Part 1: JOB DESCRIPTION

JOB TITLE: Head of Learning and Development

DEPARTMENT:Strategic Partnerships

TEAM: Learning and Development

LOCATION:Ewell, Surrey

  1. POSITION IN ORGANISATION
  • Reports into: Deputy CEO & Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships
  • Line Manages: Has 4 direct reports, Project Manager – LMS, L&D Manager (Volunteers), L&D Manager (Leadership) and Workplace Training Manager. The current structure of the L&D team consists of 7posts with the selected post holder having overall responsibility.
  • Contacts which the post holder has within and outside the organisation:Forms part of the Strategic Partnerships department and a member of the senior leadership team and the Head of Team senior community within Samaritans. The Head of Learning development will have frequent communication withsenior volunteer groups including functional leads, trustees and regional teams.
  1. MAIN PURPOSE OF JOB
  • The Head of Learning and Development isresponsible for enabling the organisation to meet its strategic objectives through the development and implementation of organisational wide learning and development strategies and initiatives, ensuring continuous improvement and cost-effectiveness.
  • The Head of Learning and Development has impact across all streams of the organisation. The ideal candidate requires a proven track record in creating and implementing learning experiences that motivate and influence in a blended capacity, using both traditional and digital methods.
  • The ideal candidate must have a passion for championinglearning, change, and the digital environment. The Head of Learning and Development will be responsible for diversifying

and raising the quality of learning and development delivered to both internal and external markets.

  • The Head of Learning and Development will lead, manage and develop a team of staff and volunteers, being the organisational expert in learning and development by providing knowledge and input into the leadership development strategy, volunteer training experience, e-learning, digital and blended learning solutions internally and externally to provide an income stream.
  1. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Develops and executes the organisational learning and development strategy

  • Collaborates with stakeholders to develop and integrate learning and development priorities across the organisation, providing thought leadership and advice in implementing innovative and forward-thinking blended learning solutions
  • Leads the design and implementation of major programmes such as leadership & management development and coaching & mentoring and works effectively with external organisations to ensure high quality training interventions proving return in investment

Management responsibility of the Learning and Development Team

  • Provides leadership and effective management of the team of volunteers, staff and freelance trainers. Ensures the development of skills and expertise within the team to meet the needs of the organisation
  • Plans and manages the learning and development budget
  • Contributes to overall strategic planning and management of the organisation

Develops and implements the volunteer training strategy

  • Manages the development and delivery of the Volunteering training strategy to ensure that sufficient volunteers are adequately trained throughout their volunteering experience with the organisation
  • Ensures that Samaritans remains up to date with current good practice and legislation and develops measures to enable the organisation to continually improve and diversify quality
  • Responsible for ensuring Samaritans volunteers have access to and engage with training and development appropriate to their needs
  • Ensures expert advice on training issues and best practice is available and accessible to Branch Directors, Regional Reps, the Directorate and other key volunteers and staff

Develops and implements the external training business plan

  • Develop a co-ordinated strategy for partnership and workplace learning that will increase income streams and awareness
  • Commission and develop commercially viable content and delivery methods to reach a wide audience to meet Samaritans strategic objective

General duties of a Samaritans’ staff member

  • Contribute to the effective and efficient running of the Central Charity as appropriate.
  • Participate, as appropriate, in staff forums and meetings.
  • Adhere to all Samaritans’ Policies and Procedures that are in effect from time to time.
  • Represent the Central Charity appropriately across the organisation and Samaritans to the wider community as appropriate.
  • Treat all colleagues, volunteers and members of the public with dignity and work within and adhere to Samaritans’ equal opportunities statement and polices.
  • Carry out any reasonable requests made that are within the broad remit of the role.
  • Develops excellent collaborative working relationships with key senior volunteer groups and individuals within the organisation.

Part 2: PERSON SPECIFICATION

  1. SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Experience

•Experience of working at a senior level to implement cultural and organisational change

•Developed and implemented an organisational wide learning and development strategy, featuring a blended learning approach to deliver key strategic objectives

•Experienced in commissioning learning from external suppliers

•Experienced in developing and managing a geographically dispersed team of people, including volunteers and staff, to deliver excellence in learning.

•Experience in developing a thriving income generation strand of learning across different sectors including workplace learning

•Developed and implemented a mentoring and coaching culture

•Highly developed consulting skills to diagnose organisational issues and identifying training needs and proposing suitable interventions to solve business needs

Skills

  • Critical thinking, strategic planning and problem-solving skills
  • Ability to build and develop high performing teams at all levels, using a co-operative and open working style to build trust and support colleagues and volunteers
  • Excellent commercial acumen
  • Project management skills to manage a range of diverse projects simultaneously on time and to budget managing risk
  • Demonstrable track record of successful results in delivering change
  • Excellent interpersonal and people management skills, with the ability to exercise tact and diplomacy to achieve goals
  • Excellent written and verbal communications skills
  • Excellent presentation and training skills
  1. QUALIFICATIONS
  • Bachelors level degree or above
  • CIPD Qualified
  • Leadership management / coaching or adult learning qualification desirable.
  1. PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES
  • Emotionally Resilient to sensitive information and empathises with Samaritans’ values
  • Customer/ volunteer-focused
  • Highly developed communication and diplomacy skills - ability to build relationships, negotiate, engage and influence
  • Flexible in approach and about travel and some weekend working
  • The ability to understand and to work effectively within the special nature of the Samaritans volunteer environment
  • Commitment to inclusiveness and diversity and its relevance to Samaritans work

Signed by employee: ______Date: ______

LAST UPDATED:August 2018

This job description is a statement of requirements at the time of writing and is not contractual. It should not be seen as precluding future changes after appointment to this role.