All Change and Programme Management Office courses

Reimagining Professional Services (RPS) is one of 13 projects which make up the University’s Recovery Plan. Join us for an informal question and answer session on RPS with Academic Secretary, Mike Glover.

The session follows Issue Two of The Cat’s Whiskers, the exclusive vlog for ourcambridge champions, in which Mike Glover talks to Kate Maxwell and Rachel Machon about RPS and his hopes for the future.

The workshop is part of the first stage of the ‘Reimagining Professional Services’ programme where we will discuss what is working well for staff, and where there is room for improvement, for the benefit of the collegiate University.

In a world where there is never enough time and we are juggling multiple priorities, this session will explore ways in which to identify areas in our lives that we need to improve and utilise the Lotus Blossom tool to generate ideas for making that improvement happen. Lotus Blossom provides a useful tool at all stages of the continuous improvement cycle whether it is used to find the root cause of a problem or to generate ideas to overcome that problem. In this session, we will demonstrate how it can be used to address more personal areas for improvement.

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it" - William Arthur Ward

We all like to feel appreciated but how often do we take the time to say thank you and praise a colleague for a job well done? From a University perspective, recognition and appreciation are vital: they create a positive working environment, motivate people, make them feel valued, help them to see the purpose and importance of their work, and improve performance by reinforcing positive behaviours and embedding values.

We are offering this session to provide an opportunity for colleagues to share ideas and approaches for recognising and appreciating the contribution of others. Colleagues from departments who have launched their own recognition initiatives will be invited to share their experiences.

In this session we will look at how creating a strong professional presence or ‘brand’ can help you achieve your career goals. You will learn some top tips for enhancing your profile, together with strategies for developing behaviours that will help you stand out from the crowd and open up opportunities.

Communication is an important part of any mentoring relationship. The key skills of active listening and asking good questions can make a real positive contribution to its success. Come and get some practical advice and learn some useful tips from two experts. The session is equally relevant to both mentors and mentees.

We will begin by considering together how it feels to receive feedback and will then go on to consider the skills and techniques needed to give feedback well.

We will begin by considering together how it feels to receive feedback and will then go on to consider the skills and techniques needed to give feedback well.

This session provides an introduction for both mentors and mentees. We will discuss the benefits of mentoring and provide guidance on how to set objectives for the mentoring relationship and how to prepare for your first session together. We will also offer some tips about how to be a good mentee and mentor.

A short how-to guide to creating and using SIPOC analysis in process improvement

A short introduction to De Bono's Six Thinking Hats - a creative thinking tool for creative meetings.

Have you ever wished you could get 10 minutes with a senior colleague to ask their advice on how they would handle something? Have you ever wondered how others approach challenging problems? This is your opportunity to ask. We are bringing together a panel of very experienced colleagues from across the University for a special speed mentoring session so that they can offer you their support and advice.

Speed mentoring offers you the opportunity for a series of short, focused conversations about a specific question or issue you are struggling with. You will rotate around four different mentors, spending around 10 minutes with each, to gain different perspectives on an issue you are seeking to resolve or a project you are trying to progress.

"I liked that there were a diverse background of university staff involved in the session, and all of the mentors were really engaged and enthusiastic. I felt that I could be honest about some of my experiences in the University, good and bad. All the mentors I spoke to acted as a good sound board for the issues that I wanted to discuss and they have given me some excellent advice and ideas."

"The fact that we saw 4 different mentees was brilliant - we gained different perspectives, saw different mentoring types and were also introduced to people and roles we may not have known about."

Mentors:

• Charlotte Knights - Senior Professional Services Manager, Human Resources Division

• Andy Hyland - Learning and Development Consultant, Human Resources Division

• Kirstie Buckridge - Organisational Development Consultant, Human Resources Division

• Bruce Daniels - Assistant Director for Research Operations School of Physical Sciences, Research Office

• Suzanne Fowler - Head of HR Policy and Strategic Projects, Human Resources Division

• Elle Wills - ED&I Advisor, Cambridge University Libraries

In this uplifting session mental wellbeing expert Sam Thorogood from Tiny Pause will take staff through active listening techniques to strengthen relationships and understand the neuroscience of stress, relationships and connection.

In this session we will discuss together how to get your mentoring relationship off to a good start, how to build trust with your mentor and build your confidence as a mentee. We will also touch on how to overcome any obstacles in the mentoring relationship.

In this session we will discuss together how to get your mentoring relationship off to a good start, how to build trust with your mentee and build your confidence as a mentor. We will also touch on how to overcome any obstacles in the mentoring relationship.

Join us for lunch at our exhibition of external professional and industrial partners as well as a relaxed poster and creative showcase made by technical colleagues. There will be prizes for entries and plenty of time for networking.

This interactive workshop is designed to provide an overview of the processes around academic publishing in the UK higher education context. We’ll discuss what authorship looks like for technical staff, introduce the ORCID ID system and provide tips for talking about attribution.

As part of our exhibition, why not take the opportunity to look around the labs and facilities in the Jeffrey Cheah building? Staff will be on hand to explain techniques and equipment.

Tour groups will be small so booking is essential. Register you interest now. (24 places maximum)

A workshop to discuss the benefits of professional registration and provide an in depth overview of the registration process, plus tips on how to successfully complete the application.

There will be talks on training and career development options for technical staff as well as updates on exciting initiatives the University will be launching as part of the Technician Commitment. Guest speakers will also explain the national progress of the scheme.

The Cat’s Whiskers – Technician Commitment is the next event in our series of exclusive live presentations and Q&A sessions. Come and hear Technician Commitment Coordinator, John Nicolson, talk about the importance of the Technician Commitment and the valuable role technicians play within the University, together with his own personal experiences.

We may not all be professional coaches, but we can learn some key coaching skills, so that we can have effective one-to-one conversations and support our colleagues to address challenges they are facing.

This session will introduce you to the skill of asking powerful coaching questions which can help you to better understand others and focus on providing the right level of support for them.

The University's most loved bird, Raven [1], is 15 years old now and is getting some changes [2] like second factor validation [3]. Join us at this session where we'll show you some of these changes and where we will also talk about identity services like Lookup [4]. You will come away with some tricks on how you can make best use of these services to make yourself more discoverable and find other people in the University.

[1] https://help.uis.cam.ac.uk/service/accounts-passwords/it-staff/raven/raven-how
[2] https://help.uis.cam.ac.uk/news/raven-devops-sept2019
[3] https://help.uis.cam.ac.uk/service/support/help-for-institutions/google-cloud-identity
[4] https://www.lookup.cam.ac.uk/

This seminar is presented by UIS in partnership with ourcambridge.

You've heard of a book group, but how about one for podcasts? In these sessions we will focus on a different episode from the wonderful Squiggly Careers Amazing If podcasts, which includes over 300 episodes on career based topics ranging from coaching and confidence, to strength and values.

Before each session you will be sent a link to a podcast episode to listen to and reflect upon. During the session you will be led through a selection of tasks/exercises recommended in the episode Pod Sheet. You will have the opportunity to work on these individually and then reflect back as a group.

Session 11: How to create (not wait) for challenge at work

In this episode podcast hosts talk about the benefits of creating challenge at work vs waiting for it to come to you. They talk about why pandemic driven ‘boreout’ makes this a need for many of us and practical actions you can take to stretch your strengths and stop the risk of ‘stagnate while you wait’.

As a member of the new Leadership and Management Community of Practice, we want to hear your ideas about ‘what next’. What would you like the CoP to achieve? What are your Big Ideas and small ideas? What are our priorities? Join us for an informal discussion with a couple of core team members and others from the wider community to talk about our collective aims for the CoP. We will also introduce some of the ideas that have been collected so far from new members and at the Launch event. The Teams link will be sent to attendees on the morning of the meeting.