Interchange
Interchange facilitates the exchange of knowledge and expertise between members and officers in local authorities and local government partners in the East of England. Improvement East developed Interchange from an idea from the East of England People Development Network, which itself exists to promote and improve learning and development opportunities for local government staff in the region. The idea was turned into a project, funded by Improvement East, which is now being run by the East of England LGA for the local government family.
It provides a range of opportunities such as 'buddying', work shadowing, mentoring and secondments thereby maximising the skills and capacity across the local government family.
Secondments - These will be between 1 and 12 months (or longer by agreement) on a full or part-time basis, without affecting employment status. This could be short-term cover for a sudden vacancy or a planned development as part of succession planning.
Buddying/twinning - This is a very flexible format for development which can include regular meetings or communication with someone at a similar level in a different organisation for mutual benefit and support. Like a discussion group but more personal with just 2 people
Shadowing - Accompanying someone throughout their working day or week. This could be to gain an understanding of your existing role or to look at possible career development
Attachments - Normally under 3 months to undertake short-term projects or studies. This can be helpful for project work in a different area that may contribute to a qualification or could be the loan of an expert with particular skills for a one-off project
Partner Search - A mechanism for finding other organisations who might want to jointly commission seminars and longer training programmes, consultancy or jointly work on some kind of project
Discussion Groups - Regional and Sub-Regional groups can be set up to discuss issues of the day and matters of common interest
Troubleshooters - Individuals can register to be a troubleshooter in an area that they have specific expertise or experience. Authorities can then view the database of troubleshooters if they have a particular one-off requirement.
How Interchange works
Each Authority nominates an Interchange Manager (the sponsor, who needs to be able to communicate with and influence other managers) and an Interchange Administrator (to update the system with opportunities, likely to be linked to the recruitment team). If preferred this can be done by one person. These nominated individuals have access to the 'back office' area of Interchange, where they can upload any opportunities that they wish to promote onto the Interchange website. Any new opportunities are also included in an automatically generated Interchange e-newsletter which is circulated to all registered users.
An Interchange Manager list is available on the Interchange website - if your Authority is not included please contact Val Seaman, contact details below.
Access to Interchange
Interchange is hosted by the East of England LGA website at the following link: http://www.eelga.gov.uk/corporate/jobs/interchange.aspx access to Interchange is available without registration, however by registering individuals are alerted by email to new opportunities as they arise by the regular Interchange e-bulletin.
For further information regarding Interchange please contact Val Seaman, HR Adviser, East of England LGA. Email: Valerie.seaman@eelga.gov.uk or telephone 01284 729435.