Associate Director - OD, Learning & Development
We love what we do and we think you will, too!
At Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (GHC), we provide joined-up mental health, physical health and learning disability services to people of all ages across Gloucestershire. We run community hospitals and provide care and support in people’s own homes and in a range of other locations across the county.
We are on a mission to enable people to live the best life they can and we have a vision to work together to provide outstanding care. We put people at the heart of our services, focusing on personalised care by asking ‘what matters to you’.
We’re passionate about making sure that everyone can contribute to achieving our mission and we are continually working to support healthy and happy high-quality teams in all areas of the Trust.
Our application process aims to understand each candidates knowledge, skills and experience. We have found that candidates that use AI to generate their answers can lack specificity and fail to address key criteria outlined in the job description.
It is really important to personalise your application to convey your individual skills, knowledge, and experiences effectively and for us to understand why you are applying for this role with GHC. We discourage over reliance on AI-generated applications as it will lessen your chances of success in securing an interview with us .
Job overview
Are you passionate about people and maximising their potential in work?
With the planned retirement of our current Associate Director - OD, Learning & Development, this is a great opportunity to join the leadership team of a high performing mental health, learning disabilities and community NHS trust. We’re looking for a values-driven, innovative and highly skilled professional to join our team.
We deliver a wide range of services in the homes and 55+ community sites across Gloucestershire. With “Good” CQC rating, sound finances and 6,000 staff, we are based in a truly beautiful part of the country which includes a diverse mix of rural and urban – from the Cotswolds, Severn Vale, Stroud Valleys and the Forest of Dean, to Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, Cirencester and Gloucester city.
Our strategic goals are to deliver High Quality Care, Better Health, Sustainability and a Great Place to Work. Our People Strategy gives six commitments to achieve our Great Place to Work ambitions including: -- Model recruitment & retention
- Health and well-being
- Great culture, values & behaviours
- Strong voice
- Equality, diversity & inclusion
- Full potential
Main duties of the job
As a skilled and experienced OD, Learning & Development practitioner you will have the ability to deliver innovative best practice aligned to our dynamic and often fast changing needs. You will rapidly build great relationships, credibility and a local knowledge.Passionate about values and civility, you will exemplify authentic, kind and compassionate leadership.
This role provides strategic leadership and operational management of the Trust’s OD, Learning and Development function, developing and driving innovation through high quality OD practice, education, training and development. You will lead and operationally ensure delivery of non-medical education and training across the Trust, including delivery of professional and clinical education, leadership and management development programmes, statutory/mandatory training and development, alongside essential to role training.
Bringing energy, insight and a focus for inclusion and reducing inequalities, you will have responsibility for developing and driving a high-performance service culture whilst also instigating and supporting a range of learning, education and development initiatives.Able to assimilate the role rapidly, you will be highly driven, goal and action orientated, have a talent for inspiring and motivating teams, with a track-record of delivery.
Working for our organisation
We have in excess of 5000 staff working over 50 sites, providing a diverse range of services. We strive to support an organisational culture that is welcoming, builds and celebrates inclusivity and diversity and provides a sense of belonging and trust.
The annual NHS Staff Survey gives our people the opportunity to tell us about their experience working at the Trust. For the 2023 survey just over 2800 colleagues gave us their views (58.5%). It was great to see from the results that colleagues are saying that:
- 89.7% believe they are making a positive difference to patients/service users;
- 73.3% would recommend the organisation as a place to work;
- 82.4% agree that care of patients and service users is the organisations priority;
- 76.7% would be happy with the standard of care for a friend or relative
Our results put us as 5th nationally as a Community, Mental Health and Learning Disabilities NHS Employer of Choice and 1st equal amongst all NHS Provider Trusts in the South West. However, we know we have more to do and will continue to drive forward our commitment to making GHC a Great Place to Work.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please refer to the job description for full duties and responsibilities.
If you think this sounds like your next career move, please do not hesitate to contact Helen Garwood, Administration Assistant, to arrange further conversations with Trust colleagues. Telephone: 0300 421 7105. Email: [email protected]
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- Related Masters or equivalent senior experience
Experience
Essential criteria- Demonstrable experience of working in a senior education / learning and development role
- Experience of working in an NHS environment
- Experience of effectively managing teams and staff
- Successful track record of shaping and delivering significant cultural and performance changes and in building capability across organisations
- Practical involvement in leading equality, diversity and inclusion activity
- Experience of managing organisation-wide OD, learning, education and development initiatives
Skills
Essential criteria- Highly effective influencing, coaching and interpersonal skills
- Able to collaborate and build excellent working relationships through informal and formal approaches
When joining us, as well as becoming part of a team that makes a difference, we also offer:
- Free car parking at many of our sites
- 27 days leave plus bank holidays, increasing up to 33 days with long service
- A broad range of training and development opportunities, including apprenticeships up to Level 7 qualification.
- A multi-professional preceptorship programme for all Newly Qualified; Nurses, Nursing Associates, Internationally Educated Practitioners, Allied Health Professionals and Return to Practice Practitioners.
- Generous NHS pension and enhanced pay when if you work unsocial hours
- Flexible, family friendly and agile working opportunities
- Recognition and long service awards
- Fast Track physiotherapy
- Our Wellbeing line
- Access to discounts and salary sacrifice schemes; including Cycle to Work, Car scheme and discounts on travel, leisure and retailers.
Applicants are advised to apply early as if a large number of applications are received for this post, we reserve the right to close the vacancy prior to the advertised date. Good luck with your application.
For more information please see the attached 'Additional Information for Applicants' document.