Over the last year, the Student Experience & Engagement (SEE) team has been responding to their staff engagement survey results by focusing on a simple but powerful principle: Small Things, Big Impact.

With a busy remit to support students, they wanted to focus their energy on the areas where they could make genuine progress rather than becoming overwhelmed by issues outside their control. As a result, the actions they chose to take are helping to create a more connected, engaged, and supportive working environment for everyone.

They are showing that meaningful change does not always require large-scale projects or significant investment. Often, it is small actions, shaped and delivered by colleagues themselves, that have the biggest impact on our day-to-day experience at work.

Shared ownership

SEE colleagues were invited to sign up to actions that interested them, working in pairs or small groups to champion specific areas and help drive progress throughout the year. Practical initiatives included:

• Creating a Training & Development channel within the SEE Teams space where colleagues can share learning, training opportunities, useful resources and key takeaways from courses and events.  
• Adding key annual SEE events to diaries in advance, enabling colleagues to plan ahead and get involved.
• Develop annual SEE activity heatmaps to identify key activities, workload pressures, and peak periods across teams, supporting knowledge sharing, planning, and cross-team understanding.

Claudia Whiting, Student Experience Central Ops Team Lead, says:

“Our approach has helped to build shared ownership and encourage collaboration. I’m pleased that progress is driven by colleagues throughout SEE rather than depending on a small number of individuals.”

Continuing momentum

As the team continues to monitor progress and build on the successes achieved so far, they look forward to carrying this momentum into this year’s survey results and identifying even more opportunities to enhance experience across SEE.

This year’s staff engagement survey opens on 30 October. Look out for the launch and be sure to give your confidential feedback and take your opportunity to share details of your current experience.  

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