client case studies
The Case for Personal Development in Higher Education
We have worked closely with Universities and Colleges for many years and have always found them to be particularly understanding and enthusiastic about development. To find out more we recently spoke to Bernadette Jansen and Parul Modha from the University of Westminster, Wilma Butterworth from the University of Central Lancashire, and Hannah Boschen from Oxford University, about their experiences. All three universities deliver Springboard, the women’s personal and work development programme; in addition Oxford also delivers Navigator, the men’s work and personal development programme; Westminster delivers Spring Forward, for men and women on the way up, and the Fresh Steps development programme for older workers; and Lancashire has recently run two Navigator programmes and also offers Fresh Steps.
What are the Issues?
Organisations seek personal development programmes for a variety of reasons. We asked Hannah why Oxford University looked specifically for a women’s development programme.
"In 2002 we decided to seek development training as part of the university HR strategy. This decision resulted from concerns about women being under-represented in senior roles – they just didn’t seem to be going for promotions."
Promotion was also highlighted by Bernadette as a deciding factor in seeking development programmes. She added:
"We had nothing to offer for developing leadership, or promoting women to go further and this is why we decided to start running Spring Forward in particular."
In relation to Fresh Steps Parul told us:
"Third life is becoming an important issue in universities as the average age is rising. As we age, wellbeing becomes increasingly important."
The increase in the age of the workforce was also influential for the University of Central Lancashire. Wilma explained why they wanted to provide training and development for their older staff:
"30% of our staff are over 45 and will be with us longer due to changes in demographic trends and retirement law. We wanted to ensure they enjoy their work and help them remain motivated."
So, why did they then decide to implement the Navigator programme for men? Wilma replied:
"Following the hugely successful Springboard programmes for women we started hearing rumblings from the men in the university – why wasn’t there anything on offer for them?
So we made the decision to run the Navigator programme in response to popular demand."
Why The Springboard Consultancy?
When asked why they chose to work with us, the overwhelming response was our reputation within Higher Education. We asked Hannah to tell us more, she said:
“Here at Oxford we have close links with Cambridge University and they had been involved with The Springboard Consultancy for quite some time. They highly recommended them as delivering high quality and effective programmes which instigated real change and long-term positive benefits for the men and women in their teams.”
Parul added:
“The Springboard Consultancy offers a well planned and consistent approach in their programmes, and they evolve to suit the current climate and needs. Also, their support in terms of the person and the programme is exceptionally good. That’s why we chose them to provide our staff’s development training.|"
The training was enjoyable, thorough, and left me confident to go back and deliver the programmes."
High quality and effective programmes which instigated real change and long-term positive benefits."
