Leading and Learning Together: Creating Local Green Jobs Action Learning Sets – Phase 2

This developmental programme was set-up by the LGA in 2020 to support a green recovery at a local level making the creation of green jobs the focus.


This developmental programme was set-up by the LGA in 2020 to support a green recovery at a local level making the creation of green jobs the focus. Action Learning Sets (ALS) were chosen as the vehicle for delivering this. The LGA Green Jobs Report was used to inform the programme.

At an early stage it was acknowledged that the scope of the programme would need to be broadened to meet the needs of officers and members attending. Delegates were therefore invited to select challenges that sat within the triangle of: Green Recovery – Green Jobs – Tackling the Climate Emergency.

 As a result a broad range of challenges were presented at the five ALSs.

Initial observations made about the creation of green jobs: In Blog 1, it was suggested that we were at the beginning of a process whereby the foundations were being laid over a four-month period for green jobs creation. The implication was that measurements of success might need to be broadened beyond the number of green jobs created. The programme would instead be useful, for example: in supporting delegates to explore complex challenges; in helping delegates to define their challenges; to decide what could be realistically achieved; to help identify key stakeholders; and to start to build the skills and capacity needed for green economic development.

Initial observations made about the process: In Blog 1, it was reported that delegates were starting to identify ways in which the Action Learning process was aiding their thinking in terms of their challenges and in relation to their own development. The following examples were discussed: it encouraged reflection and collaborative learning, it challenged existing ideas, and helped to shape new ways of thinking and offered new perspectives and provided focus. It would, of course, also provide an opportunity to implement ideas between sessions. 

The aim of this blog is to use the findings from Phase 2 of the ALSs to see if these initial observations were borne out in practice.  

ALS Phase 2 – Introduction

Refining challenges and creating an achievable plan  

It became clear at the start of Phase 2, that delegates had used the ALS process to reflect on comments made by fellow group members to re-evaluate their challenge. In most cases, delegates recognised that their challenges had either been too broad or not sufficiently well defined for the purposes of the programme. For example, one delegate specifically acknowledged the complexity of his challenge and the resulting obstacles that would need to be overcome.

Time had then been spent since ALS 1 refining what each delegate wanted to focus upon for the remainder of the programme. Examples included: reducing the number of actual projects contained within the challenge, reducing the number of stakeholders they intended to work with and identifying a suitable definition of green growth. One delegate made more fundamental changes to the way in which she planned to achieve her goal having conducted a risk assessment. Finding ways to keep the challenge manageable was frequently mentioned. These newly refined challenges were then presented to the group at the start of ALS 2.

Individual Sessions

Stakeholders      

The individual sessions were used, in part, to encourage delegates to share what actions they had taken between sessions and to describe what had worked well and what had worked less well, and what the learnings were. In phase 1 it became clear that stakeholders were a critical element in addressing the challenges that had been identified. This ‘theme’ was evident during Phase 2 when delegates explained how they had started the process of engaging with a range of stakeholders.    

Many of the delegates had started with internal stakeholders. One had conducted staff workshops, developing a charter to bring about behavioural change. Others had shared their thinking with their boss, climate change officers, portfolio holders and other cabinet members. Another had engaged with the colleagues who would be responsible for delivery of the challenge.    

There was also evidence of making good use of internal stakeholders with one delegate having a discussion with the Economic Lead about skills gaps and training needs. Some began to build internal capacity by either actively enlisting the support of other teams or by exploring the use of an apprenticeship scheme.     

Issues relating to internal stakeholders also began to arise. For one, they felt it was difficult to get buy-in from fellow officers to the challenge that they were trying to address. For another, political tensions had begun to surface during the discussion, with one delegate saying that gaining real commitment on tackling the climate crisis would be a development area for them. It was mentioned by another delegate that ALSs provided good collaboration across political parties. The need to create allies was mentioned in different Action Learning Sets.  

A range of different external stakeholders had also been contacted between Phase 1 and Phase 2. One delegate is focusing upon anchor institutions (e.g NHS, Further Education (F.E) colleges, etc.) to create green jobs through, for example, procurement and recruitment. From earlier questioning, another was considering the involvement of local environmental groups and parish councils, F.E. colleges and businesses were mentioned by several delegates in their quest to build skills and capacity. Little contact had been made with businesses at this stage.

Observation – delegates clearly recognised the need to gain buy-in from their internal stakeholders before engaging with stakeholders outside of their local authority. If we consider this as an exercise in building a green reputation, reputation theory shows, especially with service providers, that it is essential to build a green reputation internally first. This would be particularly important where there are tensions between internal groups or where people need to enlist the support of colleagues to achieve their objectives and goals.  

In relation to engagement with external stakeholders, real obstacles to capacity building began to emerge with F.E. colleges proving to be particularly resistant to change. The link below proved to be useful in providing delegates with a list of 17 providers of retrofitting training.

Apply for free or subsidised training under the Green Homes Grant skills training competition scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Further resources:

Two Technical Webinars were delivered on this programme:

Retrofitting (April 9th 2021) 

Change and influencing skills (April 14th 2021)          

The above topics were requested and chosen by the ALS delegates and provided a deep dive into subjects which needed some further expertise and support in order to address their challenges.

Communication – the importance of communication was becoming apparent during Phase 2 with at least one delegate reporting that they felt it was ‘key’ to success. For one delegate it had, together with engagement, become the focus of their challenge. Whilst she intended to start with the business community, her intention was to evolve her communication strategy around green issues to include the community and schools. Whilst it was deemed to be important to create a sense of urgency some felt that it was important to move away from the notion of ‘project fear’ to ‘project opportunity’.

Data – another theme that emerged during Phase 2 discussions was the importance of making evidence-based decisions through the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. In fact, in relation to the communication strategy outlined above, a questionnaire was to be sent to businesses first to help inform the approach used. For some delegates, the inclusion of data in their decision making appeared to be a clear example of ‘learning from others’ in the group. 

Reflections

Scale of the Challenge - It was becoming clear during the reflective session that delegates were feeling the weight of expectation on them. Not only was the scale of local challenges described as being ‘vast’ but the ‘fluid’ or ‘ill-defined’ nature of the work was clearly adding to the pressure that some officers were feeling. One delegate mentioned that their local authority had set 150 objectives as part of their climate strategy. Having said this, it was clear from feedback that speaking regularly to those experiencing similar challenges provided an excellent network of support.      

Observation – Clearly defined and realistic goals and objectives are essential to building a motivated workforce. People need to see that their organisation has a plan that is logical and timebound and that their role within it is clearly identified.

Action Learning Process

During their reflections, delegates once again commented on a range of ways in which they had benefitted from the Action Learning process. Some of the observations confirmed comments made during Phase 1 whilst other observations were being made for the first time. The comments have been divided into those that relate more to the team whilst others reflect learning taking place at an individual level.   

Learnings at a Team Level

  • The Action Learning process is ‘informative and supportive’.
  • It ‘provides learning through others’.
  • An external perspective helps ‘avoid tunnel vision’.
  • ‘The expertise of others invaluable’.
  • It is an ‘enjoyable’ experience.

Learnings at an Individual Level

  • It is ‘cathartic and re-energising’.
  • It helps to build self-confidence by showing that ‘I do know things!’
  • It gives ’permission to reflect and focus on a single issue’. 
  • It has allowed me to ‘stretch my thought process’. 

Dr Helen Stride and Mike Green, Transitional Space.