Overview
The University of Liverpool is one of the UK’s leading research institutions, with a world class research portfolio, and an annual turnover of £340 million. Educating over 20,000 students and employing over 5,000 staff, the University is a member of the Russell Group, reflecting its position as one of the UK’s leading research-intensive universities.
Business opportunity
In 2008, the University implemented a thorough Professional Development Review (PDR) strategy for its entire workforce. The University fully understood that for this strategy to be executed effectively, it needed to provide adequate resources to create and foster a learning and development culture amongst its 5,000-strong staff base.
What were the organisation’s needs?
To ensure the University remains one of the UK’s leading research universities by supporting a continuous improvement approach to performance, and by instilling a sense of partnership between employer and employee. This cultural change initiative led to an increased demand on the type and range of development opportunities available, where individuals take greater responsibility for their own career and personal development. It was also important to the University’s diversity and equality strategy to increase the accessibility of the learning and development opportunities available to staff by increasing the diversity of methods of delivery available.
The University therefore required a comprehensive solution to empower all of its employees to take responsibility for their own learning and development. The University identified the following deliverables and objectives:
• Develop capability to support managers in being accountable for the new PDR process and enable managers to support their own teams on a day-to-day basis.
• Increase the resources available to support the effective implementation of PDR.
• Reduce the time HR spends dealing with basic management issues.
• Provide instant support for formal programmes and courses.
• Create a forum for learning that was not confined to a formal classroom based environment.
Why GoodPractice?
From the outset, GoodPractice worked collaboratively with the University, offering a bespoke and consultative service. The University recognised that GoodPractice was supported by the HE sector, which suggested an understanding of the issues facing universities, and was also endorsed by other universities with whom they had worked successfully.
The range of resources available through the toolkit provided the University with an instant learning and development profile within the University, where very limited resources were previously available. The technical support provided by GoodPractice was unrivalled, as the University had limited technical expertise.
What solution was provided?
The University deployed the Professional Development Toolkit, which is based on the GoodPractice Toolkit for Managers. The toolkit provides a wealth of resources, including theory, hints, tips, best practice guides and exercises for managers to support personal and team development.
Underpinning the new PDR process, the toolkit was deployed to meet the objectives set out by the University through the provision of purposeful, accessible resources and support for both ‘Reviewers’ and ‘Reviewees’ before, during and after reviews. Constantly updated to meet the evolving needs of the University’s staff, the dynamic Professional Development Toolkit plays an integral role in the University’s successful PDR process.
What were the outcomes?
Due to the success of the initial Professional Development Toolkit launch and the collaborative relationship between the University and GoodPractice, the University has now added the GoodPractice Toolkit for Leaders to its learning and development portfolio.
As well as comprehensive support throughout the PDR process, staff can now research and sign up for training courses online via the toolkit. Not only can staff choose from a catalogue of training courses, but the toolkit also provides links to suggested reading and related resources, from both within the toolkit and from external sites. Such customisation of the toolkit supports employees in a very simple yet effective way. By acting as a one-stop-shop for research, support and training materials, the toolkit empowers employees to fulfil their learning and development plans, which in effect contributes to improved performance.
The University also publishes regular Toolkit Topics, provided by GoodPractice, via various internal announcements. Highlighting current events and issues, the Toolkit Topics incorporate links to guide users to the relevant areas of the Toolkit, thus driving interest and further facilitating learning.
What are the benefits?
Liverpool is a global University, with interests in China and Malawi amongst others, and the toolkit provides a cost-effective way of delivering learning and development resources to its entire staff, including those overseas. By increasing access to learning and development resources across the University’s campuses, learners can complete pre-course work by accessing the toolkit prior to formal learning in their own time, thus meeting the demands of different learning preferences and styles.
The University also benefits from various administrative advantages, including:
• hosting the full listing of its development programmes online
• online development programme application
• detailed usage reports
• customisable online content
• full synergy between the toolkit articles and formal development programmes
Client Testimony
“The Professional Development Toolkit has become instrumental to the University’s approach to leadership and development for all staff.” Frances Hewison, Deputy Director of Human Resources at the University of Liverpool
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