East Renfrewshire Council – Case Study
January 1997-present
Challenges
Future Proof Learning has worked with this ambitious and dynamic Council for several years.
The Council were intent on taking their aspirations to further levels and they wanted Future Proof Learning to support them across a range of change and development initiatives they were taking forward.
These changes included transformation for the entire Environment Department, who wanted to modernise their approach across the board and from top to bottom. This required changed structure, new roles and more progressive working methods as well as enhanced use of technology to deliver service.
For the Corporate Management Team themselves, they were committing to their own and teams’ growth and development by undergoing 360-degree feedback with Executive Coaching.
Elsewhere in the Council, they were embarking on a large-scale change programme called “Modern Ambitious Council” that required a more intensive approach to change and programme management. This also dovetailed with a new and visionary ambition for Leadership Development at Middle Manager and Head of Service levels.
Solutions:
Leadership Development, Individual Coaching, Team Coaching, and Change Management
The approach involved a large-scale leadership development programme called “Leaders for the Future”. This was designed around the adoption of 5 new strategic capabilities that the Council wanted to embed, facilitation of team events and 121 coaching with 360-degree feedback for directors and senior team members.
The Council wanted to mobilise leadership development quickly to create a more effective pipeline of talent for the future and so we embarked on a large-scale rollout of an ambitious and innovative approach to leadership development that blended classroom training with related project work and pre and post programme activities.
The project work was showcased to senior management at the review module following the completion of the programme and several projects were adopted for further rollout in the delegates’ own business areas.
Coaching became quite a feature of personal & professional learning for senior managers, up to and including the Corporate Management Team. in addition to working on 121 coaching, we also ran several team coaching sessions with discrete teams to help them transform services and joint working practice.
The Council and its leaders were very keen to improve individual and collective self-awareness, so we worked with several leaders and teams using our highly regarded Emotional Intelligence Diagnostic which assisted leaders in fine tuning their leadership roles for greater impact.
Impact
Working closely with several key leaders in the Council, Future Proof Learning are delighted to have been re-appointed to their prestigious framework contract for Learning & Development. This enable us to continue with the revamped Leaders for the Future programme that was transformed successfully to a digital platform during lockdown and is now being further enhanced to be run in a hybrid version that enables some face-to-face sessions in line with the digital modules.
Coaching senior leaders remains a key feature of our work here as the Council navigates through the very challenging post-pandemic landscape.
Future Proof Learning have also successfully facilitated a number of strategic events, such as the Strategic Leadership Group for the prestigious Barnahus programme that brings various partners together in a transformed justice partnership to improve the way in which child victims and witnesses of abuse progress through the justice system.
Feedback
I have used Future Proof Learning on a number of occasions. This has included: training, team building and for staff coaching/ mentoring. I have always found their approach to be welcomed by our teams. The insights they have provided have been very useful and the sessions very enjoyable. The sessions are comfortable and collaborative and a lot of fun too. We are better for having used them.
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Phil Daws
Head of Strategic Services, East Renfrewshire Council
