Theme Managing self Competency Problem solving and decision making Use appropriate media to communicate

Managing self Concept/learning transfer The recognition that different team members prefer different ways to absorb information. The visual communication of information (graphs and charts) often conveys meaning better than text.

Managing self Situation The Web Content Officer (WCO) team is a relatively new team of 4. Their sole initial remit was the instruction ‘to promote research on the web’. To achieve this, team members and their line manager created a detailed list of tasks. Effective communication between all parties was vital to ensure that these tasks were prioritised, to produce a plan of action.

Managing self Task To communicate effectively to team members in a way that will help them make decisions and prioritise tasks according to strategic goals.

Managing self Action The WCO s had developed a list of actions, that included the development of 12 different sub- websites within Each action was lengthy and we needed to find a way to prioritise these tasks. I used google web analytics software to see how many people visited each sub-site over the last 2 quarters of 2012 (and where they lived). A bar graph of these data was then distributed to the team at our weekly roundtable meeting.

Managing self Results/outcome Team members: found it easier to absorb information presented in a visual manner. used the graphs to help prioritise the importance of actions ie. websites that attracted high volumes of visitors from key target locations (India, China, Brazil) were developed first. now use their own charts and graphs (from google analytics) to communicate at college meetings.

Managing self Contribution to University objective This result has contributed to the University’s strategic objective of delivering excellent research and enhancing our global reach and reputation. By prioritising tasks, we can develop our most strategically important content first and reach our primary external audiences followed by our secondary audiences.

Theme Delivering results Competency Continuously improve service delivery

Delivering results Concept/learning transfer Create performance improvements and standards that ensure our systems and processes attain maximum customer satisfaction align to the strategic objectives of Corporate Communications are understood by and are achievable by staff (and Information Systems) are continuously monitored

Delivering results Situation Each Web Content Officer within the team is aligned to a college. One of their roles is to support the publishing of web content for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF). All schools and research institutes use the web publishing system supplied by the webteam. However, some do not collaborate fully and question whether the tools and infrastructure are fit for purpose.

Delivering results Task To ensure that the webteam provide a service that meets the needs of academics and support staff that publish web content for REF 2014.

Delivering results Action A questionnaire was developed and distributed to staff in research institutes. The response indicated a high level of satisfaction with helpdesk support (over 90% ‘Very satsified’) but under 70% were satisfied with publishing times and the presentation of content. The findings were presented to university services management with a request for extra budget to develop new web page templates and new hardware to reduce publishing times to two hours.

Delivering results Results/outcome Budget was allocated and new templates were developed and publishing times reduced to two hours. A susequent questionnaire revealed that satisfaction with publishing times has increased to 85% ‘very satisfied’. The Research Institute of Health and Wellbeing engage much more with us. Questionnaires will continue to be conducted every year.

Delivering results Contribution to University objective This result has contributed to the University’s strategic objective of delivering excellent research. By creating a community of satisfied web publishers we can publish a professional website that performs as a marketing tool to Grow our community of PhD students Extend our knowledge exchange activity

Theme Leading and developing others Competency Motivate team and individuals Adopt coaching techniques

Leading and developing others Concept/learning transfer The importance of coaching to promote self discovery in team members. The development of the line manager’s listening skills ability to ask open questions rapport with team members

Leading and developing others Situation The WCO team are forging a new role within Corporate Communications. College administration, management and academics make daily requests for web publishing assistance and developments to existing infrastrucure. Each team member needs to develop the confidence to self assess whether these requests fit into our strategy and if so, prioritise their importance.

Leading and developing others Task Coach and support team members to develop their own decision making skills.

Leading and developing others Action Since October 2012 to the present, when a member of the team comes to me with a problem achieving a task, I ask them the relevant open questions from the following list

Leading and developing others Action What are you trying to acheive? What have you tried so far? What are the options? What are the pros and cons of these options? What option do you recommend?

Leading and developing others Results/outcome More thoughtful team members that understand their goals and can make their own decisions to reach these goals. Increasingly team members ask themselves the same questions and have learned to coach each other.

Leading and developing others Contribution to University objective By providing considered and strategic support to the publishing of web content, the WCO team supports the enhancement of our position as one of the world’s great, broad based, research intensive universities.