Job Description

Chief Executive Officer

Overall purpose of the role

The role of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is to provide WPF Therapy with inspiring leadership and a creative vision. The CEO will be responsible for the revitalization of a highly respected organization, leading it into the 21st century to ensure its long-term sustainability. They will develop new ways of using the expertise of the staff to engage with a fast changing world and manage the change so that WPF Therapy’s professional reputation and standing is enhanced and widely recognized as a leader in the field of counseling and psychotherapy as well as training the next generation of psychotherapists.

Reporting to the Chair of the Board, the CEO will work to maintain contemporary social relevance of the charity, while ensuring the long-term sustainability as a fee-charging enterprise, ensuring a balance between income and expenditure to deliver a surplus and build reserves. This will include developing new income streams to increase the range and demand for WPF’s services.

This is an exciting and challenging opportunity for an experienced professional executive to lead a well-established charity, with a national reputation for excellence, at a time when it needs to grow and diversify its activities and impact.

Accountability

The CEO will be accountable through the Chair to the Board of Trustees. The Chair will agree measurable targets with the CEO.

Key Priorities

  • Working with the Trustees to set and deliver the strategic direction to ensure its alignment, now and in the future, with market requirements, including local and national priorities for the delivery of psychotherapy training andclinical services to people with emotional difficulties whilst ensuring the plans remain consistent with WPFs charitable objects.
  • Creating a culture which is cooperative, outgoing and positive and places clients (training and clinic) at its heart.
  • Ensure good governance and specifically quality of care and effective outcomes for therapy clients.
  • Engaging the staff and associates in a shared project to revitalise the organisation and managing change in an appropriate and positive way
  • Using all the resources of WPF to develop the existing sources of income and new ways of delivering our services to more diverse groups of clients
  • Driving the organisation to improve its financial sustainability of the organisation, by developing existing sources of social enterprise income and identifying new income streams and controlling costs – so delivering a surplus and building reserves.
  • Monitoring and improve organisational systems and processes to ensure cost effectiveness and quality.
  • Leading WPF Therapy to re-establish itself as a significant voice in the therapeutic and emotional well-being field by developing research and thought leadership.
  • Ensuring that WPF Therapy fulfils its legal, professional and charitable obligations.

Specific Responsibilities:

  • Lead and motivate a diverse staff group of around 80 people (a core of 15 full time staff , plus trainee therapists and sessional staff in training and the clinic), with an annual salary budget of circa £1m and a further 45 volunteers and honorary therapists as well as approximately 200 people in training placements.
  • Deliver and lead on the agreed organisational strategy ensuring this is reviewed at least annually and is measured against clearly stated and agreed KPIs.
  • Develop and implement annual and medium term plans and budgets congruent with WPF Therapy’s mission and charitable objectives.
  • Develop the services to increase the number of clients, to serve them in different ways, keeping up to date with the needs of clients.
  • Report on all areas of the organization’s operation to the Board on a quarterly basis in line with the agreed KPIs
  • Develop and lead a strong executive team who will manage the different activities and work together across different departments to deliver the organizational vision
  • Ensure clarity and focus on the key tasks, plans and budgets so that service delivery on the clinic and the training of therapists is best in field and the business is sustainable.
  • Review the performance of the executive and ensure this process is consistent across the whole organization where good performance is recognized and poor performance is addressed early.
  • Engage with contemporary developments in the field of psychotherapy and ensure that these inform WPF Therapy’s future work so that it’s at the forefront of practice and its reputation is enhanced.
  • Identify and/or align with key organizations that can help to inform and/or deliver WPF services.
  • Lead the organisation to maintain and improve the quality of training and clinical services and install a culture and practice of continuous improvement
  • Work with the Board to plan the change process required to deliver the vision, taking advice, reporting back and problem solving together.
  • Ensure WPF maintains membership and is actively engaged with the relevant professional bodies, including formal accreditation of WPF training and clinical services. Liaise and co-operate with the separate graduate organization (FPC).
  • Ensure that policies are up-to-date and compliant with legal requirements and good practice.
  • Maintain and develop the public profile of WPF through effective communication and marketing and active engagement with local and national leaders in the mental health field.
  • Undertake other duties, which, from time to time, shall be requested by the Board.

Person Specification

Experience

  • Substantial strategic and operational leadership experience at senior management/board level.
  • Experience of leading and managing change.
  • Experience of leading, inspiring and motivating staff to own and deliver organisational vision and goals.
  • Demonstrates a good track record in achieving contract and income growth.
  • Demonstrably successful external marketing experience, and experience of public presentations and speaking.
  • It would be an advantage to have had first-hand experience of the value of
  • counselling / psychotherapy either through personal experience or professional practice
  • teaching or management experience in academic institutions at college or university level
  • Good knowledge of statutory requirements in relation to running an organisation, offering services to the general public and to providing premises with public access.
  • Experience of brokering and maintaining a network of relationships & partnerships to support objectives.

Skills and Abilities

  • Demonstrates a good understanding of the importance of service quality and an ability to achieve this.
  • A capacity for dynamic and articulate leadership with strong communication and interpersonal skills.
  • Ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with the corporate, private and third sector and to represent WPF Therapy enthusiastically to outside agencies.
  • Ability to think strategically about the developing national professional scene (including the changes to NHS commissioning arrangements) and the place of WPF Therapy within it.
  • Confidence, adaptability, drive & stamina to rise to new challenges and deliver results.
  • Entrepreneurial, versatile, able and willing to source and develop new opportunities and ideas.
  • Pragmatic, creative and solution-focused, and able to apply this to implement new ideas to solve problems and improve services & resources.
  • Ability to be technologically self-sufficient.
  • Ability to oversee the practical management of a complex operation.

Attitudes

  • Commitment to providing the best quality opportunities for clients and trainees.
  • Commitment to the ethos and values of WPF Therapy and a genuine enthusiasm for the aims of the organization.
  • Commitment to building the staff team and developing the capacities of a wide range of diverse professionals; to be capable of delegation. A supportive management style that motivates staff to deliver their best.
  • Evidence of being able to maintain social, organisational and ethical values in all functions of the role and an instinct for recognising and valuing these values in others.
  • Recognition of the importance of professionalism and of the importance of the professional reputation and standing of the organization.
  • Commitment to policies on equality and diversity.

Salary:Around£70K (depending on experience)

Weekly work hours:Full time (35 hours per week)

Application Procedure

Please provide an up to date CV with a covering letter explaining why you wish to apply for this role and demonstrating how you fulfil the criteria on the Job Description and Person Specification.

Please note that WPF Therapy expects the post holder to agree to undertake Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and other statutory checks where required.

CLOSING DATE:Friday, 9th December 2016

Version: 3 November 2016Author: Carol RueChair WPF Therapy