Appraisal and Development Conversations (ADCs) are the process used by the university as part of a wider performance framework to ensure that staff:

• Are clear about their goals and expectations.
• Have the opportunity to discuss development opportunities that will benefit them, the team and the University as a whole.
• Are provided with feedback on an on-going basis relating to their contribution and performance against the required standards, to aid ongoing recognition, support motivation and help identify potential improvement requirements.
• Have the opportunity to discuss career development and are supported to meet their career aspirations.
• Have the opportunity to discuss any other elements relating to work including any leadership and management aspects, health and safety, wellbeing, work life balance, workload and priorities. These elements are particularly important considering the on-going Covid-19 pandemic.

To support the planning for the annual ADCs, below summarises the key activities that should take place between now and August 2021.

By April

• Balanced Frameworks to be completed and communicated to staff to support them in their ADCs.
• Appraisers should be allocated (where applicable).

Prior to ADC Meeting

• Planning for conversations takes place including review of circulated Balanced Frameworks
• Appraisee completes ADC paperwork to share with appraisers pre-meeting.

Between April-July

• ADC meetings take place

By August

• Faculties/Departments to confirm ADCs have taken place with HR for monitoring purposes

September/October

• Any collated training/development trends should be forwarded to Professional Development to support with training/development planning.

Links to ADC Resources:

• ADC Guidelines
• ADC Training (online learning materials will be available soon)
• ADC Key Dates
• ADC Forms
• ADC FAQs

Managers will be contacting members of their teams in the coming months to arrange dates and times for ADC meetings to take place. To ensure you get the most out of your ADC please do access the tools available and spend some time thinking about key areas that you would like to discuss.

We know that 20/21 has been challenging for many of our staff in many different ways and the ADC provides an opportunity to reflect, both in terms of work but also areas like wellbeing and work-life balance which may be even more important than usual to take the time to talk about.