December 17, 2020, by Joshua Hawkins

Three Nottingham staff experience with U21 Global Leadership Programme

In early October, we graciously received nominations to attend the U21 Global leadership programme delivered in partnership between Universitas21 and Common Purpose, which took place during November 2020. Many others across the University were nominated, and with only three places available, it was a real pleasure to be selected. We represented a variety of roles and responsibilities across the University, with different pressures and goals, but with a shared view that being outward-looking in this climate may help with finding novel solutions to our current and future challenges.

With some concern over whether we would have any capacity or headspace to commit to the sessions over the three week period, we were actually left longing for more time and more opportunities to interact with this global peer group.

To manage the many time zones, the 80 participants, from 18 countries across all continents, were divided into two groups during the four synchronous sessions. At these sessions, breakout rooms enabled interaction with others. Between these sessions, the asynchronous content included videos, articles and reflective tasks which could be completed at your own pace. The programme was well-organised and implemented with a wealth of knowledge and experience from inside and outside HE.

We learnt from the speakers as well as from each other. The presentations and participants were highly inspirational. We all felt a greater sense that our challenges were not just ours or the University’s, but actually truly global. Quoting Barr, “we are in the same storm, but not in the same boat”. We recognised that not everyone was able to handle the crisis in the same way, and that it was important to keep that in mind as we work together to adapt to a new future.

As we begin to consider what HE will look like going forward, we were reminded that authentic leadership, grounded in personal resilience, will help us all to move onward. We learnt that a new style of leadership is emerging at a global scale – one which is collaborative, empathetic, inclusive and willing to be vulnerable. Although we all continue to work in an ambiguous and complex situation, we have seen that the HE sector can be agile and innovative. The U21 Global Leadership programme has inspired us to continue to collaborate and learn from each other to bring about real change.

Mirabelle D’Cruz, Rachel Jessop, Emmanuel Adegbite

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