Lessons learned

• Importance of practicing transparent, inclusive, and adaptive leadership to guide teams, improve collaboration, and foster trust. Key actions include mentoring staff, encouraging participatory decision-making, and applying leadership principles in daily work, meetings, and internal communication.

• Applying leadership and communication strategies supports capacity-building among colleagues, helping them become more self-confident, accountable, and capable of contributing effectively to institutional objectives.

• Effective learning requires starting with personal practice, testing approaches within immediate teams, and then sharing lessons and good practices with colleagues and students, creating a multiplier effect within the institution.

• Importance to integrate leadership, communication, networking, and policy insights into decision-making, long-term planning, and institutional development to ensure sustainable growth, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Networking recognised challenges

Networking Lessons learned

• Maintaining long-term, meaningful relationships across diverse institutions with different priorities, schedules, and expectations.

• Initiating and maintaining professional relationships

• Cross-cultural communication: navigating language barriers, cultural norms, and differing expectations.

• Time and resource constraints: limited opportunities to attend events or invest in networking activities; staff workload.

• Building trust and credibility with new partners.

• Aligning diverse expectations and ensuring financial sustainability; differences in institutional priorities, resources, and long-term commitments.

• Opportunity identification: knowing which partners to approach and leveraging existing relationships.

• Build trust, maintain regular communication, align goals with partners, and actively sustain relationships to ensure long-term collaboration.

• Be intentional and prepared, follow up consistently, and leverage shared projects or interests to strengthen connections.

• Adapt communication to different cultural and institutional contexts; actively listen and show genuine interest in others’ work.

• Prioritize key partnerships, focus on mutual benefits, and strategically identify stakeholders aligned with institutional and personal goals.

• Invest in integrity, transparency, and shared value; understand partner goals and limitations to build confidence and credibility.

• Identify mutual interests and shared goals, define clear roles, and establish governance or contribution frameworks to support sustainable collaboration

• Explore key mutual interests, align activities with shared objectives, and use structured yet natural networking approaches to engage partners effectively.

Recognised challenges

Networking Lessons learned

• Resistance from stakeholders (55.6%)

• Limited resources (83.3%)

• Lack of clear communication (72.2%)

• Insufficient training or capacity (61.1%)

• Others (16.7%)

• Careful Planning and Prioritisation. Plan activities clearly, prioritising key tasks, and preparing implementation.

• Clear Communication, by the use of structured communication frameworks to ensure clarity, raise awareness about policies, communicate roles and responsibilities, and provide a clear vision to stakeholders.

• Engage stakeholders proactively through consultations, meetings, and creating a sense of belonging and ownership to address resistance.

• Provide targeted training, mentoring, and support to improve staff skills and understanding of the policy.

• Working together with stakeholders to resolve challenges and implement policies effectively.

• Implement continuous monitoring, follow-up, and dissemination of policy benefits to ensure effective execution.

• Allocate financial and in-kind resources strategically, leveraging inter-institutional collaboration where possible.