Socially Mobile The not-for-profit PR school equipping the workforce of today for the challenges of tomorrow.
Socially Mobile is a Community Interest Company (CIC) that supports and inspires public relations practitioners across the UK to increase their earning potential.
Socially Mobile delivers fully funded training to those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, as well as under-represented and under-served groups including Black and ethnic minority practitioners, the LGBTQ+ community, women returners and those with disabilities.
We also welcome students sponsored by their employers or paying for their place.
Our impactful ten-week programme is for future leaders:
Aspiring to a management role
Returning to work or moving into a new role
Considering starting their own PR business
Students graduate with a Certificate in Leadership Communication, a powerful new network and access to true diversity of skills and thought.
Socially Mobile is accredited by the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, the industry’s highest recognised standard for public relations and management training and development.
Syllabus
Students are able to choose from modules based on core and specialist management capabilities to best suit their development needs.
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Core management capabilities
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Specialist management capabilities
Core management capabilities
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Core skills
How strong decision-making, influence and negotiation are crucial to good leadership and the importance of ethics.
Lecturer Sarah Waddington
Guest speakers Sarah and Stephen Waddington - welcome session
Creativity
Defining the creative challenge and the creative process, through to presenting the big idea and campaign execution.
Lecturer Andy Barr
Guest speaker Graham Goodkind
Planning and measurement
The role of public relations in organisations. The planning process, research and analysis, strategy, tactics and evaluation.
Lecturer Professor Anne Gregory
Guest speaker Richard Bagnall
Financial planning and management
A look at budgeting, financial documents, contracts and performance indicators.
Lecturer Rachael Marshall
Guest speaker Deborah Edwards
Technology and
workflow
An overview of technology in PR. How to build a tech stack. Vendor management, technology rollout and future trends and issues.
Lecturer Andrew Bruce Smith
Guest speaker Rachel Picken
Risk management
A look at consumer behaviour and how to build a crisis communication strategy. How to manage a crisis and recovery.
Lecturer Kate Hartley
In this module the guest speaker is replaced by a live crisis simulation.
Managing people and building a high-performance team
Skills and behaviour, remuneration and incentives, appraisals and objectives and measurement.
Lecturer Karan Chadda
Guest speaker Fenella Grey
Specialist management capabilities
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Starting a business
Choosing a business model and developing a brand. How to build a business pipeline and resource and manage talent. Reporting.
Lecturer Stephen Waddington
Guest speaker Paul Stollery
Building better organisations
The need for vision and purpose. Ethics, reporting and transparency and building a legacy.
Lecturer John Brown
Guest speaker Nik Govier
Change management
Effective business change leadership. Types of change management projects and frameworks. How to manage risk.
Lecturer Dr Jon White
Guest speaker Shayoni Lynn
Strategy and growth
Setting a strategy for growth, understanding exploitation vs exploration, mitigating risk, raising finance and measuring success.
Lecturer Alison Clarke
Guest speaker Anne-Marie Blake
Leadership and culture
Leadership and the organisational lifecycle. The business planning hierarchy, collaboration and community.
Lecturer Farzana Baduel
Guest speaker Advita Patel
The learning experience
Orientation
The Socially Mobile programme is spread over ten weeks and consists of video lectures, a live crisis simulation, assignments, Q&A sessions and discussions.
Goal setting
Every week has set goals, from watching the course content and suggested reading to completing the weekly assignments.
Video lectures
There are usually two recorded webinars each week, one by a lecturer and another by a guest speaker.
Live webinars
There is a live welcome session with Socially Mobile founders Sarah and Stephen Waddington. There is also a live crisis management simulation.
Continuous community access
Graduates have ongoing access to the Socially Mobile community following successful completion of the programme.
Q&A sessions
Fortnightly throughout the programme there is an office hour where students can access Socially Mobile organisers to ask questions and provide feedback.
Graduation
At the end of the programme there is a graduation ceremony. All students receive a Socially Mobile certificate if they successfully pass the programme.
Engagement mechanisms
Contact details are provided for participants who may be unable to submit their assignments on time.
Programme fee
This ten week Socially Mobile course is free for applicants who meet our criteria. We are keen to support those from a lower socio-economic background, as well as under-represented and under-served groups including Black and ethnic minority practitioners, the LGBTQ+ community, women returners and those with disabilities.
Fee paying individuals
Fee paying practitioners are welcome on the programme at a cost of £750.
All fees contribute to Socially Mobile’s goal of improving the career prospects of those who need it most so by signing up, you’re not just continuing your own professional development, you’re making a difference to someone’s life chances too.
Applications
Applications for the latest Socially Mobile cohort are now open.
Contact us
If you’d like to find out more, please contact Socially Mobile’s programme manager Beth Thomas at beth.thomas@sociallymobile.org.uk. You can also contact the co-founders here:
Sarah Waddington CBE: 07702 162704 or Stephen Waddington: 07771 851407.