Date: 17/09/2021

Speakers: Caroline Crosthwaite, Rosalie Goldsmith, Nick Brown

Learn the language of colleagues

• there can mismatch in understanding between different paradigms
• accommodate the discourse of colleagues, e.g. educational language vs technical language, engineering vs humanities

Work using persuasion and influence

• do not use your position of power, even if you have one
• treat all colleagues with respect, even those who are vehemently against you
• understand their point of view, what's the basis of their objection
• work around those who won't change their minds
• accept that there are those who will tolerate what you're doing but have no buy-in
• meet people halfway; otherwise, you get compliance, not agreement
• keep your cool, don't get angry or upset
• build a sense of belonging/identity between colleagues and celebrate small successes
• find a critical mass of those who are like-minded, "hunt in packs"
• point to benefits for students, staff, school
• any levers, e.g. student feedback, school, faculty and institutional KPIs/strategic plans/frameworks, to persuade them and help them understand what the expectations are
• no school/faculty/unit wants to be seen as worse than anywhere else, use competition between different units
• let any senior staff on your team know that you're appreciative and need their wisdom and experience
• sell your ideas as a collective idea, so others don't feel they're working to help only you

Support systems

• mentors are a great support, but you need to champion yourself
• build up your credentials up before making big changes
• good to get a balance of grassroots support and higher-level support when required
• need to be careful with relying on higher-level support because it can generate bad blood sometimes
• work outside your school, across Faculties
• reach out to T&L networks, they often have good connections
• ask people you've previously worked with about what your strengths are and use them