Organisational Development Lead - Leadership Development

Salary: £45,585 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 10 March 2024

The Role

We are about to embark on an ambitious research project, bringing together a multidisciplinary academic and professional services team to work in partnership with our research community with the aim of improving, recognising, and rewarding leadership practices that build psychologically safe and inclusive research cultures. 
 
Our work programme co-creates two targeted organisational interventions with our research community to effect changes in our leadership practice; a contextualised Leadership Development programme; and, aligned Reward and Recognition processes, including the exploration of a ‘values-led’ recognition system to facilitate changes in leadership practices.     

This is where you come in… 

We are seeking an enthusiastic and experienced OD Lead to support the 30-month fixed term project.  This is a unique role giving you the opportunity to help develop and pilot:

•    contextualized, sustainable and scalable Leadership Development interventions that build leadership practices and behaviours promoting psychological safety
•    adoption of a Participatory Research (PAR) approach to ensure our work is co-produced with our research community and responsive to the complex needs of our own context
•    creation of physical and digital learning tools, facilitator guides and team-based resources to support the long-term development of psychologically safe and inclusive research cultures

As well as the delivery of Leadership Development interventions, your role will provide the co-ordination and communication for the project within the OD team. You will ensure that there is join up between OD initiatives and projects that focus on behaviour and the development of psychological safe environments. 

We would particularly welcome applications from candidates who have the personal credibility and confidence to work with leaders at all levels, both individually and in group settings. An experienced facilitator, with an ability to deliver engaging and thought provoking learning experiences. A passion for building inclusive and psychologically safe workplace environments is key requirement for this role.

We would also be happy to hear from candidates who aspire to and who have solid skills and experiences to come into this role at a Senior OD Adviser level.   The salary range for the Senior OD Adviser role is £33,966 to £44,263.  please click here to view the job description.

To have a chat about this opportunity, please contact Liz Kemp at liz.kemp@newcastle.ac.uk or Jo James at joanne.james2@newcastle.ac.uk.

To apply, please upload your CV and letter of application outlining how you can evidence the knowledge, skills and experience outlined in the person specification of the job description.  You should also indicate in your letter of application, which level you wish to apply for.

Key Accountabilities 

You will work closely with the core project team members and broader PAR group members to support the project design, delivery and evaluation across a prioritised set of activities that will be identified through the PAR approach.  You will engage with a range of stakeholders across the University at all levels to help deliver a step change in how we understand and reward leadership and how we support the development of psychologically safe environments. 

•    Work collaboratively with colleagues within the project delivery team, PAR group and across the University to ensure we have a clear understanding of the learning and support needs relating to leadership and building psychological safe environments
•    Lead on the analysis of the learning and development provision currently available to support this agenda, identifying duplication and gaps in provision. Actively working with stakeholders to streamline provision going forward into clear OD offers
•    Commission, co-create, deliver and evaluate agreed programmes, activities and interventions, including online provision •    Provide strategic oversight and project governance on all of the OD commitments within the operational plan that translates the agreed high-level priorities and actions into a deliverable, resourced, timebound and measurable plan
•    Lead on the process to ensure that the project provision can be delivered in a sustainable way beyond the project funding, translating it into a clear OD offer
•    Identify and analyse appropriate data to understand the impact and value of learning and development activities
•    Contribute to and support an overall communication plan for the project
•    Work in partnership with other members of the OD team to develop an appropriate question strategy as part of the university colleague surveys to inform the project and its outcomes. Ensure this is embedded beyond the life of the project
•    Ensure there is join up between the ongoing colleague survey action planning and prioritisation and the work of the project, to avoid duplication and increase the effective use of resources
•    Investigate where data and insights that relates to colleague behaviour is currently held and reported, working with relevant areas of the University to identify any improvements to enhance transparency and increase the understanding of impact in relation to support and interventions
•    Provide line management and support to members of the project who sit within OD and for other projects that are closely aligned to the subject matter
•    To work as part of the wider project team and to undertake other duties within the scope and general nature of the grade which may be required

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

•    Extensive knowledge of leadership, Leadership Development and organisational culture theory and frameworks and application of these theories and frameworks in practice
•    Experience of a wide range of practices to support culture change processes such as coaching, facilitating team development, reflective practice, facilitating diversity, inclusion and belonging

•    Experience of development and delivery of leadership interventions

•    Track record of delivering projects in complex organisations, with a proven ability to deliver on cost, quality and time requirements

•    Experience in influencing culture change and working on projects that have had an impact on the culture and values of organisations
•    Skilled in facilitating group process, group dialogues and adult learning approaches
•    Evidence of and passion for engendering an inclusive working environment

•    Proven track record on innovation; you keep yourself up to date and can demonstrate continued professional development
•    Strong data analysis skills, proven ability to use metrics and data to support critical thinking and improvement of processes or services
•    Experience of the HE sector, research environments and HE career paths would be desirable

Attributes and Behaviours

•    Credibility and presence when working with groups
•    Works collaboratively and in partnership with others
•    Promotes and actively drives change 

•    Excellent communicator, both verbal and written
•    Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail
•    Ability to persuade, convince and influence others in order to achieve results
•    Active advocate and role model for equality, diversity and inclusion
•    Displays enthusiasm, integrity and personal resilience

Qualifications

•    Educated to degree level or equivalent experience of Leadership Development 
•    Chartered member of CIPD or equivalent experience

Desirable

•    Qualifications in one of the following areas – Leadership Development, Training, Human Resources, Organisational Development, Coaching, Occupational Psychology, Project Management or Change Management 

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 26508

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