Councillor Training

For many councillors chairing formal public meetings can be a daunting prospect. This usually 2 hours online or in house course takes councillors through their role before, during and after the meeting; covering getting the business done, dealing with 'difficult' attendees and ensuring fairness.

Whether newly elected or a seasoned councillor, a crisis in confidence caused for any reason can have a negative effect on the councillor themselves and their ability to perform their role. This 2 hours in person or online course looks at what can undermine confidence and what we can do to help get us back on track and build up our resilience. 

All councillors want to make sure they are delivering for their communities, but despite lots of door-knocking do they really know all of their communities? This half day session, usually delivered in house, will look at how to access local data, appropriate levels of participation and consultations, finding your 'movers and shakers' and getting people on side with a project or direction of travel.

Increased stress, lack of quality work-life balance, pressure of 24/7 availability are all listed as reasons councillors give for deciding to stand down. Public Service can seem overwhelming, but there are ways to improve the situation with resilience techniques. This 60 minute online short and snappy course will give councillors some basic skills to help them not just survive their time as a councillor, but thrive and deliver for their residents.

Councils are not businesses; they don't do their accounting in the same way and they use statistics or data in ways that many councillors will not have come across in their work environment.  Every councillor needs a basic understanding of the quirks of Local Government Finance, which this course will give them. Over the 2 hours online or inhouse session, we'll run through the 'numbers' but then turn them into something that can be used and clear to the general public. This course can be suitable for councillors or new officers.

It is often overlooked that planning is a key part of place shaping and therefore basic knowledge of the system is essential for all councillors, not just those sitting on planning committee. Over a 3 hours in house session delivered by 2 professional trainers, all participants will understand how to work effectively in pre-application stages, consult with  all members of the community on an application and advice residents on material planning considerations. This course is particularly suited to also be run as a facilitated session with planning officers.

Most councils have declared climate emergencies in the last few years and have dedicated officers working towards delivering an agreed action plan. But climate action is not just about one person or one team, it needs to be embedded across the council's actions. This whole day course, delivered in house with a facilitator and accredited carbon literacy trainer, gives top teams the actions they need.  This course is particularly suited to also be run as a facilitated session with senior officers.

No single councillor can achieve everything for their communities, it requires partnerships - with other councillors, council officers, public sector partners, businesses, voluntary groups and last but never least, residents. Building successful relationships takes time, energy and effort. This 60-minute online crash course will take participants through methods to improve relationships and provide tips to make partnerships easier and more effective.

  Many councils are turning to AI and particularly Large Language Models to reduce costs and improve services, but it can be hard to take councillors with them on the journey. Concerns abound online about data protection, accuracy and reputation. This 2 hours online session looks at the background to AI, how councils are currently utilising it and how councillors can potentially embrace it for their own use. This session can be expanded by adding an AI professional to look beyond the current usage and at safeguarding methodologies.

Working together as a team of councillors and sometimes across political groups, is different to people’s experience in other environments. Getting consensus on difficult decisions by a group of individuals can be hard. This half day in house session, suitable for coalition run councils or majority administration top teams, looks into how to build trust and how to practice effective challenge whilst also supporting joint decision making.