Collaboration and partnership working are increasingly central to success in higher education. They support effective practice across academic and professional services teams, enable collaboration between institutions, and strengthen relationships with external partners.
Effective collaboration does not happen by chance. It requires deliberate leadership, a shared sense of purpose, and the ability to navigate complexity, power dynamics and competing priorities.
This interactive workshop develops the leadership skills required to build, lead and sustain effective collaborations and partnerships. Participants explore how to create the conditions for trust and shared ownership, align diverse interest‑holders around common goals, and respond constructively to challenges that arise when working across teams and organisational boundaries. By participating, you will:
- Strengthen your ability to lead successful partnerships
- Tackle real-world leadership challenges
- Gain insights you can apply immediately
- Learn from peers across the sector
- Invest in your professional development
Workshop content
How the workshops work
- Duration: 3 hours per workshop, delivered fully online
- Audience: Global – open to all HE staff with leadership responsibility
- Participation: Breakout groups for discussion and networking
- Structure: Each session includes introductions and connectivity, expert input, group sense-making, and intention-setting
- Resources: Supporting digital learning environment with pre- and post-session materials for asynchronous learning and community building
- Delivery: Individual places available, or institutional bundles for groups of 10 plus
- Recognition: Digital badge awarded for each session completed; a series badge for completing multiple workshops
Who are the workshops for?
These workshops are open to anyone with leadership responsibility in a higher education institution – regardless of title or seniority. If you lead a team, manage a project, or hold responsibility for others in an HE context, these workshops are designed for you.
The workshops are particularly relevant for:
- Anyone preparing for greater leadership responsibility
- Academics stepping into their first management or leadership role
- Research leads and principal investigators
- Professional Services managers and leaders
- Heads of Department and Deans
Why participate?
Strengthen your ability to lead successful partnerships
Develop the confidence and capability to lead collaborations that deliver meaningful outcomes, even when priorities, perspectives and organisational contexts differ.
Tackle real-world leadership challenges
Explore the realities of partnership working in higher education and consider practical approaches to addressing common challenges that can hinder collaborative success.
Gain insights you can apply immediately
Leave with fresh perspectives, practical ideas and actionable next steps that can be applied to your own partnerships and collaborative projects.
Learn from peers across the sector
Exchange experiences and approaches with colleagues from a range of higher education institutions, broadening your understanding of effective partnership leadership.
Invest in your professional development
Build your leadership capability in an increasingly important area of higher education practice and gain recognised evidence of your ongoing development.
Relevant, focused and practical
Delivered in a concise online format, the workshop is designed to provide valuable learning that can be applied immediately in your own context.
Find out more about the Leadership Skills Workshops
Are you interested in attending a Leadership Skills Workshop? We recently held a webinar to give an overview of our workshops, guidance on choosing the right sessions for your development goals and insights into how the workshops can support your leadership journey.
Facilitators
Fiona Lennoxsmith
Head of Leadership, Governance & Management
Fiona Lennoxsmith is Head of Leadership, Governance & Management at Advance HE, where she leads a team of senior consultants to design and facilitate innovative leadership interventions, programmes and thought leadership for the Higher Education sector.
Rachel Witton
Senior Consultant, Leadership & Management
Rachel Witton is a Senior Consultant, Leadership & Management at Advance HE, and joined Advance HE in 2020. Rachel is an experienced trainer and facilitator, and combines this with deep expertise in leadership in higher education from a career of working with senior leaders across a broad range of higher education providers globally.
Workshops
Event type
Workshop
Event times
Wed 18 Nov 2026 – Wed 18 Nov 2026
Event prices
| Leadership Skills: Collaborations and Partnerships 26/27: Non-Member Ticket | Non-Member ticket | £300 |
| Leadership Skills: Collaborations and Partnerships 26/27: Member Ticket | Member Ticket | £225 |
Additional dates
If you are not able to attend the workshop date above, the following dates are also available. Please register your interest using the buttons below.
Are you interested in bookings for your team, department or institution?
Booking multiple places helps teams and departments build a shared leadership language and culture. When colleagues attend together, they can apply learning to their own context, support accountability and use workshops to drive ongoing team development.
Group bookings also offer greater value and flexibility, with the ability to secure multiple places on different dates of the same workshop to support wider participation across teams.
Bulk booking discounts are available for groups of 10 (5%) and 20+ (10%). Please note that bulk bookings apply to multiple places on the same workshop only and cannot currently be used across different workshop types.
Speak to us about booking multiple spaces
