This event is designed for people who need to distil a mass of complex information into a two page decision paper, for busy decision takers. People gaining most benefit from this event will be working in an area where decisions are needed to implement plans and projects.
Typically participants will be policy civil servants, or local government officers; but the techniques and skills have wide application across the public sector, and the voluntary and charitable sector.
People in the private sector writing papers for a company board or directly to a chief executive will also benefit from the approaches taught, as well as anyone who wants to gain an insight into decision making in government.
By the end of the event participants will:
- Know how to get the essential facts from a mass of material
- Have learned techniques to analyse options to achieve planned outcomes
- Know how to structure and present a complex decision paper succinctly
- Have practised techniques using a case study
- Have gained confidence to originate their own work, and provide feedback to their staff
Speaker:
Geoff Langsdon - Head of Training at Government Knowledge
After school Geoff worked for an insurance company in London and then joined the Army at 20. He served in Northern Ireland during "the troubles", in Cyprus and Germany.On leaving the Army Geoff became a civil servant for many years working first in operations and then policy. During the Margaret Thatcher administrations in the 1980s, he was a private secretary to a number of Ministers in the Commons and the Lords. Policy areas he worked on include Care in the Community, Mental Health, ex-Service personnel, Child Support and vaccination and immunisation. After the civil service he set up a training company and has worked predominately in the public sector, and is now Head of Training at Government Knowledge. He has an honours degree in government and politics from the Open University. As a lecturer with the OU, he then taught those subjects, and is currently an associate lecturer with University of Chester. With Chester and Government Knowledge, Geoff developed the work based Public Services Management qualification at graduate and postgraduate levels. Geoff also worked for two years in the NHS, and has served as a local councillor and Mayor. In his spare time he is a mentor to pupils in the run up to GCSEs.