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developing performance and development review skills in higher education
Developing Performance and Development Review Skills in Higher Education
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Project leaders
Helen Robinson, Learning and Development Adviser, Staff Development Partnership, University of Leicester
Steve Barrow, HR Business Partner Learning & Development Partnership, Staff Development University of Leicester
Project's administrative home
University of Leicester
Aims and objectives
It is always a challenge to design and source materials, appropriate to the HE sector, that support the development of skills needed to conduct effective performance and development review meetings.
The overall aim of the project is to provide a resource for developers and/or individuals to develop appropriate skills to conduct effective review meetings. The output of the project will be a development package containing specific examples of review meetings taken from the HE sector i.e. academic, research, technical and support roles. Included will be development materials to support the video which will be available to HEIs on the internet.
Objectives are:
- To produce a high quality video to be used by individuals or as part of a workshop for a group of learners covering all categories of staff.
- To give guidance through the video and supporting materials on how to use effective skills and strategies to overcome challenging appraisal situations.
- To produce training materials which support the video and can be used in an individual or group situation.
- To offer the resulting video free of charge to other HEIs.
Proposed methodology
- Work with focus groups consisting of appraisers from different staff groups, to identify challenging situations faced during review meetings.
- The Professional Developers will develop appropriate strategies for review meetings to enable effective dialogue and agreement of future actions and objectives where appropriate. These strategies will be shared with focus groups as appropriate.
- Short role plays will be developed to illustrate the use of strategies. The Professional Development team will work with colleagues in Multi Media Services at the University of Leicester to ensure that scripts are appropriate for short scenes. The scenarios will be tested during in-house appraisal skills workshops and amended as appropriate.
- Identify credible people with appropriate skills to take part in the scenarios – these are likely to be University staff.
- Source video production using contacts in Multi Media Services at the University of Leicester and supervise the production of the video.
- The Professional Development team to write supporting training materials to enable the video to be used either by an individual or as part of group learning. These training materials will be available on the internet.
- Test the final product during our in-house appraisal skills workshop.
Proposed outcomes and outputs
- Video available free of charge to all HEIs on the internet through streaming facilities or as a podcast.
- Appraisal skills training materials available on the internet.
Benefits
- The video will provide a resource with specific examples of academic, research and support staff appraisals to enhance skills training. Currently the resources which are available commercially are not appropriate for all staff groups, particularly for academic or research staff appraisals. Commercial DVDs tend to be expensive and the cost can be prohibitive for University budgets.
- Support materials will be available on line and will be able to be used by individuals for learning or refreshing their knowledge, and can also be used by trainers to enhance their delivery of appraisal skills.
Milestones
By the end of the first quarter:
- Challenging situations faced by managers and senior staff during appraisal meetings will have been identified
- Strategies identified to enable effective dialogue and agreement of future actions and objectives where appropriate
By the end of the second quarter:
- Short role plays will have been scripted and tested during our in-house appraisal skills workshops.
- Credible people will have been identified to take part in the scenarios
- Video production company will have been sourced
By the end of the third quarter
- The video will have been recorded and tested
- Support materials will have been produced
By the end of the fourth quarter
- The video will be available for streaming with an option of downloading as a podcast
Dissemination
The outcomes of the project will be disseminated at the SDF conference where delegates will be able to view the video, look at the associated materials and discuss how these can be used to enhance their Performance and Development Review meeting skills programmes.
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