looking forward to
similar future events
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Thank you for inviting me to the Learning and Development Network. It was good to take a
morning out to hear the stories of other administrators. It gave me some food for thought.
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Thank you very much indeed for opening this event up to members from outside of UCL. I
found the sessions very informative and I will be feeding this back to King's. The short half
hour sessions work very well and I would be happy to attend more events of this nature in
the future.