Career and professional development is not just about changing job roles. Most of the time, we can develop and learn in our current position.

Here are some development activities you could discuss with your line manager.

• Project experience: develop project management and team-working skills, gain more responsibility or exposure at a more senior or challenging level
• Representation on groups and committees: gain more involvement in planning/decision making
• Work shadowing: observe the work of others and potentially learn new skills
• Task rotation: experience different elements within the same area of work
• Secondment: gain experience in another role (internal secondment / external secondment)
• Mentoring: becoming a mentor or a mentee
• Coaching: being coached or coaching others
• Structured development plans: help employees new to a role or preparing for a next role
• University-led activities: learn new skills by taking on additional duties eg joining a University Committee or taking on a role such as Departmental Computing Officer, Departmental Training Officer etc
• Learning and development opportunities: The University offers a wide range of learning and development opportunities for staff to develop their careers.

Be clear about what any potential development activities will help you achieve, how you will know it has been achieved and how it will contribute to the delivery of your personal, team and departmental objectives.

You will also need to be mindful of the need for a department to be able to function effectively, which means that it will not always be possible for your requests to be supported.

All requests should be discussed with your Line Manager in the first instance, and where appropriate your HR Adviser.