UHR DEVELOPMENT DAY
10 February 2016
10.00 am - 3.30 pm
Woburn House Conference Centre, 20 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H
9HQ
‘Showcasing Good Practice’ - Outline Programme
10.00 am
Coffee, registration and sign up for seminars, and networking opportunity
10.30 am
"Organisational excellence, strategic development and transformational change: the changing
landscape and what it means for HR." – Donna Kendall, Pro Vice Chancellor, Strategic
Developments (Business Transformation), Coventry University
11.00 am
11.30 am
Plenary 1 – (University of Sheffield – Andy Dodman, Jane Ginniver & Emily Hopkinson) –
Develop, MANAGE, Lead,
Refreshments & networking
11.50 am
Seminars running – choose one to attend from the range available
12.25
Seminars repeated – choose a second seminar
1.00 pm
Lunch & networking
1.45 pm
Seminars repeated again – choose a third seminar
2.20 pm
Plenary 2 (University of Strathclyde– Sandra Heidinger) – Knowledge Exchange Career
Pathway
2.50 pm
Plenary 3 (University of Bradford – Tracey Hulme and Gary McFarlane) – Service Now
3.25 pm
Summary & close
This is an excellent opportunity to hear from other HE organisations about how their teams have
improved practice, contributed to business efficiency, and enhanced organisational effectiveness and
staff engagement. Presenters will include some of the entrants for the 2015 UHR awards for excellence in
HR in HE.
To book your place, please go to
http://www.uhr.ac.uk/events-157-UHR-Showcasing-Good-Practice-development-day.html
(you do not need a password or to log in, in order to book, but if you choose to login, the form will auto-complete
some of your details). If you have any queries, please contact Lauren Tidey and her colleagues at AUA via
admin@uhr.ac.uk 0161 275 2063. Please book by 27 January, to enable final catering numbers to be arranged.
However, please note that that this event will probably be oversubscribed well before that date, so early booking
is advisable). Please inform us of dietary and access or other requirements when booking your place. UHR
member organisations may book between one and seven places, depending on the level of UHR subscription
paid by your organisation (please contact admin@uhr.ac.uk if you are unsure as to eligibility).
The location of Woburn House can be found at: http://www.woburnhouse.co.uk/
(Programme order and speakers may be subject to change, due to travel and logistics.)
Information about the projects being showcased is given on the following pages.
Outline of the projects being showcased during the day
A.
The plenary sessions
The University of Sheffield won the Organisational Change and Values award, for
creating a strong identity and clear definitions for its core development strands under the
banner, ‘Develop, MANAGE, Lead’. This ensures that all staff recognise the connection between the
numerous development activities they engage with and view their development as a continuous
process rather than separate, stand-alone events. Development Everywhere was designed with the
aim of changing the culture around personal skills development. MANAGE provides management
development for all those who line manage. Sheffield Leader provides leadership development for
leaders at all levels of the University. All three of the development approaches outlined above are
strong and high impact in their own right, but their true value to the university is in their integration with
other institutional priorities through ‘Develop, MANAGE, Lead’. Some examples of how this integrated
approach has been used to date are support for the implementation of new technical structures, the
implementation of a new reward strategy and in enhancing student employability.
The University of Strathclyde’s HR department won the Business Effectiveness and
Organisational Impact award for its Knowledge Exchange Career Pathway. Aiming to be a leading
international technological university requires close collaboration with industry and business across
research, teaching and knowledge exchange activities, with implications for normal academic career
paths and promotion criteria. A new staff category for Knowledge Exchange Academic Professionals
enabled Strathclyde to secure talent from industry and business – individuals who might not identify
with a traditional academic/research career, but can strongly identify with knowledge exchange activity.
It explicitly recognises and rewards the contributions that staff make to working collaboratively with
industry on applied research projects, disseminating findings through professional networks and
publications, influencing public policy and the delivery of professional development activities. These KE
staff have contributed to an exceptional growth trajectory in Strathclyde’s income from industry and
from CPD, licensing and consultancy activity.
The University of Bradford Human Resources Directorate was the winner of the Exceptional HR
Achievement award, in recognition of its Service Now project. A Service Management System to
oversee all interactions with employees and stakeholders, ‘ServiceNow’, is a top global service platform
originally developed for use in IT departments in organisations including Google, General Electric, and
NHS Blood and Transplant Service, and tailored for use within a HR setting at Bradford. It was part of
a whole scale transformation project within HR in all areas and it provides a platform to log,
assign, process and track all enquiries submitted to the department, and also acts as a casework
logging system; any enquiry, request, or casework item can be tracked and updated from within one
system, regardless of its complexity, allowing full visibility of HR activity. ServiceNow allows a number
of tasks to be automated, with inbuilt timescales and sophisticated reporting capability; it promotes a
self-service portal as the first point of call to ensure that staff members find the answer to their query
quickly and easily, with 50-60% of enquiries being thus resolved, releasing specialist HR resource to
focus on value-add, transformational agendas.
B.
The simultaneous seminar sessions: delegates will have the opportunity to attend three of
these, to be chosen on the day, on a first come, first served, basis:
As in previous years, the seminars will take the form of informal small group sessions, with around 12
participants in each, where some of the teams that were shortlisted or commended for the awards will
explain their project, and the learning and benefits for the organisation and those involved. There will
be an opportunity to ask questions and discuss transferable learning for your own organisation. Paper
handouts may not be provided, but there may be material available before, during or after the event via
the UHR website or links to HEIs’ own websites.
Each of the seminars will run simultaneously, three times, so delegates will have the opportunity to
attend three of the range during the day. Presenters will also be available over lunch to talk to those
who may miss out on a popular seminar. The seminars will not be pre-booked, and will be allocated
on a sign up, first come, first served basis, on arrival at the venue.
University of Glasgow: International HR
(Commended - Business effectiveness & organisational impact)
This is an integrated and innovative approach to the strategic Internationalisation HR agenda,
including:
• Targeted recruitment campaigns through international forums, online resources, tailored relocation
packages, improving functionality of e-recruitment, and a ‘Scotland Handbook’ with other Scottish
universities.
• Online resources and structured events to support all new staff, including international staff.
• New policies, associated guidance and web resources to enable effective employment arrangements
in overseas regional offices, and changes to the annual PDR process profiles Internationalisation as a
distinct area for contribution for academic staff.
• Staff Mobility Programme designed to encourage international experiences. A new online resource
‘Glasgow Welcome’ provides practical, local information for international business and academic
visitors.
• A People Development Plan, with newly developed learning resources and courses focuses on
networking and partnerships, cultivating collaborations, business etiquette, negotiating and influencing
and cultural awareness.
De Montfort University – Strategic Portfolio Management
(Commended - HR Organisational Change & Values)
Successful projects and their effective management are at the heart of delivering lasting change. This
programme aimed to ensure that DMU’s valuable resources were focused on doing the right projects at
the right time and in the right way to achieve strategic objectives. Projects would then reliably deliver
what is required, make best use of resources and directly support achievement of strategy. It included:
A framework to own and manage DMU’s Strategic Project Portfolio (originally of over 160 key projects)
along with a Gateway process to control project start-up, progress and closure, and standard progress
reporting; a comprehensive intranet site, a learning & development framework and delivery of wide
ranging training’ and a Corporate Portfolio Management Office. The programme has resulted in a
cultural transformation in the way key corporate projects are selected, controlled managed and
delivered.
Glasgow Caledonian University – Glasgow Caledonian Code & Behaviours
(Commended - HR Organisational Change & Values)
The project’s goal was to rekindle staff commitment through shared belief in GCU’s mission and values,
and as a consequence to increase employee engagement, organisational output, customer satisfaction
and employee health and wellbeing. Four value clusters were agreed, leading to
• Design and delivery of the Caledonian Code; single page ‘desktop’ summary of GCU value based
behaviours
• A series of workshops to raise awareness of the values, identify positive examples of values linked
activity, identify areas for quick-win improvements as well as barriers to desired change
• Design and delivery (in partnership with Guys and St Thomas Health Trust) of a Behaviour
Framework to embed GCU values into operational activities:
• University wide consultation mechanisms to agree final behaviour statements
• Continued alignment between university processes, mission and values and the localisation of values
led behaviour.
University of Cambridge : E-Recruitment
(Shortlisted - Business Effectiveness and Organisational Impact category)
The project delivered a more professional and technology-enabled recruitment process, increasing
process efficiency and effectiveness from submission of job applications to appointment of the
successful candidate through the use of systems. The system has significantly reduced form-filling and
manual work in administering recruitment. It has allowed data to be shared with other HR systems,
reducing duplication and the potential for error. It also means that recruitment data and documents are
instantly accessible by both departments and central HR teams. Web Recruitment was developed
using Agile project methodology, which includes fixed-release dates rather than a fixed product scope,
and a large degree of user engagement throughout analysis and development.
University of Birmingham – Birmingham Professional
(Shortlisted – Business Effectiveness and Organisational Impact category)
This defines expectations for Professional Services staff, outlines a programme that facilitates the
achievement of those expectations and builds an ethos of excellence for the Professional Services
community. The programme is led by the Registrar’s Leadership Group (RLG) and managed in
collaboration with HR, seeking to ensure continuous growth and development across all areas of the
university. Staff see Birmingham Professional helping them achieve career goals by developing skills
through training sessions, networking, gaining a better understanding of university initiatives and more
knowledge of the sector. It aims to ensure staff perform at their best and excel in their careers, and
across the organisation rather than just pockets of individuals. An increase in the number of
secondments filled has been a significant developmental opportunity for many staff, expanding their
skill set and furthering their careers.
Leeds Beckett University – Bright Ideas Staff Suggestion Scheme
(Shortlisted – Organisational Change & Values category)
Bright Ideas is a staff suggestion scheme developed in response to Staff Survey results indicating staff
would value opportunities to contribute ideas about how to improve the staff and student experience, to
receive feedback on their ideas and see how they are taken forward. Developed jointly by HR, IT and
Marketing teams it allows staff to submit, search for and collaborate on cross- organisational ideas.
Each idea is submitted under a strategic category, then assigned to one of the local Ideas Champions
(senior staff from faculties and services who promote the scheme locally, consider the idea and provide
prompt feedback and celebrate/promote successful ideas. Staff are encouraged to contribute to the
existing ideas that are on the site by adding comments or using the ‘like’ facility.
Biography of Donna Kendall, Coventry University, Pro-Vice-Chancellor. Strategic Developments
(Business Transformation)
Donna Kendall is responsible for strategic developments, on project, programme and portfolio level
across the University Group, which includes line management of the Strategic Transformation Office,
oversight of appraisal evaluation and control measures, provision of infrastructure and resource for
delivery as well as planned programmes of activity for key strategic developments. She has also been
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Continuous Improvement) and Director of Human Resources at Coventry
University. Prior to joining Coventry University, Donna was Director of Human Resources and
Organisational Development for a London based NHS organisation and has held a number of senior
positions in the field of human resource management.
Externally, Donna holds a governing body position with Coventry School Foundation. In addition, she
represents the University Group internationally, nationally, regionally and locally.