Job Description

Title:Garden and Client Manager / Senior Horticultural Therapist

Place or base of work:Battersea Park, London

Reports to:Regional Centre Manager

Salary: £30,000

Hours:35 hours per week

Contract:Permanent

Main purpose

Reporting to the Regional Centre Manager, this post is part of the local management team with specific responsibility for the quality of service delivery, including the qualification programme, and horticultural excellence. The post holder will lead on client relationships, including client liaison between third parties. The post holder will inspire the team of horticultural therapists and volunteers to deliver Thrive programmes which meet the needs of clients and funders, and maintain excellent standards.

The post holder will actively support the Regional Centre Manager in meeting Thrive’s aims and objectives,maximise the scope and breadth ofservices which improve lives, and support a diversity of revenue raising initiatives.

Thrive’s London work is based primarily in the prestigious Battersea Park and the high horticultural standards must be maintained without undue pressure being placed on our service users. Consequently, the ability to produce and implement horticultural plans which meet both service user and local authority needs is paramount.

Key responsibilities:

Management: you will be able to fully support the Regional Centre Manager to deliver Thrive objectives

  • Work as an active part of the regional management team
  • Take responsibility for and manage garden activities/projects across the region
  • Recommend and prioritise training activity to maximise benefit from the training budget
  • Provide enthusiastic leadership to the team
  • Oversee operational planning to ensure delivery of all programmes
  • Take responsibility for operational health & safety monitoring, and reporting issues to the Head of Operations / Regional Centre Manager as appropriate
  • Provide costings for contractual work and sales kiosk
  • Support the administration team in the planning of out of hours events

Staff Management: you will be an experienced line manager whose leadership will inspire the team

  • Line management of staff in accordance with Thrive’s staff handbook and related policies
  • Support the team with delegated line management responsibility
  • Ensure that Thrive’s ‘Sow to Grow’ appraisals and one to ones are up to date, recorded and actioned
  • Actively promote and attend regular team meetings, making sure that voices are heard

Horticulture: you will have significant horticultural experience, and able to effectively manage four gardens within Battersea Park and ad hoc off-site projects

  • Oversee the horticultural quality of all gardens being managed by Thrive across the region
  • Ensure that gardens under Thrive control are compliant with Wandsworth Borough Council planting and maintenance plans
  • Work closely with Wandsworth Borough Council and their garden maintenance subcontractors to maintain standards
  • Prepare and implement horticultural plans
  • Ensure that, when applicable, gardens meet design specifications
  • Investigate ways in which the use of the garden can be extended to provide enhanced opportunities for service users

Service Delivery; you will support the team of therapists to deliver service excellence, meeting the needs of our service users, and oversee compliance with statutory and organisational requirements

  • Lead on all service user matters, building trusting relationships with service users, their carers and support workers / referral organisations, to maximise the benefit each service user derives from Thrive programmes
  • Advise the team and overseeregular service user reviews andmonitoring processes
  • Liaise with the Regional Centre Manager and operational fundraising team when planning new programmes and conducting feasibility studies
  • Ensure all aspects of service delivery meet agreed quality standards, outputs and outcomes
  • Liaise with the team regarding volunteer requirements to assist delivery of business objectives and delegate their day to day supervision
  • Work in conjunction with Thrive’s training and education departmentand IQA in the delivery of student training activities to ensure that City & Guilds and other qualifications are delivered according to plan and specifications
  • Promote the use of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture

Other

  • Plan and oversee the programme of corporate volunteering days
  • Planthe development and implementation of the retail business
  • Actively promote Thrive’s work to organisations and individuals

This list is not exhaustive. Amendments and additions may be required in the future, in line with policy and other changes.

Garden and Client Manager Person Specification

Area /

Essential

/

Desireable

Qualifications/Education / Recognised qualification in horticulture (min level 2)
First Aid
Health & safety qualification or management experience / A1/A2 Assessor qualification
Recognised qualification in STH or other health related Occupational Therapy
City & Guilds 7407 or equivalent
Experience / Line management of a team of staff
Horticultural planning
Management of a large garden / horticultural site
Stakeholder relationships
Contract management
Implementingand overseeing the team’s compliance with systems and processes
Managing budgets
Managing health & safety / Retail/commercial nursery
Working in partnership with voluntary and statutory agencies
Working with people with a wide range of disabilities
Delivering a practical qualification or other training
Skills and Knowledge / Strong verbal and written communication skills
Good standard of numeracy
Strong personal organisation and co-ordination skills
Competent IT skills
Ability to work on own initiative
Ability to build rapport
Flexibility in the working environment
Ability to delegate effectively
Ability to demonstrate leadership and inspire a team

Personal qualities

/ Drive, enthusiasm, ambition, and determination to succeed
Ability to grasp and convey information clearly
Able to juggle sometimes competing priorities working on a variety of tasks simultaneously
At ease working in all areas of the project’s activities with people with disabilities
Demonstrates drive
Sense of humour
Other / Prepared to go through Thrive’s STH training programme within a specified timescale (contractual)
Hold a full driving licence
Willing to undertake some out of hours work for which time in lieu is given
Prepared to undertake some travelling

Successful appointment to this post will be subject to satisfactory references and Disclosure & Barring Service checks.Thrive complies fully with the DBS Code of Practice. Having a criminal record will not necessarily prevent an individual from working for Thrive.

Thrive are a Disability Confident Employer and as such we are committed to the employment and career development of disabled people and will offer an interview to give you the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities at an interview, if you declare that you have a disability and meet the minimum criteria for the job.

By ‘minimum criteria’ we mean that you must provide us with evidence in your application form which demonstrates that you generally meet the level of competence required for each competency as well as meeting any of the qualifications, skills or experience defined as essential

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Senior Hort Therapist-Battersea
Job Description / June 2017