The Advanced Committee Administration programme is aimed at experienced practitioners and managers. It’s a two-day programme usually held in November. This two-day programme has everything you need to help you develop in the role of Committee Administrator. We aim to provide you with the skills and knowledge to carry out your role effectively. This is an excellent opportunity to share good practice with each other and learn from experienced practitioners. The programme is ideal for those working in Committee Administration, including Member Services and Democratic Services Officers in local authorities. The programme is designed for those with 18 months to five years experience in the role.

Excellent course. Good value for money and enjoyable.

Ellen Johns, Medway Council

Excellent course, lots of information to take back and share with colleagues.

Laurence Deig, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

Facilitators John Austin, Chair of ADSO Peter Edwards, former Head of Democratic Services, Surrey County Council Mark Palmer, Development Director, SEE

Cost £399 + VAT per delegate for SEE and ADSO members, £450 + VAT for non-members  

Overview and scrutiny is a challenging but rewarding role that can have a great impact in your locality. This one-day workshop will provide officers who support and lead scrutiny with the knowledge and skills to maximise the potential of overview and scrutiny. The workshop will consider all aspects of the overview and scrutiny roles to support scrutiny improvement and enhance performance. The objectives of this course are:

• To provide officers with an oversight of the leadership role of scrutiny
• To be able to develop and prioritise a high-impact scrutiny work programme
• To provide the means to support and facilitate an effective relationship between Cabinet and scrutiny
• To lead and support successful engagement with the public and partners in the work of scrutiny
• To be able to maximise internal and external influence to support successful outcomes
• To provide methods to support and structure the committee/panel questioning and engaging witnesses.

Facilitator – Mark Palmer, Development Director, SEE For more information or to schedule a course for your organisation, contact Mark Palmer.

Developing and enhancing awareness of the political environment

The workshop offers an opportunity to explore the nature of current relationships, ways of working and the dynamics of political culture within the council. It assists delegates to develop an understanding of the larger political context in which they work, develop an understanding of political behaviour and the impact on the role of the manager. The workshop allows delegates to develop skills in working with elected members. It also utilises political models to examine issues of political sensitivity, and how to read the political environment in which you work, to support managers to be more politically astute. The workshop will use a range of innovative/creative delivery methods, including presentation, small group discussion, plenary feedback, case study and questionnaire.

Objectives

• To develop and enhance managers’ awareness of the political environment and working/engaging within it
• To further enhance awareness of the different levels of the decision-making process in the context of Executive/overview and scrutiny
• To enhance the managers’ awareness of political concepts and models of competence and integrity in politically sensitive situations
• To analyse and develop best practice approaches to member-officer working
• To develop a managers’ approach to exerting influence using an influencing skills framework
• To provide delegates with the opportunity to discuss their own experiences in a secure environment, and explore further development options

Facilitator – Mark Palmer, Development Director, SEE For more information or to schedule a workshop for your organisation, contact Mark Palmer.

Group size:  Typically used for up to 10 participants, it has often been adapted for larger groups. Time required: Recommended total session time is from 3 to 4 hours, which includes time to review, summarise and prioritise the actions identified.

What happens during a Team Talk^TM session?

Teams sit down together to identify risks and agree solutions that achieve outcomes. Team Talk^TM uses a powerful team coaching approach that makes the most of the experience in the room. It builds confidence in being able to engage with the future and change.  

As a result of Team Talk^TM the senior team developed a sense of pride and ownership of our strategic aims.  

Director of GP Education, South West Education and Training Board Unique to Team Talk^TM is its built-in adaptability in providing the optimum degree of discussion appropriate to the issues raised, so that the very best use is made of the time invested.

It wasn’t all about process, and we rapidly started generating hard outputs in terms of high-level thinking and operationalisation of our ideas.

Source: as above

How will Team Talk^TM help us to address current challenges?

Here are examples of current issues that the process addresses:

• The shift taking place from delivering services to facilitating outcomes
• Partnership development
• Use of technology to achieve further efficiencies
• Identification of skills that need updating

What about staff resilience and wellbeing? Recognition and encouragement from one’s colleagues is a key factor in staff resilience and wellbeing. For example, challenges in response to cost savings are being raised in public forums with increasing insistence and criticism. Team Talk^TM gives opportunity for much needed expressions of support to those facing these and other challenges.

Stimulating and highly engaging – I am confident that (public sector teams) would find the approach useful and enjoyable.

Source: as above

What are the benefits of having an external facilitator for Team Talk^TM ?

Our facilitators are fluent in the use of the team coaching tools and are skilled at adapting to the group dynamic unique to each team. With Team Talk^TM their neutrality ensures that airtime is shared, and that equal consideration is given to solutions proposed. For further information and to discuss Team Talk in your organisation contact Mark Palmer