Leading Departments is a programme designed for new Heads of Departments to support them assess and understand the challenges involved in leading and managing an academic teams. The programme supports each leader as they develop their own style of leadership and management and get to grips with how to overcome any problems.
To understand the programme better, we spoke to Thomas Legge, Associate Head of Department for Business, Coaching, and Education at Hartpury University, who recently took part in Leading Department. Thomas said his decision to go on the programme was because he wanted to do something that was “highly interactive, and I was looking to not just learn about more leadership concepts, but work with fellow peers within other universities, and have a go at applying some of the learning we were undertaking.”
Thomas was “blown away” by the programme because he said it gives participants the ability to work in a very focused way and apply the learning. He said, “Having the real-life simulation of tasks, working with fellow colleagues in small groups to unpick that task and then to actually apply some of the learning in practice with live actors was superb.”
Leading Departments also offers the chance to get live feedback in the moment, allowing individuals to really focus on what Thomas said he could “do differently in my own leadership working with my fellow staff members that I line manage, but also exploring how fellow colleagues in other universities work through the problems as well.”
Key takeaways from the programme for Thomas were, “the detail and the ability to get one-to-one coaching on the back of the 360 … and the ability to then have a one-to-one coaching session to work through that allowed some level of reassurance on my own leadership reflections.” Secondly, Thomas said it was “refocusing the level of planning and inaction reflection required when trying to have an adult-type conversation in leadership.”
Watch the full video below.
Leading Departments
Participants on our Leading Departments programme benefit from the opportunity to explore the use and balance of intellectual, emotional and political intelligences in facing day-to-day challenges. Find out more here.