Leadership Level (Project and Programme Management)

Experiences

Activities and responsibilities likely to be required when working at this level

• Setting out and delivering against an institutional strategic vision.
• Managing multi-year, multi-million pound budgets.
• Shaping and optimising portfolios of projects.
• Working with senior leaders to ensure the alignment of the portfolio with institutional strategy.
• Ensuring that programmes and projects within the portfolio have sufficient resources and the wider institutional support and capacity to deliver.
• Leading long-term planning that prepares the institution for significant change.
• Deep subject knowledge and extensive experience of applying PPM principles to different sectors.
• Experience of leading large teams, often through change.
• Managing complex stakeholder environments and relationships.
• Able to lead large, multi-faceted projects, frequently with a significant academic component.
• Deep understanding of the academic and financial models that underpin universities, higher education landscape and external sources of risk and opportunity.
• Substantial track record of delivering complex projects successfully (e.g. bringing together academic planning, construction projects, major digital transformation and senior stakeholder engagement).
• Motivating and enabling others to anticipate problems and find solutions to issues that might hinder successful project completion.

Personal and professional development

Development options to consider when working towards this level

Learning on the job

• Seeking out opportunities to contribute to institutional strategic development projects.
• Developing experience of financial management and potential sources of funding for major projects (e.g. RPIF, philanthropic fundraising).

Learning from others  

• Finding ways to interact with the broader PPM community, particularly within an HE context.
• Lead a UCL community of practice; being a mentor of others.
• Leading a practice group  within the wider PPM community (e.g. Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Association for Project Management (APM).

Formal learning

• Seek out leadership development.
• Develop ability to discuss and interact with financial and strategic issues; (e.g. MBA).
• Self-study (e.g. leadership and HE related literature).

* You may wish to explore the listed formal training themes / topics on LinkedIn Learning.

Transferable skills and competencies

UCL uses the Universal Competency Framework (UCF) to discuss transferable skills. Find out more details on the framework.

Persuading and influencing

• Making an impact.
• Shaping conversations.
• Appealing to emotions.
• Promoting ideas.
• Negotiating and gaining agreement.
• Dealing with political issues.

Deciding and initiating action

• Making decisions.
• Taking responsibility.
• Acting with Confidence.
• Acting on own initiative.
• Taking action.
• Taking calculated risks.

Formulating strategies and concepts

• Thinking broadly.
• Approaching work strategically.
• Setting and developing strategy.
• Visioning.

UCL Ways of Working

These describe expected behaviours in line with UCL culture and values.  For Ways of Working indicators and steps to development please refer to the Ways of Working website.