By Rob McCleary, Mansfield District Council
When I applied to be on the LGcomms Future Leaders course at the end of 2025, I was working in a role where I very much so had my very comfortable shoes on. I had been at Gedling Borough Council for 20 years. Life was pretty straightforward. I had a good work life balance, I was whistling to work, I did a good job and things were fine.
Fast forward to today, it’s 5.30am. I am frantically writing this blog. I quit my comfy job, got a new job at Mansfield District Council, a place I’d never even been to, and I have never been so busy and never been so happy.
Why am I telling you this? Well, because the LGcomms Future Leaders course has literally changed my life and I wanted to give something back. Sometimes, when you think that plodding along with your comfy shoes on is ok, you get a chance to do something and it inspires you to make a change.
When I said I would like to help with the LGcomms group, I expected I would hold some doors, make some tea, hand out some badges, easy stuff. I arranged a call with the East Midlands group and Andrew Hadfield-Ames, the LGcomms Vice-Chair and Future Comms link, said, “Hi Rob, thanks for offering to help, can you organise the next Future Comms event? It’s in two weeks. Thanks.”
Now, old Rob, with the comfy shoes on, would have panicked, but not new Rob. New Rob said, “No worries.” And that’s what doing something new can do, it gives you superpowers. So I set about putting together an agenda and contacting some brilliant people to organise the first East Midlands Future Comms session in less than 14 days. Easy mate.
So what is Future Comms? I have taken an entire four paragraphs to get to the point of this blog, but the point I am trying to make is that if you are sitting with your comfy shoes on, or maybe they are itching to try something new, then the Future Comms sessions are for you. They are designed to equip today’s communications teams for tomorrow’s challenges – and are perfect for those mid-level practitioners who want more in-depth training, as well as building your own network in your local are. We held the first session in Leicestershire last month and attendees were treated to an afternoon of interactive, hands on, practical comms training.
Our event included three brilliant sessions. The first was with Orlo’s Helena Hornby, who also led the fantastic Staffordshire County Council comms team and there isn’t an award that she hasn’t won. Her session on Influencing Stakeholders was a great interactive workshop where attendees were asked to get into groups, look at different scenarios and ask the question “what if we do nothing?”. It sounds strange, but it’s actually a great practical tool when it comes to approaching influential stakeholders when they want to do something that’s not a great idea.
Next up was the man, the myth, the legend that is John Paul Danon from public sector advertising agency CAN. He presented a great session on building outcome machines, which dived deep into how you can get some really qualitative data to help set objectives when planning campaigns. It looked at several examples of how you can use existing service data, AI and your own insight to create parameters for success. Again, it was another real world, interactive session where people were able to learn something new and literally get better at the job.
The last session of the first Future Comms event in the East Midlands was delivered by Dan Hare. When he arrived, the first thing he said to me was, “Is it ok if I rip you in front of these people, you’re good game aren’t you?” I stupidly replied, “Yes, that’s fine,” which I would regret later.
Dan, who runs the brilliant e-shot, discussed AI, automation and digital efficiency, and it was worth the wait. We all know about AI, but do we really know how to use it? Turns out, we don’t. Dan’s session went through some of the amazing ways we can use AI for quick wins, including checking the reading age of articles we write for our audience. It was at this point that he found a press release I had recently produced to highlight an example of how not to write for your audience. The AI tool showed that the readability of the release was poor and that six sentences were hard to read. Damn you, Dan, you were right. Old Rob would have been upset. New Rob was merely embarrassed. New me, you see.
His session went on to give, once again, some brilliant practical advice for attendees on the small things they can do with AI to get good results. He focused on improving accessibility and communications, including simple things like generating a better photo to promote your garden waste services.
So, if you have got this far, you are probably interested in learning something new. If you are in a role where you are looking to progress and get out of some comfortable shoes, then the Future Comms sessions could be for you. They are a great way to learn new practical skills to help develop your career and the sessions are taking place all around the country. You can find out about sessions near you by signing up to the LGcomms newsletter and following them on social media.
If you are based in the East Midlands and want to come along to the next session, email me at rmccleary@mansfield.gov.uk and I will send you the details. If you are interested in helping to run a Future Comms session in your local area, please contact hello@lgcomms.org.uk
It’s now 6.30am. I’ve written the blog. Time for a cuppa and I might put my comfy slippers on, actually, I don’t need them anymore.