Niche is Nice!
The market for delivering high quality training to local authorities is crowded. So how do you stand out from the crowd? Martin Stein, Business Engagement & Development Officer at Luton Council thinks that the answer is to do something different.
“Our Workforce & Organisational Development team is often tasked with developing unusual training solutions for our 3,000 employees. The Dog Safety Awareness course is a prime example” Stein explains. “Dog Warden staff highlighted the problem of staff who regularly visit domestic premises suffering from incidents with dogs. Often this would lead to sickness absence or a loss of confidence and so a course was designed to help people know how to act safely whilst respecting the dog and its owner”. The half-day course includes positioning yourself safely in a property, behaviour in different dog breeds and even reading dog body language. The course has proven very popular with Social Workers, Care Visitors and Property Maintenance staff and Stein is looking to sell places to local businesses including estate agents, utility companies and other councils.
Stein added “If we can signpost our learners or commission external experts, then we will. But sometimes you just have to get creative and carve out a niche yourself.”
Luton Council have taken their bespoke approach online too by developing e-learning modules for Legionella Awareness and Poll Clerk Duties – with the latter likely to be very popular in the coming weeks! Future e-learning Projects in development include Pest Control, Asbestos Awareness and Allergy Awareness.
A wider audience can now benefit from these niche courses as they are available for other councils to buy through EELGA’s Local Government Marketplace. The Marketplace is an online service which enables the East of England LGA’s member councils to buy and sell services with one another without the need to carry out a competitive procurement process.
If you are interested in finding out more about how the Marketplace could benefit your council, either as a buyer or seller, then visit the site or contact us:
Eddie Gibson, eddie.gibson@eelga.gov.uk, 01284 758310
Sebastian Reeves, sebastian.reeves@eelga.gov.uk