Understanding MyDevelopment and MyCareer

Understanding MyDevelopment and MyCareer

Our performance and development cycle By working together towards the same, shared goal we can achieve great things, both for the University and our own personal development and career progression. Clearly defined goals help us to perform at our best, focussing on the right areas, tracking our progress effectively and enabling recognition for a job well done. My Contribution, our performance and development cycle, is designed to help us all understand the part we play in achieving the University s vision: to create an enterprising and innovative community renowned internationally with an unrivalled student learning experience. It is supported by an easy-to-use, online system where we can record and track our performance, development and career goals. It provides a consistent approach to performance and development across the University by focussing on individual needs and quality conversations for everyone. This booklet explains two key elements of the My Contribution cycle My Development and My Career.

Contents 2 MyContribution Our performance and development cycle 4 About MyDevelopment and MyCareer 7 Our Leadership Behaviours 8 How to create your Personal Development Plan 11 Development options 13 MyCareer 16 Getting the most from MyContribution meetings If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader John Quincy Adams 3

About MyDevelopment and MyCareer My Development and My Career help you to invest time in your personal development and provide an opportunity to think about any training and development you need for your current role, to meet your objectives or achieve future career aspirations. We recommend dedicated meetings with your line manager, built regularly around the My Contribution performance and development annual cycle: ONGOING PROGRESS, MEETINGS & KEEPING ON TRACK END OF YEAR & AGREE OBJECTIVES JUNE JULY PERFORMANCE REVIEW MEETING FOR THE YEAR AHEAD AUGUST SEPTEMBER MY DEVELOPMENT/ MY CAREER MEETING MY CAREER MEETING MY DEVELOPMENT/ MAY APRIL MyContribution OCTOBER NOVEMBER MARCH DECEMBER FEBRUARY JANUARY MY MID YEAR REVIEW ONGOING PROGRESS, MEETINGS & KEEPING ON TRACK

Ideally, schedule your first meeting in September / October and the second one in March / April. My Development and My Career conversations can take place in the same meeting or separately - it s your choice. Outside of dedicated meetings, My Career and My Development conversations can happen at any time in the course of your work, as part of your regular one to ones, when a new challenge is set or your objectives change. Frequent conversations around your objectives will help you to stay on track. 5

My Development is designed to help you create a plan, focussing on your personal objectives. If relevant, your personal development plan may also include targets that help you work towards a career goal. As well as reflecting the University s vision, your personal development objectives should be aligned to our Leadership Behaviours: Leading by Example Continuous Personal Development Championing Change Managing Resources, Performance and Risk Our Leadership Behaviours Effective Communication Analysis and Problem Solving Working Collaboratively Delivering Successful Outcomes

Our Leadership Behaviours At Edinburgh Napier we believe everyone has the potential to be a leader. Even if you do not lead a team, you make decisions every day and choose to behave in a certain way. We want to encourage everyone to develop their leadership qualities, to empower people both in and out of the workplace. Each of the leadership competencies describes positive and developmental behaviours we would expect to see in a successful employee at the University. While there are eight key leadership competencies at the University, My Development is designed to help you to identify three areas to focus on and develop. When deciding, consider the areas that will make the biggest difference to your performance and your objectives, support your career aspirations, and contribute to the goals of the University. You will find more information on how the competencies were developed and how they should be used in our Leadership Behaviours guide. 7

How to create your Personal Development Plan 1. Set your personal development SMART objectives Review our Leadership Behaviours. Select up to three development areas from our Leadership Behaviours that will help you achieve your performance and development goals. We recommend that you select no more than three, as focussing on lots of different areas can make progress more difficult. It s important to prioritise. Your development areas can all fall under one competency or range across up to three. Remember, you may want to build on your strengths as well as address areas you want to improve on. 2. Discuss your personal development objectives Meet with your line manager to discuss and agree your personal development objectives guidance on how to prepare and have a great My Development / My Career meeting is available at the end of this document. 3. Complete our online form Once you have identified and agreed three areas to focus on, use them to complete the online My Development form: Development goals / objectives what behaviours do you want to improve or develop? Why? Measures of success how will you measure your success? What does success, look, feel and sound like? Supporting my goals what support do you need to achieve your goal / objective? E.g. training, manager support etc. My proposed timescales by when will you achieve your development goals / objectives? Progress against your development goals / objectives how did you achieve your goals? Here you can record your progress throughout the year.

Example development objectives What do you want to achieve? Why? I want to improve my communication skills, especially in presentation as I will do more of this for various stakeholder groups. I aim to adapt my presentations to suit different audiences and really get buy-in for my projects with my energy and enthusiasm. See Effective Communication - Leading Self - use the most appropriate communication channel and style for the audience and message. My measures of success: How will you measure your success in this? I will ask attendees I know and trust to observe me during my presentation and give me feedback. Supporting my goals: What support do you need to achieve your personal development objective? I am going to spend time with my line manager, an experienced presenter, to get hints and tips. I will practise my presentation at our team meeting to get feedback in a safe environment. I have also been observing others at various meetings to gather ideas. My proposed timescale: Set a finish date I will do the practice presentation in October and start delivering presentations between October and December. I will discuss this with my line manager on an ongoing basis, update my plan at the end of the year to track progress and think about any additional coaching or support I need. Progress against your development goals / objectives: Updated at end of the calendar year. 9

Example development objectives What do you want to achieve? Why? As a new line manager, I would like to better understand my team to make sure our one to one meetings and other interactions are as beneficial and productive as possible. See Managing Resources and Risk - Leading Others - various behaviours including building personal relationships. My measures of success: How will you measure your success in this? Feedback provided by team members to confirm that one to ones are beneficial. Feedback from Team Development Day. Supporting my goals: What support do you need to achieve your personal development objective? Attend My Contribution line manager training to understand my responsibilities; read any available guidance materials. As I have never managed a team before, I have contacted HR Capability to find a suitable mentor for guidance and to learn from their experience. Organise a Team Development Day. Support and coaching from my manager to help deal with specific situations. Regular feedback from team members on the structure and content of meetings to help me assess how I can make them more productive. My proposed timescale: Set a finish date Team day to take place by DD/MM/YYYY. Review progress at my mid-year review.

Development options When you set your objectives it s important to plan how you will achieve them. Think about what development or learning resources are available and how you can get the support you might need. The 70:20:10 model an approach to learning There are many different ways to learn, not just through formal courses or training. When considering your development options, the 70:20:10 model provides a good guide to what options may be available. It has been adopted by many successful organisations to provide a general guide, or rule of thumb on how to approach learning. Informal, on the job, experience-based and practice. Coaching, mentoring, feedback and development through others. Formal learning interventions and structured courses. 11

Ideas for achieving your development goals 70% (Informal, on-the-job) Looking for opportunities to try out new tasks and skills. Taking on additional responsibilities, e.g. covering for colleagues on holiday. Deputising for your manager in meetings. Observing people you believe are good at skills you want to develop watch and try it out. Secondments Taking on new projects or assignments. Being part of a project or working group. 20% (Development through others) Asking for feedback from others. Obtaining coaching learning from others, for example, on Powerpoint, Excel or Word. Mentoring or being assigned a mentor. Job shadowing. Proactively learning from others through networking. Research or teaching opportunities. Learning or voluntary activities. Taking an active role in a professional institute body or association. For research staff: consider joining departmental committees or starting a network of peers related to their field of research. 10% (Formal and structured) Working towards a formal qualification. Attending a training course. E-learning. Be proactive in seeking out and utilising development opportunities that align to your objectives. You can discuss options with your line manager, but it s also a good idea to ask your work colleagues for suggestions and ideas.

MyCareer My Career is an opportunity to consider your longer-term career aspirations and what support you might need to achieve these. It s important to discuss your career aspirations with your line manager. When you and your manager are both clear about your goals it is easier to focus on constructive feedback around your strengths and any areas you may need to develop, to help you progress. There are many different ways to progress your career at Edinburgh Napier. You may want a bigger role, a broader experience or simply to develop your specialism. Whatever your aspiration, everyone should have a My Career conversation so your development is relevant to you. 13

The My Career form provides space for you to capture career achievements, continuous professional development, qualifications, memberships and evidence that could support a future application for promotion. It is a flexible tool that allows everyone across the University to capture accomplishments and aspirations in relation to their career. For our Academic staff, My Career does not replace the Academic Development Framework (relating to the progression of Lecturers and Professors) but may be a useful aide to capture information towards a future promotion application. While there is no formal promotion framework for Professional Services staff, My Career is a useful tool to help line managers understand your career aspirations and provide the right support. It is your learning log to record what you have learned from different development opportunities. My Career meetings should aim to cover the following career development questions. What do you want to achieve? How will you achieve it? What have you done? What have you learned from this? How will you use this in your role in future?

Getting the most from MyContribution meetings Preparing for your MyCareer and MyDevelopment meetings: You Check that your line manager has scheduled My Development and My Career meetings. If not go ahead and schedule meetings at a time to suit both of you. Take time to consider: - Your strengths and development areas what development might you need to deliver your performance objectives? Refer to our Leadership Behaviours. - Your career aspirations research the knowledge, skills and capabilities required to move towards your future career goals. - How you can meet your career aspirations. Consider the goals and objectives of your current role, the department and the University. - What support you need to achieve your development and career goals. Choose three areas to focus on. You may want to complete a Word version of the My Development and My Career forms ahead of the meeting and send it to your line manager for review. There is a Template available on the Intranet. This is also a great place to track your development activities. Your line manager Ask your team member if they would prefer a joint My Development and My Career meeting or to arrange them separately. Schedule meetings well in advance and book an appropriate quiet space or room. Review any draft content in advance of the meeting if possible. Review our Leadership Behaviours to familiarise yourself ahead of the meeting. Consider what feedback you can offer to help your team member understand their strengths and areas to improve (e.g. examples where you have observed certain behaviours, feedback you have received). 15

Getting the most from MyContribution meetings During your MyCareer and MyDevelopment meetings: You Talk through why you have chosen specific competencies and development objectives. Fill in any gaps during the meeting, asking for advice and information, which will help you to identify actions or next steps. Listen to behavioural feedback and build it into your plans where appropriate challenge in a constructive way if you need to. Consider and discuss development options, which align with your aspirations. See the My Development, page 12, for ideas. Agree all elements of your development plan with your manager, specifying what support will be provided and how. Discuss your career aspirations and development activities which may help you for the future. Your line manager Give your team member the opportunity to discuss development goals and career aspirations. Give constructive advice and information as appropriate; help identify actions or next steps. Provide honest behavioural feedback to help the individual understand their strengths and areas to improve. Use our Leadership Behaviours as a guide for conversations. Ask what support is needed from you to help them achieve personal and career development plans. Agree only to what is realistic and achievable. Signpost further resources that may be useful in expanding thinking around career goals.

Getting the most from MyContribution meetings After your MyCareer and MyDevelopment meetings: You We recommend you complete forms on My Development and My Career within seven days of meetings, while it is fresh in your mind. Record progress as appropriate and ongoing throughout the year. Your line manager Be available to answer any follow up questions. Make sure you deliver on any commitments made at the meeting. Send an invitation for the next meeting. 17

Leadership is a way of thinking, a way of acting, and most importantly, a way of communicating Simon Sinek

Created by: Human Resources and Development Department of Edinburgh Napier University Designed by: LearnerLab Printed by: Document and Print Services, Edinburgh Napier University 19

For more information please refer to the My Contribution pages on the Intranet. Or contact HR Services on humanresources@napier.ac.uk or phone 0131 455 3344