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Dear colleagues<\/p>\n
In my last message I promised to share my New Year Resolution with you. Rather boringly, I resolved to do more exercise. Let\u2019s just say it hasn\u2019t been a total success.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll also remember that the Professional Services Leadership Team (PSLT) pledged to go \u2018back to the floor\u2019, getting out and meeting colleagues. Whilst the \u2018day job\u2019 is demanding of my time, I\u2019ve been able to visit seven Professional Services areas and seven Schools since the start of the New Year, alongside attending various other events. Everywhere I\u2019ve visited I\u2019ve been struck by how genuinely welcoming you\u2019ve been and how much you value the opportunity to talk and share ideas. One of my upcoming visits will be to HR Services where I\u2019m spending half a day in April. If you\u2019d like me to spend time with your team, please let me know.<\/p>\n
Through these visits I\u2019ve learnt a great deal, an example being the enormous amount of planning going on in the Faculty of Science and Engineering as it moves towards a two School model and prepares for the arrival of MECD, which is rapidly taking shape. To help prepare colleagues for these changes a pilot workspace has been set up (outside the Pariser Building) where staff can spend some time and give their feedback. I heard that it\u2019s generating some debate about the merits (and otherwise) of open plan and cellular working.<\/p>\n
I visited Jodrell Bank for the first time and was mesmerised. The development of the \u00a312m First Light Pavilion will only add to this \u2018must visit\u2019 centre. I\u2019ve also been to see some of our student accommodation and it\u2019s clear that whilst our new facilities at Owens Park are going to be great, we must continue to invest in our facilities to make sure that we\u2019re offering our students a quality experience.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve heard about the life saving work at the Manchester Cancer Research Centre and our plans with The Christie and CRUK for the redevelopment of the Paterson Building.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve heard some recurring themes which we need to address. One is that colleagues often feel frustrated because it\u2019s not easy to share best practice across our University. This is something we\u2019re looking to address in our new PS strategy \u2013 more on that later.<\/p>\n
You might be wondering what\u2019s happened to all of the Our Future \u2018big ideas\u2019 you contributed to last year – you can see a full inventory of all of the ideas on StaffNet. Those ideas which can be implemented fairly quickly have been shared with leaders across our University who have been asked to begin to make these happen. The ideas for our longer term future are being considered by SLT and PSLT and grouped into themes which will form the basis for our University\u2019s new strategic plan. I hope to be able to share these themes with you next month and there will be opportunities for you to engage further in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, we\u2019re progressing on two key initiatives in response to your ideas – the first relates to \u2018our values\u2019 as a University. We do currently have a set of values but you told us they are not well embedded. So we\u2019re going to be involving you over the coming weeks to develop a shared set of values and share your ideas for bringing these to life which I believe will play a critical role in shaping how we do things around here.<\/p>\n
The second relates to the way we manage change. I accept that there is more we can do to mitigate the impact of change and we\u2019re using your advice to inform how we design and implement change projects in the future. We\u2019re currently recruiting a Transformation Director who will lead with Programme Management Office under Matt Atkin\u2019s leadership in the Planning Office. There are, of course, many change projects already underway, most notably the Student Lifecycle and New Leadership Model, and Simon Merrywest, Director for the Student Experience, will be saying more about these at the next PSLT open meetings in March<\/a>. I fully appreciate that change creates uncertainty and am grateful to colleagues for their professionalism and patience.<\/p>\n PSLT colleagues are also using your feedback to plan for the future of the PS. We\u2019ve set aside serious amounts of time during February and March to begin creating a blueprint for our future approach which we\u2019re nominally calling onePS. We\u2019re still in the early stages but our approach is distinctly different to anything we\u2019ve done before, because instead of developing individual plans for each part of the PS, we\u2019re creating broader themes like people, digital, improving processes and developing our estate. This should enable PS colleagues to work together more effectively and PS and academic colleagues to work in partnership more closely. I want to make sure that all colleagues have the chance to engage in and contribute to onePS so as a starting point I\u2019ll pose this question: We\u2019re placing our people at the heart of onePS, so what single initiative relating to our staff would make the biggest difference? Let me know via email<\/a> or at the March open meetings.<\/p>\n And if you\u2019re looking for another opportunity to get your voice heard, don\u2019t forget that the Staff Survey is now open<\/a> and I\u2019d urge you to take part, I\u2019ve already filled mine in.<\/p>\n There\u2019s still uncertainty around the three issues which have the biggest potential to impact on our University \u2013 Brexit, the Augar review and pensions. Leaders across our University are continuing to plan for various scenarios. On the upside, we continue to be one of the most popular universities in the UK for student applications, with a 10% increase in home undergraduate applications and an 18% increase in international undergraduate applications. This is in contrast to a declining national picture and our direct competitor group who are experiencing broadly flat application numbers compared to last cycle.<\/p>\n Finally, I\u2019m pleased to say that I\u2019m no longer the \u2018new boy\u2019 as we\u2019ve just welcomed Chris Pressler, our new University Librarian and Director of the John Rylands Library, and Wayne Keating, Interim Director of Faculty Operations in the Faculty of Humanities to the PSLT team. Chris is already making a positive impression on his colleagues with his enthusiasm and ambition for our great libraries and for me, I\u2018ve found another obsessive Irish rugby fan. I know he\u2019s particularly enjoying exploring the remarkable John Rylands Library and is already talking to colleagues about ways to make the most of this amazing place and its treasures. And, of course, we also welcome Wayne Keating as interim Director of Faculty Operations in the Faculty of Humanities. Wayne is currently Head of Teaching, Learning & Student Experience in the Faculty of Science and Engineering.<\/p>\n