Coventry Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) is on a mission to help Coventry City Council become more research-active.
As part of this, we provide various training and development opportunities for colleagues to access. Resources include podcasts, videos, guides, and online courses for all levels, from beginner to advanced. They cover an introduction to research, accessing and reading research evidence, using evidence to inform decision-making, and conducting service evaluations. You can find these on our training page.
Four members of the Resident Experience Team recently took advantage of one of these opportunities, intending to bring some skills back to their service area. The team is part of Customer Services and are involved in the CovConnects programme. Their work involves taking customers' and employee’s feedback and using it to redesign and shape the services Coventry City Council offers. A crucial part of the role is championing residents' voices; the team act as a facilitator to get their feedback on what services should look like moving forward. An example is the recent redesign of the Cost-of-Living webpages . This was a collaborative piece of work where the Resident Experience Designers engaged with volunteers and residents in the community with support from Web Editors and the Transformation Team.
Coventry HDRC Team signposted the team to a Co-Creation Course hosted by Coventry University. The team members are keen to use the skills they have learned to host future workshops with Coventry residents. They explained that the course was interactive and inclusive, with examples of real-life scenarios focusing on local people. The activities learned have helped the team think about encouraging Coventry City Council employees to attend face-to-face workshops with a creative and open mind and a working together approach. They would like to use the skills they have learnt to break the communication silo and encourage more collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the organisation.
This training opportunity introduced by HDRC will be really helpful for our co-creation workshop planning with internal and external stakeholders in the future!
Resident Experience Team, Coventry City Council