POSITION DESCRIPTION

Youth Justice Manager

Location:Site

Employment Status:Collective Employment Agreement

Accountable to:Operations Manager

Date:July 2009

Child, Youth and Family’s Vision Is

Safe children and young people in strong families and responsive communities:

  • free from abuse
  • free from neglect
  • free from offending

Organisational Values

In all we do, we seek to represent and model these values:

  • Respect
  • Integrity
  • Fairness

Purpose of Position

The Youth Justice Manager will work with the Site Manager/s to ensure delivery of an effective, quality, youth justice service within the intention and requirements of the legislation.

The primary role of theYouth Justice Manager is to provide leadership to and management of the Youth Justice multi-disciplinary team consisting of Youth Justice Co-ordinators, Youth Justice Supervisors, Youth Justice Social Workers, Court Officer, Court Supervisor, and Youth Justice administration staff (Social Work Resource Assistants, Co-ordinator Administration Assistants, Resource Assistants). The dedicated Youth Justice team will be working with and within communities of interest focused on reducing the rate of re-offending.

The Youth Justice Manager is responsible for championing Youth Justice within their community and for developing and maintaining appropriate stakeholder relationships. The incumbent will also work closely with the Practice Leader to ensure a united approach to achieving the outcomes required for youth justice clients.
Key Functional Relationships

Internal

  • Site Manager/s
  • Practice Leader/s
  • Other Youth Justice Managers
  • Practice Advisors
  • Residence Managers and staff
  • Quality Advisors
  • Site staff
  • Operations Manager
  • Regional HR Consultant
  • Regional Director
  • Manager Youth Justice, Service Development

External

  • NZ Police
  • Courts
  • Youth Aid
  • NGOs and community providers
  • Health
  • Education
  • Other government agencies
  • Youth Advocates
  • Services in the community
  • Partner Agency representatives
  • Iwi

Staff Responsibilities

  • Youth Justice Co-ordinators
  • Youth Justice Supervisor/s
  • Youth Justice Social Workers
  • Court Officer
  • Court Supervisor,
  • Youth Justice Administration staff (Social Work Resource Assistants, Co-ordinator Administration Assistants, Resource Assistants)

Delegations

As stated in the Instrument of Management Delegations documents or as directed by the Chief Executive.

Accountabilities

Key Accountabilities

  • In conjunction with the Site Manager provide an environment within which service delivery excellence and outcomes can be achieved.
  • Provide strong leadership to and manage the Youth Justice multi-disciplinary team consisting of Youth Justice Co-ordinators, Youth Justice Supervisors, Youth Justice Social Workers, Court Officer, Court Supervisor, and Youth Justice Administration staff (Social Work Resource Assistants, Co-ordinator Administration Assistants, Resource Assistants).
  • Manage YJ Co-ordinators and Social Workers in a manner that recognises the differences in their roles (recognising that under the CYF Act Co-ordinators are appointed as statutory officers, while Social Workers are employed as social workers not statutory officers).
  • Provide management supervision to all members of the team or in larger sites to the Youth Justice Co-ordinators, Social Work Supervisors and Court Supervisors. Ensure appropriate professional supervision is provided to all team members.
  • Manage the youth justice budget efficiently and effectively.
  • Champion Youth Justice Services, internally and externally.
  • Manage the functions within youth justice in accordance with CYF’s stated outcomes, policy, legislation, national priorities and standard operating procedures, ensuring that each functional group carries out its responsibilities.
  • Develop and build intersectoral collaboration between the Youth Justice team, the site/sand other service delivery functions ensuring effective relationships with YOTs (Youth Offending Teams), partner agencies, NGOs, community groups and contracted service providers to build better responsiveness to children and young people in the Youth Justice system.
  • Develop, build, foster and maintain relationships with Iwi, Maori and Pacific Peoples and other client groups within service delivery contexts to ensure the functions of the team are proactive, timely and appropriate.
  • Monitor plans, systems and processes to assess youth justice performance against key performance indicators (KPIs), casework, quality indicators and standards, and other measures of operational performance, are managed and met. Ensure the timely provision of reports to the Site Manager.
  • Provide high level, timely,youth justice support to the Site Manager/sto assist him/her in managing the operations of the site.
  • Assist the Site management team in responding to and implementing developments and initiatives, especially where these relate to youth justice.
  • Identify and manage youth justice risks, including casework risks, and escalate where appropriate.
  • Ensure youth justice practice advice is sought from the Practice Leader and appropriately followed up.
  • Identify trends and patterns of youth offending and develop service interventions to support strategies to address these.

Key Collective Accountabilities

This position has a collective responsibility for management and direction in terms of CYF’s regional service delivery performance.

  • Provide peer support to other Youth Justice Managers and take collective responsibility for the development and monitoring of youth justice practice.
  • Contribute and support national and regional service delivery performance, systems and practice improvement initiatives.
  • Support consistency of operational practice across the region in accordance with statute and Departmental Policy.
  • Build regional capability in social work best practice in conjunction with other Youth Justice Managers, Practice Leaders, Quality Advisors and Practice Advisors.
  • Identify and assess internal and external service delivery risks within CYF’s business risk framework and ensure intervention and escalation as appropriate.
  • Ensure that activities comply with all relevant legislation and ethical and industry standards.

Appointee Specification

Knowledge and Experience

  • Sound successful experience at a leadership or management level in the operations and service delivery aspects of the social services sector within CYF or a comparable organisation.
  • Experience in managing a multi-disciplinary team, coupled with the ability to respect and manage differences.
  • Proven knowledge and experience in, or commitment to, developing and maintaining a team which aligns and delivers on organisational goals.
  • Sound understanding of, and preferably experience in working within the statutory obligations of CYF; and a strategic overview of the business of Government and the State Sector environment.
  • Proven practical background in process planning – including how to set up systems and processes to ensure efficient service delivery with a focus on quality and risk management.
  • Demonstrated ability to work in collaborative peer and other stakeholder relationships.
  • Experience in the development, preparation and monitoring of service delivery performance measures and of reporting against these.
  • Successful experience in motivating and developing people to improve and maintain performance.
  • Experience in pulling a team together during a period of change.
  • Sound knowledge of relevant legislation.
  • Knowledge regarding the correlates of youth offending, trends and patterns and demonstrated skill to identify practice / operational strategies or interventions to reduce the rate of re-offending.

Skills and Behaviours

The incumbent needs to demonstrate:

  • Proven people management skills, including performance management and change management.
  • A clear desire to be instrumental in the success of CYF’s dedicated youth justice service. This includes being clear about the youth justice direction and being able to motive and influence existing and new staff members towards the vision.
  • Ability to supervise staff orthe necessary attributes to deliver social work supervision as per the professional supervision policy
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills. Ability to communicate complex ideas to a range of audiences.
  • The ability to collaborate with others, internally and externally, to achieve mutually agreed goals.
  • Willingness to try new approaches, including off site or co-location team approaches.
  • Understanding of the justice and social services delivery environment.
  • Ability to resolve conflict or difference by finding areas of agreement that benefit the organisation and individuals.
  • Is resilient, able to recover from setbacks and periodically work under unusual pressure.
  • Ability to build and maintain rapport with others based on their own integrity and honesty, demonstrating effective interpersonal skills.
  • Commitment towards positive outcomes for children, young people and their families.
  • Sensitivity towards Maori, Pacific Peoples and other cultures.
  • Ability to anticipate and resolve problems making decisions based on risk management analysis.
  • High level computer and keyboard skills including Word, Excel, email and data entry.
  • The ability to manage sensitive and confidential information in an appropriate manner.

Qualifications

  • A relevant tertiary qualificationis essential.
  • A relevant tertiary qualification in social work may be desirable in smaller sites where supervising social workers.
  • A current NZ Driver Licence, Class 1 Motor Vehicle, is essential.

Competencies

Essential Competencies

Competencies / Descriptors
1. Team Management
The ability to provide direction and leadership to others and to maximise the effectiveness of a team. This includes ensuring that staff have clear expectations and standards for performance, promoting and developing team spirit, ensuring that team efforts are focused on the achievement of key objectives and positively influencing people and motivating them to perform. /
  • Empowers and encourages people to perform better.
  • Brings out the best in people through setting challenging objectives.
  • Uses a range of strategies to promote team morale and productivity.
  • Holds people accountable for performance and consistently compares performance against standards.
  • Addresses performance issues effectively, including taking disciplinary action where appropriate.

2. Results Orientation
The ability to take personal responsibility for the delivery of results. This includes delivering required results consistently and successfully, exhibiting appropriate initiative and persistence and focusing on work that is of high quality. /
  • Takes full responsibility for making things happen, including in situations that are very demanding or not clearly defined.
  • Tenacious in finding alternative means to meet a goal if difficulties arise.
  • Regarded as totally dependable to achieve planned results.

3. Communication
The ability to clearly convey thoughts and ideas effectively. This may include listening, interpreting, formulating and delivering verbal, non-verbal, written, and/or electronic messages. /
  • Work shows recognition of the importance of communication in achieving results.
  • Seeks to understand others’ frame of reference and uses this understanding to identify the most effective method of conveying information.
  • Uses different ways of conveying a message to add clarity and meaning to communications.
  • Adapts communications to the views and level of knowledge of the audience.
  • Prepares and structures communication well. Is able to make complex issues understandable.
  • Sets out arguments clearly and logically; persuades and influences others.

4. Client Focus
The desire and willingness to understand and meet or exceed client expectations. Clients are those groups or individuals, internal or external, who use CYF’s services. /
  • Delivers superior service to clients.
  • Understands, empathises with, and identifies the needs, concerns and priorities of clients and ensures that services are delivered to take account of these.
  • Takes personal responsibility for correcting client service problems and/or “championing” client issues.
  • Corrects problems promptly, without getting defensive.
  • Attempts to give added value to the client.
  • Actively supports the interests of the client by making choices and setting priorities to meet their needs.

Essential Competencies (continued)

Competencies / Descriptors
5. Planning and Organisation
The ability to identify objectives and develop effective action plans to achieve them. This may include using sound personal organisation disciplines, a methodical and systematic approach towards planning workloads and using project management skills. /
  • Manages resources so that priority tasks are achieved.
  • Reviews and adjusts priorities as circumstances change.
  • Communicates what needs to done to all who need to be involved.
  • Sets realistic timetables and monitors progress against targets.
  • Introduces straightforward systems and monitors their use.

6. Teamwork
The ability and willingness to work with others co-operatively and productively in order to achieve group objectives. This may include informal work groups, advisory groups or committees and project teams. /
  • Acts to promote a welcoming, productive climate, good morale and co-operation within and between teams.
  • Genuinely values others' input and expertise.
  • Contributes own expertise to the team.
  • Facilitates and influences positive outcomes that support team goals.
  • Promotes team co-operation, even during heated discussions.
  • Is willing to set aside personal agenda in order to support the team consensus.
  • Assists in mediating between team members to resolve conflict.

7. Relationship Management
The ability to interact with and develop effective working relationships with a wide range of people of different types and in different situations. This includes establishing formal and informal working relationships, developing win/win relationships and assessing and responding to individual behaviour. /
  • Builds good rapport with people at all levels.
  • Actively seeks opportunities to contribute to positive outcomes for clients, stakeholders, staff and colleagues.
  • Approaches issues or disagreements with the objective of reaching win/win solutions.
  • Develops relationships with the intent of achieving effective delivery of relevant services.

8. Technical Skills & Knowledge
Demonstrates specialist or technical knowledge and skills within one’s functional area (e.g. Finance, HR, Policy, QA, etc). /
  • Possesses advanced knowledge of functional area.
  • Establishes credibility, earns respect and influences others on the basis of technical knowledge.
  • Applies technical skills and knowledge to support the direction of CYF.

Desirable Competencies

Competencies / Descriptors
9. Problem Solving & Judgement
The ability to apply an objective, logical reasoning process to a problem or work situation in order to develop a conclusion or recommendation. This includes logically breaking down problems into different parts, identifying key issues and their relationships, interpreting, clarifying, analysing, explaining and developing recommendations or advice. /
  • Breaks down complex situations into manageable parts in a systematic way.
  • Recognises several likely causes of events.
  • Does not stop at first answer; strives to find out why something happened.
  • Considers all aspects of a situation, weighing up different options to arrive at the best solution.
  • Makes clear decisions based on a logical analysis of the options.
  • Acquires new information and applies knowledge to analyse issues and resolve problems.

10. Cultural Responsiveness
The ability and desire to show cultural sensitivity, awareness and understanding of diversity. This includes reinforcing culturally sensitive behaviour, being responsive to Maori and other cultural groups, effectively relating to clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, fostering a culturally safe working environment for staff. /
  • Knows how to address issues that impact on clients, employees, stakeholders and communities from different cultural backgrounds.
  • Provides services to clients with sensitivity, understanding, and respect for the client’s culture.
  • Works in ways that enhance consultative relationships with different cultural groups and acts on opportunities to engage with them.
  • Is able to participate confidently and competently in situations that involve Maori processes, systems and organisations.

11. Change Orientation
The ability to think about a situation, issue or process in new or varying ways and to generate new ideas. This includes the willingness to seek out and implement better ways of doing things and to embrace change. This may include: thinking of situations from different points of view, being alert to opportunities for new ideas, accepting and welcoming new ways of doing things and adapting to change in the work environment /
  • Demonstrates good ability to think about situations in many new ways.
  • Consistently questions and challenges the way things are done.
  • Actively looks for ways to improve activities and results, and contributes to their development and implementation.
  • Positively responds to numerous, diverse challenges and demands in the work environment.

12. Integrity
The ability to maintain confidences and trust, and to act in an honest, ethical and professional manner. /
  • Takes action based on a clearly stated set of values, even if such action might disadvantage oneself.
  • Does not lie to cover up disadvantageous facts.
  • Challenges or confronts abuse of power.

13. Self Development
The ability and desire to take ownership of one’s development and to proactively pursue opportunities to learn and develop. This may include recognising opportunities for self-development, taking responsibility for remaining competent and learning from mistakes and successes. /
  • Learning is focused on current role and also on career development.
  • Designs a personal action plan to address own issues constructively and understand the most appropriate learning style for self.
  • Uses a range of sources to develop own knowledge and skills.
  • Seeks feedback from others with the intent of self-improvement.

Health and Safety

Child, Youth and Family will provide a healthy and safe environment for employees, clients, contractors, and suppliers. Managers will be actively involved in supporting CYF policies, procedures and practices by meeting all legislative requirements as set down by in the Health and Safety in employment Act 1992 and the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2001.

Personal Commitments

Demonstrated evidence of ability to commit to the following principles:

  • Child, Youth and Family’s vision, mission and goals.
  • Treaty of Waitangi.
  • Working with clients and colleagues in a culturally sensitive and appropriate manner.
  • Equal employment opportunities.

General

  • Some travel on official business around the Region and within NZ may be required.

Certification:

General Manager Operations

July 2009

Youth Justice ManagerJuly 20091