West Dunbartonshire Council’s Procurement service were looking to support the development of their team’s project management, commissioning and effective negotiation and communication skills. 

We worked closely with the council to understand the service’s current position and utilised a pre-course questionnaire with each individual to analyse their specific learning needs.   Based on this, we were able to design and deliver three bespoke training courses: 

Project management:  As well as training delegates to use a tailored project management methodology, the course applied this learning to the delegates’ current challenges and projects, utilizing the trainers deep and practical experience of project management in the public sector and ensuring delegates left with practical action plans and strategies to support their day to day project management. 

Strategic commissioning:  The training course covered the whole commissioning lifecycle, including, assessing needs, designing services and community interventions, sourcing providers and delivering to users as well as monitoring and evaluation, to drive organisational effectiveness and improve outcomes for people. 

Influencing and negotiation skills:  Here the intention was to develop and enhance communication skills in negotiation and influence so that officers felt more prepared in driving the best outcomes both within the council and with external bodies and suppliers. 

Following completion of training, all delegates were provided with personal action plans to support their on-going learning and development once their new skills were applied in the workplace.