The 2008 Staff Development Conference provided a focus for those interested in staff and organisational development in higher education and was offered through an on-going partnership between the Leadership Foundation and the Staff Development Forum.
The conference ran from Wednesday 5 - Friday 7 November 2008 at the George Hotel, Edinburgh.
The theme of the 2008 conference was ‘Narratives of Potential’, taking its lead from the rich literary heritage of Edinburgh. Practitioners attending the event explored development stories together, engaged in conversations about organisational development, shared ideas/resources and had a dialogue about both strategic and tactical interventions. There had been recognition that good leaders can engage their staff with compelling stories, storytelling is also a technique that can be used to effect organisational change. The conference explored the art of narrative as an effective tool to share practice and engage others in stories about development.
The conference planning group included two members of the Universities Scotland regional group (MPDG); Alan Taylor from Edinburgh and Sandy Wilkie from St Andrews, the outgoing Chair of the SDF. They were joined by Ginnie Willis, the Leadership Foundation Director for Scotland, and several other colleagues from around the UK. Their challenge was to create a stimulating conference experience that blended workshop stories, plenary sessions and informal/structured networking opportunities, all set against the backdrop of a lively cultural location. It promised to be a rather special event and lived up to the occasion!
Narratives of Potential: Foul Whisperings
The focus of the 2008 Staff Development Conference was ‘Narratives of Potential’: how can organisational developers and staff developers use stories to exchange knowledge about practice and influence people within the organisation? In order to get everyone thinking about this theme, we created a story – Foul Whisperings – which was told in five weekly episodes in the run up to the conference. The story was continued at the conference itself.
With both formal and informal space available there was plenty of opportunity yet again for delegates to engage in a wide range of activities. Plenary sessions were set out cabaret style to encourage interaction between delegates: other networking sessions, such as the World Cafe; presentations from regional groups; along with some other interesting networking sessions and contributions; and the exciting 'Foul Whisperings' all added to an innovative and informative conference
Programme
Conference keynote speakers included Alice McMahon and Sheila Gupta, both from the University of Edinburgh, talking about 'Quality people'; Donald Smith of the Scottish Storytelling Centre speaking on 'Shared narratives diverse narrators'; and Caroline van den Brul of the Leadership Foundation with 'Hearts, minds and stories
For full details of the Staff Development Conference 2008 view the programme in Detail or in At a glance format.
There were a number of Parallel Session Options available, full details of which can be found at summary descriptions - workshops, short stories and demonstrations.
Presentations
A selection of the keynote presentations and workshops (usually but not necessarily in the form of Powerpoint slides) can be found below:
Professor April McMahon, Vice-Principal and Sheila Gupta HR Director, University of Edinburgh
Keynote 3: Hearts, minds and stories
Caroline van den Brul, a Leadership Foundation associate and a facilitator on the Strategic X-change programme
Keynote 4: Self-Service Staff Development’ to facilitate ‘self-leadership’
Julie Fox, Head of Learning & Development, Spire Healthcare
A goodpractice client
Colleen Harding, Staff Development Manager, Bournemouth University
Meriel Box, Head of Centre : Staff Development, Liverpool John Moores University
Stuart Hunt, Associate: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education
Parallel 2: Quadrophenia Who Am I? Reflections from a late starter
Clive Betts, Staff Development Officer, University of Exeter