Vice Principal retires from Ayrshire College
Jane McKie, our Vice Principal (People) is retiring this month after 13 years as a member of the Executive Management Team at our College. Jane has kindly taken the time from her busy schedule to give us an insight into her career and reflects on her time at Kilmarnock and Ayrshire College.
1. What attracted you to your career in HR Management?
Well, first of all, I need to say that it wasn’t a conscious decision of mine to embark on a career in HR management. I went to Glasgow university to study languages (English and French), not being certain what I would do with a degree thereafter. I was also lucky enough (this was the 1970s!), to have regular, temporary work for absence/annual leave cover in the Registry department of what was then the Western Regional Hospital Board, which was the forerunner to what became Greater Glasgow (and Clyde) Health Board.
Still not knowing what I wanted to do with my career, I applied for a full-time job as a Clerical Officer in Registry, which provided administrative and clerical support functions for all departments. The centralised filing system which we administered was entirely paper based, as you will appreciate, and was crucial to the smooth running of the entire office function. A lost paper file copy was a serious matter – auto recovery was not an option! Transformation doesn’t even begin to describe the changes to the office environment that I worked in then to what I enjoy now!
From my job with Registry, I applied for promotion and was interviewed, civil service style, for the grade of Higher Clerical Officer, with a range of possible posts. My first six-month rotation post, as an HCO, was with Capital Services (Michael Breen, you didn’t know that, did you?), the section which dealt with hospital builds and upgrades etc. I can’t say that I was enamoured with this particular job role, as taking minutes at meetings to do with tenders for paint work in laboratories at, for example, Ruchill Hospital (which I don’t think exists any longer!) wasn’t entirely exciting and I was glad to move on to my second rotation which was to the Medical Staffing section of the Personnel Department (HR management didn’t arrive until later!)
Through luck, therefore, I found my ‘niche’ and what became my lifelong working career; I liked dealing with people, the job role was varied, unfailingly interesting and challenging – and I loved it! I asked not to move on to the next rotation, was granted the opportunity to stay on and the rest, as they say, is history, or at least, is about to be history! I continued to work in different personnel posts in Glasgow, until 1996 when I moved to NHS Ayrshire & Arran, leaving the NHS as Assistant Director for OD and HRM in 2008 to join the former Kilmarnock College in 2008 to head up a revised structure for HR and OD.
And just for the sake of interest, that first job base of mine was at 351 Sauchiehall Street, on the corner of Holland Street. I believe the building is now home to a Wetherspoon pub!
2. What inspired you to become a Vice Principal?
Perhaps, because I came to the sector quite late on in my career, I didn’t see myself as being promoted beyond the job role of Assistant Principal at the old Kilmarnock College. Whilst I was able to say, very positively, at my interview at that time, that I had ‘transferable skills’, having experienced a very wide and varied career as an HR professional, little did I realise just how much I would have to do to learn about the college sector in order to be successful in my new role. That first year in post at Kilmarnock was like no other I have ever experienced, either before or since. It was the busiest and most challenging year at work that I have ever experienced - and it was just fabulous! I felt a sense of real success, both personally and professionally, when the HMI team gave the College a glowing report in November 2009. There is no better sense of achievement for me than feeling that I have helped to make a difference and so working in the sector and doing all that I can to help and enable students to succeed has just been the best.
I sometimes feel that my career has been influenced much more by circumstance, rather than any driving ambition or determination for promotion and in my college career, that different circumstance and opportunity for a further change was regionalisation. It was daunting, it was challenging and it meant a massive upheaval. Certainly, the opportunity to apply for a Vice Principal role was something I hadn’t envisaged. When it came along, however, I decided to apply not just because of what I had experienced so positively in the preceding five years, but also in anticipation of how I believed I could continue to contribute in the future. Job satisfaction can be defined in a textbook as the extent to which someone feels self-motivated, content and satisfied with their job and can therefore achieve fulfilment in carrying out their role. Without doubt, I have experienced fulfilment and job satisfaction working in the sector, in a way that I hadn’t felt previously to such an extent and I think that that is what gave me the inspiration to apply for my current role. I hope that my happiness in my role has enabled me to contribute positively to the aims of the College and to the success of our students.
3. What have been some of your highlights of your time working at AC?
There have been so many highlights along the way I would find it hard to be specific without going into too much detail but a special aspect of college life has been the continuing opportunities to show case talent and to celebrate success.
Never having been involved with the delivery of a graduation ceremony in the past, I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of all the graduations organised by the Marketing team over the years. The atmosphere at all the varied venues has been marvellous and the students’ celebration of success and their families’ and lecturers’ pride and happiness in their achievements has just been a joy to witness. I have the same warm feelings about the many other events I have had the privilege to attend such as the John Mather awards and the Excellence awards. And I can’t miss the opportunity to mention the Mission Discovery events, when I was as excited to meet the astronauts as the Ayrshire school participants were!
I have also enjoyed attending at the CDN college award events, cheering and clapping for the successes of both colleagues and students. I remember one year in particular, when Ayrshire was successful in winning in the Health Promoting College category which was in recognition of the work the Promoting Wellbeing Group had undertaken to implement the College’s Promoting Wellbeing Action Plan. I can still see Doreen Wales, Angela Sheridan and Sara Turkington beaming with delight at our table at the acknowledgement of the group’s hard work and endeavours. And as for the SQA star awards – our amazing Ayrshire students won the College Candidate of the Year award for five years in a row between 2014 and 2018!
Keep on celebrating success, Ayrshire! I will continue to cheer in absentia!
4. Can you tell us about a time when you were proud of an achievement?
I would like to go back, if I may, to the IiP achievements of the three legacy colleges. The former Ayr College had achieved the silver award, James Watt College had achieved gold and when I supported Kilmarnock College in gaining the gold award, I was so happy and proud for everyone who had contributed to this wonderful achievement. For me it is so important for us to receive an expert, external overview of the organisation which validates what we do and points us in the right way to make improvements. We’re not quite there yet with Ayrshire College in terms of the new IiP framework but we’re clearly moving in the right direction! The last report was so remarkably positive, especially when interviews with staff were carried out by the IiP consultant during December of last year, which as we know was a year like no other. What is so reassuring is how staff, despite lockdown, are continuing to see all the right connections with the College as the employer. Staff can see the meaning in what they do and how their work connects to the wider aims and objectives of the organisation. They are seeing the continuing positive development of our culture in the new ways of working and communicating. How well Ayrshire College staff are recruited, led, supported and developed in the future is key to positive results in every aspect of the business. I will be so proud when I hear that you have achieved the platinum standard before very long and I may ask to be invited to the well-deserved celebration!
You, the staff of the College, are indisputably its most important resource and regardless of awards, what you achieve every day for our students is remarkable in itself.
5. What are some of the things you have done that has made the most difference?
HR and Health and Safety might not always seem like natural partners but they have a common denominator – they are all about people and for me, the two key functions go together, hand and hand. I believe, therefore, that what has made a tremendous difference was ensuring that the College’s Health and Safety agenda was firmly placed within the HR team and also, really importantly, allied with wellbeing. We have the strongest of partnerships with the College’s Estates teams, without whose essential work and endeavours our campuses couldn’t open, let alone function on a daily basis; however, I learned quite some time ago now that Health and Safety is not just about buildings – it’s everything to do with people and so this vital issue has to sit with the HR team; making sure that the working environment is not only physically safe but that we are supporting the wellbeing of all staff throughout their life with the College. As I said in answer to the question above, you, the staff are the College’s most important asset. The combined efforts of the HR and HSW teams, in partnership with the Estates team, to achieve a healthy and safe workplace for everyone, enables the focus on the support for people’s wellbeing, the importance of which, as we know, cannot be overstated.
Strongly linked to wellbeing is the culture in which we work and I believe that supporting the development of the Ayrshire College culture, when the three separate and quite different organisations came together in 2013 has also made a difference. I remember at my interview for the VP role in June 2013 (Carol was on the panel!), I only had three slides as part of my 10-minute presentation and what I spoke about, passionately, at that time was about how, and in what ways, I would work to help support the development of the culture of the organisation. It took a long time to establish the culture of the new College; however, through time and the hard work of all staff, we have managed to achieve a unique identity for our organisation, at the same time, recognising that each of the campuses are distinct and special in their own right. Culture, of course, never stays still and the College has continued to evolve over the years and is doing so again under Carol’s leadership, as evidenced so positively through the IiP report.
The process of merger itself was a huge undertaking and commenced around two years before the vesting day of 1 August 2013. There were many, many workstreams and I will always remember the work that went into the Due Diligence processes! The number of colleagues involved, and the complexities were enormous; however, with the vesting date on the horizon, there were two overriding priorities – firstly, that all staff had to receive their salary at the end of August 2013 and also that the email system had to work. Along with others, I was very pleased that both of these aims were successfully achieved.
As a Vice Principal, or leader in any organisation, achievements and successes are always delivered and made possible through the teams that work along with you and, therefore, being able to take the credit for a single initiative is never easy. I would like to think that, over the years, one thing I have done has been to give colleagues and teams opportunities to grow and develop. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing those around you grasping an opportunity and making the most of it in order to do well and to succeed.
6. From a ‘people’ perspective, how has FE changed in the last 10 years?
In a general sense, workplaces are continually evolving, regardless of the particular employment sector. The expectations of employees change as the wider society develops with regard to cultural, political, economic, environmental and wellbeing and health issues and sometimes there is a lack of alignment between the expectations of an employee and what the employer can provide. Having said that, I see too, a parallel with the College community changing in terms of the expectations of our students and what the College can deliver. You don’t need me to speak about the transformative aspects of the best use of digital technology in the business of learning and teaching.
From our own people perspective, however, even allowing for regionalisation and the digital agenda and the other continuing step changes within the sector, there has been relatively little fundamental change in our actual workplace over the last 10 years and how we have gone about our daily routine; however, the last 15 months has just knocked everything out the park with monumental change for us as employees and the College as the employer. For me, far more seems to have changed since March 2020 for the workplace than in all the previous 10 years looked at together.
From a people perspective, in my opinion, and in this current and hopefully soon to be post-Covid environment, the key factor for positive employee/employer engagement and relations, will be to ensure that the alignment gap with regard to staff expectations of what the College is able to provide as an employer does not grow. In other words, what the College plans to achieve strategically and operationally, needs to be balanced, for staff, with wellbeing, flexibility and agreement on the key aspects of an appropriate, blended approach for excellence in all aspects of service delivery for our students. The parallel issue for the College’s business model is ensuring that the alignment gap with the regard to the expectations of our students and what the College and staff are able to deliver, does not grow. College staff and students deserve nothing less.
7. What will you miss most about working at AC?
Cliché or not, particularly with my job role, what I will miss most is the people – the staff and students - who make the College what it is. The wonderful, inspiring, special community spirit – the camaraderie, the humour, the conundrums, the respect, the grieving, the honesty, the successes, the lessons learned, the positivity, the pressure, the endeavour, the selflessness, the teamwork, the ‘going the extra mile’, the supportiveness, the willingness, the achievements.
I am in tears just writing about what I will miss!
8. What are you looking forward to doing now? Do you have any retirement plans that you would wish to share?
Well, Covid and the continuing restrictions which are in place to help to keep us safe, will certainly, for the next while anyway, have a somewhat negative effect on many plans as most of them had to do with foreign travel! We (husband Alistair and I) had a truly special cruise holiday planned for last year (to celebrate two very big birthdays) which involved some important items on my bucket list including seeing an opera at the Sydney Opera House and enjoying afternoon tea at Raffles, in Singapore. Unfortunately, that was cancelled but who knows, we might be able to manage something similar in the future. In the meantime, we will carry on with ‘staycations’ and this will involve our plans for walking the West Highland way, although I will definitely have to work up to that with some shorter walks in terms of fitness and training! Our first walk is planned for the Galloway Forest Park. I’m not sure if picnics are mentioned in training apps but I will involve them, regardless! In general terms, I am determined to pay more attention to my personal fitness. Inspired by Row Britannia last year and with sound advice from James Adams and John McTaggart, I invested in a rowing machine which has been helpful during lockdown. However, a bike which I bought in spring last year, with the best of intentions, hasn’t really seen the light of day so I need to pay much more attention to the benefits of cycling.
It is with delight that I will be able to spend more time with my family, including three energetic grandchildren. I will also be able to indulge more in my passion for reading. Although, there isn’t much room for more books in the house but I’m sure I could squeeze a few more in! The recent re-opening of the Oxfam bookshop in Troon was a happy event for me and a worry for Alistair!
And from my retired situation, I hope to keep in touch with you, my colleagues, and to hear about all that is happening! I send each one of you every good wish for the future. I know that, together, you will face all the challenges ahead with continuing ambition, strength and resilience, and taking every opportunity to show just how brilliant Ayrshire College is!
Thank you Jane – we will all miss you! Wishing you lots of health and happiness and a wonderful retirement.