Collaborate: Your Career, Your Future.
We are delighted to announce our ONLINE Inter-University Peer Mentoring Programme 2023-'24 - for admin, professional and support colleagues, Grades P4 to P7.
Please apply by Tuesday 7th November, 5pm.
DCU HAVE 5 PLACES TO OFFER ON THIS TALK+PEER LEARNING PROGRAMME, SUBJECT TO APPLICATION.
You will:
- Grow and develop personally and professionally drawing on the knowledge and experience of colleagues in participating institutions
- Join a group of up to 45 participants from various Irish universities, and together we will become a community sharing our experiences and growth
- Be led by cross-university HR Managers, together with an expert panel of invited speakers
- Explore 5 key areas - influencing, leadership presence, networking, collaboration, being strategic, dealing with challenging behaviours and career development
- Work together in an open, inclusive, and confidential manner
MODULES
Time for each event - 2:30pm to 4:30pm
Module 1 - Thursday, 30th November 2023 - Being Strategic. Dr. Jean Hughes, Associate Director of University Initiatives at DCU.
Module 2 - Thursday, 14th December 202 3 - Developing Your Career. Panel Session - John Hannon, Director of Student Services, University of Galway; Laura Lynch, Head of Organisational Development, People & Culture, Queens University Belfast; Sarah McElwee, TU Dublin Head of Change Management and Niamh Mullen, Career Development Advisor RCSI.
Module 3 - Thursday, 25th January 2024 - Developing Your Leadership Presence, Paddy Lavelle, Career Perspectives.
Module 4 - Thursday, 22nd February 2024 - Dealing with Challenging Behaviours facilitated by Centre4learning.
Module 5 - Thursday, 21st March 2024 - Collaboration, Networking and Managing Boundaries. Dr. John McGinnity, Maynooth University.
More info on each Module
This session explores the concept of strategy and its vital role in various aspects of life, with a particular focus on career development and navigating universities effectively.
Associate Director of University Initiatives at DCU, Dr Jean Hughes will share her thoughts on what it means to be strategic, the strategic mindset, and her own experience of strategies for navigating professional careers in higher education.
Session Objectives :
- Define and understand the concept of strategic thinking.
- Recognise the benefits of a strategic mindset and apply it to various aspects of life, including career development.
- Recognise the importance of strategy in university life.
- Identify strategic thinking principles to make informed decisions about career paths.
- Recognise practical strategies for building your career in university and beyond.
Panel Session with John Hannon, Director of Student Services, University of Galway; Niamh Mullen, Career Development Advisor RCSI, Laura Lynch, Head of Organisational Development, People & Culture, Queens University Belfast
This session will give participants a unique insight into the career stories of our panel members who will also share tips and advice for career development based on their own experiences.
- Career review
- Career planning
- Career journey/stories
- Reflecting on your career
- Action planning
This session aims to help participants to consider their Leadership Presence and how they can further develop this.
“Looking like a leader, being perceived as a leader, when you interact with customers, peers and executives, is the essence of leadership presence.” (Carol Kinsey Goman, PhD)
This session will focus on Leadership Presence, including:
- How you Present Yourself
- How you Communicate
- How you Act
This workshop aims to help you develop and enhance your capability and confidence in handling challenging and sensitive conversations. Scenarios of this kind may include giving feedback or saying “no” to others, dealing with difficult behaviour, delivering messages people do not want to hear and more.
This course is designed to help us feel freer to speak up. Instigating a difficult conversation can feel daunting and there can be a natural tendency for us to put it off in the hope that the issue will resolve itself. But this is rarely the case, and if issues are ignored, they are likely to grow and become even more difficult to tackle later. By preparing yourself carefully and developing the right skills, mindset, and behaviour, you will be able maximise your ability and confidence to have effective conversations.
- Prepare for and confidently handle challenging and sensitive conversations.
- Equip you with tools for effective 'speaking up' including managing expectations, saying “no” and giving feedback.
- Explore coping strategies for managing your own emotions in the face of challenging conversations.
- Effectively deal with resistance and pushback including heightened emotion
This session aims to help participants implement a more structured approach to collaborating and networking within their organisations and outside of their organisations.
- Networking - building your network
- Collaboration - utilising your network
- Setting boundaries – making the most of your network
- Define Networking and Collaboration.
- The difference between collaboration and cooperation.
- Discuss the factors that influence collaboration, such as culture, trust, communication, and technology.
- Examples of successful collaboration and unsuccessful collaboration.
- Setting boundaries.
What is an Action Learning Set?
Our Collaborate programme uses action learning sets, a proven way to enhance learning which are 'by taking time to question, understand and reflect, to gain insight and consider how to act in the future’. Weinstein, 1999
It's a powerful method for self-development and for individuals to learn from each other. We'll work on real challenges, using the knowledge and support of a peer group combined with skilled questioning and listening to reflect, create new ideas and drive action.
Where action learning sets are used each participant must prepare their challenge in advance, and bring a live problem to the event. Each participant will have ten minutes hence preparation is key.
What is Peer Mentoring?
Peer mentoring is a form of mentorship that usually takes place between a person who has lived through a specific experience and a person who is new to that experience. The role of a peer mentor is to provide guidance, support, and expertise to someone at the same career stage. Peer mentors should encourage their peers to take responsibility for their own development by enabling them to self-reflect, clarify understanding, challenge assumptions, consider different perspectives and make decisions.