Each year, the Staff Development Forum aims to recognise and celebrate outstanding staff development individuals and/or teams.
SDF are particularly delighted that, this year, we have two Awards to announce in recognition of our Festival of Learning and Development 2024 overarching theme: ‘Transform, Empower and Balance: Moving towards an adaptive mindset in times of disruption’
After careful deliberation, we are proud to announce the Winners of our ‘Developing Excellent Practice Award’ 2024 are:
Gold:
University of Liverpool – The Prosper PI Network
Dr Fiona McBride; Dr Stefania Silvestri; Kerry McElroy; Candice Booth; James Reynolds; James Howard.
Context: Prosper is a career development model available to all postdocs throughout the UK. Currently funded by UKRI, the Prosper team are working to roll-out Prosper across the UK to unlock postdocs’ potential to thrive across multiple career pathways. In order to achieve this, Prosper’s work engages three key stakeholder groups – institutions, postdocs and managers of researchers. For this submission, we will focus specifically on how Prosper has engaged managers of researchers via its PI Network series.
“The project excels in its sustainable model of mutual reciprocation, where institutions can access free resources while contributing their expertise through hosted sessions. The initiative’s effectiveness is demonstrated through its practical approach to addressing PI needs, covering crucial topics like resilience, strategic leadership, and managing challenging scenarios. The programme shows particular strength in its scalability and open-access approach, making it especially valuable during resource constraints across the sector.”
“A very innovative project to support PIs, rolling it out across the sector and ensuring it remains free to use”
Silver:
University of Warwick – Operational Coaching Skills for Managers
Kevin Hamer and Anna Chapman
Context: The HR team at the University of Warwick has developed a robust people strategy which looks to support the institution in achieving its objectives and strategic intent. Within the multi-faceted strategy framework, there are several workstreams: Leadership and Management Development, Talent management, Objectives management, Culture, Values and Behaviours and Employer ethos which are supported and will be enabled through the development and implementation of a coaching culture at Warwick. It is one aspect of this, which is the focus of the submission.
“Clearly impactful programme, that shows with financial resource and external expertise that a lot can be achieved”
“The coaching programme demonstrates exceptional achievement in developing operational coaching capabilities across management, with remarkable quantifiable outcomes from its 12-month pilot with 120 managers. What makes this initiative particularly noteworthy is its comprehensive measurement of behavioural change.”
Bronze:
Leeds Beckett University – ‘Beyond the poster on a wall’: Connecting Colleagues to our University Values
Georgina Woods; Sarah Swales; Cate Querin; Sarah Davies; Libby Page; Hiva Nekokar , Catherine Wright; Dee Grismond; Jay Hawkridge, Frankie Lyons
Context: The LBU Values Project Team are delighted to share with the panel how LBU have connected our colleagues to our organisational values to enhance performance, development and engagement. This is a case study of the positive impact that happens when a workforce embraces an organisation’s values and come together for a common purpose.
Leeds Beckett University (LBU) is a modern, professional university with ambition. Our vision is to be known for our commitment to student success, innovation and enterprise, global reach, and strong local impact. Our current Strategy (2021-26) sets out our commitment to developing colleagues and creating effective, inclusive ways of working that support engagement and belonging.
Our community is made up of people from a range of social and cultural backgrounds, brought together in a learning environment that celebrates both our heritage and exciting future. It is key to our Strategy that all colleagues feel proud to work here, valued for their contribution, and would recommend LBU as a great place to work. We also know that when that is the case, we’re more likely to reach our institutional objectives.
“This is an excellent example of how to get colleagues to ‘pull in the same direction’ using an organisational wide approach based around both systematic framework and careful planned action.”
“An outstanding collaborative project. The values project on its own is impactful and inclusive. The toolkit for managers, alongside the stories from colleagues, adds a really practical way of applying it and building confidence within teams.”
Congratulations to our 2024 winners and all who were nominated.
Full details of all nominations received can find all the information here.
Dr Rossana Gent, Chair of the SDF