Alliance Manchester Business School make improvements across the School

14 Feb 2019

In response to the Staff Survey 2017, a number of changes have been made

From communication and development to work-life balance, since the Staff Survey 2017, the Alliance Manchester Business School has made a number of improvements.

Leadership and Managing Change and Communication

The ‘AMBS Futures’ Project 

Colleagues were asked for their views on the policies, processes and structures within the School which are not currently helping AMBS to achieve their purpose: changing for good the way the world does business. 

Three questions in particular were explored in a series of six focus groups for academic and PS colleagues:

1. What do we want AMBS to be like in three years’ time?
2. What isn’t working at the moment and what is preventing us from achieving this?
3. What specifically can we do to address these challenges?

The project report has been widely shared by Ken McPhail, the Deputy Head of School, who chaired the review group. 

SLT Portable Office

Key initiatives have been implemented across the school including the creation of the SLT Portable Office. The portable office will rotate around the School’s Divisions and Professional Support offices. It has two aims: to provide an informal opportunity for members of SLT to speak to colleagues in these areas, and for colleagues to raise any issues that can be fed back into SLT discussions. 

Its first session took place in November 2018 and is scheduled to occur monthly throughout 2019.

Additional developments in this area include a new twice yearly update for all School PS colleagues to complement the annual PS conference held each summer.

Learning and development

• Members of the School Leadership Team are attending the Inspiring Leaders Programme. 
• Academic and PS colleagues are attending the Leading at Manchester Programme. 
• PS Middle Managers have attended an updated Humanities Future Leaders Programme.

AMBS will also be reviewing the suggestions generated through the ‘Our Future’ consultation to identify any local level ideas. There was great participation from AMBS colleagues for this initiative, with over 200 staff attending the session.

Additional developments in this area include a number of dinners held by Fiona Devine, the Head of School which included a mix of academic and PS colleagues. Discussions focused on training and development, and suggestions are currently being considered by the School’s L&D Partner.

Staff feeling valued

Letters of recognition have been sent to colleagues who have achieved excellent teaching scores and received positive feedback.

Physical environment

AMBS colleagues started moving into the new building in late 2018. In this great new facility all colleagues will be based in one site, having previously been based across several buildings.

Workload/work-life balance and stress

The established AMBS Wellbeing Champions network currently has 15 champions which include PS and academic colleagues. Initial School events have been held, and an ideas generation session was held, which included the call for an ‘Address your Stress’ workshop.