During our departmental staff meeting on Tuesday 26 May, we discussed the draft Core Values for our department.
...
- A video of the staff meeting can be found here: https://york-ac-uk.zoom.us/rec/share/65J_D-rX2kVJa9LIy0_CeZ56NaK0X6a8h3JPqKALxUxrpTthwILPfKnQdJI3Zmmj (Password: 0s=221F4)
- The full presentation can be found here.
- Pre-reading material here.
...
- Roland introduced the session and explained where the values had come. He talked through an SLT 'cloning' exercise where the SLT team worked to develop the draft core values by thinking about characteristics and traits of colleagues that they would like to personally emulate.
- Ioan proceeded to talk through a PowerPoint presentation. The main parts of this were to explain what Core Values are, why we are introducing them, how they will be used and finally what the draft Core Values are.
- The draft Core Values shared for consideration in the meeting were:
We believe in students
We make a difference
We step in and help
We are friendly
We are curious and committed to learning - The department were split up into small groups and took part in a short break-out exercise where colleagues were invited to consider if they agreed with the values, currently work to them and if they had any feedback that they would like to share at this stage.
- Following the breakout session, the full meeting was reconvened and the floor opened for feedback.
- Some great points were raised by around 18 individuals - a really open and honest dialogue flowed.
- A selection of the feedback covered points such as:
- What does 'believe in students' mean and is this the right language?
- Should there be something in here about being international, cosmopolitan, inclusive and diverse?
- 'Friendly' discussed, is this the right language and other ideas such as 'approachable' and 'supportive' were proposed.
- Other suggestions for further values such as 'Working together for a common good.'
- Discussion around the distillation of the values into short, sharp sentences and whether they should be longer with more explanation.
- The environment, sustainability and green agenda discussed and some conversation around whether these are Core Values or permission to play.
- Following the feedback session, the next steps were shared: please respond to the google survey to put forward your own feedback and look out for further updates through this page and via future staff meetings.
...