Job responsibilities
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE:
The Associate
Director of Communications, Engagement and Marketing reports directly to the Executive Director of Communications, Engagement and
Marketing.
This role is central to promoting NHS Somerset locally,
regionally and nationally and developing,
portraying and embedding a strong and positive public and internal narrative
around the organisation.
The role leads the communications, Engagement and
Marketing team and is responsible for upholding the corporate reputation of the
strategic commissioning function and the wider ICS. It is a system-wide team
with responsibility for internal and external communication, public affairs,
media, digital, marketing, and statutory involvement/consultation functions who
have responsibility for making health and care more inclusive and equitable for
all, including for staff.
The role will
provide strategic leadership to the team in order to deliver a measurable
programme of activity to all audiences across all communications channels. This
includes supporting the development and delivery of the long-term plan of the
ICB and contributing to the ongoing development and delivery of the Somerset 5
Year Joint Forward Plan
Strategy and
tactics will be aimed at building relationships with patients, employees,
stakeholders and communities including regulators, commissioners and providers
as well as local and national stakeholders, the media, policy makers,
opinion-formers and the public.
The role will also oversee the VCSE engagement, ensuring
strong links with this sector and supporting the ICS to early and effectively
around any service change or development in communities.
The post holder is required to be fully conversant with all
strategic developments within the ICB and those being progressed with partner
organisations in the ICS. They are expected to have an understanding of
progress against these working collaboratively with executives and managers in
other directorates and organisations in the development of the documents and
presentations, ensuring high quality timely drafts are delivered.
Excellent report writing and presentation preparation skills are
essential, alongside the ability to work collaboratively and supportively to
provide highly specialist advice and guidance on functional and information
matters.
The post holder will have the ability to understand and communicate
highly complex strategies to a wide range of audiences, tailoring the material
to suit the occasion and the purpose.
KEY RESPONSIBILTIES OF THE ROLE:
Specific portfolio responsibilities
include:
Develop a strong working relationship with the ICB Chief Executive,
Chair and all executive officers to develop clear public and internal
narratives for the organisation and deputise for the Executive Director of
Communications, Engagement and Marketing.
Develop strong relationships with key
stakeholders including NHS providers, NHSE, public health and other closely
aligned organisations (including those supporting health overview and scrutiny
panels).
Develop the ICB and ICS strategic narrative,
messaging, positioning and branding.
Creation of a strategic communications programme
across the ICS, leading teams and programmes to implement key objectives for
the ICB and ICS across a complex agenda.
Responsibility for the communication and
involvement functions; ensuring delivery of effective member and public
involvement and consultation across the range of ICB activity and establishing
robust internal communications and involvement with staff and key partners in
the delivery of the strategy.
Work closely with system communications leads to
create a high performing network with a shared purpose and agreed work plan.
Ensuring that both system and placed based work is well aligned and supported.
Taking the convenor role; bringing key partners together.
Communications and involvement support for the
successful implementation of high-profile service transformation and change
programmes; ensuring a robust programme of involvement and consultation that is
aligned to strategic change programmes
Maintain relationships and reputation with
local, regional and national media and managing all media-related issues; this
will include stakeholder mapping, relationship handling etc. Immediate
responses and crisis management will be required, and advice and support will
be needed, as well as drafting professional material with managers for
executive sign off.
Internal communications and involvement activity to support the ICBs
organisational development objectives. Internal communications are as much a
priority as external focused activity to ensure that staff are fully involved
in decision making and understand the wider context in which they are working.
Take the lead for complex marketing strategies and campaigns across
the ICB and ICS including managing the approach, messaging and delivery. A
laser focus on targeted campaigns to deliver our key objectives around reducing
inequalities. A focus on measuring outcomes and learning from success is
essential.
Take the lead role in developing materials for formal consultation
adhering to the current legislation and ensuring the ICB meets its statutory
obligations.
Use specialist knowledge of a range of appropriate involvement and
consultation methods and approaches (for example - focus groups, on-line
surveys, citizen panels, other digital media) to secure reliable involvement
across the range of ICB work.
Liaison with:
Somerset:
General
public
Members
Patients, carer, users
Community Groups
Wider Somerset ICS Partners
Providers, Local Authority, SWAST
Partners e.g.: Healthwatch;
Voluntary Sector, South West Academic Health Science Network; Education
settings, police, fire and rescue service
Lobby Groups
MPs/Ministers/SPADs
Councillors
Overview & Scrutiny Committee
External Suppliers/ consultants
NHS South West
National:
NHS
Trusts.
NHS England
NHS Providers
Department of Health and Social Care
Ministry of Housing, Communities and
Local Government
Health Inequalities Forum
Grant-giving organisations
Trade Unions
Think Tanks and Charities
External
suppliers
Participate in executive meetings (when required), developing and
agreeing key consistent and coordinated messaging including core briefings
internally and external handling of corporate decisions and responses.
Lead on areas of responsibility in workshops, public meetings and
members meetings.
Take responsibility for proactive management relationships with
members of parliament.
Develop communication materials and briefings to promote and present
the work of the ICB and ICS within the local system, working with directors and
other system leads to develop these materials as required.
Lead the effective management of media relations for the ICB and ICS
and implement the media plan ensuring ICBs voice is consistently heard and
trusted by local people. Help the public to understand the strategic aims of
the ICS and how we are working to deliver them.
Provide expert advice on issues and reputation management to project
groups and the executive and Board, which requires continuous engagement in the
corporate business.
Undertake complex and detailed information analysis of specific
projects/reports requiring high levels of concentration and for a range of
audiences.
Responsible for proposing and drafting changes, implementation and
interpretation to policies, guidelines and service level agreements (SLAs)
which may impact.
Exercise judgement over reputational matters affecting the ICB and
ICS and provide advice to managers, directors, the chief executive and chair.
Transfers expertise and knowledge as appropriate. Innovation and
transformation will be a central focus. Developing and delivering formal
briefing/training to promote innovation across Somerset.
Responsible for leading multiple areas and line managing senior
managers across major areas of activity. This includes a corporate
responsibility for managing the team(s) and all HR related management matters.
Collaborative
Working
To work in a matrix management style and to
foster close working relations with other managers across the system in Somerset.
Motivate and inspire staff throughout the
strategy to role model leadership and innovation.
Demonstrable ability to lead complex
marketing campaigns across multiple stakeholders delivering on ICS strategic
aims.
Ability to work as part of a team and to
have a good understanding of what makes a good team, this includes working as
part of the wider Corporate Business team and wider ICB and ICS.
Ability to build and sustain relationships
with external agencies and other NHS partners to meet a common goal
Ability to work closely with the all
directorates to ensure effective and efficient service delivery
Ability to develop good working
relationships with colleagues working in other organisations to develop an
effective communication network
Leadership /
Management
Determination, perseverance and
resilience to react flexibly and operate in a complex, rapidly changing and
often ambiguous environment.
Attention to detail, combined with the
ability to extract key messages from complex analysis.
Strong critical thinking, problem
solving skills and emotional intelligence; the ability to demonstrate good
judgement and show strong analytical skills.
Ability to plan over short, medium and
long-term timeframes and adjust plans and resource requirements accordingly.
Demonstrate
presence, dynamism, energy, vision and passion; engaging people by the way they
communicate, behave and interact with others.
Ability to guide and facilitate both
experienced and inexperienced colleagues.
Leads by example
to demonstrate a commitment to the NHS People Promise.
