Head of NHS North West Leadership Academy

Job responsibilities

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Strategic leadership

• Contribute to development and implementation of leadership development strategies working closely with national and regional arms of NHS England to align and achieve key aims, objectives and deliverables
• Ensure effective liaison, joint working and collaboration with the NHSE NW team and regional strategic boards
• Provide strategic leadership and management directly to all members of the NHS NWLA senior team.
• Lead strategic commissioning, corporate governance, financial management and business support operations in conjunction with NHS NWLAs business unit.
• Lead strategic and operational planning in a constantly changing environment ensuring a positive impact on the organisation, contributing to corporate policy and strategy.
• Provide oversight and leadership to the NHS NWLA membership model, engaging with members and stakeholders to ensure adaptability and sustainability.
• Provide strategic leadership to the development and implementation of strategic communications and engagement strategies.
• Engage effectively with members/stakeholders to understand and assess local need, align with national and regional strategy and use to inform the development of future focused leadership development interventions.

Governance and business effectiveness

• Provide senior oversight and leadership to the allocation and utilisation of budgets, working across a range of funding streams, and holding responsibility for financial monitoring and reporting at local, regional and national level.
• Oversee all NHS NWLA development and delivery activity ensuring compliance with financial regulations, contractual requirements and service level agreements.
• Provide leadership and oversight to the achievement and reporting of key deliverables/performance indicators.
• Analyse business data to provide leadership to the operational delivery of the NHS NWLAs business, identifying and mitigating risks to business delivery and providing assurance to the NHS NWLA Executive Committee and the NW Leadership & Talent Board.
• Oversee formation, co-ordination and administration of the NWLA Executive Committee alongside the Chair; work in conjunction with NHSE NW People and Culture colleagues to support and contribute to the work of the NW Leadership & Talent Board.
• Utilise business data to monitor and report trends and patterns to ensure continuous improvement in the delivery, uptake and maximisation of membership offers.
• Lead the development of internal methodologies and systems for demonstrating return on investment to NHS NWLA member organisations.
• Ensure effective recruitment and utilisation of the NHS NWLA workforce including flexible and cost-effective solutions and access to specialist expertise as required.
• Ensure confidentiality is maintained at all times in line with organisational policy.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

• Demonstrate and role model inclusivity as a leader, responding effectively to social and cultural differences and commonalities to leverage and manage positive change.
• Take a proactive approach to thinking and acting differently in a leadership capacity and considering issues from multiple perspectives.
• Contribute expertise to the shaping of inclusive leadership development interventions, ensuring NHS NWLA offers are inclusive in their development and delivery.
• Ensure that equality and diversity is integrated into all aspects of strategy development, commissioning and operational processes.
• Ensure that equality and diversity issues are recognised and addressed in accordance with current legislation, policies and procedures.

Commissioning

• Utilise data and intelligence to understand and evidence the need and demand for leadership development interventions.
• Analyse NHS NWLA member needs to inform the development of impactful interventions, testing ideas with members, networks, collaborative partners and other key groups.
• Oversee and inform the design of specifications and procurement processes to secure high-quality, cutting-edge development providers able to delivery effectively.
• Oversee the leadership of external development providers to ensure the NHS NWLA is able to co-create and design innovative leadership development interventions that meet desired outcomes.
• Oversee the management of contracts and provide strategic oversight to the operational delivery of projects.
• Ensure the NHS NWLA has a programme of continuous improvement which ensures best practice in all areas of commissioning.

Knowledge management

• Oversee the measurement of performance and impact using evaluation frameworks and ensure the outputs of evaluation are used to improve products and services.
• Oversee and co-ordinate the strategic use of data (quantitative and qualitative) to inform improvement and development plans.
• Take a proactive approach to gaining knowledge and understanding of NHS NWLA and national NHSE leadership products and services, maximising reach across health and care sectors.

Communication / stakeholder / member engagement

• Provide and receive highly complex, sensitive and often contentious information when working with key stakeholders, including senior leaders and leaders across the system.
• Present highly complex, sensitive and contentious information to large groups, often in a hostile and antagonistic atmosphere when discussing major change issues including when working across systems, sectors, place and footprints.
• Utilise complex negotiating and influencing skills to improve barriers to understanding, managing and resolving conflict within organisations, systems and the NHS NWLA.
• Use analytical and judgment skills to analyse highly complex facts or situations requiring interpretation, comparison and appraisal of options.
• Act as an ambassador for the NHS NWLA, understanding and acting with political astuteness, building credibility within and for the organisation.
• Deliver high level presentations at local, regional and national forums, raising the profile of the work and achievements of the NHS NWLA and promoting relevant products and services across leadership and talent.

Professional Development

• Take responsibility for own professional development, knowledge and competence, maximising opportunities for on the job learning and participating in personal objective setting and review.
• Lead organisational development of the NHS NWLA team, ensuring organisational objectives are understood by all members of the team, embedded within personal objectives and regularly assessed.

Health and Safety

• Ensure all statutory regulations, codes of practice, local policies and departmental health and safety rules are adhered to.
• Take reasonable care for ones own health and safety and that of any other person who may be affected by your acts or omissions at work.

Staff Wellbeing

• Ensure the organisation has an organisational development plan and programmes which actively support a healthy and resilient workforce and promote positive mental wellbeing.
• Provide leadership and oversight to health and wellbeing of the NHS NWLA senior team, setting clear objectives and performance measures and overseeing developmental action plans as required.

Physical Effort

• Combination of sitting, standing and walking.
• Inputting at keyboard.
• Occasions to exert moderate physical effort.

Mental Effort

• Concentration required when completing tasks and dealing with people.
• Dealing with interruptions and competing demands from staff and work[1]related queries.
• Constant pressures to meet target deadlines.

Working Condition

• Occasional exposure to unpleasant working conditions.
• Temperature of the office environment may fluctuate.

Emotional Effort

• Ability to cope with difficult or distressing situations and support staff during pastoral support.

Previous applicants are requested not to re-apply.

We fully encourage applicants from all backgrounds and lived experiences, who can bring diversity of thought and experience to the role. We aim to fully support any reasonable adjustment and general adjustment requests during recruitment and after appointment.

Experience

Essential

• Significant experience leading teams at a senior level
• Experience of translating national policy to regional and organisational strategy
• Extensive senior experience in a similar role, providing executive level strategic direction in complex settings
• Excellent demonstrable knowledge of leadership development, talent management and organisational development
• Senior level experience of strategic, high-quality commissioning
• Extensive experience of leading internal organisational development across teams and within functions
• Senior level leadership experience and demonstrable acumen in all areas of the business function
• Ability to be creative and innovative, proactively seizing and maximising development opportunities
• Experience of leading organisational change, setting expectations and monitoring performance
• Demonstrate commitment to and experience of collaborative and partnership working
• Ability to engage and work effectively with senior stakeholders across health and social care sectors
• An understanding of the strategic approach to communications and engagement
• Ability to deputise for the Chair in complex, potentially contentious interactions

Desirable

• Previous experience within the NHS
• o Experience of systems working within health and care
• Experience of working at national and/or regional leve

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree
• Master's degree or equivalent
• o Evidence of recent and relevant CPD
• Strategic leadership and management qualification or equivalent experience

Skills and knowledge

Essential

• A thorough understanding of national strategy and policy in the health and care arena
• Able to balance and manage conflicting priorities
• Facilitative leadership skills
• Strong interpersonal skills and personal credibility with the ability to quickly gain trust, confidence and respect when building relationships with senior leaders
• Demonstrable experience of collaborative working
• Ability to influence without authority to achieve transformational change
• Extensive experience of designing and implementing learning and development strategy and associated interventions
• Strong analytical ability and decision making skills
• Articulate and persuasive communicator with excellent interpersonal skills
• Extensive knowledge of the application of information technology to improve business function and enable effective delivery of virtual interventions
• Understanding of, and the ability to develop and use, business and management information
• Excellent presentation and report writing skills
• Ability to innovate and be creative
• Ability to challenge constructively, to enable fresh thinking and a strategic approach to problem solving

Desirable

• o Understanding of leadership within a membership model
• Previous experience of external communications oversight

Personal qualities

Essential

• Driven by core purpose - improving population health, delivering high quality, safe effective compassionate, inclusive services
• Self-confident, self-motivated and innovative
• o Exhibits drive and enthusiasm for success and change
• Demonstrates initiative and ability to work independently and seize opportunities to act
• o Intellectual flexibility - ability to flex between big picture and operational detail
• Combines leadership qualities with the ability to be an excellent team player
• Open and supportive leadership style
• Builds personal and professional credibility
• Personally resilient
• Combines optimism with realism
• Combines optimism with realism o Flexible and adaptive style with a willingness to commit to achieving results
• Aware of own limitations, willing to seek advice and support

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).