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3.3 - Management Skills for Senior Staff

Target Group: for senior lecturers/readers/professors and professional support staff who have (or are soon to have) significant management responsibilities including Heads of Unit (Academic and Administrative), Heads of Research (or Consultancy) Programmes or Centres, Taught Course Directors, etc.

Components

3.3.1 Workshop programme
The workshop programme is divided into a core programme and optional modules - some modules are run in-house and others are available at nearby colleges of the University of London.

3.3.2 Self-awareness and individual development: membership of the Chartered Management Institute
Managers are encouraged to continue their development after the core workshop programme. This can be done through group learning opportunities (see below) and/or by individuals planning and guiding their own development, with support. To aid the latter, staff can become members of the Chartered Management Institute through the School's Institutional Membership (contact the Staff and Educational Development Manager), and use resources on the CMI website available to members. Staff can assess and benchmark specific skills (using the smart skills benchmarks done electronically) and develop an individual management development plan, monitoring their development as they go using the CPD scheme. Tools are also available for assessing learning styles (smart learning assessment) and monitoring your learning and reflection (smart CPD profile); plus access to the Management Information Centre including topic briefings and access to literature on management. Discussion of development needs with others e.g. your appraiser, your peers, is encouraged.

To access the CMI website and the CPD scheme:

  • Go to CMI's website address - www.managers.org.uk
  • On the home page look at the ribbon menu at teh top and click on Members Resources.
  • From the drop-down menu click Continuing Professional Develoment.
  • Read about the CPD scheme which:
    • offers you an online Personal Development Profile (CPD Profile) to record all aspects of your learning and development
    • tests your knowledge, understanding and ability in specific management skills and techniques
    • enables you to invite others to assess you at these skills
    • enables you to discover new learning opportunities
    • assesses how you learn, how you apply that learning in the workplace, and provides constructive feedback
    • recognises the results of significant Continuous Professional Development activity with the potential to become a Chartered Manager.

360 degree feedback on individual skills (e.g. motivating people) can be obtained using the smart Skills Benchmarks (above). It is best to identify areas of management you want to improve and target these first. Discussion with a peer/mentor/appraiser is encouraged and the need/advantage of discussion with an external facilitator can be considered (requests should be made to the Staff and Educational Development Manager). Anyone who wishes to use 360° assessment of a full set of management skills should contact the Staff and Educational Development Manager.

3.3.3 Group learning opportunities

At the end of the core programme, participants are invited to continue their management development by participating in discussions with their peers. A Leadership and Management Forum has been set up in-house (see below). This will meet once each term and will be open to all current and previous cohort members who completed the core programme.

Leadership and Management Forum / MD041N

Dates: Once a term -
(i) 5th February 2008 (theme - Client and Stakeholder Relationship Management)
(ii) 13th May 2008 (theme - Networking)
(iii) 26th June 2008 (theme - Cross Cultural Management)
Run at: LSHTM - In-house
Facilitator: Tom Kennie
Times:
(i) 4.15 pm - 5.45 pm
(ii) 4.00 pm - 5.30 pm
(iii) 4.15 pm - 5.45 pm

At the end of the core programme, participants are invited to continue their management development by participating in discussions with their peers, facilitated by Tom Kennie, who will provide relevant inputs from theory and practice. Participants are invited to suggest topics for discussion, based on practical management issues they are facing. Alternatively a theme may be set for specific forums to add focus to discussions.

3.3.4 - Workshop programme

Internal Workshops - Core programme plus modules

Core Leadership and Management Programme for Senior Staff

Dates: May to July 2008, Cohort 6
Run at: LSHTM, in-house
Course Leader: Dr Tom Kennie, Director of Top Management Programme for HE (Leadership Foundation)

By the end of the of the core programme it is anticipated that participants will have:
i) an enhanced understanding of the leadership and people management skills required to be an effective senior manager in a changing university context;
ii) through the use of a number of diagnostic processes, a more detailed level of self-awareness about their own leadership style;
iii) developed an enhanced capacity to resolve challenging people issues, through both workshop
sessions and action learning,
iv) and an increased ability to deal with other staff development needs through effective coaching and career development discussions.
Parts 1, 2 and 3, are linked units best studied in a cohort, so priority will be given to staff who can take all three in one sequence. Parts 4 and 5 may be attended when it suits the individual.

Part 1 - Leadership and Management Development in an HE Context

Date: 13 May 2008
Times: 9.30 am - 12.30 pm

Content:
(i) The process of leadership and management in an HE context (ii) The capabilities required for effective leadership and management for example communication, motivation, strategic thinking, etc. (iii) The role of Head of an academic or administrative unit, or Research Programme (iv) The concept of action learning (v) Personal diagnostics on leadership styles.

Part 2 - Effective People & Performance Management

Date: 2nd June 2008
Times: 9.30 am - 4.00 pm

Content:
(i) The processes involved in effective people management in an HE context (ii) How to deal with underperformance - and how to create the conditions to enhance high performance (iii) Tips on how to provide feedback which is both heard and acted upon (iv) How to lead creative individuals and teams, and (v) Provide space to deal with specific people management issues.
Action Learning Groups: as part of this session small action learning groups (optional) will be formed. These will be encouraged to meet (say) on two occasions prior to the final workshop.

Part 3 - Managing Change, Delegation, Coaching & Career Management

Date: 26th June 2008
Times: 10.00 am - 4.00 pm

Content:
(i) Clarifying the concept of change in an HE context (ii) Avoiding the pitfalls of change management (iii) Tools to assist with planning for change (iv) Matching personal style to different challenges or conflict situations (v) Avoiding the 'set-up-to-fail' syndrome (vi) Key steps to lead change (vi) The concept of coaching - and how it differs from mentoring and counselling (vii) Delegation and coaching - how they fit together (viii) Tools and techniques for effective coaching of staff (ix) Handling career management discussions - processes to assist the discussion (x) Personal career planning.

Part 4 Financial Management at LSHTM

4a - Overview of Financial Management Procedures at LSHTM

Date:
18th October 2007
4th March 2008
Run at: LSHTM, in-house
Course Leader: Richard Benson (Deputy Secretary)
Times: 2.00 pm - 4.00 pm

This workshop is designed for both academic and professional support staff and will give an overview of: (a) the financial structure of the School and the wider funding environment in which it operates; (b) the School's financial organisation and systems; (c) financial roles and responsibilities. The workshop is designed to explain how the School works financially and the financial pressures and issues that affect it. The session will provide a context for the day to day financial activities that staff in the School engage in and lead into the more detailed workshops that follow.

4b - Financial Management for Nominal Accounts

Date:
25th October 200
11th March 2008
Run at: LSHTM, in-house
Course Leader: Richard Benson (Deputy Secretary), Brian Fenelon (Budget Manager)
Times: 2.00 pm - 4.00 pm

This workshop is designed for both academic and administrative staff. It will focus on the financial management of School departmental, unit and reserve accounts, and provide the opportunity to discuss issues and problems and share experience and good practice.

4c - Financial Management for Research and Consultancy Projects (including full economic costing)

Date:
19th March 2008
Run at: LSHTM (in-house)
Course Leader: Richard Benson (Deputy Secretary), Brian Fenelon (Budget Manager)
Times: 1.00 pm - 4.00 pm

This workshop is designed for both academic and professional support staff involved in the management of research and consultancy projects. It will focus on the financial management for such projects and will be structured around the 'life cycle' of a project, and will identify financial issues that need to be dealt with at each stage.

The session will also cover the process of preparing an application for funding, including full economic costing (FEC). Separate sessions will be offered covering FEC in more detail, including a hands-on exercise in preparing an application using the School's FEC costing software.

Workshops on:

  • Equality and Diverstity Awareness - for managers,
  • Interview and Selection Skills
    See Section 6 for details.

    Modules for Leadership and Management Programme for Senior Staff

    These modules can be attended individually, by staff who have not done the core programme as well as those who have done it.

    Research Team Leadership

    Dates: 5th February 2008
    Run at: LSHTM, in-house
    Course Leader: Dr Tom Kennie,Ranmore Consulting - also Co-Director of Top Management Programme for HE (Leadership Foundation)
    Times: 9.30 am - 4.00 pm

    The overall objective of this workshop is to provide a forum for the sharing of good practice and to encourage the development of the skills required to lead and manage national and international research projects. More specifically the programme aims to explore issues such as -
  • The nature of leadership and management in a highly focused research environment;
  • The role of the principal investigator and senior researcher as project leader;
  • How to deal with challenging people and leadership issues, again in a research based context (including the challenges of remote management);
  • How to support very high performers;
  • How to better understand the team dynamics which occur in a research team and how to gain further self insight to enable these to be addressed;
  • How to better manage relations with partner bodies involved in major collaborative research projects.

    As a follow-up to this programme a half-day Facilitated Discussion has been arranged for delegates to revisit and review some of the key themes emerging from the main workshop (13th May 2008). The group will decide at the end of the Research Team Leadership workshop which aspects of the "leadership agenda" they would like to consider and review further, and these will be made the main areas for the follow-up session. Delegates may be recommended some reading or other references to look through between the sessions.

    Facilitated Discussion - optional follow-up to Research Team Leadership / MD060N
    Dates:
    13th May 2008
    Run at:
    LSHTM, in-house
    Course Leader:
    Dr Tom Kennie, Ranmore Consulting - also Co-Director of Top Management Programme for HE (Leadership Foundation)
    Times:
    1.30 pm - 3.30 pm

    Refer to the above for details. Delegates are strongly encouraged to attend both sessions.


    Inter-personal conflict management and negotiation

    Date: 22nd November 2007
    Run at: LSHTM, in-house
    Course Leader: Jenny Harwood, Management Consultant and Leadership Foundation
    Times: 9.30 am - 4.30 pm

    Conflict is healthy and desirable to retain creativity and keep groups moving forward, but so often conflict between individuals and within and between groups becomes destructive and personal. The key is in early recognition of unhealthy conflict, accurate diagnosis of its causes and the development of effective strategies for dealing with it. Note: There will only be half an hour for lunch.
    Content:-
    During the course the following will be considered: Healthy and unhealthy conflict; Early detection of difficulties; Why people conflict; Determining causes of conflict from the symptoms; Personal approaches to conflict management; Approaches to negotiation (using a model based on the outcome of the Harvard University Negotiation Skills Project); Development of personal strategies for managing difficult situations.


    Strategic planning and management

    Dates: 26th February 2008
    Run at: LSHTM, in-house
    Course Leader: Jenny Harwood, Management Consultant and Leadership Foundation
    Times: 10.00 am - 4.00 pm

    For staff needing to review and develop the direction of their group or department, taking into account the wider environment within which they are operating. Note: There will only be half an hour for lunch.
    Content:
    i) The nature and purpose of strategic planning and management;
    ii) Organizational mission statements and how they can be used to motivate;
    iii) The importance of shared values and the opportunities offered through the strategic planning process for developing a shared and agreed direction for a group and prioritising areas of work;
    iv) Analytical frameworks which assist in organising and considering information;
    v) Making strategic choices - including types of risk to be considered and a tool for weighting and ranking potential choices.


    Determining Priorities and Managing Time

    Date: 12th June 2008
    Run at: LSHTM, in-house
    Course Leader: Jenny Harwood, Management Consultant and Leadership Foundation
    Times: 10.00 am - 4.00 pm

    By the end of the course participants will have: Clarified what exactly it is they are trying to achieve; Analysed how they spend their time at present; Considered how to reduce the pressures felt through lack of time; Appraised options for doing things differently. Note: There will only be half an hour for lunch.
    Content:
    Common time management problems; Issues associated with setting goals within the university environment; The difference between what is important and what is urgent; Time wasting habits; Many practical ways to make more time; Maintaining the balance of time between work and home.


    Chairing Meetings

    Dates: 17th January 2008
    Run at: Queen Mary
    Course Leader: Lindsay Wright, Consultant
    Times: 10.00 am - 1.00 pm

    For any member of staff who would like to gain more confidence as a meeting chairperson.
    By the end of this course, participants should be able to: define the role of the chairperson; outline the relationship between the chairperson and the note taker; identify the characteristics of a successful meeting.