This is the third in our series looking at how the Staff Engagement Survey results feed into the success of our faculties and professional services.
This time we talk to Professor Rachel Mills, Dean of the Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences.
What are you trying to achieve in your Faculty this year?
In FELS we are focussing on building the staff and student community across the Faculty and wider University. We will make the most of new opportunities in research and education; ensuring that the University is the destination of choice.
How will the insight that you get from the Staff Engagement Survey help you move forward?
We last conducted a Staff Engagement Survey in 2016 at the same time that I became Dean of FNES. We found the survey results extraordinarily useful as a new leadership team. We empowered our engagement champions in each School to explore the issues flagged in the survey in detail with all staff and resourced them to work collectively to develop action plans and implement solutions.
One of the most powerful aspects was the collective discussion of the data. The detailed focus group work in each School allowed us to co-design workshops to introduce ‘Honest Conversations’ and this approach is now being rolled out across various areas of the University.
We have worked hard to celebrate success, recognise and reward all contributions, build our communities and address the long hours culture and work-life balance. We obviously still have lots of work to do but some great initiatives are underway.
What would you say to your staff about the importance of filling the survey in?
Running the Staff Engagement Survey now is a perfect chance for the new Faculties to take stock, make plans and really listen to all staff. Please do engage and provide comments. We want to know what works well so that we can keep doing it, we want to know what needs to change right now and what limits your ability to deliver your best work. Now is the time to give us feedback and I look forward to discussing the data with all of you as we build the new Faculty community.
The survey closes on Wednesday 7 November 2018.
More information can be found:
Staff Engagement SharePoint site.
