“What did one autumn leaf say to another?”

“I’m falling for you!”

Well, the leaves are certainly falling, and we are truly into the season of changing colours, reducing daylight and wearing warm jumpers.  Whilst my favourite season is spring, I do harbour a soft spot for autumn and all the changes it brings.  The shops started to promote “Back to school” in July, or that’s what it felt like as I was having my own “back to school” moment – joining the University’s Workforce Development team.

Joining a new team feels a bit like starting school – everyone else knows where they are going and what they are doing, have established friendships and favourite desks.  For me, an early inter-departmental rounders match gave a good opportunity for us all to display our sporting prowess and get to know each other.  Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration when compared to the golden Olympic and Para-Olympic summer of our athletes, but it’s taking part that counted!

The importance of teams and how we work together is part of our updated People Management Curriculum offer, launching this month.  We’ve evolved the Managing Hybrid Teams workshop and are now offering Developing High Performance teams workshop– you’ll need to book a place to find out more!

One theme is the vital role that managers play in supporting the wellbeing of teams.  This links with the theme of World Mental Health Day on 10^th October - "time to prioritise mental health in the workplace".  Being in natural environments is proven to improve how we feel, energising and calming us, and a sunny autumn day on campus offers a great opportunity to take a screen-break and have a walking meeting, exploring the landscape and work projects at the same time.  And it may even give you the opportunity to crack an awful autumn joke if you know any!

Debra Parsons, Learning & Organisational Development Manager, Department of Human Resources.