Interview with Hayley Burns: Strategic Leadership Programme

Hayley Burns, Deputy Dean for the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science at the University of South Wales, shares her experience of the Strategic Leadership Programme (SLP) in this interview.

What was the main benefit of SLP for you?

Hayley: I've had a very non-traditional route in my career. In my current role, recently I have felt that others have questioned my place and my abilities, as someone who has spent most of their career in professional services roles and am now in an academic leadership role, and that, in turn led to me questioning those as well. When I came to the programme last year, I'd lost a lot of confidence and I was thinking about moving into a different sector and leaving HE altogether.

The Strategic Leadership Programme was really transformational for me. It helped me to re-centre. It helped me to reconnect to my work, and to recognise that different isn't bad - in fact, it can be incredibly powerful. I've come to realise that as we can't continue to do things the way we always have, because that's clearly not working for the sector at the moment, my skills and experience could be part of the answer.

When I'm speaking to colleagues about the programme, I describe it as time I found my voice and the confidence to use it, such was.the impact it had on my sense of professional identity. 

Lisa: What would you say surprised you about how the programme was delivered?

Hayley: In terms of how the programme was delivered, I wasn't sure that the connections would build as quickly as they did between members of the programme, with the start of the course being online, but they absolutely did. It actually made the in-person element even more valuable, as we already had a really strong sense of who each other was.

I'd also never come across Topia before, where I got to try my virtual dance moves out with new colleagues, so that was really fun. And I think the coaching sessions were incredibly valuable and something I hadn't particularly expected to be as powerful in the programme.

What investment is needed from participants to make SLP worthwhile and effective?

Hayley: It is an investment. I think as with everything, you need to find the time and the space to immerse yourself in the literature, the theories, and the actual modules that the programme has. We all know it's really easy to dip into emails or answer a Teams query when you're on a training session. But this is absolutely and easily the best programme and training that I've ever had in my career, so I really had to resist that urge to be looking at emails and getting involved in my day-to-day work - I fully committed to the programme.

I think you also need to have an open mind. I was learning about concepts that were very new to me, and they challenge traditional leadership models. Like the systems thinking session we did with Joan Lurie [] which was incredibly complex, but really, really interesting. That's the type of information I learned on the programme that's really stayed with me.

How did the actual experience of SLP compare with your expectations at the start?

Hayley: It absolutely exceeded my expectations in every way. A lot of us have done leadership and management training before, and I often find there's little new information or value that I get from those, having been in leadership roles for over 20 years. But this programme was really different. It was scaffolded well.

The coaching, the action learning sets, the role play - that was a session that I really wasn't looking forward to, but I had a real light bulb moment during my exercise. That, besides my coaching with Lisa Sofianos, was my favourite session of all. The programme introduced me to a wide range of concepts and theories that I hadn’t heard about before, but they are proving incredibly useful to me already in my leadership role.

How does taking part in SLP benefit or change your organisation?

Hayley: I can't recommend SLP enough to anyone who's thinking about joining this programme. I think in a sector that's now firmly in the adaptive challenge territory - where we don't have the ready-made answers and there isn't a set of good practice to refer to or rely on - we need systemic leadership more than ever.

I felt a genuine affinity with this as my preferred style is to be collaborative: working across boundaries and subject disciplines and with diverse groups, empowering and working to co-create with others. I recognise the value in focusing on system-level change.

I think we need to challenge traditional views of leadership which focus on the individual and move clearly into an approach that focuses on the organisation as a system. The Strategic Leadership Programme really provided me with the tools and knowledge to be able to take that forward in my own organisation.