Training for council staff and managers
Kevin Tillett plays a harassed council employee on a complaint handling course
“I attended the Diversity training course at Tunbridge Wells Council yesterday afternoon, and just wanted to say how impressive the session was. Jon was very good, and the 2 actors complimented everything excellently. I have suffered council staff training over the years at various councils, and some have been competent, some good, some tedious, however your course was one of the best I have been involved in, especially regarding the subject.
I know everyone else enjoyed it too. Brilliant stuff, and many thanks”
Rob Campbell, Planning Compliance Officer, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
This is a typical quote that we get from customers following our unique style of engagement in whatever council staff training programme we are commissioned to carry out. Our blend of interactive drama and activity based learning has been a great success in training for council staff and managers for many years and has produced great bottom line results as well as National Training Awards. We have specialised in local authority training for many years and understand the particular problems and constraints that public bodies work under. We have trained everyone from Refuse Operatives to Chief Executives to great effect.
Have a look at some of the training courses below that we offer to councils and other public sector organisations. There are links to suggested programme outlines but we tailor everything to each individual customer and are always happy to add (or subtract) content to suit your needs.
Contact us now for more information
Council staff training programmes
Performance Management – a one day course
It’s no surprise that this remains our most sought after programme with many councils.
Local authorities have in recent years been under great pressure to maximise output from teams and our sessions can help them with those ‘difficult conversations’ that managers need to have. We can give your managers the people skills they need to successfully motivate and manage staff in a positive way and increase productivity in difficult times. We can also help them manage the pitfalls of grievance and discipline and avoid expensive tribunal cases.
Managing Attendance – a one day or half day course
Sickness/absence levels in the public sector continue to be over twice that of the private sector. Our training will give your managers the confidence to tackle absence and out it high on their list of priorities. Lt us have your absence figures and together we can help you save £000’s by managing the absence in a strong yet sensitive manner. We have had proven results which not only given us training awards but have saved our clients thousands!
We can incorporate your own policies and guidelines into our sessions and customise the training for you.
Customer Care for managers, incorporating managing complaints – a one Day course
So often, organisations commission us to train their front line staff and then leave the managers with no supports on how to manage a new culture which embraces complaints and takes customer care seriously.
This workshop gives the managers all the tools and techniques that they need to manage a modern customer-centred department. Don’t worry if your customers are all ‘internal’ (e.g. IT or HR) We can help them aspire to be the best department around.
Managing Bullying and Harassment – a half-day session *
*Half day sessions can be delivered back to back to make it more cost effective
It take just one nasty tribunal case for this to be a very expensive, uncomfortable, and time consuming feature of any manager’s working life.
Several of our customers have been accused of bullying and harassment and training managers in how to recognise it, stop it, and create a working culture that is bullying free has assisted but it’s often after the event. Get pro-active and make sure that your colleagues are cared for at work.
Presentation Skills and Public Speaking
Another popular one for managers or any staff members who needs to be ‘on their feet’ in front of an audience or the public! From the nervous to the more experienced we can take you to the next level and aim to give you the confidence to speak without notes and with guidance on how to use PowerPoint professionally.
Customer Care – a half or full day’s training
This continues to be one of our most popular local authority training sessions which lends itself so well to a drama-based approach and has yielded us 3 National Training awards and has had proven bottom line results. We always tailor the sessions to your needs making sure that delegates are 100% engaged with the highly relevant and specifically tailored approach.
“Comprehensive, entertaining, undertaken by knowledgeable and professional people”
Malcolm Thompson, Planning officer“Focused and informative. Hilarious at times”
Liz Williams, HER & Heritage Officer, Northumberland County Council
Handling conflict with the public and colleagues – a half or full days training
Maybe a sad indication of our modern society but front line staff still need support as the general public continue to behave in inappropriate, threatening ways.
We can give council staff and managers the confidence and techniques to act assertively, professionally, and secure their own physical and mental wellbeing when faced with these challenges.
“Very entertaining & useful. Excellent”
Claire French, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council“Excellent-every training course that I have been on I have rated ‘ok’ at best, not this one.”
Nicola Jones, Financial Inclusion Officer, NBBC
We bring this important legislation and its impact to life with our drama based approach – forget the title for a moment and rest assured that this half day session will be loved by everyone attending (yes…even those conscripts!) We have carefully designed sketches that gently take the delegate through the implications of the Act and highlight their responsibilities.
Modern Business Writing – including email etiquette – a half day session
So often, we deliver customer care sessions only to focus upon the face to face interaction or telephone calls…and yet …perhaps the ways in which staff communicate to the customers by letter is even more important. It can be a permanent example of high standards and great customer care, or …..
Yes, we even use drama on our modern business writing training making an otherwise fairly clinical session entertaining and fun!