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Newsletter: the battle of the train journeys

Authors and contributors: Alexandra Murphy

Keep getting everything you can from your membership

Your events, training and resources

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for yesterday’s conference day. As always, your contributions to presentations and conversations made for an excellent final in-person event of the year.

The combination of people (from the public and private sectors) who are committed to doing their best for local public services that creates really valuable and lasting connections and relationships. 

Exciting plans for next year’s membership benefits are being sent out now to your organisation. Not only are we freezing prices for 2025, but we are also removing the restriction of assigned members only who can access resources and services. From January, everyone in your organisation can take advantage of your membership, giving access to free course, webinars, events and much more.

We’re happy to arrange individual meetings with you or your leadership teams but everything will be explained during Members’ Connection Hours at the end of October and November.

The pressure you’re under to do more with less and less is intense. But your Socitm community is here to support you and help. Come and talk with us on Thursday 31 October and/or Friday 29 November.

Got a top 5 of useful things for you this week

  1. Joined a training course this year? Save the date of Thursday 28 November for 2024’s (online) alumni day. The agenda is underway and will be launched soon. Prep your Christmas sweater and get ready to cheer yourself and what you’ve achieved this year.
  2. After the success of the 2024 Public Sector Challenge Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge, we’re thrilled and excited to announce our next adventure – the London Bridges Walk! Join us on Saturday 18 January 2025, for this family-friendly, walk through the heart of London across all the iconic bridges.
  3. You’ve got access to a free 90-minute training workshop: Simplify Your Tasks: Copilot Basics for Microsoft 365 Users. Thanks so much to the many members who joined AvePoint this week. You have not missed it, the workshops run again on Wednesday 6 November and Wednesday 4 December.
  4. There was a fascinating presentation at last week’s meeting in Huntingdon about technology and ASC in Peterborough (thanks again Julian Patmore 👍). If that’s still on your mind as well, this report from the BCS has something to interest you v. much: Transforming adult social care through digitalisation — a landscape review
  5. Is it your responsibility? Find out now with GeoPlace’s FindMyStreet. You could combine this tool (which is mostly for elected members) with Impera’s Place Insight (which is mostly for you). As a Socitm member you get discounted access to this data. Learn more about it at one of our Members’ Connection Hours.

Take care. I hope you’re able to have a great weekend.

Best wishes,

Alex.

Illustration of a woman reading an oversized book, entitled, 'Local gov's big book of ideas'.

In Your Resource Hub

NEWPeople make places

Planting the flag for mission-oriented innovation in public services

Connected Places

Yesterday’s conference was about how People make Sustainable and Innovative Places. Whether or not you were in London, read more the theory and practise (with case studies) in the Connected Places chapter on energy and environmental sustainability.

Digital Twinning

Digital twin technology in the real world was discussed yesterday by Dr. Homeira Shayesteh. Middlesex University is using it to enhance the energy efficiency and sustainability of their Ritterman Building.

Read more about how you can use it for your own place-based services.

You might have missed…

Watch: ALT text is a science AND an art
Alternative text for images is one of the most universal and impactful things we can do for web accessibility. Start with the fundamentals and then dive into the nuance, with Jessica Chamber from Silktide.

Watch: The South Hams Citizen Hub Story
Join Mike Ward as he takes you through their inspiring digital transformation journey. Discover how they used Netcall’s Citizen Hub to start small, think big, and grow their digital capabilities.

For ease of viewing, the recordings are divided into easy to navigate chapters, with subtitles and transcript available via the video player toolbar.

Browse the Resource Hub

You will need a user account on socitm.net to access member-only resources. Let us know if need any support.

Listen to all episodes of Socitm Says Podcast. Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Your next free training with Microsoft

09:00 to 16:30 | Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 November

Get the knowledge and confidence you need to lead change. Change Agent (Manager) with Microsoft is back next month! Save your seat now

Over 2 days, this course will give you with an overview of the key skills needed to be an effective change agent – with a strong emphasis on the ability to lead change.

Monday 25 November: Day 1 focuses on how to understand and lead your teams through change. Attendees learn about key areas such as learning styles and the importance of a growth mindset.

Tuesday 26 November: Day 2 is technology focused and introduces you to a wide range of Microsoft technologies helping you understand the tools at your disposal – discover existing use cases and details of how to further your learning journey.

You do not need to be a Socitm member to attend this course

Register for free training

Accessibility and inclusion

Check your Silktide Score. If you’re competitive, see where you’re council ranks in the index for October. It’s not all about being #1. Rochdale is up 156 places to 22!! Incredible. Congratulations Rochdale.

It’s not all about being #1. Neath Port Talbot Council is up 52 places to get into the Top 12. Amazing work!

Digital Accessibility Maturity Assessment
The DAMA is a comprehensive self-assessment of your current level of digital accessibility maturity.

PAUSE
Creating fair and equitable organisations and services is everybody’s responsibility. Take time to reflect and review on your approach and identify where there may be gaps in the way in which you do things. Pause – reflect – act

Cultural Intelligence (CQ)
CQ is the ability to relate and work effectively in culturally diverse situations.
Meet Ritika Wadhwa on Friday 18 October for an introduction into how CQ is important for all of us. Like Emotional Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence is a skill that can be developed by everyone.

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Training

Don’t let your training points expire! Get yourself onto training for the new academic year now 🙂

How was your course? Tell us about it and be a training champion 🙂

In-person leadership training

Online core skills courses (with some 2025 dates)

Your annual membership includes training1.

Browse all training

Want to spend some training points but not sure how?
Don’t have enough or you’ve run out? Let us know.

Read now: Your guide to using your Leadership Academy training points

What don’t you know?

Survey end users’ skills to prioritise your future training needs. Get started with a user skills survey.

Socitm infographic - benchmarking 2024

Better data improves everything

You want evidence to support your business cases, and insight into positive changes you can make. Get a concise overview of your service coupled with data to support it.

Don’t get beaten by a lack of data

With benchmarking you can compare the size, performance and cost-efficiency of your ICT. Leaving you free to concentrate your efforts for improvement. Or make a case for improved funding.

Benchmarking in pictures
National conference Sheffield 2024

Events

Member-only meetings

Meet people for catching-up, problem sharing (and solving) and great networking.

Free webinars and meetings hosted by Socitm

Missed one? Recordings of Socitm webinars are available in the Resource hub.
Webinars are open to anyone in the public sector, membership is not necessary, so please do share them with your network.

Browse events

Mostly free webinars and events hosted by partners and others

October

November

December

Come and say hello

Thank you for reading (or scrolling) this far! Just one more thing…

Posted some tips on LinkedIn this week about leading your team through VUCA (Volatility. Uncertainty. Complexity. Ambiguity). This came right back into my mind listening to Wednesday’s episode of the Atlas Obscura podcast:

Spruce Pine, Global Chokepoints, and the Future of Manufacturing

This is one my ‘Just one more things’ that has nothing to do with local government!

  1. Log in to your user account for an up-to-date number of available training points on the day that you check. Your colleagues could have already used some! ↩︎