Looking ahead to 2023: Grades 2-5 development support

Written by Harriet Boatwright (Learning & Development Advisor) and Jo Westerman (Organisational Learning Partner) from the OD&PL Leadership and Professional Practice team.

As 2022 draws to a close we take the opportunity to reflect on an amazing year working with our grades 2-5 community and to look forward to an action-packed new year, full of new learning and development opportunities.

Development support for our grade 2 to 5 community

We’d like to thank everyone who has joined us in 2022 as well as those who have supported and encouraged others to attend. It has been fantastic to have the opportunity to meet so many of you, either at our monthly drop-in sessions at the LOGIK Centre, at our online and in-person provision or through our wanders around campus.

We are already seeing the fruits of the commitment to your learning and development and how engaged colleagues are. We feel privileged to be supporting you on your learning journeys and it’s amazing for us to hear about what you go on to do:

Both Fresh Steps and the Introduction to Team Leading course have given me the confidence to start learning again and I have since gone on to pass my English Matriculation exam and I am studying Level 2 Functional English at Leeds City College which is a precondition of the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship I am now taking on through the University of Leeds – due to start in February.

- 2022 participant of the Fresh Steps programme and the Introduction to Team Leading course

Working with you to deliver a growing provision for your needs

Listening to colleagues across the University, we have been able to provide an agile and flexible learning and development provision that meets the needs of our staff as they change and develop. Our provision is designed to support you at different stages of your development. Whether you’re new to the role or more experienced and looking for your next step, we have something for everyone.

We've enhanced our provision to meet the evolving needs of our community and following successful pilot programmes in 2022, we will launch an Introduction to Team Leading Programme and a new personal development programme called Fresh Steps in early 2023.

Additionally, we have introduced monthly drop-in sessions at the LOGIK Centre and virtual appointments to explore development opportunities for colleagues working in roles graded two to five, a session introducing LinkedIn Learning and we have continued to offer Career Development Programmes and the Springboard programme.

Visit the grades 2-5 development section on the OD&PL Leadership and Professional Practice website to view our full provision, find dates for 2023 and book your place. We look forward to seeing you at one of our sessions in 2023 and hopefully, you can join us for the next monthly drop-in session at the LOGIK Centre on Tuesday 24 January 2023 from 10am until 12noon.

Colleagues from the Facilities Directorate and OD&PL at one of the drop-in sessions to find out more about development opportunities for colleagues in grade 2-5 roles

Delivering strategic impact

We are passionate about this provision and the impact it has on colleagues and in supporting the University of Leeds Strategy. A key action of the University's Enabling strategy, which supports the delivery of the University of Leeds Strategy 2020 to 2030, is “to provide learning opportunities that support individuals to fulfil their role, realise their future potential and support career progression”.

Through our work, we look forward to sharing stories of how colleagues are achieving their aims and the wider impact this then has on those around them and the wider University. Keep visiting our grade 2-5 development section as we share these with you.

Any questions?

We hope you’ve found it useful to read over our plans for 2023 and if you have any questions please feel free to get in touch. You can either join us at one of the upcoming monthly drop-in sessions at the LOGIK Centre or email us at peopledev@leeds.ac.uk.