Get set to use everything in your membership in 2025
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Newsletter: winter is coming

Authors and contributors: Alexandra Murphy
Cocker spaniel wearing a jumper and sitting in snow.

Keep getting everything you can from your membership

Your events, training and resources

Do you only look at your annual appraisal goals just before your next appraisal? Lots of us do. Possibly me as well. I learned in a productivity/prioritisation webinar this week that it can help with your daily to do lists by giving you a steer on (consults notes) impact. And knowing what will have the most impact gives you a way to prioritise your day.

Somewhere in those appraisal goals should be training. However, it’s so challenging to find time for it. Resources are tight and priorities are constantly shifting.

Next week’s Leadership Academy Alumni Day (not a whole day) gives you a chance to recharge, connect, and get some really handy takeaways.

Whichever course it is you’ve joined (or not), come and meet other people who’ve also taken the opportunity for training into their own hands. We’ll refresh and reinvigorate together and get set to do it all again next year.

Invest in yourself to continue developing and keep competitive for the next challenge.

Do you know all the things your membership offers? Really? There are some new things for next year (see below for a quick list).

Check you’re getting everything you can from and with Socitm now and next year. Dropping into our Members’ Connection Hours at 11am on Friday 29 November and 1pm on Friday 13 December will help.

This week there’s a top 5 (in no special order) of useful/interesting things for you

  1. Five things [Ingrid Koehler] learned from a failed social care tech project.
  2. Unable to join last week’s LGA Technology Innovation Showcase? There’s a huge amount to browse through here in the presentation collection. Make yourself a cup of tea.
  3. My pick from the events list is next month’s C-TAG Workshop: Securing your email domain. One of our key themes for next year is cyber security. And this seems like a good place to start.
  4. Do you want a collection of brilliant minds or a brilliant collection of minds?
  5. Data Hackathon: Exploring how open data can help transform the planning system

Take care. I hope you can have a great weekend.

Best wishes,

Alex.

Simple Socitm logo surrounded by drawings of headshots with different coloured hair

Membership in 2025

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.

Connect: tap into our network of professionals to solve your wicked issues, find solutions and share best practice.
Learn: develop you and your team with our CPD-certified training.
Explore: access practical resources to drive your decision making and avoid reinventing the wheel.

The pressure you’re under to do more with less and less is intense. But your Socitm community is here to support you.

  • Prices are frozen for 2025
  • NEW Limits lifted: everything will be available to everyone in your organisation
  • NEW Resources: including AI-focused and (upcoming) cyber content
  • NEW Member-only rate for Impera’s Place Insight
  • NEW for 2025 ONLY Use one benchmarking module [cost, delivery, performance, user skills] free-of-charge
Your membership advantage
Illustration of a woman reading an oversized book, entitled, 'Local gov's big book of ideas'.

In Your Resource Hub

Local impact, global change: net zero initiatives for our communities

As we navigate through the challenges of climate change, it’s imperative to take proactive steps to ensure a sustainable future

NEW in AI@Socitm

Use cases for using an AI assistant in local government in 2025

You might have missed…

Watch Transforming Public Sector IT: Unlocking Innovation Through Cloud Optimisation

SoftwareOne hosted this week’s webinar and if you’re interested in joining one of the M365 Copilot workshops mentioned during the session get in touch with Jason or Paul through LinkedIn.

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 now: Using social progress index data podcast

This episode of the podcast is a comprehensive exploration of data, the social progress index (SPI), and how one size does not fit all when trying to use it in your local authority. 

Central and local government veterans William Barker and Michael Green are asked questions by David Ogden. Listen to their conversation for ways to use SPI data to impact your strategy and activities.

In this month’s Members’ Connection Hour you’ll learn more about Place Insight. It’s a data tool available to members (from next year) at a member-only rate from our colleagues at Impera Analytics. It’s based on a Social Progress Index (listen to more about that in the above newest episode of the Socitm Says podcast).

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

Your final free Microsoft training this year

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 this 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.

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

Claim your free training

The new Procurement Act is coming…

Are you ready?

Your Socitm team is working with colleagues from the Cabinet Office and CCS to get you great and pertinent content and people to support your readiness for Monday 24 February 2025.

Preparing for the Procurement Act | 10:00 to 11:00 | Wednesday 11 December
We’re getting buyers and suppliers together (with the Cabinet office and OneAdvanced) to run through the basics, get practical tips, and to address our common concerns.
Have a read through this white paper ahead of the meeting, so you can be up to speed on the day.

Coming in January 2025: more procurement content (with CCS). We’re working out the final details now so more information on those meetings will be shared once everything is confirmed.

ICYMI techUK’s Local Government Procurement Survey is still open. Thanks for taking the time to inform improvements in local public service procurement of tech. Most questions are non-mandatory, so if you are short of time, feel free to skip. Just remember to hit ‘submit’ at the end 🙂

Accessibility and inclusion

Check your Silktide Score. If you’re competitive, see where you’re council ranks in the index for November. It’s not all about being #1. Bassetlaw District Council is up 58 places to 23! Excellent work.

Follow Silktide’s YouTube series: What in the World is WCAG?

Digital Accessibility Maturity Assessment
Hassell lnclusion’s DAMA is a comprehensive self-assessment of your current level of digital accessibility maturity.

Hassell Inclusion's next webinar
16:00 to 17:00 on Thursday 19 December How to meet the accessibility needs of an increasingly diverse workforce

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

Next course
09:30 to 12:30 on Tuesday 28 January | Introduction to Emotional Intelligence | 1 point
Find your Silktide score
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Training

Your training calendar for 2025 is live and you start you can start booking your places, to work with your personal learning and development plan, now.

Alumni Day (not a whole day) 2024
Just confirmed: Liz Timoney (Learning Programmes Director at QA) will join Aidan in conversation on Thursday 28 November to share her vast experience on influencing, building positive relationships and valuing diversity.
Liz’s holistic approach to coaching enhances professional performance and personal well-being, making her a transformative figure in the field. There will be some great tips and insights.

Whichever course it is you’ve joined (or not), meet colleagues from this year to refresh and reinvigorate and get set to to it all again next year.

Save your spot now

In-person courses

Online core skills courses

Your annual membership includes training
Get your guide to using training points. Don’t have enough or you’ve run out? Let us know.
Log in to your user account for an up-to-date number of available training points on the day that you check.

Any questions, just ask us.

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

What don’t you know?

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

Browse all training
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.

Read more about what you can do and how in the Benchmarking Services Help Centre.

Next benchmarking webinar: 13:00 to 14:00 on Friday 7 February Choosing and using your benchmarking module: an introduction
Benchmarking in pictures
National conference Sheffield 2024

Events

Member-only meetings

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

President’s Conference 2025

Key date for your 2025 calendar: Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 June 2025
Make sure this is in your diary so you can join everyone back in Birmingham for your annual members’ conference.

Your local public service community will be getting together with guests from the Linked Organisation of Local Authority ICT Societies (LOLA). LOLA is an international organisation of which Socitm is a member. And the only one from the UK.

Create connections with people from outside the UK and Europe to bring best practice from wherever you find it to your team, place, and community.  

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

November

December

Come and say hello

  • Monday 25 November  Reimagining the Local State [Sheffield]
    Join President Carol Williams on the panel Beyond bureaucracy: achieving future-proof local government
  • Monday 25 November ADSO Conference [Coventry]
    Nadira and Sam lead a session with Dorset’s Matthew Turnbull, Democratic and Electoral Services Apprentice on AI and Assistive Technology to improve outcomes for All
  • Wednesday 27 November AI, Automation & Bots4Good
    Panellists include President Carol Williams (Walsall) and Vice-President Kurt Frary (Norfolk).
  • Friday 6 December APSE Performance Networks Seminar 2024 [Blackpool]
    David Ogden is panellist for the disscusion: Post-election: what’s the direction for local government front-line services? Chaired by APSE CEO Mo Baines.
  • Wednesday 11 December Manage IT LOLA Conference 2024 [Antwerp]
    Members of the President’s and Leadership Teams will be with international colleagues hearing about best local government practice from Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, The Netherlands, the UK, and USA.

The Pirate Code and Ninja Stealth

Delivery Effective Change Leadership | 12:00 to 13:00 Thursday 12 December

Explore the neuroscience behind successful change leadership, focusing on how leaders can leverage an understanding of human behaviour to drive effective outcomes.

Using the metaphors of “The Pirate Code” and “Ninja Stealth,” the session will focus on understanding the human side of change—building trust, reducing fear, and encouraging collaboration—to create environments where people can thrive and change can be sustained.

You’ll learn about the brain’s natural resistance to change, how emotions impact decision-making, and the importance of psychological safety in fostering innovation. With insights drawn from neuroscience, leaders will gain strategies to engage and inspire teams, ensuring that change initiatives are not only implemented but embraced.

Leave equipped with both the scientific insights and practical tools to foster resilient, motivated teams and achieve effective, lasting transformation.

Register

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

Something else that I found really handy from the Think Productive webinar was DUST. It’s a way of figuring out what it is about those tasks that you makes you really not want to tackle them. And if can figure that out, you can figure out the best way approach to them and beat the procrastination they generate.

Photo by Michael Cummins on Unsplash