As a Council, we can only be as good as the people who work for us. This means we’ll invest in you and your skills so you can be at your best. Because if you are, we are. So we can keep on offering better services to the community we serve. We’re determined to do the very best we can for the community we serve.
Everyone who works here has the chance to develop new and existing skills through first-class training and development. We offer a mix of classroom-based, online and knowledge-sharing approaches, as well as regular catch-ups with line managers to identify your needs.
My Conversation
My Conversation is the process we use to involve and engage people in their development. You’ll get to discuss your performance, our expectations and how we can best support you to meet them. It also looks at how your existing skills measure up to our values and enables you to access learning resources, designed to enhance your abilities.
Everyone will have clear goals agreed with their manager. This is about making sure there’s the right balance between autonomy and support to help people deliver. Managers need to be able to explain how each role in their team contributes to the delivery of the Borough Plan and have regular My Conversation discussions.
What’s on offer
We have an online training platform where you can research and book events, courses, and other routes to learning and sharing skills. These can help both you as an individual and your service.
There are also dedicated learning events, such as our annual ‘Learning at Work Week’ where you can experience a range of interesting activities. Plus there are Apprenticeships for both people at levels 2 to 7 to gain a recognised qualification and upskill.
Whether you’re a manager or want to become one, there are a number of management programmes available. These include the Leading Together development programme for middle managers and the Aspiring Managers and Emerging Leaders programme for future managers.
Career Coaching is available for everyone from our experienced in-house coaches, including executive coaching for Senior Managers and mentoring opportunities
Celebrating Success
Our Celebrating Success Staff Awards are an annual council-wide staff event and a chance to recognise the achievements, hard work and commitment of our amazing workforce. These awards are a regular reminder of how our staff go above and beyond to support our residents and one another.
Our online training platform
Our online training platform is a space where you can find out about events, courses, and other routes to learning and sharing skills which can help you as an individual, or your service.
Through our platform you can access tutorials and courses on:
- Business skills – procurement, budgets, health and safety, project management and customer service, Information Technology
- Self-development and personal effectiveness – designed to help you work, develop and communicate more effectively
- Leadership and management – to guide new managers through their responsibilities, and support existing managers in honing their skills
- Courses specific to particular services, for example:
- Adult social care – covering Dementia, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and the Mental Capacity Act (MCA)
- Children and families courses – covering child protection, preparation for court and speakeasy
- E-Learning is available online at any time, on a range of subjects.
- ‘How to …’ videos to help you get to grips with some of the basics about working for Haringey
- Opportunities to join online discussion forums with other staff, to improve your understanding of your role – or to help others improve theirs.
Enabling people to grow
We believe that most people come to work, not just for the salary, but to make a difference. With our support, you can grow and develop by mastering the skills that matter most to you. This includes five development days each year away from your busy schedules to learn, reflect on and improve your own knowledge and skills.
I applied for an apprenticeship with Haringey Council as I knew it would open opportunities for full-time employment further down the line. I found the programme helped me to develop a broad range of skills and I gained a wide variety of experiences that I don’t think I would have been exposed to if I applied for an entry level job.
Paul Castrillo
Our culture of continuous learning is designed to support the highest standards of professionalism, inspiring leaders, and accountable managers with a human approach to customer service. Whatever your aspirations, we’re here to encourage them and set you on a path to progression that’s right for you.
I have always been keen to ensure that I am continuously looking for opportunities to develop my personal and professional skills and experience. As a people manager, I wanted to ensure that I understood what type of leader I am, and how this translates across my teams and colleagues throughout the council.
Joe Benmore
Focusing on what matters
Focusing on what matters is about giving our people clarity around how their role and work fits into a bigger and often complex picture. But it’s about listening too. Everyone who works here has a voice. Anyone can share their ideas on improving how we do things. This helps to create a culture of belonging, ownership and high performance.
I joined Haringey Council practically straight after university and this was my first exposure to working in an office environment. For me, the corporate induction session was a particularly positive experience as I got to meet other new staff members and hear from the Chief Executive. I also found the corporate induction landing page on the intranet very useful in my first few months as my go-to place for information rather than disturbing colleagues
Nile Sobers-Bennett
What’s next for training?
Haringey Essentials is how we clarify the skills and knowledge everyone needs to perform. We’re currently looking at improving our on-boarding process to create the solid support structure our new employees need. While for our new managers, a new induction programme will set out the essential skills-set we expect them to bring.
Through My Conversation, we’re continuing to evolve the tools and practical support our people need to have meaningful conversations with their manager. We want everyone to engage with key topics across the Council and improve their all-round skills. We want to expand our recognition scheme too and enable everyone to reach out to the communities we all serve. This means further developing our culture to make this happen.