Revisiting our Inspirational Female Line Managers - Leadership, Management and EDI

Welcome to the second article in the Astrea Policy Team’s ‘Revisiting our Inspirational Female Line Managers’ series!

Weronika Benning, Hannah Biggs, and Rhiannon Williams

In the December newsletter, we chatted to three of our nominated Inspirational Female Line Managers (IFLMs) – Hannah Biggs (Senior Sustainability Manager, Sustainable UCL), Rhiannon Williams (Senior Campaign Relations Manager (Internal Engagement), UCL Advancement) and Weronika Benning (Business Development Manager, UCL Careers) – about their own experiences of inspirational female line managers, and their tips on fostering a supportive culture at work. Here, we’ll be exploring how they’ve dealt with some of the challenges of leadership and management, and how they’ve embedded Equality, Diversity and Inclusion practices into their day to day work.

What have you enjoyed most about your management and leadership experiences so far?

(R) A real sense of validation…seeing generosity of spirit of my team members. The most enjoyable part of the experience is having a team around you, working on shared goals and brainstorming together.

(H) The person I managed left and got a promotion, and I felt like I had done my job, supported them to do more amazing things - and I was part of that process.

(W) With every new direct report, you reach a point (hopefully!) where you realise you have earned their trust, and there is a new connection there that didn’t exist before. Those conversations are then so enriched by the safety to be vulnerable.

What hasn’t gone so well? Have you had any particular challenges in a management/leadership capacity?

(W) There are so many learnings from the times that didn’t go so well. For example, appreciating the differences and characteristics of your staff. It can all be a huge unknown – learning to speak each other’s language until that trust is built. Also, having conversations when you don’t hold the power to give or decide e.g. regrades, pay, reward and recognition – it’s often seemingly outside of your control but you are still the face of it and have to manage that process.

(R) I once picked up a team member on their time management when I probably didn’t need to. I look back on it now as quite a cringey moment as it probably came across like I was micro-managing, which was not my intention! It was with an intern and they said they were grateful for me mentioning it, but if the same situation came up now I would manage it differently, particularly with different ways of working post-pandemic where people are trusted to manage their time in a way that suits them. Also the understanding of the inherent difficulties of the role of a manager – it’s almost two separate entities at once, from managing staff and supporting your team, whilst also being a ‘leader’ and owning a specific job role and area of work as well.

(H) Every person you manage is completely different, which is challenging, so allowing them space to own their own role and creativity. There are also challenges around neurodiversity in the workplace, especially when the world of work itself doesn’t seem to be talking about it or offering training or wider support for managers and staff. Middle management can also be a challenge in itself – managing up and managing down – trying to navigate the two worlds and navigating breakdowns in communication.

As Rhiannon and Hannah have mentioned, being a middle manager can be challenging when it comes to balancing the needs of your direct line reports with managing upwards. It can help to look at the range of online and in-person learning opportunities offered at UCL where leadership challenges can be explored with your peers, such as the UCL Leadership Programmes which are for individuals at any stage of their career, from those beginning their careers to those leading departments. Applications for the 2024-25 programmes will open in summer 2024, so it’s worth looking at what’s available given that many of us will be planning for our appraisals! Another UCL resource is Lead at UCL; this is a bespoke, online learning platform where UCL line managers can develop their people management skills.

Hannah’s reflection on neurodiversity in the workplace demonstrates the role line managers can play in ensuring that staff who are Neurodivergent feel empowered, by listening to them and having open conversations about learning styles and preferences. The Institute of Leadership website has some interesting insights and guidance, such as this article on what managers and leaders can do to improve their approach to neurodiversity.

As mentioned in UCL’s guidance on Supporting Disabled and Neurodivergent staff, “reasonable adjustments are designed to remove barriers where a Disabled or Neurodivergent person is placed at a substantial disadvantage”. Examples of reasonable adjustments can be found here.

Weronika’s nominee had described a positive experience when requesting reasonable adjustments, where Weronika had used a person-centred approach to work out how to best support them.

Your nominee commented that you really listened when they requested adjustments to your management style to support them as a dyslexic employee, going above and beyond to ensure that they thrived. What has been your experience of navigating requests for reasonable adjustments?

(W) Being led by the individual and trusting that they are the expert on their own needs is key. For example, asking what is working or not working for them and trying to implement ways to make them more comfortable. For me, it was key that this is not a one-off, we can check-in and come back to this conversation at any point. It’s important to know when you are out of your depth as a manager and can call on Workplace Health as a supportive and objective third party.

As well as Workplace Health, support and guidance is also available from your HR Business Partner. For those who have line-management responsibilities for Disabled and Neurodivergent staff, UCL’s EDI team offers Reasonable Adjustment training.

Another related policy update is the Inclusive Environments Policy and accompanying five-year action plan, which has been recently developed through a thorough consultation with staff and students. The purpose is to create campuses that are inclusive, welcoming and accessible to everyone in our community. Astrea’s very own Pip Jackson played a key role in creating this framework. Here, Pip explains how this consultative and inclusive approach demonstrates UCL’s commitment to embedding inclusive design principles:

“The creation of the Inclusive Environments Action Plan and Policy in consultation with staff and students is important, it recognises that we move this agenda forward together. It has allowed the community to share their priorities. Much as I would like to, changing everything overnight is not possible in a working university but this action plan sets us on the road to improvements in terms of inclusive design. These improvements are not just the bare minimum, but we have committed to going above and beyond and embracing the higher standards of inclusive design and future proofing the estate wherever possible. I look forward to seeing the difference this work will make for everyone at UCL.”

The third and final article in this series will be focusing on work-life balance and how managers can support themselves, and we’ll be looking at the recently updated flexible working policy, as well as UCL’s hybrid working guidance.

Interested in finding out more about Astrea? It’s a supportive community which is open to all women, so whether you are at the early stages of your career, or are already well established, you will get something out of being part of the network. Joining details can be found here.

Revisiting our Inspirational Female Line Managers - Leadership, Management and EDI

Recommended reading and resources chosen by our IFLMs and the Astrea Policy team: