Practice Improvement Manager

Role Responsibility

The Practice Improvement Manager takes a leadership role in developing and delivering the primary quality assurance mechanism deployed across CYPE; The Children’s Outcome Analysis (COA) and is also responsible for specific projects as well as managing a team of practitioners. The role will be responsible for delivering multiple projects to time, whilst meeting the quality criteria. The role supports the development, delivery and implementation of high-quality integrated social care practice, including service standards, professional codes of practice and procedures relevant to all of Children’s Services and the wider children’s multi-disciplinary partnership.

The successful candidate will need to possess excellent organisational and planning skills, be able to design audits, chair complex meetings and possess good analytical and management skills.

This role is highly specialised in its nature, as the post holder needs to be able to manage reporting responsibilities of ‘horizon scanning’ and designing complex systems in developing quality assurance mechanisms and analytical systems to further develop practice.

The role requires the candidate to be able to contribute as part of the management team to the creation of one organisational ethos and practice framework, working effectively in partnership with others, including the Divisional Management Team and Strategic Development Managers, to develop effective corporate solutions to the challenges Kent County Council faces as it gives leadership to the communities it serves.

About you:

The successful candidate will have flexible and “can do” approach to perform effectively in a fast changing environment. You will be able to demonstrate behaviours that contribute to an agile and collaborative operating model (effective communication is a must). You must demonstrate proven experience of working in highly analytical environments.

Other key attributes include;

• Management of quality assurance in a complex data rich multifunctional public services context
• Communication and influencing skills to build productive relationships at all levels of the business
• Knowledge and skills in gaining experiential feedback about the quality of services from those that use services
• Knowledge of one or more of the following disciplines would be advantageous : Children Services

Behaviours

• Can demonstrate a positive example in relation to the Leadership Model
• Good communicator with strong influencing and persuasion skills
• Quick learner, open minded and receptive to change
• Highly organised with the capacity to build and maintain systems
• Ability to facilitate when working with teams
• Willingness to challenge the status quo and improve
• Awareness of quality assurance and analytical mechanisms
• Self-motivated
• Ready and willing to respond to a change in direction to keep things moving forward
• Team player with good self-awareness
• Strong disciplined approach to work
• An ability to interface well at all levels within the business, with operational teams, senior managers and critical internal partners particularly information management and analytics
• Ability to plan and organise workload to achieve deadlines in line with budgets
• Excellent decision and problem solving skills
• Ability to understand the wider service needs and consider appropriate strategies to drive towards business goals from a County approach
• Ability to develop and maintain in depth and broad knowledge of technical systems and services (both current and future)

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure application to the Disclosure and Barring service and registration as a qualified Social Worker with Social Work England.

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification

Interviews will take place face-to-face on Friday the 15th of March 2024.