Tag Archives: skills development

If you are looking for opportunities to support your personal, professional or academic development we have a new online platform that can help – MyDevelopmentHub. It brings many of the opportunities available across the University together into one searchable platform. Whether you want to improve your influencing skills or are interested in learning how you can work more effectively in a team, there are resources to support you. Although it also lists on campus opportunities to develop, many of the resources are available online so can be accessed by students studying by distance learning.

At the moment we’ve launched a beta version so we’re still developing the platform but it’s already a really useful tool. Have a look and do tell us what you think!

MyDevelopmentHub

Effective group working

September 21, 2017

smaguire

Skill development No Comments

There was an interesting article in the Times Higher Education journal this week. It talked about research Google did a few years ago on what the main characteristic was for a successful team. It concluded:

The crucial feature of successful teams was kindness: members of the outstanding teams were vigilant in taking care of each other, and those groups were the most innovative, productive and happy.

The article went on to talk about how universities can support students to develop approaches to group working that will help them to be more effective. Not only can this help with success during your studies, but as Google’s research has shown it is valued by employers. In particular, for online students from countries across the world, building compassion into group working approaches can help build connections and encourage critical thinking – a key skill for successful postgraduate study.

I’ll let you read the article and research yourself and encourage you to consider how you could modify your approach to aid success.

Times Higher article on team working

Google’s team effectiveness research

Sponsors versus Mentors for Career Development

January 9, 2017

smaguire

Career Management No Comments

I’m a big fan of mentoring for individuals to help them with their career development. Mentors tend to be someone you can talk to about your plans, set goals with, and get ideas and encouragement from on how to achieve those goals. Often mentors come from within your organisation (if you are employed) and they’re usually more senior than you, although occasionally people may seek out a mentor from outside their organisation (maybe from a sector they are keen to move into). Mentors can be motivating, supportive, help clarify ideas, and give you a different (and helpful!) perspective on the issues you may be facing in your job or in progressing your career.

But I recently came across a really interesting blog post from a few years ago that I wanted to share with you. It suggests enlisting the help of a ‘sponsor’ to support your career development, someone who will actively promote your career development within an organisation. I’ve copied a quote from the post below.

But what’s the difference between a mentor and a sponsor? Heather Foust-Cummings, a vice president with Catalyst Research Center for Equity in Business Leadership, explained it this way: “A mentor will talk with you, but a sponsor will talk about you.”

The blog talks about what you can do to enlist the support of a sponsor and why it’s a good thing to do. I’d recommend it as a really interesting read if you want to progress your career with your current employer.

The People Who Can Open More Career Doors Than You Ever Thought Possible

Get comfortable with giving feedback

December 1, 2016

smaguire

Skill development No Comments

My colleague Jo Fairweather has written this post on how to give effective feedback. Giving feedback is an important part of being a good colleague or line manager, and this post will also help you to reflect on what you want when you are asking others to give you feedback on your work.

We regularly give feedback in our lives. It could be writing a review on TripAdvisor, commenting on a colleague’s email or giving feedback on someone’s essay.

Considering your approach to giving feedback can help make you and the person who receives feedback feel more comfortable.

Reflect on your current approach to giving feedback. Are you on target, go in with a sledgehammer or avoid the issue for fear of upsetting the individual? The purpose of providing feedback is for the recipient to benefit from that new knowledge. Giving feedback is not about trying to change that person, be judgemental, or make them like you. Being aware of your natural response can help you analyse how you view feedback.

Be clear on what the feedback relates to. Be descriptive not interpretative. Feedback is like holding up a mirror to someone else. Try to keep personal opinions and concerns out of the message. Emphasise the “what” and “how” rather than the “why.”

Present a balanced view. Pay attention to giving both positive and negative feedback. Most people listen out for and remember negative feedback received first so a good balance is important.

Put yourself in the other person’s place. Assess the readiness of the other person to make use of what you say. Pick your time and place. Consider if the feedback will be given face to face. Receiving feedback via text, email, or phone can affect the tone and lead to misinterpretation.

Be specific rather than general. Stick to concrete examples you have noticed and be aware of getting side tracked by unrelated matters. For example, if you are being asked to comment on the tone of an email don’t start commenting on the spelling too.

Be direct and courageous. You may feel uncomfortable saying something unpleasant to the person. Remember your intention is to be helpful. Keeping information from the person can be more harmful than telling them.

Say your information and let it go. It is up to the person what they do with your feedback, don’t be offended if they don’t take it.

By following the above principles you will become more comfortable in giving feedback.

Annual reviews in employment: how to get the most of out them

September 27, 2016

smaguire

Career Management Skill development No Comments

Annual review, performance review, appraisal, or some other name. Whatever they are called, they are typically a yearly meeting, usually between an employee and their line manager, to reflect on the employee’s progress within their job within the previous year and to set objectives for the following year. Many of our distance learning students are working full-time while studying so will probably encounter annual reviews.

In many organisations the annual review is performance-related and linked to salary so there’s some pressure to do well. But for everyone, the review is an opportunity to reflect on what’s gone well over the year, what hasn’t gone well and why, to consider where you want to go with your role in the future, and what training or development support would help you succeed in your role. The review can be used to support your long term career development goals if you prepare for it well and approach it properly.

Set your work objectives for the year but ask for opportunities to gain experience in areas that interest you. Think about skills you want to develop or improve and what work opportunities may give you a chance to do this. Think about how this could help meet specific business objectives as well as your own interests as you will present a more persuasive argument.

Is your current course of study related in any way to your job? If yes, make sure you talk about what you are learning and how it has influenced (positively I hope!) your work. Have you developed new knowledge or skills that you could share with your reviewer and suggest ways you could use them in your current role, to broaden your experience and benefit your employer at the same time.

Be open to constructive feedback on your performance. Ask for suggestions about what you could do better, and what support may be available to help you do this. Discuss possible solutions to barriers you have faced in your role. Use this as an opportunity to get guidance rather than being defensive about any negative comments or work issues.

What training could be useful to help you do your job and progress? It’s worth identifying suitable training opportunities before your review and discussing them with your reviewer, again thinking about how this training could help you contribute more effectively to set objectives.

If you prepare effectively for your review, and engage positively with the process you will hopefully have a productive, developmental conversation which will help you move forward in your career.

Do positive role models increase public speaking confidence?

July 28, 2016

smaguire

Leadership Skill development No Comments

There is some interesting research about role models and public speaking confidence that I want to share. In particular, an article entitled Successful female leaders empower women’s behavior in leadership tasks* (and any male readers bear with me because this isn’t just for female students).

A sample of 149 male and female students were asked to give a speech in a virtual reality environment. During their speech they were exposed to a picture of Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel or Bill Clinton. The length and perceived quality of the speeches were measured to give an indication of behaviour in a stressful leadership task. The essence of the research findings were:

Female students spoke for less time than men when a picture of Bill Clinton or no picture was used
But female students spoke for longer and rated their presentations more highly when speaking in the presence of a picture of a female role model, speaking for similar times to male students
There was no significant effect of any role model on the speech length or rating of male students
They concluded that subtle exposure to successful female leaders inspired women’s behaviour in stressful leadership tasks.

Putting aside your views on how good these political figures are as role models (and there was a lot of interesting / funny debate on this on another post about this I read somewhere!) I wondered what you thought about this? What factors influence your confidence when giving presentations (and you can extend this to presenting yourself at interview, having difficult conversations in a work or academic context…)?

At the conference where I came across this research, Dame Sally Davies (Chief Medical Officer, the UK government’s principal medical adviser) said she imagines winding herself up before going into difficult meetings. A senior member of staff in College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine mentioned she always makes sure she wears a jacket (and applies some lipstick!) before important presentations. We’ve written about power poses before and how these can increase confidence levels.

So what works for you? It would be great if you could share your tips for increasing confidence (and decreasing nerves) before presentations or difficult conversations in the comments below.

* Ioana M. Latu at al Journal of Experimental Social Psychology Volume 49, Issue 3, May 2013, pages 444 – 448. (You can get access to the full text through the library e-journals).

Middle-aged interns

July 5, 2016

Carol Macdonald

Career Management Researching careers No Comments

It’s not unusual to associate internships, or structured work placements, with young undergraduate students. A large percentage of this group do undertake internships and find them to be an excellent way to develop relevant workplace experience, gain contacts in the sector they wish enter and to check out their career ideas. However if you think that internships are only for this group, you are mistaken. Many postgraduate students also take advantage of internships – and age is no barrier.

If you are unsure about whether an internship could be a realistic option, you may gain some encouragement from a BBC article ‘The rise of the middle-aged intern’ by Kate Stanton Business reporter. This provides examples of how middle aged professionals have used internships as a way to remarket themselves and to start a new phase of their working lives.

More information on internships and work experience, and how to find them, can be found on the Careers Service website.

Leadership skills … lessons from business leaders.

May 2, 2016

Carol Macdonald

Leadership Skill development Uncategorized No Comments

Leadership skills are a key requirement for many professional careers … but what makes a good leader?

I came across an interesting article “10 leadership lessons from the world’s biggest business leaders” by Raj Tulsiani, in the journal Recruitment Grapevine (December 2015). Raj cites adaptation as the key to success, along with learning from your peers and those who have been there and done it already. With this in mind he presents one piece of advice from 10 global business leaders. A summary of this advice follows below:

Look at the big picture: Think deeper and rather than focussing on the day-to-day issues look at the bigger picture. (Bill Gates, co-founder and former CEO Microsoft)
Be passionate: If you do something you are passionate about, you are naturally going to succeed. (Mary Barra, CEO General Motors)
Create valuable networks: Surround yourself with only positive people who are going to lift you higher. (Oprah Wimfrey, talk show host and business woman)
Find Focus: Focus on consumers and professionals. (Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO Apple)
Hire Smart: You don’t need another you! Creating a diverse team with people from different backgrounds can give you a well-rounded approach when it comes to decision making. (Claire Watts, CEO QVC)
Inspire your staff: Leadership is the ability to inspire others. (Jeff Weine, CEO LinkedIn). Jeff is said to inspire his staff by encouraging them to take time out from their work everyday just to think!
Listen: Lead by listening – to be a good leader you have to be a great listener.(Sir Richard Branson, founder and CEO Virgin)
Never give up: Even when the going gets really tough – never give up! (Anne Mulcahy former CEO Xerox)
Be compassionate: Show you care. If your team think you don’t care, it can be a rocky road. (John Shilifske, CEO Northwestern Mutual)
Embrace change: It can be hard for business to keep up with the scale of changing products and services … but what’s dangerous is not to evolve. (Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon)

The original article by Raj Tulsiani, CEO and co-founder of Green Park Interim and Executive Search, can be found on Recruitment Grapevine, December 2015, p40/41, via the following link: Recruitment Grapevine

Leadership – what makes a good manager?

February 17, 2016

Carol Macdonald

Events Leadership No Comments

Welcome to Innovative Learning Week – day 3

Does your current role involve managing staff or leading project groups? If not at present, could this be the case in the future?

Leadership ability is an important issue for professionals in all employment sectors and something which many employers place near the top of their ‘wish list’ when recruiting staff.

We all have views on what makes a good leader, but how similar are these views? While some of you may have read extensively around this subject, or have undertaken management training, I suspect that many of you will base judgements on your own personal experience. We can all reflect on how the actions of our line managers and supervisors impact on our motivation, energy and confidence.

So, what in your opinion makes a good manager?

I hope that you will find it helpful to share your views on this on Twitter. But first, here are some thoughts and ideas from the ODL graduates who have been helping us with this week’s event. We asked them the following questions:

What in your opinion makes a good manager?

A good manager gets involved with your work, is able to discuss options and ideas with you, knows your strengths and weaknesses.
A good manager shows consistency in making the right decisions and when he/she goes wrong accepts to be corrected.
Supportive; good listener; fair; decisive.
A manager who gives leg room to staff, allows staff to exploit their abilities and potential.
I guess my PhD supervisors are managers of a sort, and they are both excellent. They are receptive to my ideas but lay out possible directions I can take if I get stuck.
A good manager listens, is understanding, remains calm in a crisis and acts decisively.
A great manager is always in control of the situation. Even in difficult times, he/ she never loses temper and is always able to motivate their employees.

What opportunities have you taken to develop your leadership skills?

Training and openness to new ideas.
Volunteering as well as on the job training.
I’m hopefully about to start a student environmental journal. So that!
Take the chance to lead when you can – group work with colleagues, leading a workshop or session in a conference, etc.
Taken several corporate leadership training opportunities while at work, and embracing working with and listening to role models and mentors.

You can take part in the linked Twitter discussion at: twitter.com/uofedcareers #EdODLcareers

Follow Career Connect to access tomorrow’s Innovative Learning Week blog post.

Distance learning degrees – what are the benefits?

February 15, 2016

Carol Macdonald

Events No Comments

Welcome to Innovative Learning Week!

We hope that you will enjoy reading about the experiences and reflections of a number of Edinburgh ODL graduates through our daily blog posts this week. We also hope that this will encourage you to get involved in this careers ‘event’ by sharing your own views through our daily Twitter discussions.

ODL students and graduates tend to be a fairly diverse group of people. You will each have your own particular motivation for embarking on a distance-learning degree. If you are already established in your chosen field, you may be focussed on developing particular knowledge and understanding or to specific skills that will help you to progress in a particular direction. Some of you however may be considering a complete career change, or aiming to secure your first graduate job. Others may perhaps be primarily driven by personal interest or your love of an academic challenge. Whatever has motivated you to study will impact on your hopes and expectations about how your degree may influence your future.

We thought that you would be interested in what Edinburgh graduates identified as some of the benefits from their ODL experience, so we asked the following questions:

How has your ODL degree influenced your career development?
Has it benefited you in any other ways?

Here’s what they said:

Career influences a general nature included:

I got a new perspective on things, and I also got more interested in academic work.
Greater career opportunities, possibility of a PhD.
It made me more literate in the science, politics, and economics of environmental issues and gave me an insight into environmental policy-making.
It led to me getting elevated at work.
It provided a useful credential, a focal point for thinking and discussing options.

Professional skills were developed and self-confidence increased:

Hard work, leadership, planning and the articulation of scientific issues.
Developed research and writing
Self confidence in academic/professional abilities
It has benefited me greatly in terms of my understanding of more advanced techniques relating to my work in disease diagnostics.
The information and knowledge I gathered during my time at an ODL student at the University of Edinburgh enabled me to critically assess common industry practices and to form my own opinion about things as well as to substantially defend it.

The opportunity to develop their professional network was valued:

It helped with a small but useful network of people, and provided a talking point when meeting new clients
Gained new contacts
I have made acquaintances both with the university staff and former class mates. These connections I believe will be helpful as I continue developing in my career

For some, it changed how they were viewed by colleagues:

Career development has included position and respect at my work place
Have greater proven expertise in the team; could juggle career and study

Potential future employers will be impressed:

I think participating in an online degree while working full or part time shows a lot of commitment and will give future employers the impression that one is disciplined and determined.

It has offered a valuable stepping stone for those embarking on a longer academic journey:

It gave me a foundation in environmental issues which helped me to decide the topic of my PhD.
It has taught me about the experience of being an online student and ways in which animal welfare can be taught.
Very positive influence, as I now have broader career options which involve lecturing and research both which I’m very interested in. I’m currently preparing to enrol for PhD studies.
Prior to my ODL course I only had an Advanced Diploma. It has helped me to gain acceptance onto a Wildlife Management degree.

As you progress through your degree course, you should start to recognise an increasing number of benefits from your own experience. The comments above may help you to reflect on this. Why not share your views with other ODL students on Twitter?

I look forward to reading your Tweets – twitter.com/uofedcareers # EdODLcareers

Follow Career Connect to access our next Innovative Learning Week blog post.