The Maximum Performance Public Service Manager Programme

There’s never been a tougher time to be a manager in a public service organisation.

Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity – the classic VUCA environment – are the order of the day. If this is the new normal, you need all the help you can get.

And that’s why we developed this programme. Inspired by a tried-and-tested programme we already deliver for private sector organisations, this programme has been designed by our two lead specialists in public service management – Amanda Dudman and David Elverson. Amanda focuses on the management side of the equation, helping even the most experienced managers find new ways of working more effectively, while David focuses on supporting the commercial agenda.

Aimed at public service managers and leaders who line manage others, this ILM-recognised programme takes a modular approach and gives participants plenty of tools and strategies for dealing with current challenges in the workplace through expert trainer input and skills practice.

In addition, there is the opportunity to learn from peers, share experiences, address how to deal with the more challenging issues, and prepare action plans to implement with confidence back at work.

Introduction

Tough times continue for public services as internal and external drivers in a fast-moving landscape put ever more pressure on managers, the ‘squeezed middle’. Demands on resources and time mean that managers need practical and workable everyday solutions and approaches that support them in their busy, stretching daily work.

This programme helps managers make things better on a daily basis through skills and confidence building, enabling them to tackle the difficult and the challenging with greater assertiveness. The learning days use expert input, coaching support and peer-to-peer learning to generate and share new ideas and approaches.

There are some ‘must do’ threads that run through the whole programme – accountability, responsibility, personal impact, better communication, better engagement. The focus is on what makes a difference, often through incremental gains, being effective with time, and holding people accountable through positive feedback conversations.

But we also put a strong focus on commercialism and the entrepreneurial skills that requires, helping challenge existing ways of thinking and generating the new approaches necessary for public service organisations – and those who work in them – to survive and thrive in a VUCA environment.

And the strict limit on the group size (a maximum of 12 participants) ensures that each participant has ample opportunity to discuss their challenges on a one-to-one basis with the expert trainers.

 

Expert trainers
A programme like this stands or falls on the quality of the trainers. You couldn’t be in safer hands than those of our two experts, both of whom draw on their considerable experience of working in local government and delivering learning and development programmes to leaders and managers in diverse public services and wider settings.

Amanda Dudman is the programme director. Positive-minded and energetic, she is a qualified coach and widely respected trainer in her field. She models and uses a coaching approach in learning sessions and offers continuous individual and group support.

David Elverson is the guest presenter, widely and highly regarded for his work in supporting public service organisations to develop commercially. He does this at a strategic level as a consultant and also at a very practical level, training thousands of public service managers in commercial awareness and entrepreneurial thinking.

Programme

Managing and leading day-to-day

MODULE 1

YOUR ROLE AS A MANAGER AND CREATING A PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

  • Welcome and introductions
  • Setting the scene and creating expectations – introducing the programme
  • Your role as a manager
  • Drawing up a development plan
  • Peer-to-peer development discussions

MODULE 2

THE VUCA ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH YOU MANAGE

  • What is VUCA?
  • VUCA insights and approaches during continuous change
  • Action planning and peer learning review

 

Personal tools for managing in a changing work environment

MODULE 3

TIME AND STRESS

  • Time thieves and pressures
  • Signs of stress and spotting them
  • What’s in your stress container?
  • Tips and ideas for managing your stress levels
  • Learning review

MODULE 4

REMOTE AND AGILE WORKING

  • ROWE (results orientated work environment)
  • Managing people in a remote and agile environment
  • Building trust
  • Are you an agile manager?
  • Learning review

 

Improving performance

MODULE 5

SUPPORTING AND DEVELOPING PEOPLE

  • How do you learn?
  • Creating effective development plans
  • Holding great development and learning one-to-ones
  • Practising with your peers
  • Learning review

MODULE 6

ENABLING ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY

  • The accountability ladder
  • Having accountable team members who take responsibility
  • DEAL – a structured approach for holding an accountability discussion
  • Peer practice using the DEAL framework
  • Learning review

 

Honest conversations

MODULE 7

HOLDING HONEST CONVERSATIONS: PROVIDING FEEDBACK, MANAGING CHALLENGING DISCUSSIONS AND DEALING WITH CONFLICT

  • Your honest conversation challenges
  • Building the relationship
  • Providing and receiving feedback
  • Dealing with challenging behaviours
  • Listening and rapport
  • The Emotional Bank Account
  • ‘Fierce conversations’ – dealing with conflict in a conversation
  • Learning review

 

Developing and implementing an enterprising approach

MODULE 8

DEVELOPING ENTREPRENEURIAL THINKING

  • What is entrepreneurship?
  • Types of innovation
  • Benefits of entrepreneurship
  • Challenge focused innovation
  • Review and action planning

MODULE 9

CREATING A CULTURE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL THINKING AT WORK

  • Practising entrepreneurial thinking – tools and techniques
  • Imaginative ways of using resources
  • Review and action planning

 

Motivation and engagement for resilience

MODULE 10

BETTER MOTIVATION AT WORK

  • Defining motivation
  • Exploring some motivation thinking
  • Skill or will?
  • Drawing up a motivation plan for someone you manage
  • Review and action planning

MODULE 11

MANAGING FOR ENGAGEMENT AND RESILIENCE

  • What’s your engagement and wellbeing challenge?
  • Commitment v compliance
  • The resilience gallery
  • Activities that boost resilience and support wellbeing
  • Learning review

 

Managing and leading strategically

MODULE 12

COACHING SKILLS

  • The core skills and behaviours for coaching
  • The coaching spectrum (Downey)
  • Coaching each other
  • How you coach without giving the answers
  • Learning review

MODULE 13

THE LEADER’S SHADOW

  • The influence your values have on your style
  • Your impact: the shadow of a leader
  • It starts with me – what I say, how I act, how I measure
  • Learning review

 

Commercial skills

MODULE 14

COMMERCIAL AWARENESS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

  • What is commercial thinking?
  • Defining strategic commercial objectives
  • Developing a strategic focus
  • Defining customer targets
  • The competitive marketplace
  • Meeting stakeholder expectations
  • Implementation – systems, structures and processes
  • Implementation – people and culture
  • Tools and checklists

 

The political dimension and wrapping it all up

MODULE 15

WORKING IN A POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

  • Communicating with elected members and understanding their motivations
  • The political structure where you work
  • Using the Member Officer Relationship Protocol
  • Influencing skills and approaches
  • Formulating an influencing plan

MODULE 16

PROGRAMME REVIEW

  • Reviewing activities
  • Personal, group and peer-led learning review of all the modules and personal learning
  • Call to action – going forwards and my next steps
  • Action planning and evaluation

Your programme director

Amanda Dudman is a highly experienced coach, trainer and facilitator specialising in providing leadership coaching, management development programmes and facilitation services, primarily to the public and VCSE sectors.

She enjoyed a fifteen-year career in the VCSE sector, including two assistant directorships, before setting up her own consultancy in 2001. Her training and consultancy work in the public sector has so far extended to facilitation sessions, focus groups, team development, personal effectiveness skills training, customer service training, performance management and appraisal skills training, as well as specialist, tailored leadership and management programmes.

Amanda’s substantial public service client list includes: Surrey County Council, Buckinghamshire County Council, Wycombe District Council, Craven District Council, Aylesbury Vale District Council, Chiltern & South Bucks District Council, Central Bedfordshire Council, Bristol City Council and Northampton Council, Homes for Islington, Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Court Service, London Boroughs of Haringey, Greenwich and Newham, Derbyshire County Council, Wellingborough Homes, North Herts Homes, Black Sheep CIC, Horizons Hub CIC, Surrey Community Action, Different Strokes, Northampton Partnership Homes, Play England, YMCA, Apprenticemakers, Cockpit Arts and the Social Business Alliance, etc, etc.

Her numerous professional qualifications include a Post-Graduate Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring Practice, Certified NLP Business Practitioner and Chartered Fellow CIPD. She is the author of a number of books on mentoring.

See what participants have said about Amanda’s programmes:

  • Engaging personality who knows what she is doing – excellent communicator.’
  • ‘Very knowledgeable and very clear messages. She showed experience in the topic.’
  • ‘Positive, motivational.’
  • ‘Very knowledgeable and engaging.’
  • Superb course would thoroughly recommend.’
  • ‘Amanda was very engaging and easy to work with.’
  • ‘Thank you, great course.’
  • Very eye opening. Learnt a lot!’
  • ‘Very energetic, not boring!!’
  • ‘Amanda is very good. Have learnt a lot!’
  • ‘Amanda had an excellent presentation style that inspired enthusiasm within the group.’
  • ‘Extremely good.’
  • ‘Excellent course content and superbly delivered – thank you.’
  • ‘The trainer was awesome!’

Your guest presenter

David Elverson has been supporting commercial development in the public sector for the last 15 years, first as a Business Manager of a traded service of Norfolk County Council (when he undertook an MSc in Marketing focused on commercial development in the public sector) and then as a consultant with large national firms, specialising in commercial development and business case development in both the private and public sectors.

In 2014 David started his own consultancy and has now supported some forty local authorities, a number of NHS Trusts and other public-sector bodies as they develop commercially. This has involved training staff in commercial skills, advising members and senior leaders on how to embed commercial operations across their authority, and supporting specific initiatives by creating commercial business cases and marketing strategies. David has now trained over 2,500 public sector staff in commercial skills. David sits on the Cabinet Office’s Quality Review Panel, is an approved consultant to the LGA’s productivity expert programme and has provided extensive support to the Department of Business, Environment and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

In 2017 David had another book published, Commercial Gov: a practical guide to commercial development in the public sector.

David delivers modules 8, 9 & 14.

See what participants have said about David’s programmes:

  • ‘Really well-presented course that gives a good grounding in commercial awareness and gives new tools and skills to improve or begin commercial sales.’
  • Memorable and very enjoyable; delivered at the right level. Thanks David!’
  • ‘Very informative and challenged our ways of thinking. There are a number of elements from today that we will use to improve our ways of working commercially.’
  • Great insight into commercial awareness, use of models and frameworks.’
  • ‘Dynamic and engaging.’
  • Excellent.’
  • ‘Very knowledgeable with lots of real examples from personal experiences.’
  • ‘Professional, engaging, credible.’
  • ‘Highly knowledgeable and was able to convey message clearly (easy to understand).’

Fact file

Format

A series of sixteen ‘bite-sized’ and full-day modules, over a period of nine months. Can also be delivered virtually. Or blended. Key features include:

  • ‘Pre-work’ before each module, to ensure that all participants have addressed the issues in advance of each module, thereby allowing all the sessions to be run at the optimal level and speed
  • Individual and group exercises and skills practice sessions in each module, for truly experiential learning
  • Limited group size (minimum 6, maximum 12) to ensure the ideal participant: trainer ratio
  • ILM Development Certificate for each participant (which can be used as evidence for CPD purposes, where appropriate)

Who should attend?
This management development programme has been designed specifically for public service organisations – local authorities, housing associations, NHS Trusts, VCSEs and any other organisations outside the private sector but needing to adapt to a changing and increasingly commercial world.

The programme is ideal for any manager in a public service organisation wanting to improve their management skills. It is ideal for both newly appointed or promoted managers and any managers who have been in post for a while but who have not had the benefit of attending a structured development programme.

Tailored options
Of course, the programme is flexible.

We can run it ‘as is’.

Or we can add in some optional modules we prepared earlier (eg, ‘Managing change’, ‘Stress awareness’, ‘Influencing skills’ or ‘Compelling communication’).

Or we can use it as the starting point for a conversation with you before designing a bespoke version, just for your organisation, in order to meet your specific requirements.

Whichever option would suit you best, please give Helen Nuttall a call on 01582 463460 to talk it through.

View brochure…

ILM recognition…

The Maximum Performance Public Service Manager Programme is superb value for money and will deliver a huge return on your investment. Give us a call on 01582 463460 to talk through how it might work for you.