Ambitious plans are announced for a Socitm Institute
The Institute, to be known publicly as Socitm Inspire, will officially launch on Tuesday, 13 June this year, at Presidents’ Conference in Brighton.
Socitm Inspire is the Society’s response to the challenges its members and the wider sector are facing now and for the foreseeable future.
Through Inspire, Socitm will offer a deeper level of support. In one place, members will be able to access and participate in unique and relevant communities of practice to share experiences, collaborate and learn from each other. Practical assets and insights from local government, the wider public sector and private partner organisations from across the UK and internationally will be available to support the vital work our members are engaged in.
These are exciting times for the Society. We have engaged our membership extensively over the last year to understand the critical challenges they face. It is now time for us to respond in the unique way we can through a new level of support that Socitm Inspire will bring. We will build on an existing collaborative community, provide relevant and relatable sector specific resources and create a go-to place to learn from, share with and avoid having to start afresh every time.
Nadira Hussain, CEO of Socitm
Working in the open
Socitm strongly encourages members to have your say. Their feedback on our ambition (and work in progress) with Socitm Inspire and the developmental work being undertaken is key to the successful delivery.
What’s next?
There’s still plenty to do and more to share, so watch this space. Key project dates, some of the imagery, language and new content will be shared along the way to June’s Presidents’ Conference. There will be a go-to place for members from June, but that is not the end of the project. There will always be more to do. And more will go into Socitm Inspire.
Firstly, below is a starter Q&A to give more background and context to Socitm Inspire.
Q: Why is Socitm launching Inspire?
A: To give members access to resources, toolkits and people for a head start on projects that must meet the needs of communities and budgets.
Q: What challenges are members talking about?
A: During conversations and meetings, members have mentioned:
- Budget pressures at a level not seen before.
- An overwhelming level of generic research not focussed in the context of public services.
- Attracting, recruiting, and retaining staff is at a critical point.
- Insufficient capacity to deliver the volume of change needed and at the pace required.
- A need to access supportive communities of practice, to learn from each other and stop reinventing the wheel.
- Access needed to reliable independent data to make informed decisions.
Q: How can Socitm support members address these challenges?
A: Socitm Inspire will:
- Build a community that connects local authority leaders, policymakers and practitioners as well as universities and private sector partners so that we can learn from each other.
- Create a go-to place members can access practical materials, templates, benchmarking data and toolkits.
- Deliver an expanding range of innovative support programmes such as the Executive Education Programme with AWS and DLUHC.
- Expand our leading-edge public sector research.
- Expand our leadership development into new areas of training and development for all.
- Through the community, our strategic partners, and our Advisory business we will provide access to hard-to-reach resources and gaps in skills and expertise.
- Provide thought leadership that gives insight into tomorrow’s challenges to inform today’s decisions.
Q: Why is Socitm Inspire being officially launched in June?
A: Announcing our plans in January allows Socitm to work in the open with members. Assets and resources are being developed and alliances built in preparation for 13 June 2023. Specifically, it gives the Socitm team:
- The time and space to transition to charitable status.
- Time to develop this website to reflect the changes.
- Time to develop further key partnerships, including funding and resources.
- Time to develop the platforms, infrastructure and templates required to ensure rich content.
- Time to evolve communities of practice.