Role: Leads in Talent - Talent Strategy and Alignment

Ref:

Grade: G7

Position in Organisation or Team: Reports to Head of Talent

Location & Terms of appointment: National/Permanent

Role purpose and summary:

Assist the Head of Talent in setting the strategic direction for identifying, attracting, developing, supporting and nurturing talented individuals across the MoJ. The Talent team are responsible for identifying, developing, managing and nurturing a diverse range of individuals across the MoJ family. As well as building a healthy pipeline of talent that future proofs the organisation, aids succession planning and ensures that our development offer is bespoke to the needs of the individual.

This includes:

• Shaping, influencing and setting the strategic direction for attracting, developing and managing talent through the delivery of high quality, high impact programmes and the delivery of talent identification, development and management procedures. The aim is for the MoJ to become a beacon to attract and develop talent, champion talent excellence across the MoJ family, as well as learning from others and share best practice.

• Building strong relationships, expertise and creating a more fluid flow of Talent throughout the organisation.

• Negotiating with individual business areas who are likely to be working on their own talent development agendas to ensure collaborative working, avoid duplication and promote best practice.

• Demonstrating the positive impact that attracting, developing and managing talent has across the MoJ family, both for individuals and at an organisational level. This includes providing recommendations and advice on how we will continually update our Talent offer.

• Utilising knowledge of the latest talent development theories and thinking and identifying appropriate opportunities to ensure that we are continually investing in new and innovative ways and methods of developing our people.

• Managing a small team of Culture, Design, and Talent consultants and when required, cover for the other leads within the Talent Team.

• Striving for excellence in a dynamic and creative way, open to working in a collaborative, iterative way that gets the best from the team whilst working at pace.

Impact role has on organisation:

The Leads in Talent are influential, key roles that will involve shaping, influencing and assisting in setting the strategic direction for the identification, attraction, development, support and management of talent across the MoJ family (80,000 members of staff). This will include building a healthy pipeline of talent that future proofs the organisation, aids succession planning and ensures that our development offer is bespoke and meets business needs.

You will support the Head of Talent, who will be responsible for managing an annual budget of approximately £2.5-3M (subject to spending review and integration work). Whilst not having direct control, you will also be expected to contribute to how individual budgets are spent across the Department.

Key Accountabilities, responsibilities and deliverables:

Discovery

• Assist with the creation and delivery of a refreshed, robust and stretching talent strategy that spans the whole of the MoJ family with maximum impact and reach. This will involve playing a pivotal role in the creation of processes that assist the business in being able to identify and manage Talent and create a successful talent pipeline.

• Recognising and understanding individual organisational cultures across the MoJ family and how these impact on identifying, attracting, developing and managing talent, adapting products where required and working with networks to ensure overall adherence with the departmental talent strategy.

• Play an active role in future proofing our talent offer to ensure consistency across the whole MoJ family and the development of effective, strong criminal justice leaders.

• Contribute to our business plan identifying priorities and ensuring budget is deployed optimally.

• Inform the development of annual learning plans that encourage the implementation of a learning culture and that are agreed with and reported on to relevant groups and agencies across the MoJ family that are responsive, flexible and agile to need.

• Developing new and innovative talent offers that bring external talent into the Department, increasing diversity of thought and experience across the MoJ family.

• Assist in putting in place a robust people pipeline, understanding where talent gaps are now, and in the future, for the changing needs of the business, that is dependent upon new reliable data and helps us to track and monitor our talented individuals. Thus, aiding succession planning so that business critical posts are filled with the most appropriate candidates at pace. This required joined up working with the Resourcing Team and Strategic Workforce Planning team.

Design

• Responsibility for ensuring that the talent offer is engaging, exciting, appealing and impactful (i.e. ensuring the training is usable and used), including the ability to retain colleagues and attract new talent looking to join the organisation - making MoJ a Department recognised for its people and talent development.

• Appreciate the diverse needs of our customer base, delivering specific programmes that meet the needs of under-represented groups in line with MoJ wide strategies ensuring diversity and inclusion is explicitly and proactively promoted and supported in all work.

Test

• Oversee and co-ordinate diagnostics across the MoJ family to inform and shape future plans, understanding perception of need for identifying, attracting, developing and managing talented individuals, challenging and influencing expectation within this space and translating into valid proposals which are accepted, welcomed and progressed. This includes resolving issues and understanding underlying causes before providing solutions.

• Lead horizon scanning activities to support and develop talent, talent processes and talent management, including forecasting talent pinch points and needs so that our offer is continually improving and is responsive to the needs of the organisation and wider society.

Delivery

• Embed a culture based on our values, where talent is championed, prioritised and nurtured, ensuring processes and management are transparent, robust, fair and engaged with.

• Be involved in the creation of tangible and measurable action plans, created to address complex, cultural issues impacting on the identifying, attracting, developing and management of talent, making effective decisions and driving actions to completion. This will include coordinating and ensuring delivery is on track across your portfolio and promoting productivity.

• Delivery of internal, ongoing, wide-reaching, innovative, impactful and engaging talent development portfolio which is responsive to the needs of individuals across the Department with an appreciation of the diverse needs of our customer base. This will involve continually reviewing and improving our offer in line with evaluation recommendations and business need. This could involve accelerating development where necessary and looking for opportunities to expand current programmes across the MoJ (portfolio will be dependent on role).

• Building and maintaining successful stakeholder relationships with a range of customers at all levels and across boundaries, through consistent, honest and open dialogue. Including active decision making, managing stakeholder/customer expectations and working across boundaries.

• Actively engage with the Civil Service Heads of Talent forum and ensuring that the MoJ’s talent priorities are represented and understood.

• Be involved in the creation of tangible and measurable action plans, created to address complex, cultural talent issues making effective decisions and driving actions to completion. This will include coordinating and ensuring delivery is on track across your portfolio and promoting productivity.

• Regular contact and liaison with Department trade Unions when developing new programmes i.e. around eligibility criteria. This will also involve oversight of your team’s Equality Impact Assessments.

• Support the Head of Talent with budget and contract management to provide value for money services that are conscious of the public purse and optimise funds - seeking to address, cultivate and curate local initiatives where possible.

• Working alongside MOJ commercial and financial experts, you will understand commercial processes, risk and supplier management in order to manage and review external provider contracts when buying in services and intervention through a competitive tender process. 

• When required, represent the Head of Talent at key boards and forums across the MoJ family.

Review

• Continually review and improve the Talent offer in line with evaluation recommendations and business need. This includes identifying improvements and managing a quality service to time, cost and quality.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The Job holder is expected to undertake additional tasks commensurate with their grade.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience incl. qualifications

Essential:

Experience of leading and managing teams.

Track record of building and maintaining lasting stakeholder relationships.

Experience of planning, organising and utilising project methodology to deliver positive outcomes.

An in-depth understanding and recognition of the varied roles and responsibilities across the MoJ and developing people to be their best in order to deliver a world class justice system.

Previous knowledge and experience of developing and implementing robust and measurable organisation wide Culture, Design and Talent strategies that deliver impact and positive transformational change.

Experience of creating, implementing, and maintaining technology systems and digital solutions to support Talent and HR processes, ensuring data integrity, usability, and continuous improvement.

Experience of successfully influencing and working with Senior Leaders, Directors and Ministers, and a history of providing robust advice even when this means conversations may be challenging.

Experience of being left to get on with the task at hand, delivering through others, ensuring that senior management are kept informed of risks and issues.

Experience of working in a flexible, agile environment and ability to plan ahead to ensure that the portfolio is developed to meet changing operating requirements.

Experience of negotiating and consulting with trade unions.

Experience in managing contracts.

Skills: teamwork and collaboration; leadership, professionalism and strong work ethic and commercial awareness

Excellent drafting, presentation, oral and written communication skills

Desirable:

Proven track record in a people development role either in the Civil Service or in a large private sector organisation.

Experience of navigating often complex political landscapes, recognising issues even when they may be under the surface, exposing and resolving tensions, and sharing best practice and learning.