LGR Support Offer

LGR Support Offer

Supporting Personal and Professional Growth in readiness for LGR and beyond.

East Midlands Councils has the expertise to support your learning and development needs and below are just of the reasons why we are best placed to help.

  • EMC has a significant track record in providing quality, cost effective learning and development support that our authorities tell us is highly valued
  • We are part of the local government family, but the fact that we are an independent organisation is valued and trusted by our members.
  • We have achieved significant cost savings for our member authorities, in particular relating to our regional coaching and mentoring network and our ILM accredited programmes.
  • Our collaborative approach helps to achieve even further efficiencies and increases opportunities for authorities to work and learn together.
  • Our knowledge, experience and flexible approach means we can work with you to understand your learning and development needs and then design and deliver the most appropriate development.
  • In addition to the development our team can provide we have access to many quality trainers and facilitators who receive excellent feedback which very often results in repeat or additional development.
  • Signposting and connecting you with others is a key feature of our support to save your time and avoid duplication.

Change and Transformation

Facilitated bespoke session(s) for the senior leadership team in leading strategic change and transformation in an unfamiliar and complex space.

Designed around the needs of the team, and with a facilitation/team coaching approach, rather than being “content” driven, this supports learning from past change efforts, gaining new insights and planning for the future, in order to develop effectiveness in leading together for transformation and change.

  • Several SLT’s have benefited from these sessions in working together, leading strategic change and sense-making in an uncertain world.
  • In some authorities this has also been extended to the wider leadership teams and heads of service

Frameworks are used to shape thinking and support new insights offering the leadership teams the time and space to reflect, consolidate knowledge, gain new awareness and plan for action.

“A positive activity recommended to other leadership teams” is how one CEX described this support, “it helped us to reevaluate our purpose as a team, think about how they operate collectively, and it led to further discussions and development about how we communicate up and down the organisation and within our own teams”.

These can be delivered as bitesize, half or full day sessions, ideally face to face and over an agreed period of time.  For some, it may be just one session to stimulate a step change.

Leading through change and uncertainty session(s) to support supervisory and middle manager roles

Managing change and uncertainty alongside business as usual has become a fact of life for managers and these sessions support middle managers to more effectively manage and embed change in an uncertain world – in particular top down change as a result of strategic decision making.

We have delivered half day workshops on this on a regional basis – enabling the value of collaborating and learning with others, and also as in house sessions for various authorities.

The workshops explore:

  • Delivering change alongside business as usual
  • Approaches to change management to support implementing and embedding change
  • What gets in the way of change and how to overcome common barriers
  • How to bring people with you through change and the importance of influencing during change, both upwards and downwards.

And attendees have told us:

“The workshop was very useful. The sessions have developed my understanding of change management in organisations and given me some tools to use when considering change management…which will help me consider different elements of organisational change and make me really think about the impact”.

“Really useful session – enjoyed the theory (some new, so good refreshers) and the opportunity to engage with other managers too”.

“Thank you for a really beneficial training session, well presented with an excellent facilitator, it kept the interest over the whole day and was very useful and informative”.

Building the confidence and competence of designated “change champions” to be effective in their role

We have provided a development programme of support for change champions in one of our authority’s which focused on providing a foundation of knowledge regarding change models/frameworks, people’s experiences of change and typical reactions as well as the communication and feedback skills that would enable the change champions to feel confident and competent in this important voluntary role.

Further workshops built on this by using the MBTI framework to understand individual’s own reactions to change and how others with different preferences may react. This practical session also included strategies and examples of individual needs and contributions in times of change and transition, through the loss, transition and start-up phase.

The senior manager leading this support in the authority commented:

“I’ve had really positive feedback from the attendees, thank you for your time and effort pulling it all together and the delivery”

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Leadership and Management Development Programmes

Over the past year supporting leadership and development needs, particularly in the context of LGR, has been and continues to be a key priority. Our ILM accredited programmes provide professional and personal development enabling attendees to increase their confidence and competence in their various leadership roles and responsibilities both now and in the future.

We have delivered several cohorts of the following programmes either as open programmes on a regional basis, as identified cohorts of authorities in a geographical area or on an in-house basis. 

  • At supervisor/Team Leader Level – ILM 3 Award or Certificate in Leadership and Management.
  • At Middle Manager Level – ILM 5 Award or Certificate in Leadership and Management
  • At Senior Manager Level – ILM 7 Certificate in Strategic Leadership and Management

We regularly receive requests for additional programmes to be delivered due to the quality and relevance of the training and the positive feedback we receive from attendees, a small sample of which are outlined below:

At Level 3 – delegates said “” I have really enjoyed the course and found it interesting and learnt a lot; “this has been directly transferable to the work I am doing”

At Level 5 certificate feedback was “this is very relevant and I’m learning lots”

On the open Level 5 Award programme the feedback described the benefit of having a good collection of delegates who are  happy to share their knowledge and experience”  highlighting here the benefits of EMC being well placed to bring together different people from the various authorities.

Our delegates at Level 7 reflected “this was very good, really enjoyable focused sessions” “it is very relevant to my role as HOS”, “all topics are very transferable and have given me food for thought for applying back in my own service area”.

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Coaching and Mentoring

Established 13 years ago the regional coaching and mentoring network goes from strength to strength. The principles that underpin the network include

  • Quality, cost effective coaching for all.
  • Significant cost savings of at least £20,500 per organisation, far beyond the value of the membership fee.
  • Building coaching capacity and sustainability across the region, by developing coaches and coaching capacity within organisations.
  • Access to a diverse coaching pool of qualified coaches at ILM Level 5 as part of the annual membership plus a select number of independent executive coaches at significantly discounted rates.
  • Supporting coaches with their development through ongoing Coaching CPD session, access to resources and ensuring quality assurance
  • Enabling of a coaching culture to aid employee retention and individual and organisational growth.

The benefits for the organisation specifically include:

  • Management and oversight of coaching and mentoring activity – Enables organisations to view and manage their organisations coaching and mentoring activity, having oversight of coaching and mentoring programmes and the number of coaching/mentoring hours taking place.
  • Reporting, the reporting function enables organisations to report on and analyse data held. Such as number of coaching/mentoring hours, subjects covered by, length of sessions.
  • Evaluation built in for both the coach/mentor and coachee/mentee. Organisations can tailor their evaluation questionnaire to suite their internal requirements.
  • Security and data protection are recognised as two priorities for the site.
  • The cost savings outlined above, in particular where an organisation also runs an internal coaching pool alongside their regional commitments.

EMC has a pool of highly experienced executive coaches and mentors who appreciate the current context and landscape and have provided a significant number of coaching sessions at middle to senior manager level. 

General feedback from coachees has indicated an increase in their self-awareness and confidence in particular relating to their leadership capability and a real value in the time and space to reflect and invest in their own development.  A snapshot of individual comments are below:

“Thanks again for the coaching sessions. I got a great deal out of them. I’m sure we will speak again in the future”

“Coaching provided me with the opportunity to understand things from a different perspective and helped me make progress on my ideas and plans to meet some of my challenges”

“Helped me to better understand how to make proposals that can then be visualised and understood better by a wider circle”

By way of enabling coaching capacity and personal development we also provide two levels of accredited coaching and mentoring qualifications:

  • ILM 5 in Effective Coaching and Mentoring

and

  • ILM 7 in Strategic Coaching and Mentoring

These programmes continue to be very popular and intend to continue to offer these to meet demand.

Some feedback from our current ILM 7 course said, “A Perfect balance of theory, application and questions”.

Developing your Mentoring Skills and Introduction to Coaching Supervision are examples of other courses we can also provide in this area.

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Career and Outplacement Support

EMC is well placed to provide career development support due to our significant experience in this area, coupled with our independence.

We have provided development on a 1:1 and also small group basis to help individuals grow their skills, confidence and direction to progress in their current and future careers.

  • Our individual career coaching support can help to strengthen confidence and capability in supporting people who are stepping into new roles, navigating transitions, or experiencing identity shifts.
  • Practical recruitment and selection support to include CV/application form review; interview and presentation skills practice; career strengths inventory; psychometric testing practice and feedback
  • Group coaching/facilitative sessions on key themes, eg relationship building, change, communications.

 

Individuals we have previously supported got in touch to say;

“I wanted to get in touch to say thank you!  You kindly gave me some hints and tips on interviewing which were extremely helpful.  I was successful in getting the job of xxxx at Unitary Council.  I can honestly say that the help you gave me preparing did help and at that level, every bit of help is critical as you will know well”

“Just to let you know I was successful in the interviews and I have been appointed to the xxx Role in the new unitary council – which was my preferred option! The help and support you provided was a massive help and is really appreciated”

Feedback from a group session on interview preparation and practice said:

“Thanks so much for yesterday, it was very well received and thank you for the feedback which we will action”. 

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Personal and Skills Development

We can offer numerous personal growth and skills development sessions; a small sample of which are below:

q  Supporting self-awareness and personal growth using a range of psychometric instruments – this support includes test set up, feedback sessions and personal development planning to support application and growth.

q  We can use the following instruments – Myers Briggs Type Indicator, SHL’s Occupational Personality Questionnaire to include leadership and emotional intelligence reporting; Thomas DISC profiling; Belbin Team Roles; Hogan Suite

 

Feedback from our Myers Briggs Team Sessions is highlighted below:

I thought this was one of the most helpful sessions I’ve had on Myers Briggs! (Non-Executive Director, Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust)

“I really enjoyed the session we had yesterday. I find it really interesting and it’s a subject area that I’m keen to explore further.  Thank you for all your help and for delivering such a great session yesterday” (Senior Manager, Local authority)

“I really enjoyed the workshop on Thursday!  I thought the approach you both used was absolutely perfect to bring a full understanding of the MB framework in terms of how to determine our type and the rationale behind it.  I am really looking forward to the next session” (Senior Planner)

“It’s been really helpful and interesting to say the least. Thanks for making work life better again” (Senior Housing Options Officer)

“Firstly, thank you so much for the recent MBTI training days.  I’ve really enjoyed them and learnt a lot about myself and how to adapt to manage the best from my team.” Manager, Borough Council

 

 

 

  • We offer a range of focused skills development sessions that include collaboration and relationship dynamics, handling difficult situations; workplace mediation skills; action learning facilitation, effective communication skills – to name but a few!
  • There is also the opportunity to take part in our highly popular Local Government Leadership Challenge Day – experience a day in the life of a senior leadership team, tackling the challenges and realising the opportunities! This will take place on 7th October 2027 at Leicester Racecourse in Oadby.
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Networking and Collaborating

We facilitate several networks across a range of professional functions to support collaboration, learning and growth. As members of East Midlands Councils you can access the majority of these networks free of charge to collaborate and share learning to make progress in your work challenges and opportunities.

  • HR – county based or regional
  • Learning and OD
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
  • Performance
  • WARP/Cyber Security*
  • Councillor Development
  • Scrutiny
  • CPD Programmes for Planners*
  • CPD Programmes for Environmental Health Officers*
  • Regional Coaching and Mentoring Network*

*Incurs a charge

Feedback from the network attendees references the value in hearing from others experience, sharing documents and policies; working together in small groups on areas of interest; being able to influence the topics that matter most and listening to guest speakers.

 

To explore how EMC can help you please contact in the first instance:

 

Lisa Butterfill, HR & Development Manager, East Midlands Councils, lisa.butterfill@emcouncils.gov.uk

 

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