All things learning, leadership & development
Take a look below for content to support you on your leadership journey. We’ll be keeping this page up to date with discussions and updates on best practice, expert advice and insights into the future of local government, and how this effects you and your teams.
Looking to explore specific Leadership topics? We’ve broken things down for you here:
Diversity in the workplace
Take a look to find out more about allyship, social justice, equality, under-representation and much more.
Reflective Leadership
Listen in to senior leaders in local government looking back on their careers so far and giving their advice for others in the sector starting out in their careers.
Click to watch, or if you’d prefer to listen in, scroll down for the audio file.
Leadership & Collaboration Keynote Session
Virtual Learning Week
In this session from our virtual learning week 2020, ‘Why collaboration is the future of public services, and what this means for leadership today’ our speakers reflect on their work with local authorities and chief executives across the country to explore why collaboration matters so much today, and what this means for the model of leadership that we need in local government and public services.
Click to watch, or if you’d prefer to listen in, scroll down for the audio file.
Future of the Workforce Main Plenary Session
Virtual Learning Week
In this session, join our speakers Susan Parsonage, Chief Executive of Wokingham Borough Council and Professor Cary Cooper CBE, President of the British Academy of Management as they have a fireside chat about the Future of the Workforce, discussing what should, and what will happen in our local communities and places following the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Click to watch, or if you’d prefer to listen in, scroll down for the audio file.
Future of the Workforce Session
Virtual Learning Week
How do you create the conditions within which to attract and retain a workforce that works now and in the future? How do you have a sustainable workforce in a changing world? How do you create the conditions within which to attract and retain a workforce that works now and in the future?
Risks around workforce have been hitting the headlines over the last few years: gender pay gap, diversity and inclusion, flex work or agile working, glass ceilings, the impact of automation, health and wellbeing at work. These risks are universal and require constant attention as building a workforce that reflects the community you serve, a workplace and a workplace ethos that attracts and retains the very best people and a workforce that has the right skills now and for the future is essential to a successful organisation.
In 2015 Zurich identified that they needed to overhaul their employee experience and the way in which they were asking their workforce to work. The last five years has been a journey of improvement that continues today, engaging with employees and employee networks to ensure that the changes made are really bringing about meaningful change. From a refreshed premises strategy, to the wording of job adverts and using technology to really make flex work a reality, Zurich listened to employees and acted on feedback to make the changes to ensure that it can now attract and retain the best workforce for now and the future.
Click to watch, or if you’d prefer to listen in, scroll down for the audio file.
The Art of Living: How to keep going when the going gets tough
In this video, we’re joined by Claire Chidley, Solace Associate & Resilience Expert and Joanne Budden, People, Culture, Employee Wellbeing & Internal Comms Service Manager at Epping Forest District Council for ‘The Art of Living: How to keep going when the going gets tough’.
This session focuses on understanding personal resilience and how to bounce back quickly when you are knocked off balance. It will also take a holistic look at how to keep mind, body and emotions in balance and offer strategies for keeping spirits high in times of uncertainty and rapid change.
Definitions of resilience are considered, as well as where you are on the resilience spectrum, what causes you to lose resilience and some strategies for avoiding those pitfalls. Finally, listen out for some tips on how to maintain your energy, strength, and spirit despite what comes your way.
Click to watch, or if you’d prefer to listen in, scroll down for the audio file.
Get off the drama triangle! - Learn how to apply psychology to real life coaching situations
This session will explore practical applications of TA (Transactional Analysis) psychology, for anyone who would like to understand more about coaching, and the applications of psychology to coaching. The session is a taster session from their EMCC accredited 9 day Practitioner Programme – a leading coach development programme being run in collaboration with Solace.
Learning Outcomes:
– What skills and qualities make a good coach?
– What does psychologically minded mean and why is it a key attribute for an executive coach?
– Learn some TA theory – see coaching psychology brought to life
– See a coaching demonstration on a real issue using some core TA models such as the drama triangle and the OK corral
Click to watch, or if you’d prefer to listen in, scroll down for the audio file.
What is next for socially distanced teams?
This session will explore some of the emerging issues arising for teams working apart and how leaders may enable both individual team members and their collective teams to proposer during these unprecedented times. The session will identify some practical suggestions for leading socially distanced teams as well as reminding us why teams remain fundamental to organisational success.
Click to watch, or if you’d prefer to listen in, scroll down for the audio file.
Leading Change: What Can We Learn From the Pandemic?
Led by Solace Associate & Managing Director of Trueman Change, Lucy Trueman, this session explores how local authorities have continued to make change happen throughout the pandemic, and touches on a variety of subjects including what can we understand about doing change differently as a result of the pandemic and how to keep the pace moving forward, building on the foundations we’ve laid.
This session was specifically designed for Solace associates, interim managers and consultants who work on assignments around change and transformation, or for anyone who has an interest within this area of research.
Listen in:
Leadership & Collaboration Keynote Session
Virtual Learning Week
Click below to listen to the audio-only version of this session.
Listen in:
Future of the Workforce Main Plenary Session
Virtual Learning Week
Click below to listen to the audio-only version of this session.
Listen in:
Future of the Workforce Session
Virtual Learning Week
Click below to listen to the audio-only version of this session.
Listen in:
The Art of Living: How to keep going when the going gets tough
Click below to listen to the audio-only version of this session.
Listen in:
Get off the drama triangle! - Learn how to apply psychology to real life coaching situations
Click below to listen to the audio-only version of this session.
Listen in:
What is next for socially distanced teams?
Click below to listen to the audio-only version of this session.
Listen in:
Leading Change: What Can We Learn From the Pandemic?
Click below to listen to the audio-only version of this session.
Storytellers in Chief
'There has arguably never been a more important time to have highly skilled public servants working for the benefit of their communities and storytelling is one way in which contemporary leaders have been developing their practice to find new ways of connecting to, and engaging with, the public, politicians and staff. Based on more than one hundred interviews on both sides of the Atlantic, this report has been jointly commissioned by Solace, ICMA and CAMA which together represent chief executives, city managers, chief administrative officers and other senior managers across the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada and beyond...'
System Leadership in Local Government
'The essays in this collection show the difference that the Ignite programme has made to the confidence, ambition and
capabilities of already impressive local leaders. The challenges they face are as specific as the communities they serve,
but the themes are often common. To be able to share the burden with others struggling against similar challenges has proved powerfully liberating. Local authority leaders are not alone. As these essays reveal, the Ignite programme shows what can happen when they come together...'
It Takes a Village
'In producing this report, we wanted to explore the different drivers for demand in children’s services, as well as some of the theories and evidence about how those drivers can be addressed. Most importantly, we wanted to showcase what is already being done on the ground to harness our power as placemakers for children, not just because it makes sense financially but because it is the right thing to do...'
Walk Tall - Being a 21st Century Leader
'The stories we tell ourselves and others can help us change the way we think, feel and act. In this unique book we have taken that well-known idea and used compelling stories to illustrate the experience of being a 21st century public servant, and to inspire colleagues to develop the characteristics of this new breed...'
Transforming Services - Transforming Leadership
'This report takes a snapshot of local government in the winter of 2015. It is a sector synonymous with budget challenges and pressure to change at an increasing pace. But it also demonstrates a leadership cadre ready and willing to take forward that change, own it and set out clearly what is required: put simply, tearing down of the professional and organisational silos that have been built up over decades, to give way to the creation of more sustainable local public services based upon the principles of democratic accountability, collaboration, integration and prevention...'