All Change and Programme Management Office courses

A curated learning path on working remotely. For more resources see the University of Cambridge's LinkedIn Learning Hub.

The course can be accessed here.

Discussion Topic: Discussing the difficult stuff: facing up to challenging conversations

This series follows on from the very popular first series held from April-July 2021. These informal drop-in sessions are designed to provide both new and more experienced leaders and managers, across all staff groups, with a safe space to share practice and discuss some of the challenges that can arise when supporting others to develop and strengthen their performance. Each session will start an hour of Q&A and discussion with a panel of experienced managers drawn from across the University. This will be followed by half an hour of small group discussion to allow participants the opportunity to meet other managers and share practice, in a smaller, more intimate setting. Those wishing to leave after the first hour and not stay on for final half hour in break out rooms, are free to do so. The format of the sessions is designed to facilitate peer support and learning. The sessions are not training sessions, although recommendations for training and other resources will be provided.

Comments from Series 1 participants: “I am loving all of these sessions and am so happy to have discovered a platform where ‘it all makes sense’” “It’s lovely to convene a group of people interested in leadership and developing their skills in this area.” “I intend to participate in as many sessions as I can because this forum gives a focused approach on developing leadership skills that are expected within the University. I had been looking for some sort of a planned approach to this and am really glad I found this.”

Panellists

Ken Billington - HR Adviser, School of Technology

Bruce Daniels - Administration and Operations Manager, Gurdon Institute

Emma Marron - Head of HR Shared Services, Human Resources Division

Questions we will consider during the session

1. What’s the most difficult conversation that you have had to have as a manager?

2. Was it as bad as you thought it was going to be?

3. Why do you think we avoid these conversations?

4. What can be the consequences of avoiding a difficult conversation?

5. How do you prepare for a meeting like this, both practically and mentally?

6. What mistakes have you made in the past, when trying to do this?

7. What approaches have you developed that you find work well?

8. What advice would you give to another manager who was dreading a difficult conversation?

9. How do you decompress after a meeting like this and ensure that your well-being is not impacted?

Are we more distracted these days? We often find ourselves multi-tasking and juggling multiple digital tasks and distractions during the course of our everyday work and lives. So how can we create positive digital habits that allow us to focus and make the best of our time on screen?

Questions to think about before this session:

• What are your biggest digital distractions?
• What do you wish you had more time to do during the course of the day?

These events are sponsored by ourcambridge and UIS as part of the Digital Workplace Programme

This interactive session aims to support our mentees to find a mentor. A selection of our currently available mentors will introduce themselves and share a little bit about their background, knowledge, and experience. It offers the opportunity for mentees to get to know some of our available mentors and consider whether they may be a good potential match. There will then be time for questions so that you can consider which potential mentors could best support your growth, learning, and career development.

Please take advantage of this chance to connect with mentors willing to share their experiences and assist you in achieving your goals. Sign up now and start your mentorship journey!

Join Claire Harris from Mental Health First Aid England for an interactive webinar on a Mental Health Introduction. This one-hour mental health workshop has been specifically developed for the workplace and is aimed at staff at all levels. The webinar encourages you to start think about mental health and how it can impact you in the workplace.

The aim is to encourage a supportive culture by sharing tips for how to spot if a colleague is struggling and how to start a wellbeing conversation.

During this interactive session the ourcambridge Simplifying our Processes team will look at how habits can be established and how this can be applied to Lean tools and techniques, so helping to embed Continuous Improvement across the University. We will then discuss the impact that this could have on wellbeing.

Ourcambridge offer a wide range of opportunities for professional services employees wishing to develop their confidence and skills, and broaden their networks. At this session, we will provide an overview of the opportunities we offer to support your career development and information about how you can access these. The session will cover:

• Prioritising your personal development – what to consider and making the most of the SRD process

• Developing your Digital Skills – learn more about recent exciting developments in this area, including the new JISC self-assessment tool to review your digital skills

• Lean Practitioner training and certification – how might this support you in your role and what skills will it support you to develop?

• Communities of Practice – what are they and how can you join one to meet others working in similar areas?

• The Self-Match Mentoring Scheme – why you should find a mentor or how you can become one to others

• Speed mentoring – for those who are short of time but would still welcome a bit of extra support and advice

• Becoming an ourcambridge champion – what does this involve and how might it benefit your career development?

Join is for an afternoon of Christmas activities, designed to share information and enable networking amongst champions

Join us for an informal session where you can have your say about getting the most of being an ourcambridge champion and help shape the future of the ourcambridge programme. You will take part in a facilitated conversation by a member of the ourcambridge team.

An interactive workshop to determine the format and structure of the ourcambridge champions MS Teams group, including channels.

The workshop will be facilitated by a member of the ourcambridge team.

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please do not sign up to this workshop if you are booked to attend the session on Tuesday 13th October

Have you ever wondered how senior managers balance demanding job roles and extensive workloads? The ourcambridge team have brought together an experienced panel of senior managers who are happy to share an honest insight into the realities of their workload management. The session will include the opportunity to ask questions to the panel and provide some top tips and interesting reflections.

Speakers:

• Emma Rampton, Registrary
• Professor Anna Vignoles, Professor of Education, Faculty of Education
• Dr Nick Bampos, Deputy Head of Department, Department of Chemistry
• Dr Karen Kennedy, Director of Strategic Partnerships Office

Chair/Facilitator:

Jenny Rampling, Senior Programme Co-ordinator, ourcambridge

Speakers: Joanne Bishenden and Ian Matthias from PA Consulting Title: ourcambridge seminar: Engaging with Academics Effectively Wednesday 24 July 3-4pm Faculty of Classics, Lecture Theatre 1.02, Sidgwick Site

The ourcambridge team are involved in a number of projects that aim to improve staff wellbeing and recognise the critical contribution that professional services staff make to the University. This session will provide an overview of the ourcambridge programme, how our projects aim to support staff and highlight the ways professional services staff can get involved.

Speakers:

• Rachel Machon, Head of HR for ourcambridge and Supporting Our Staff Lead
• Jenny Rampling - Senior Programme Coordinator
• Claire Brind - Senior Programme Coordinator
• Freya Villis - Senior Programme Coordinator
• Dr Fatima Baldo - Professional Services Graduate Trainee

Over the past year, ourcambridge has worked with professional services staff from across the University to develop a set of core values that underpin the way we work. The values that you chose together were: Trust, Respect, Integrity and Collaboration. Embedding these as part of our culture means truly living them in the way in the way we work, through our actions and behaviours.

This focus group provides the opportunity for you to share your ideas for practical ways in which we can bring these values to life in our daily work. We will discuss the types of initiatives, tools and resources that individuals, managers, and teams may find most useful for promoting and embedding these new values. The focus group will be formed of 6 colleagues using Microsoft Teams.

The sessions will be led by Fatima Baldo, Jenny Rampling and Freya Villis, Senior Programme Co-ordinators

This peer support session offers you the opportunity to meet other mentees on the self-match mentoring programme. The session will be lightly facilitated by Ceren Caser, a longstanding and enthusiastic member of the programme and member of the mentoring project team. It is a short, informal session designed to offer mentees the chance to share their experiences and talk over any challenges they may be having. Talking to others can help to motivate you and keep you on track towards your goals, so that you can get the most out of your mentoring relationship. It is also a great way for you to network with others in the University.

Join the Post Graduate Masters community for their summer event. The session will kick off with an opportunity for members to share their experience and thoughts on assessments - what types of assessment are used, what is working well and what isn’t.

The second part of the event will explore the future of the CoP, including reflections from the current CoP team, an introduction to the new Teaching & Learning CoP, and a discussion on the future of the CoP.

Join us for the second Project Management Community of Practice Café Event focussed on: How important do you think it is to define roles and responsibilities?

These events will provide you with the opportunity to network with fellow CoP members in an informal breakout room format. Each session will start with an opening question, in this instance: How important do you think it is to define roles and responsibilities?, which you will have the opportunity to discuss in informal small groups.

They provide the space and opportunity to share knowledge, experience and answer questions in a safe and supportive environment.

Join us for the inaugural Project Management Community of Practice Topic Talk on frameworks and methodologies - the most popular area of discussion in the scoping survey.

The panel discussion will provide you with an opportunity to hear from colleagues working in project management across the University. Panellists will discuss which frameworks and methodologies they have used when managing projects, and provide real world examples of how these have been implemented within the University context.

Panellists:

• Katrina West - Business Improvement Manager (PG Funding Project), Cambridge Admissions Office
• Claire Michel - Medicine & Veterinary Medicine Curriculum Review Manager, Office of the School of Biological Sciences
• Mark Rowland - Head of Delivery Management Office, University Information Services

This will be followed by time to ask questions to panel members in a safe and supportive environment.

In this session we will explore the diverse ways in which we engage with the online world, and discuss mental and emotional health in the context of the different digital cultures we live in: social media, video streaming, and work collaboration platforms, among others. The concept of being Digitally Well will be introduced as a way of differentiating between digital habits that are humane and nourishing and those that are harmful and depleting, with a particular emphasis on emotional regulation and body awareness practices.

Questions to think about before this session:

· What are your most and least favourite online activities, and what emotional impact do they have on you?

· What online activities do you tend to seek out when you are experiencing difficult emotions?

About the Trainer

Teodora Pavkovic is an external trainer who will be leading the course. She is a psychologist, parenting coach and digital wellness consultant who utilizes the principles of emotional intelligence, neuroscience and positive psychology to inform and improve digital wellness for individuals, families and organizations. She conducts one-on-one coaching with children and adults, facilitates talks and workshops with educators and corporates, consults with a variety of for- and non-profit organizations and speaks on expert panels and at international conferences. As a certified digital wellness educator and member of both the British and American Psychological Associations, as well as co-chair of the parenting professionals group of the Children's Screen-Time Action Network and advisory board member of several educational and mental health organizations, Teodora is committed to helping individuals and groups preserve and protect their wellbeing and relationships in this increasingly digital world.

These events are sponsored by HR, ourcambridge and UIS as part of the Digital Workplace and Cambridge Works Programmes.

This is an interactive session designed to support you if you are coming to the end of a fixed term contract, so that you can feel more confident and positive about managing this significant period of change. We will start with introductions to allow you to get to know each other and share a little about your current situation and any particular challenges you are facing, then go on to discuss how you can manage the upcoming changes, and signpost you towards help and support that is available.

A short course explaining how we identify, map and analyse business processes at the University of Cambridge

The Professional Services Recognition Awards aim to recognise, highlight and celebrate the very best work across all professional service areas in the University. In September, colleagues were invited to nominate individuals and teams that they believed had made a difference to them, their team, and/or to the wider University in the academic year 2020-21. They were asked to nominate under the categories listed below, all of which reflect the Professional Services Values of trust, respect, integrity and collaboration. The awards aim to recognise those colleagues who have truly demonstrated these values in their day to day work.

Award Categories

· Innovating and Improving: Congratulating those who have innovatively and effectively improved or simplified a system or process, and in doing so have made it more efficient.

· Being kind to colleagues: Thanking those who have shown kindness and compassion for their colleagues, whether that is supporting them with a piece of work, or simply in day-to-day interactions.

· Going above and beyond: Appreciating those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty, been flexible and adaptable in order to solve an unexpected problem, showing resilience and agility.

· Creating an inclusive community: Rewarding those who have helped to create an inclusive environment for all, by showing a high level of courtesy for, and trust in others.

· Working as a team: Celebrating those who have worked collaboratively with others, either within or across disciplinary or departmental borders, to get something done.

· Being an Unsung Hero: Recognising those who have quietly gone about their daily work and might otherwise go unnoticed, but who make a real difference to their team, department and/or the wider University.

A panel discussion with professional services leaders at the University, followed by informal networking.

This event will be a chance for professional services staff to get to know leaders better and hear about the changes underway in professional services at the University. Guests will also have the chance to ask questions of the panel and meet other professional services colleagues.

While the event will be most relevant to professional services staff employed by the academic University, all colleagues employed by the collegiate University are welcome to attend.

Please note: the venue has limited capacity, but we will run two more of these events during the academic year 2024/25. If you are not able to get a space this time, please look out for the next event which will be advertised on the Staff Hub and on Viva Engage.

The Project Management Community of Practice brings you project management topics in bite sized chunks. Listen to your colleagues from across Collegiate Cambridge discuss all things project management. Click the links below to listen to the podcast:

Podcast 1: Meet the Core Group - Hosted by Ellie Wolmark from the CRUK Cambridge Centre, the Core Team tell you who they are, what their role is and discuss why they joined the CoP.

Podcast 2: Interesting Routes into Project Management part 1 - There is no one route into project management. Tori Helmer and Heather Biggs tell us their stories and give insights into their career journeys.

Podcast 3: Interesting Routes into Project Management part 2 - The second part of this podcast features Bethan Everson and Katie Light telling their stories.

Podcast 4: An Introduction to Communications - Katie Edwards and Craig Brierley give a fantastic overview of what comms entails, and how you can use it within a project for maximum impact.

Podcast 5: An Introduction to Stakeholder Management - Greg Strachan and Sally Measures give their take on Stakeholder Management within a project.

Podcast 6: An introduction to Retrospectives - Holly Cox and Signe Jensen talk about what retrospectives mean within project management.

Podcast 7: Data Management - Carrie Brennan talks about data management within a project.

A 45-minute informal session, with the aim of building meaningful relationships, sharing knowledge, and supporting one another's growth and success in the world of project and programme management across the University of Cambridge.

• Engaging in thought-provoking discussions
• Sharing your best practices, tips, and success stories to inspire others
• Asking for advice in a collaborative atmosphere

All while meeting new people and forging new connections!

Topics and discussion areas will vary from session to session and be communicated nearer to the session time.

This session will take place virtually, 12:15-13:00.

Look forward to seeing you there!