This member-exclusive Innovation Explored explores explores different approaches of democratic working that local authorities have used and see the impact it has had on their relationships with their communities

28th November, 2024

Community engagement • Democratic engagement

Member Exclusive

How We Did It: Using outcomes focused relational working to reduce demand on statutory services

Using outcomes-focused relational working to reduce demand on statutory services can be difficult, but it has the potential to help local authorities effectively deliver preventative interventions.

5th November, 2024

Childrens' Services • Health and social care • Prevention • Public Services

Member Exclusive

Innovation Explored: Making the case for prevention

This member-exclusive Innovation Explored explores long term investment in prevention and working in different ways in partnership across local systems of public services and voluntary sector organisations

25th October, 2024

Community engagement • Prevention

Member Exclusive

How We Did It: Community Wealth Building – using council power for communities

Working towards a fairer share of wealth across a locality helps bind communities together and gives the impetus to help drive forward the local economy.

15th October, 2024

Community engagement • Community-led • wealth building

Member Exclusive

How We Did It: Using your equalities strategy to address power imbalances between council and communities

Creating a strategy that is shaped by frontline services as well as those accessing them is vital for local authorities.

17th September, 2024

Community engagement • Equality • Public Services

Member Exclusive

Innovation Explored: Moving to more open dialogue with communities about council finances

This member-exclusive Innovation Explored explores community-powered methods to put residents at the heart of budgeting decisions and how to shift to more open dialogue about what stretched finances mean...

13th September, 2024

Budgeting • Community engagement • Local government • Strategy and leadership

Member Exclusive

How We Did It: Measuring the impact of your community-led approach

Real-time data is a powerful tool for councils. Throughout the life cycle of a project, data can show what works and what doesn’t, leading to better decision making and...

10th July, 2024

Community engagement • Community Power

Member Exclusive

Innovation Explored: Designing Great Places

This member-exclusive Innovation Explored explores the importance of collaboration with communities in planning and development

25th June, 2024

Community engagement • Planning • Regeneration

Member Exclusive

Stronger Things 2024

Watch recordings from our flagship community power event of the year. Password: SkyFullOfStars Member Events A confidential and safe environment in which participants share and learn real-life insights.

4th June, 2024

Community Power • Impact

Member Exclusive

Innovation Explored: Community involvement in the local social economy

This member-exclusive Innovation Explored takes a look what a successful social economy could look like and what would be needed to help it thrive.

4th April, 2024

Community business • Community Power • Economy and business • Finance • Local government

Member Exclusive

Innovation Explored: Putting people and communities at the heart of your operations

This member-exclusive Innovation Explored looks at how corporate teams can practically build a strong focus on communities into day-to-day operations.

4th April, 2024

Community Power • Culture • Local government • Strategy and leadership

Member Exclusive

Innovation Explored: How to lead under pressure

This member-exclusive Innovation Explored looks at the kind of leadership skills needed in councils today.

4th April, 2024

Culture • Leadership • Local government • Skills • Strategy and leadership

Member Exclusive

Innovation Explored: Creating the conditions for a radically different relationship with your communities

This member-exclusive Innovation Explored takes a look at how councils can develop their focus on community wellbeing.

4th April, 2024

Community engagement • Community Power • Local government • Measurement and Evaluation • Public Services • Wellbeing

Member Exclusive

Innovation Explored: Design-led systems change

This member-exclusive Innovation Explored takes a look at the opportunities emerging from design thinking for local government, and how design-led systems change can improve outcomes locally.

4th March, 2024

Local government • Public Services • Strategy and leadership

Member Exclusive

How We Did It: Building intentionally inclusive community conversations

28th February, 2024

Community engagement • Community Power

Member Exclusive

How We Did It: Reducing our carbon footprint through retrofit and local energy

We put Des Keighan in our ‘How We Did It’ hot seat to hear how Swansea Bay University Health Board has become low carbon by retrofitting buildings and turning...

22nd February, 2024

Climate change • Community Power • Finance

Member Exclusive

How We Did It: Transforming public services into people power with Good Help

Helen Chicot from Rochdale Council introduces a three-year project which has used Good Help principles to tackle the council’s most pressing challenges, transforming the way the way it works...

23rd November, 2023

Community engagement

Member Exclusive

How We Did It: Unlocking community assets through local partnerships

Lorinda Freint from Richmond and Wandsworth Councils and Bex Trevalyan from Platform Places introduce Local Property Partnerships and explain how it’s helping tackle high street decline in Wandsworth Town.

17th October, 2023

Community engagement • Community Power • Local government

Member Exclusive

How We Did It: Participatory Action Research

Xia Lin from Toynbee Hall introduces a research method designed to embed resident participation in local change-making and explains how co-design principles can be used to level the power...

6th September, 2023

Community engagement • Community Power • Local government • Participation and co-production

Member Exclusive

Embedding a Culture of Continual Engagement

Councils are constantly looking for new ways to engage their residents, from citizens’ assemblies to listening sofas. Critical to doing this well is to understand and to tell the...

15th June, 2023

Community engagement

Member Exclusive

How We Did It: Tackling Rough Sleeping

Shuff Tariq and Sarah Cooke explain how Manchester delivered one of the most successful homelessness projects in the UK.

5th April, 2023

Community engagement • Homelessness • Public Services

Member Exclusive

Outcomes Not Outputs

16th March, 2023

Community engagement • Culture

Member Exclusive

Moving Beyond Consultation to Meaningful Conversations

8th March, 2023

Community engagement

Member Exclusive

Putting the Climate Emergency at the Heart of Everything You Do

7th March, 2023

Community engagement

Member Exclusive

Working with Residents to Meet Local Housing Needs

22nd February, 2023

Community engagement

Member Exclusive

How We Did It: A Truly Person-led Service

In this instalment of our ‘How We Did It’ event series, Ben Hughes from Essex County Council shares his experience of setting up the Essex Recovery Foundation which is...

8th February, 2023

Community engagement

Member Exclusive

Adaptive Leadership

Places need new types of leaders, ones who increasingly collaborate with staff and communities to tackle today’s biggest challenges. This type of leadership is about starting to shift power to put...

16th January, 2023

Strategy and leadership

Member Exclusive

Measuring What Matters

How can you properly measure something when you are working in a system that frequently asks the wrong questions, focuses on the wrong measure, and can obsess over costs...

16th January, 2023

Impact

Member Exclusive

Integrated Public Services

Making integration happen is by no means easy. Ambitions are often weighed down by complex restructuring, governance arrangements, and technical challenges around issues such as sharing data.

17th November, 2022

Partnerships

Member Exclusive

Engaging Residents in an Emergency

We live in unprecedented times, where we are facing increasing emergencies in our communities. From Covid-19 to the cost-of-living crisis; the answer to solving these issues sits with our...

14th November, 2022

Community engagement

Member Exclusive

Eradicating Health Inequalities by Working with your Communities

Practice needs to shift in the council itself, in the local system and in working with communities to develop a community-focused approach to addressing health inequalities.

18th October, 2022

Health and social care

Member Exclusive

Risk-Taking Behaviour (And how to encourage it)

Risk – and aversion to it – is often thought to be the reason why a given innovation will fail to emerge in the public sector. Councils are strongly incentivised...

3rd October, 2022

Local government finance

Member Exclusive

Building a Participatory Local Economy

Local economic change looms for many communities. High streets are transforming as consumer habits shift, working patterns are altering in the wake of the pandemic, and new kinds of...

3rd October, 2022

Community Power • Economy and business • Finance

Member Exclusive

Telling your Story of Council and Place

Ideas and reflections on the challenges of: Developing a simple narrative that is owned by partners and communities, not just the council, and reflects the diversity of voices and...

19th May, 2022

Community engagement • Community Power • Community Voices • Narrative building • Place building • Strategy and leadership

Member Exclusive

Freeing up the Frontline for Community Power

Ideas and reflections on embedding a more autonomous and permissive working culture; building greater resilience within the workforce; and creating a culture of co-production with local partners and communities....

2nd March, 2022

Commissioning and Procurement • Community Power • Culture • Participation and co-production • Partnerships

Member Exclusive

The Climate Emergency: Mobilising your Residents

Ideas and reflections centred around three main challenges: Engaging the whole community on climate change. Telling an external story connecting local and global environmental issues. Ensuring climate change is a priority...

8th November, 2021

Climate change • Community engagement • Community Power • Members • Mobilisation • Strategy and leadership

Member Exclusive

Community Deliberations: Practicalities for Positive Conversations

Ideas and reflections centred around three main challenges: building trust with communities; creating an organisational culture that values and enables community deliberation; and ensuring that councils are engaging with and...

1st September, 2021

Community engagement • Community Power • Culture • Democracy