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How we grow your skills
How we grow your skills
If you’re new to what governments mean by "policy," this is your gateway to policy skills.
Don’t panic if their Double Dutch "policy" emails land in your inbox.
Don’t panic if they expect you to set a "strategy" and set a "budget."
We know how you feel when you're faced with officials who know more than you and endless papers. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, and to worry that no-one knows how you feel.
Don’t panic because…
The jargon is not the big mystery it sounds if it’s made real and relevant to you.
Chances are, your normal way of speaking is good enough. We’ll show you how to make sense of it, in plain English, using the words you already use around the kitchen table. You’ll learn what policy-makers mean. You can know what they know. You can ask questions in our training. After training with us, you’ll be able to take their official-sounding ideas — and make them your own. You’ll be a strategy-maker.
No smoke and mirrors. No more gobbledygook. Just the tools you need to be in control. Just the basics you need to start doing what's expected - “setting strategies,” and all that jazz.
When they talk about "evidence analysis" you’ll know what they mean. You’ll know how to tell if someone is pulling the wool over your eyes.
You will have real-world policy skills. As they put it, you will be policy-literate. You will be able to read policy with confidence. You will be an asset to your political party, able to deliver every time. When you say “vote for me,” you can say it with confidence.
What's our training for?
What's our training for?
It’s to help you grasp what policy-makers talk about, and to help you speak up without fear when they mention things like
· "strategic direction"
· "frameworks" and "toolkits"
· "stakeholders" and "governance"
· "evidence analysis"
· and more
What we do...
What we do...
Helping you to make more impact
Helping you to make more impact
With one subject of your choice, you can nail a problem such as understanding strategy.
With two or three subjects of your choice, you can learn some joined-up skills such as project management and project governance.
With four or five subjects of your choice, you can really know what they know, and be policy -confident.
Why people love us
Why people love us
"Great session earlier on writing speeches … how much knowledge you have on the topic to be able to share with us all. My main takeaway is that I now understand the differences between teaching, preaching and speechwriting…. Also handy to know what can draw an audience’s attention and what does the very opposite. Thank you!"
Schalika
"Colin’s training was incredibly helpful and informative – really loved it! He made the sessions fun, engaging and I learnt a huge amount, but somehow he still kept it from being an information overload. My favourite part was where he was explaining what the jargon meant, and it made so much more sense after the session. Highly recommend for anyone who wants to get a practical and interesting overview of what policy is and how it works."
Holly
"Thank you so much for everything you have done and the support you have given. I particularly remember the advice you gave and speaking about the [client] ahead of them going in to meet [the Minister] in the department of health… it was very reassuring and helpful to have your experience and knowledge in a high stakes situation to work out what to anticipate and what was best to do."
Tom
"Colin’s ability to breakdown the complex and make it approachable is truly a gift. My favourite part of his training sessions was the humour and sensitivity he brought to each topic, this allowed each student to truly absorb the information and remember it outside of the classroom."
Pelumi
"Thank you again for your insightful talk this morning. I particularly like the tips you gave at the end, specifically the one about using short sentences and words… I can see how using short sentences helps keep the audience’s attention. I will try to put it into practice. Many thanks"
Suzi
Colin ran an excellent series of workshops on policy skills - and I now feel much more equipped on policy engagement and in particular - writing FOI requests!
Sean
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