Leadership Expectations

Developed with Academic and Professional Services colleagues across the University we are proud to present the Swansea University Leadership Expectations.

Our leadership expectations guide how we work, change culture and shape the way we behave. Living these means being autonomous yet accountable, purposeful and courageous, and involves creating a positive, open culture where people achieve their potential.

We Are Professional

We develop ourselves and our teams through continued professional development, and use feedback to improve. We create a culture that delivers successful outcomes through people, supporting, developing and challenging our teams to succeed. We involve our people in developing a vision for the future and in enabling innovation and change, improving University, team and individual performance.

examples - AS LEADERS AT SWANSEA UNIVERSITY, WE WILL:

Actively give, seek and receive feedback, using this as an opportunity to build self-awareness and to improve the performance of self and others
Champion the strategic importance of people, creating a learning culture that values and enables continuous professional development to maximise individual and team potential, including coaching, mentoring, job experience and appropriate professional qualifications
Hold self and teams accountable for achieving results, creating a culture that motivates others to be innovative and outcome-focussed and to perform effectively during challenging and changing times
Lead change taking into account the impact on people and the needs and priorities of Swansea
Actively communicate the reasons behind strategic decisions and plans, involving staff in developing a bold, innovative vision which reflects the core values of the Institution and create a sense of pride

- examples - AS LEADERS AT SWANSEA UNIVERSITY, WE WILL NOT:

Set a culture that is risk adverse where teams continue to do things in the same way, or use time pressures as an excuse not to think about things differently or see things through
Avoid difficult conversations about poor performance or to recognise and value successes
Fail to strategically plan and prioritise, setting vague or uninspiring goals that lack clarity around expectations
Lack confidence or impact at high levels, missing opportunities to communicate messages or being seen as too ready to complain instead of doing something about it
Fail to actively lead people processes, including recruitment, probation and PDR to build high-performing teams

We Work Together

We enable our teams to work together and across functions to deliver successful outcomes that exceed the needs and expectations of our customers. We are responsible for creating environments that demonstrate equality, foster trust, respect and challenge. We are accountable for providing clarity and direction, communicating the “big picture” and harnessing ideas and opportunities to achieve the University’s vision.

- examples - AS LEADERS AT SWANSEA UNIVERSITY, WE WILL:

Create an inclusive culture which celebrates and actively promotes equality, ensuring any barriers to equality and inclusive practices are removed
Lead in way that role models the University values, creating positive work environments that value equality, trust, respect, co-operation and challenge to deliver services that strive to exceed the needs and expectations of customers
Create opportunities to break down ‘silo’ thinking to encourage an Institutional perspective, providing opportunities for networking and relationship building across the University to spread new ideas and developments and achieve common goals
Be responsible for providing clarity about role, responsibility and accountability, explaining how team members fit in the structure, vision and plans
Interpret strategy creatively and communicate a shared vision which conveys a sense of direction for all stakeholders

- examples - AS LEADERS AT SWANSEA UNIVERSITY, WE WILL NOT:

Allow their team to ‘drift’ away from critical priorities, and allocate resources on an ad-hoc basis
Fail to see the “bigger” picture and get bogged down in detail
Act in self-interest, being reluctant to share information and value and empower their teams
Avoid involving others in areas that they could influence and help shape and be closed to making changes or amendments as a result of others’ views
Be unapproachable and out of touch with the day to day working of the team

We Care

We create environments that identify, understand and give priority to delivering the needs of the University Community (our students, colleagues, external partners and the public). We motive and inspire our teams to provide the highest standards of personalised care and in doing so uphold the Swansea University brand.

examples - AS LEADERS AT SWANSEA UNIVERSITY, WE WILL:

Define ‘excellent service’, motivating and inspiring teams to create best practice in responding and delivering the needs of the University Community
Be accountable for services which are fair and inclusive to all
Create positive and responsive working environments where teams keep promises and build trust to deliver quality outcomes with pace
Create a culture of enabling long term relationship building through taking time to listen, understand and respond to customer need
Set a continuous improvement philosophy that drives the improvement in customer perception of the University, seeking external recognition where appropriate

examples - AS LEADERS AT SWANSEA UNIVERSITY, WE WILL NOT:

Allow the function to operate with only superficial understanding of the customer need / requirement
Fail to consider others when planning changes
Struggle to influence and build relationships with our partners or effectively manage expectations
Allow teams to hide behind rules and regulations, adopting a one size fits all approach
Constantly fire-fight, readily allowing problems or external challenges to distract the function from its core priorities