Projects "Leadership culture and change"

Revising management mission statement and management tools

As part of the action area "leadership culture and change", the university's leadership mission statement is to be revised and integrated into leadership training. Additionally, the management tools for line managers are to be reviewed and, if necessary, adapted to the mission statement. Managers from all faculties are to be involved in the analyses and further development so that the mission statement can be made suitable for the entire university. Work will be started as soon as the necessary resources are available.

Management trainings are being supplemented with courses in English. The introductory events, which are aimed at new middle and senior managers, will become compulsory and will also be held in English. The five introductory events cover relevant principles and objectives of the University of Bern concerning leadership topics:

  • ‘Welcome to the University of Bern - The Executive Board welcomes you ’
  • ‘Fundamentals of human resources management’
  • ‘Fundamentals of financial management’
  • ‘Employee appraisals - leading with goals’
  • ‘Good Teaching at the University of Bern

The programme will be expanded in April and June 2025 with a forum for managers which will be held twice. In addition, five new online training courses on ‘Conducting online job interviews’ for managers and HR employees as well as management courses on ‘Supporting employees with mental health issues’ will be available. In autumn 2025, the basic module ‘Leadership culture and values’ from the CAS Academic Leadership will also be held in English.

Further information on leadership training can be found here (UniBE intern).

Professional Change Management

The rapid pace of change in today's world places great demands on the employees of the University of Bern. To ensure that everyone can cope well with change and is well supported in this process, managers are to be trained in professional change management.

Change management is seen as an integral part of the “Leadership culture and change” action area and is therefore no longer pursued as a separate topic. A kind of toolbox is to be made available to managers to support them in change processes, using the basis of the Canton of Bern, which will publish a new website with a toolbox in spring 2025. The University of Bern is in close exchange with the Canton of Bern, where change management guidelines have already been developed and change agents have been deployed to provide support. In spring 2025, the Canton of Bern also publishes a toolbox to support managers in change processes. A corresponding website and the adapted toolbox for the university will be published in August 2025. In addition, role profiles are being developed to support the various positions in the change process; customised training courses are being offered for employees, managers, HR and change agents.

 

Status: April 2025