Learning and Development course timetable

The last two years before retirement are a good time to prepare for personal change in readiness for leaving employment.

This course includes detailed information on finance, planning and tax and legal issues. You will have the opportunity to share information and discuss any concerns about retirement in a relaxed setting.

Legal Advisors from Barr Ellison, Cambridge will explore some of the key legal issues that you may wish to consider when approaching retirement i.e. Wills, Trusts and Lasting Power of Attorney.

A Financial Advisor from Dartington Wealth will give a detailed overview of the different ways in which you may wish to consider managing your retirement income. They will give details of how tax is collected in retirement and answer questions.

HR colleagues will outline the possible options for retirement for Established staff and the processes involved with each option, as well as the actions that need to be taken.

• Representatives from University Pensions Administration will provide details of the occupational pension schemes relevant to those attending the course (CPS and USS). They will also answer individual queries.
• Learning and Development will lead an informal discussion on how to approach managing your time in retirement.

If you’re feeling stuck in your current role and don’t have a clear idea how to move on in your career, this workshop is for you. It will be highly interactive, with discussions enabling you to share your experience and learn from colleagues. You’ll have an opportunity to reflect on your career journey to this point and see what you can learn. Then you’ll look at your priorities for the next stage in your career and identify what’s getting in the way of moving on. And finally you’ll set some short and longer term goals to focus your energy as you look to develop your career.

Discover the wide range of online learning, training and development opportunities available to support your career development: UoC: Career Development for Technicians (linkedin.com)

This course prepares you to effectively carry out the recruitment and selection process taking you through the stages of producing a person specification, short listing effectively against selection criteria, designing questions, structuring and conducting interviews, and making the final decision. University policies and procedures will also be covered.

If you are looking to update and refresh your understanding of the recruitment and selection processes at the University of Cambridge, it is recommended that you attend the 1/2 day workshop: Recruitment Essentials: Appointing the Right Candidate (Professional Services Appointments).

This highly interactive session will enable you to step back from the ‘day-to-day’ and focus on your career objectives, short and long term. You will have the opportunity to explore what development opportunities you could grasp and what networks might assist you. You will also have the opportunity to consider what’s holding you back and how you can overcome these barriers to fulfill your career aspirations. You will leave the session with a personal career plan in draft format, that you will be able to explore in greater depth.

Stress is a common experience, but when does it become a serious concern? And what does ‘burnout’ truly mean? This insightful webinar explores the impact of burnout in both professional and personal life, providing practical strategies to navigate the pressures of today’s fast-paced world.

We’ll break down the concept, identify the ‘five stages of burnout’ and highlight potential warning signs. This session provides a safe and supportive space to explore the impact of burnout and, crucially, offer guidance on positive coping strategies for every participant.

Objectives:

• Defining burnout with accuracy and clarity
• Identifying the five stages of burnout
• Engaging in ‘fight or flight’ scenario activity to understand human relationship with stress

Prioritising coping and capacity-building over unrealistic quick fixes

• Reframing self-care as a practical, pragmatic and selfless activity for all
• Using ‘2 minute listen’ to pause and reflect
• Accessing support and further learning

Please Note: Once you have booked on the course, click on Add to Calendar to start the process to import the course appointment into your calendar. This contains the link to the MS Teams course meeting under Joining Instructions that you will use to join on the day of the course.

This programme aims to support participants’ career progression within the University, as well as providing key skills to support further development in the Higher Education Sector. It draws on the expertise of senior colleagues in the University at focussed development workshops where participants will be able to input and take part in discussions.

No previous qualifications are required to take part in this programme. For some this programme will act as a feeder programme for the existing Administrator Development Programme.

This programme aims to support participants’ career progression within the University, as well as providing key skills to support further development in the Higher Education Sector. It draws on the expertise of senior colleagues in the University at focussed development workshops where participants will be able to input and take part in discussions.

No previous qualifications are required to take part in this programme. For some this programme will act as a feeder programme for the existing Administrator Development Programme.

The top two categories of requests from you, the community, are Networking and Community Building and Best Practices and Experience Sharing. These regular catch ups are designed as an open forum for informal conversation, collaboration, and mutual learning with peers across the University, including members of the core team. We encourage you to come prepared to share your successes, challenges, and insights, as your experiences will shape the richness of the discussion. Whether you're looking for a listening ear, fresh ideas, offering your own strategies, or simply seeking to connect with others in similar roles, this is your opportunity to contribute to and benefit from the collective expertise of the community.

This session provides an introduction for both mentors and mentees. We will discuss the benefits of mentoring and provide guidance on how to set objectives for the mentoring relationship and how to prepare for your first session together. We will also offer some tips about how to be a good mentee and mentor.

The University is the largest estate in UK higher education with an existing 784,000m2 built space within 379 teaching, research and operational buildings. It is currently valued at £4.4 billion (Insurance Replacement Cost, 2023) and comprises of a diverse range of assets from Grade 1 listed buildings to state-of-the-art laboratories.​ Come and hear Andy Levy, Head of Projects within the Estates Division, talk about the 40+ live projects (ranging from £200k to £300m) currently running and how building projects are managed at the University.

This webinar will explain what mental health is, support you to recognise causes and signs of poor mental wellbeing, and give tips on how to start a supportive conversation.

Objectives:

• What is mental health?
• The mental health and wellbeing matrix
• Risk factors for poor mental wellbeing
• Common signs and symptoms of poor mental wellbeing
• Tips for having supportive conversations about mental health
• Sources of support

Please Note: Once you have booked on the course, click on Add to Calendar to start the process to import the course appointment into your calendar. This contains the link to the MS Teams course meeting under Joining Instructions that you will use to join on the day of the course.

This full day specialist bespoke training equips Wellbeing Advocates to be powerful champions for wellbeing. The training is designed to establish the roles and responsibilities of a Wellbeing Advocate and to support you with the knowledge, skills, and experience to develop in your role.

Training Outcomes:  

• The fundamentals of physical, psychological and social wellbeing 
• The role of the Wellbeing Advocate 
• The importance of healthy boundaries 
• Interpersonal skills for Wellbeing Champions 
• How to lead effective wellbeing and health campaign 

Please Note: Once you have booked on the course, click on Add to Calendar to start the process to import the course appointment into your calendar. This contains the link to the MS Teams course meeting under Joining Instructions that you will use to join on the day of the course.

Please note these are stand-alone training sessions and participants should only attend one session.

Springboard is for women staff and graduate students, and those who identify as women, who want to take control, become more assertive, increase their confidence & build themselves a more positive attitude in both their work and home lives.

The programme gives you the time to reflect, share and most importantly, set achievable personal and professional goals for now and the future.

Key areas covered include communication skills, assertiveness, self confidence, improving your work/life balance and developing positive skills and attitude. If you want to progress and develop, then this programme is for you.

The programme comprises four days over a three-month period and a workbook to be completed between sessions.

“A climate where people feel safe to contribute their ideas, thoughts and even challenges without fear of humiliation or recrimination.” Professor Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School. Levels of trust and psychological safety in a team can have a significant impact on performance. When it is present, motivation and innovation will increase. When we feel safe, we can communicate openly and transparently, and this allows us to learn and grow. A lack of trust results in mistakes being buried, and in difficulties with retention, stress and low morale. This session will allow you to reflect on how a psychologically safe environment can be fostered and the role you play in this.

The top two categories of requests from you, the community, are Networking and Community Building and Best Practices and Experience Sharing. These regular catch ups are designed as an open forum for informal conversation, collaboration, and mutual learning with peers across the University, including members of the core team. We encourage you to come prepared to share your successes, challenges, and insights, as your experiences will shape the richness of the discussion. Whether you're looking for a listening ear, fresh ideas, offering your own strategies, or simply seeking to connect with others in similar roles, this is your opportunity to contribute to and benefit from the collective expertise of the community.

In this interactive one-hour session, you will explore the essential skills and strategies needed to navigate and lead through change effectively. Through discussions, and sharing knowledge and information, you will gain insights into different types of change, the critical role of managers in guiding teams through uncertainty, and practical tools to plan and implement change successfully. You’ll also receive a list of resources to support your development and learn about additional information available to enhance your change management capabilities.

This session will set the scene for those moving in to a role with professional responsibility for other members of staff at the University, supporting their work, behavior and development. As we all know from our personal and professional experience, leaders and managers play a critical role in ensuring a productive, motivating and inclusive working environment.

This interactive session will explore the responsibilities of a manager or leader at the University, introduce tools to support the performance of your team, and provide pointers to where to find important information and further development as needed.

It is aimed at staff across all areas, disciplines, staff groups and levels of responsibility, including staff who are:

• new to managing one or more others
• new to leading a service or research area
• new to Cambridge, either as a new manager or with previous experience

You've heard of a book group, but how about one for podcasts? In these sessions we will focus on a different episode from the wonderful Squiggly Careers Amazing If podcasts, which includes over 300 episodes on career based topics ranging from coaching and confidence, to strength and values.

Before each session you will be sent a link to a podcast episode to listen to and reflect upon. During the session you will be led through a selection of tasks/exercises recommended in the episode Pod Sheet. You will have the opportunity to work on these individually and then reflect back as a group.

Session 19: What's holding back your career development?

In this episode podcast hosts talk about creative ideas to overcome the most common career challenges, such as; not having enough time to learn, not having people who can help you, not knowing what to focus on for your development, and not having progression options in your organisation.

Managing conflict in the workplace can be difficult, time consuming and can potentially have a negative impact on you and your team. This course will help you to understand some of the reasons why these situations arise, and identify strategies for managing these situations effectively.

This workshop provides an opportunity for academic staff to understand the recruitment and selection process and how to create the conditions where you can recruit the best candidate and avoid common pitfalls. It includes an overview of the recruitment and selection process and identifies the key principles to ensure practice is fair to all candidates at each stage.

The course is primarily aimed at academic staff involved in making selection decisions for academic roles and those with responsibility for coordinating academic recruitment procedures.