Learning & Development
We Love to Learn
LUU believes that to be the best organisation we can be, all our people should be able to learn new skills and develop themselves whilst they work for us.
Our people learn in a huge variety of ways, such as on the job, from one another, through internal and external training, by attending events and meetings, taking advantage of our library and using Love to Learn.
If you have a question about the Learning and development on offer at LUU then please speak to Katie Fox in the People team.
Proud to be part of the 'Charity Mentoring Network'
There are a lot of definitions of what mentoring is, but we think this definition from Charity Mentoring Network sums it up perfectly:
“What is mentoring? Simply put, it’s one person helping another”
And that’s mentoring! Looking into it a bit more though, mentoring is when people are encouraged to learn from each other, it creates a culture of continuous learning and growth. It’s a simple yet effective method that not only can help to boost skills, confidence, morale and engagement, but ensures that people feel that their contributions are valued and that they have opportunities to develop themselves.
Mentoring is important as it provides many benefits, for both mentees and mentors.
As a mentee, it can accelerate your learning and development, offering access to different support, resources and networks. It is also a great way to receive valuable feedback and it can help you identify new skills, strengths, and spot areas of development. Mentors can help to inspire and motivate, and can increase your confidence and provide accountability for goals and objectives.
As a mentor, it can be a hugely gratifying experience empowering a mentee, and it provides an opportunity to make a difference to the development and success of others. As a mentor, it can improve your confidence, leadership and communication skills. You can also learn from the mentee’s area of expertise and gain a different perspective, and the sessions can improve soft skills, particularly listening and a gain of transferable skills.
In short, anyone can be a mentor! It’s a common misconception that only those in senior or leadership roles can be a mentor. Whether you believe it or not, you will have a vast amount of knowledge, understanding and experience in certain topics, that someone else is eager to learn about and would benefit from being mentored by you! This can also be seen as reverse mentoring. Reverse mentoring is where a more junior employee mentors someone more senior than them, sharing their expertise with a senior role who may have less familiarity in that area, or looking to gain a fresh perspective.
Unsure whether mentoring is for you? Watch this video to see what our staff's thoughts are on being a mentor/mentee.
CMN also run free mentoring training sessions every month, click here to find out more and to book on.
We are pleased to announce that LUU has joined the Charity Mentoring Network! Charity Learning Consortium (our Love to Learn provider) have been working with global mentoring software, PushFar, to create CMN; a community platform that connects organisations, staff and volunteers together, so that they can support one another and share their knowledge and expertise.
Through a quick sign-up form, the platform offers you proposed mentors and mentees from across lots of different organisations, and from there you can request a mentor/mentee and schedule in a meeting with them through the platform. On CMN, you can also create and track your goals, and they have a wide range of resources on guidelines, worksheets, and mentoring questions.
To create your account, click here to head over to the website. There is also an app if you prefer to use your phone, just search “PushFar - The Mentor Network” on your app store. This is open to all LUU staff.
Learning in LUU
Love to Learn Infographic
At LUU, we believe that to be the best organisation we can be, all our people should be able to learn new skills and develop themselves whilst they work for us.
Our people learn in a huge variety of ways, so each month we will be sharing with you some of the learning that has taken place in LUU.
Click here to see our Love to Learn Infographic for October 2024.
Learning & Development Requests
If you would like to access a Learning & Development opportunity that is not currently available on Love to Learn or the additional learning platforms, then you can fill out a Learning and Development Request form.
When you have sent your L&D request form, Rachel Winfield and Katie Fox review the requests together. Requests can take up to 10 days to be processed- if the L&D request is urgent, please contact Katie Fox.
When filling out the question form, some pointers to keep in mind are:
If the L&D Request gets:
Approved
Yourself and your manager will receive an email to confirm the approved L&D, and the learning objectives that were included in the request.
You will be responsibile for booking/ purchasing the L&D (unless otherwise stated in the email). Rachel and Katie will sort the finances for this and sign off any financial forms so please contact Katie Fox for the purchase order number.
Declined
Your manager will receive an email explaining why the L&D request has been declined, either with suggestions or pointers to have a think about. Your manager will then discuss this with you.
LUU Learning Statement
LUU believes that when our people learn and develop we all become better at what we do and how we do it. This in turn helps even more of our members to Love their time at Leeds, which let’s face it, is why we are all here! We are committed to offering opportunities for learning and development and encourage our people to have fun whilst doing it.
We believe that all work is a process of continual learning and improvement so we provide our leaders and managers with coaching skills to help people draw out reflection and development from everyday tasks and projects.
We believe that learning comes from a huge variety of sources, sometimes it is formal learning sometimes it is more informal and often we learn without even realising it. We offer a blended approach to our learning in LUU using a wide variety of tools and resources. Occasionally though we need to look outside of the organisations expertise to learn something new. We make funds available throughout the year and encourage , expenditure on L&D where there is measurable benefit to the organisation.
In line with LUU's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy all our people will have equal access to learning and development opportunities. We will also take positive action if we believe there are key groups in our community who would benefit from specific opportunities. In doing so we will work closely with staff networks and other relevant groups to achieve this.
We recognise that our people work at different times throughout the day so we will be flexible to individual needs and offer a blend of learning opportunities.
To deliver another amazing strategic plan at LUU we have identified a set of skills that our people need to be truly competent in, this will enable us to achieve our vision to ensure everyone loves their time at Leeds. All our people will be:
Our people are able to effectively communicate with all our stakeholders through a variety of mediums. They are skilled at flexing their approach for the situation.
Our people can work in collaboration with one another, they have the skills to communicate digitally, create engaging content and understand their teams digital presence.
Our people are disciplined in following processes and managing risk, they understand LUU’s finances and their departments contribution to our financial performance.
Empowering
Our managers and leaders empower our people to be high performing they reward and motivate them to develop themselves and their work. They support our people whilst challenging them to stretch themselves to develop.
Our people ensure that their work and working environment is as sustainable as possible and they are enterprising and creative in finding solutions to challenges.
Our people understand their own psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing and the influences on them. They are committed to staying safe at work and promoting a culture of safety management for all.
Our people are inclusive and challenge themselves to consider other perspectives and opinions to create an inclusive environment to work in.
Our people are coached to be high performing staff and empowered to take control of their own learning and development. They seek out opportunities to learn and share learning with others.
Our people give an outstanding level of service to everyone. Their engaging manner improves LUU’s reputation and encourages the people we interact with to return over and over again.