When I heard that the government had pulled the plug on unconscious bias training, I remember thinking that it felt like a backwards step. But a review found limited evidence that it creates behaviour change, and could even lead to "unintended negative consequences.” So, what was going on there that meant not only was it not very effective, but could actually be making things worse?
Any project in a local authority setting has a certain degree of bureaucracy. And that’s good, bureaucracy makes sure people are kept in the loop, makes sure services are fit for purpose, makes sure we are accountable and transparent. But bureaucracy can also make our workdays too long, frustrate us and distract us from our, and the organisation’s, motivation.
I would have been studying hard for upcoming deadlines at The University of Essex, revising for modules like Econometrics and Mathematical Methods. However, I decided early on in my degree that I needed to gain experience, and the best way was through an industrial placement.
As a team we place a great deal of focus of learning. We are always looking for opportunities to learn, and one such chance comes from the LARIA annual conference. Our last blog post talked about the awards we won at the conference. But what else happened there and what did we learn?
Last year the Research & Citizen Insight team were given the gigantic task of carrying out research into Essex Libraries.
We needed to understand our citizens’ experiences of using libraries, what they value about the service, and how we can create a library service that is fit for today and for the future.
You may have seen the recent blog telling you about what the Research and Citizen Insight Team do and thought it would be great to bring some of these skills into your own team…read on to hear about how we recently shared our skills and expertise with colleagues in Commissioning Services.
Historically the word ‘consultation’ has put fear and anxiety into many a local authority around decision-making with residents in mind; however we now need to embrace this as an opportunity to have a two-way conversation where opinions are exchanged, considered and not ultimately dismissed.
Meet the Research & Citizen Insight team! We work to put citizens at the heart of everything we do, and love getting out and about speaking with Essex residents about their views and experiences.