Members of the 2016 cohort share their experiences from Imperial's development programme for black, Asian and minority ethnic staff.

For the past four months staff have been taking part in IMPACT, Imperial’s in-house talent development programme, open to black, Asian and minority ethnic staff across all areas of the institution. The programme includes specialised workshops and project work, as well as access to mentoring and networking opportunities. It aims to support staff who wish to further their careers at Imperial by developing and fine tuning both new and existing skills and talents.

We caught up with three members of this year’s cohort following the programme’s conclusion earlier in September. 

Thupten Dompo, Senior Finance Officer, Faculty of Natural Sciences

The best part for me was the session where we worked through different scenarios with actors playing the other role. It made me more aware of different ways of dealing with difficult situations. I also found it really helpful working with the other programme participants and exploring real problems with them – they provided more objectivity and new perspectives.

The programme is very well-rounded, and included sessions on assertiveness, leadership models and career goal-setting. I have already started applying some things from the programme in my day-to-day work – I manage a small team covering all non-research finance for the Maths and Physics departments.

There’s a lot of talent at Imperial and I think it’s something the College should be doing more to harness. 

Mirabell Nsofor, Contracts Officer, Research Office

One of the most interesting things for me on the programme was our discussion of the Johari window model. It’s a concept which helps you to explore how you see yourself, build self-awareness and gain understanding of how others perceive you. The objective is to improve communications, enhance relationship skills, and give you more clarity around who you are and how you present yourself to the world. It is also a stepping stone for developing leadership communications and improving emotional intelligence within a team and ultimately the organisation. We talked about how views, intentions and experiences can, rightly or wrongly, influence decisions and the perception others have of you.

We also discussed the importance of being able to state your case, and different strategies for expressing your views in a way that will lead to them being heard and addressed.

There is a lot of scope for positive change at the College in terms of fulfilling the College’s strategy and Imperial Expectations – creating a more open, fair and inclusive organisation. The workforce here is quite diverse - different cultures, different backgrounds – and this contributes to the success of the College.

Kevin Isen, Project Manager, ICT

I saw IMPACT as an opportunity to develop my management skills and to see where the gaps were. It’s different from a lot of the other courses offered by the College as it encompasses the full skillset rather than focusing on one particular skill.

One of the exercises we did was a questionnaire which gave you a profile of yourself, including how you work best. For some people there was such a clear disparity between how they like to work and the demands of their current role – they were just polar opposites. For me, the results were quite close to what I was doing already. Being focused on projects provides me with the opportunity to work with different people for six months, a year, and then move on to something else. I might be working on an HR project one day, and a student application the next.

One thing that this exercise pointed out to me is that I would like to be part of the strategic planning of projects. At the moment I’m just given my projects – I’m not part of the initial discussions when the project is being scoped out.

As part of the programme, you get assigned a senior member of staff as a mentor. I found this really beneficial, and I know that I’ll be staying in touch with my mentor even after the end of the programme.

Staff interested in applying for the 2017 IMPACT programme should consult the website for updates. The programme will run June-September 2017 and the deadline for applications will be in May 2017.