Contact us to book this course
Capability Building at The PSC
capabilities@thepsc.co.uk
020 3965 2033
"The Project Aristotle study revealed that psychological safety is the number one predictor of team effectiveness"
1 half-day workshop (or series of workshops), in-person
Psychological safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes (Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School).
Research has shown that it is one of the most important dynamics for setting successful teams apart, including in public services.
Our interactive course will provide your teams with the tools to effectively foster personal and professional growth. We will cover the following areas:
- Understanding psychological safety as a foundation for managing uncertainty
- The neuroscience of psychological safety
- How interactions and behaviours are impacted by feeling psychologically unsafe
- Creating an environmental where we can learn and develop together
- Identifying behaviours that help and hinder psychological safety
This course includes participant exercises where we will collaboratively explore opportunities to boost pysychological safety amongst your teams.
Our facilitators are all experienced consultants at The PSC who use the psychological safety tools on a daily basis, including with their public service clients.
Please note that we can adapt the course to your bespoke needs. The more insight you are able to share with us about your teams, context, and organisational culture, the more we can tailor our approach.
Find out more on our podcast
Eli Bond, an Associate Partner at The PSC, explores how psychological safety impacts teams and organisations for the better. You can listen to the full episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or search 'The PSC in Conversation' wherever you listen to podcasts.
Contact us to book this course
Capability Building at The PSC
capabilities@thepsc.co.uk
020 3965 2033
One half-day, in-person or virtual
This course is for NHS staff looking to build their carbon literacy to understand how to drive the transition towards Net Zero. Carbon literacy is "an awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions". Participants will:
- Deepen their understanding of climate change's causes and effects, including effects on human health and the NHS
- Understand the basics of carbon reporting, including how to produce and interpret emissions estimates
- Understand key activities for reducing carbon emissions, including target setting, action planning, and influencing others
Module 1: An introduction to climate change:
- Understanding the history and science of climate change, including its causes and effects
- Unpicking some common misconceptions
Module 2: Climate change and the NHS:
- How the NHS contributes to climate change, exploring the NHS Carbon Footprint and Carbon Footprint Plus
- How climate change impacts the NHS
Module 3: Carbon reporting 101
- Understanding the basics of carbon reporting, including international reporting standards from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the three reporting scopes, emissions conversion factors and best practice reporting approaches
- A series of carbon reporting exercises for a fictional NHS Trust
Module 4: Acting on your carbon footprint:
- Understanding how NHS leaders can reduce their carbon footprint though target setting, action planning and influencing others
- Exploring the differences between carbon neutral and net zero, and best practice for offsetting emissions
- An exercise developing action plans for the fictional NHS Trust
Contact us to book this course
Capability Building at The PSC
capabilities@thepsc.co.uk
020 3965 2033
1 day, in-person or online
This course explores what it means to embed social value and sustainability as key criteria for public service delivery today. Participants will deepen their understanding of the concepts of social value and sustainability, learn how to identify and measure social value, consider how to integrate social value into everyday work, and reflect on how to advocate for social value as organisation and system leaders.
In Module 1, participants will:
- Define social value and sustainability in the context of public services
- Explore the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 and other relevant legislation and best practices
- Understand the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their relevance
- Learn about case studies of successful social value initiatives across different sectors
In Module 2, participants will:
- Be introduced to tools and frameworks for assessing social impact
- Map opportunities for embedding social value and sustainability considerations into existing processes and activities
- Explore how to identify supportive stakeholders and build inclusive decision-making processes
- Undertake practical exercises in applying social value tools to real-world scenarios
In Module 3, participants will:
- Consider co-design and co-production approaches to create shared value
- Explore demand reduction strategies to promote sustainable use of resources
- Be introduced to procurement and commissioning approaches which prioritise sustainability
- Understand how to embed social value considerations into performance reporting
In Module 4, participants will:
- Practise how to communicate the importance of social value and sustainability
- Discuss how to build coalitions and partnerships for collective impact
- Reflect on how to overcome resistance to change
- Develop leadership skills to champion social value
Contact us to book this course
Capability Building at The PSC
capabilities@thepsc.co.uk
020 3965 2033
2 days, in-person or virtual
Challenges across health and care systems are becoming increasingly complex and often require a systems thinking lens to be tackled effectively. This course deepens public leaders' understanding of systems thinking and complexity, equips them to build coalitions and facilitate change within this complexity, and helps develop a support network and learning community of peers.
- Module 1 - Systems Thinking - asks why systems are important, covers key concepts of systems thinking, introduces the systems theory of organisations, and explores case studies of system-wide transformation in health and care
- Module 2 - Complexity in Systems - introduces Complexity Theory and applies it to health and care, examines how change works in complex systems, and discusses how to navigate high levels of uncertainty - through Q&A with a highly respected system leader
- Module 3 - Leadership in Complex Systems - explores adaptive leadership and host leadership, addresses how to convene and facilitate generative conversations, and discuess how to carve out space and time for strategic system leadership
Contact us to book this course
Capability Building at The PSC
capabilities@thepsc.co.uk
020 3965 2033
2 days, in-person or virtual
This course explores the meaning of leadership in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) times. They will develop skills to lead complex public organisations in a fast-changing landscape, and learn the tools and mindsets to lead in a VUCA world whilst looking after their own wellbeing and resilience.
During Day 1, participants will explore:
- What's required of leaders when there are no ready answers
- The insight to action cycle
- Inclusive and resilient leadership approaches in challenging environments
- Integrating techniques from comedy improvisation to navigate uncertainty
During Day 2, participants will explore:
- Traditional and emerging leadership archetypes
- Promoting positive wellbeing in volatile contexts
- Systems leadership in public services
- Crafting compelling organisational narratives to inspire colleagues
- VUCA-related challenges in their own organisations
Following the course, participants can opt for a one-hour 1:1 coaching conversation to discuss how they will apply their learning in their leadership roles.
Contact us to book this course
Capability Building at The PSC
capabilities@thepsc.co.uk
020 3965 2033
1 day, in-person
This course is for groups of senior leaders looking to lead change together. Participants will first engage deeply with the vision and mission of their own organisation, before learning how to apply John Kotter's change management model in practice for themselves and within their teams. They will practically apply the model to a real example that the group is working on and can take forward in their day-to-day work. There will be opportunities across the day for the group to connect and share experiences as peers.
Through a variety of interactive exercises, participants will learn how to:
- Generate urgency
- Form a guiding coalition
- Articulate values underpinning the vision for change
- Communicate the vision
- Remove obstacles
- Create short-term wins
Contact us to book this course
Capability Building at The PSC
capabilities@thepsc.co.uk
020 3965 2033
1 day, in-person or virtual
Leading Improvements supports participants to lead and deliver improvement projects on priority issues for their organisation. The course promotes change and improvement as part of “business as usual” – developing a culture of continuous improvement. Building on our widely-used "D5" approach, participants learn to:
- Define the problem they want to solve
- Discover the current state and root causes of problems
- Design and refine their solutions
- Deliver their improvement project
- Digest the impact of their work and lessons learned.
Using a structured approach, the course introduces participants to a range of tools - including a problem definition sheet, 7 types of waste, value stream maps, 5 Whys, hypothesis trees and PDSA cycles. Participants leave with the confidence to use these tools in their improvement work and teach them to others.
Contact us to book this course
Capability Building at The PSC
capabilities@thepsc.co.uk
020 3965 2033
2 days, in-person or virtual
An Introduction to Strategic Thinking is for staff from operational backgrounds who need to apply a strategic mindset to their role. The course supports participants to:
- Understand strategic context
- Articulate strategic issues
- Apply strategic thinking in their work
Over two days, the course introduces a toolkit for strategic thinking, problem solving, planning and change management.
Participants develop skills in:
- Understanding the strategic context of challenging environments
- Articulating a strategic issue using SCQA
- Defining a problem
- Breaking down & structuring a problem
- Developing hypotheses
- Planning their work
- Appraising options
- Engaging & influencing stakeholders
- Communicating with purpose
An Introduction to Strategic Thinking — Modules
Contact us to book this course
Capability Building at The PSC
capabilities@thepsc.co.uk
020 3965 2033
"This was a great introduction to developing an accessible digital service that meets the needs of a diverse range of users"
2 days, in-person
Digital and User-Centred Projects is designed specifically for people in the public sector who are involved or interested in delivering digital services.
Over two days, participants cover all the key steps from ‘Discovery’ through to ‘Alpha’, ‘Beta’ and ‘Live’, tailored to public-sector standards including the NHS and Government Digital Service Standards, Technology Code of Practice, and the necessary levels of Accessibility and Cyber-security.
We cover the full digital service life cycle through a single case study of taking a service from discovery to live in Government:
- Discovery - service standards, Agile and user research methods
- Alpha - high and low fidelity prototyping, service design
- Beta - Agile in practice (roadmaps, backlogs and prioritisation), introduction to technology concepts (the cloud, open standards and APIs) and how to procure well
- Live - accessibility, privacy and cyber security
We have delivered the training to the NHS (in England and in Wales), Acas, the UK Space Agency and Environment Agency, with 100% of participants agreeing that they would commission the course for their wider teams.
The course is delivered by experienced consultants from The PSC who use these skills on a daily basis with their clients in public services.
"The most useful training I've received in my career."
3 or 4 days, in-person or virtual
Delivering Fast Effective Projects (FEP) focuses on applying problem structuring and project management tools to support fast and effective project delivery in public services. Suitable for policy and delivery professionals alike, participants learn and practise a range of structured tools and approaches to navigate demanding project environments and achieve results.
Our facilitators are all experienced consultants at The PSC who use these tools and approaches on a daily basis with their public service clients.
The course is highly interactive, and covers the following modules:
- Module 1 – Launching the project
- Module 2 – Structuring the problem & planning the work
- Module 3 – Engaging stakeholders
- Module 4 – Developing hypotheses
- Module 5 – Gathering data & conducting analysis
- Module 6 – Gathering data & interviewing
- Module 7 – Using continuous improvement methods (Plan-Do-Study-Act)
- Module 8 – Appraising options & carrying out modelling
- Module 9 – Developing insight & making recommendations
- Module 10 – Implementing the project
- Module 11 – Communicating recommendations & closing the project
We recognise that there’s a lot for participants to take in during this intense course. And we also know that the most valuable personal and organisational development happens when participants apply their learning to their everyday work environment and when they share their favourite FEP frameworks and tools with their colleagues. That's why we run an optional fourth day, scheduled four to six weeks after the initial course, to revisit course material and practically use the FEP tools in the context of real-life projects that participants are working on.
This course can also be supplemented by a follow-up mentoring programme which further supports participants to practically apply the tools and approaches in their day-to-day work - and to help other colleagues do the same.
You can find further details about the individual modules and course materials below.
Delivering Fast Effective Projects — Modules
Contact us to book this course
Capability Building at The PSC
capabilities@thepsc.co.uk
020 3965 2033
"Genuinely one of the most useful and applicable bits of training I've done in the last five years."
Two half-days, with a total of 6 hours training - in-person or virtual
Problem Structuring and Analytical Thinking (PSAT) introduces four powerful and easy-to-use tools which equip participants to define their policy problem, structure their thinking about the issues at play, develop a hypothesis for solving the problem and plan their work accordingly. We've delivered this course to thousands of public servants, who often then introduce the tools to their colleagues and wider teams.
The initial half-day training session teaches the main content of the course, and covers the four core tools:
- Problem Definition Sheet
- Issue Tree
- Hypothesis Tree
- Workplan Boat Chart
Our facilitators are all experienced consultants at The PSC who use the tools on a daily basis with their public service clients.
The 2-hour follow-up session - delivered between 4 and 6 weeks later - offers participants the opportunity to further practise and reflect on their use of these tools, as well as covering new content on developing insight and influencing others to deliver change. Participants find the follow-up session valuable in embedding what they learn on the course.