Over the last decade, we’ve equipped over 4000 people with the skills they need to make public services brilliant.
Working alongside our clients, we've seen first-hand the increasingly complex challenges that public organisations face. So we've developed a set of tools and approaches to help tackle these challenges.
Through our capability-building courses, we pass on what we've learned about problem solving and project delivery to participants across government, health and the wider public sector.
- Delivering Fast Effective Projects — 3 days, in-person or virtual
- Digital and User-Centred Projects — 2 days, in-person
- Problem Structuring and Analytical Thinking — 2 half-days, in-person or virtual
- An Introduction to Strategic Thinking — 2 days, in-person or virtual
- Leading Improvements — 1 day, in-person or virtual
- Putting Change Management into Practice — 1 day, in-person
- Leadership in VUCA Environments — 2 days, in-person or virtual
- Leading Complex Systems in Health and Care — 2 days, in-person or virtual
- Social Value and Sustainability: Theory and Practice — 1 day, in-person or virtual
- Bespoke course — designed to suit your needs
Delivering Fast Effective Projects
'How can we deliver successful projects?'
This highly interactive course is delivered in-person over 3 days, or in a modular virtual format over a week.
Centred around a public services specific case study, participants will experience the full project lifecycle based on our widely-used "D5" approach: Define the problem; Discover the current state; Design the future state; Deliver the change; Digest the impact.
To maximise participants' learning, this course can be supplemented by follow-up mentoring which supports them to practically apply the tools and approaches in their day-to-day work - and to help other colleagues do the same.
Course contentDigital and User-Centred Projects
'How can we deliver better digital products and services?'
This 2-day, in-person course takes participants on the ‘end to end’ journey of defining, designing and delivering a digital product or service in the public sector.
Fully aligned to the UK Government's Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Profession Framework, this course covers all areas of the Government Digital Service (GDS) and NHS service standards. Participants will gain practical experience through doing - building skills in user research, user needs & journey mapping and designing and prototyping.
Digital experts from The PSC combine theory with practice throughout, enabling participants to build confidence in applying their new digital skills.
Course contentProblem Structuring and Analytical Thinking
'How can we tackle complex problems?'
This is our flagship bitesize course for policy and project professionals, lasting 6 hours in total and spread over 2 half-days.
In the first half-day training session, participants learn about and practise four powerful tools which will help them to define a problem, structure a problem, develop a hypothesis and plan their work.
The second component, which takes place 4-6 weeks later, is a 2-hour follow-up session in which participants revisit the tools and explore new content on developing insight and influencing others to deliver change.
Course contentAn Introduction to Strategic Thinking
'How can we apply a strategic mindset to our everyday roles?'
This course is aimed at operational staff who would like to explore the strategic context of their work. Over 2 days, participants develop a toolkit for articulating and examining their work issues in a strategic way, together with a strategic approach to work planning and change management.
On the first day, participants learn about the SCQA framework, defining a problem, structuring a problem, and developing hypotheses for solutions.
On the second day, participants learn about appraising options, influencing change and strategic storytelling.
Course contentLeading Improvements
'How can we lead improvement work and become role-models for positive change?'
This 1-day course is designed for both managers and front-line staff looking to develop their skills in quality improvement, and use these skills in challenging environments.
Participants learn how to effect tangible change in their organisations, in a structured way using tools that are tried-and-tested in public services.
Course contentPutting Change Management into Practice
'How can we lead change and bring our organisations along with us?'
This course equips senior leaders to apply the influential model of change set out in "Our Iceberg is Melting" by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber.
Strengthening their own relationships as a senior group of peers, participants will spend 1 day together exploring what it takes to set the stage for change, decide what to do and make it happen.
Course contentLeadership in VUCA Environments
'How can we lead teams and organisations in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments?'
This course is for both emerging and experienced leaders who feel compelled to lead their teams and organisations in new ways, in the face of unprecedented complexity and challenge.
The first day focuses on exploring VUCA leadership theory and reflecting on personal leadership styles, whilst the second day focuses on practical application to public services, and participants’ own organisations.
Course contentLeading Complex Systems in Health and Care
'How can we address the most complex challenges facing health and care systems today?'
This course is for leaders who recognise that only a systems paradigm can adequately frame and address the knottiest challenges in health and care today - and who are keen to learn more.
Modules on this course cover the key concepts of systems thinking, the applicability of complexity theory to health and care today, and the value of facilitative leadership in complex systems.
Course contentSocial Value and Sustainability: Theory and Practice
'How can we embed social value and sustainability in public service delivery today?'
This course is for anyone working in public services who sees the increasing urgency of promoting wide-ranging social value and sustainability, and who wants to learn more.
During the first half of the day, participants cover the theory - what the key concepts mean and how they can be measured. During the second half of the day, participants cover the practice - how to integrate the key concepts into everyday work and how to advocate for social value and sustainability.
Course contentBespoke course
If none of our courses seem quite like the right fit, we’d be delighted to work with you to build a course that’s suited specifically to your organisation's needs.