The Opportunity

We have an exciting opportunity to expand the IPS Grow team, aimed at helping health systems deliver high quality evidence-based employment practice. We are a well-established service, led by Social Finance and are funded by NHS England and DWP to support the expansion of IPS services across mental health, drug and alcohol and primary care teams.

We are looking to appoint a Regional IPS Grow manager who is passionate about delivering individual placement and support, an evidence-based employment practice to drive job outcomes for clients accessing health services.

This exciting role will involve recruiting and leading a remote and dispersed technical team working across the South of England, supporting and developing the team to have very real impact by carrying out quality assurance fidelity reviews, onsite technical support, shaping and facilitating learning networks and training.

The location of the role is flexible across England, though the post holder will initially cover the South of England. Willingness to travel is essential.

The Team

IPS Grow is a national programme designed to support the expansion of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) services in mental health and drug & alcohol teams across England. It is funded by NHS England and Improvement (NHSE/I), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID). A core element of the programme is the expert assistance provided by a team of IPS experts, known as IPS Grow Leads, to support providers to improve their fidelity to the IPS model and achieve better employment outcomes for their clients.

A core element of the programme is the expert assistance provided by a team of IPS experts, known as IPS Grow Leads, to support providers to improve their fidelity to the IPS model and achieve better employment outcomes for their clients.

Responsibilities

The key requirements of the role are:

• Line management, coaching, supervision, and field mentoring of a team of IPS Grow leads in a set of regions

• Providing induction and regular professional supervision for IPS Grow Leads

• Providing training, coaching and support, including field mentoring, to enable staff your team to develop high quality on-site technical support and fidelity review skills

• Ensuring consistency and quality of practice across the team

• Reviewing the performance practice of IPS Grow Leads, including leading on appraisals and Personal Development Plans

• Applying the principles of co-production to all aspects of the programme

• Leading the effective mobilisation and delivery of the IPS Grow offer across your area, identifying barriers and shaping, creating and implementing solutions

• Creating a culture of team learning, reflection and continuous improvement, with an emphasis on evidence-based practice and the use of research and data to inform practice

• Scheduling and planning to ensure performance calls, fidelity reviews and technical support is delivered in line with specific key performance indicators

• Supporting staff wellbeing and implementation of HR policies as required.

• Regional stakeholder engagement and delivery of targeted interventions to support IPS services to deliver better outcomes

• Engaging and building meaningful relationships with strategic regional stakeholders, such as NHS England and Improvement regional leads, senior NHS Leaders, Office for Health Improvement and Disparity regional leads, and NHS and other commissioners; acting as a champion for IPS in the relevant regions

• Supporting IPS Grow Leads to develop strategic plans for each region

• Delivering fidelity reviews, i.e., as a co-reviewer, and providing technical support as required

• Identifying common challenges and strategic issues relevant for others in IPS Grow; working across the entire IPS Grow team to develop strategies to address these

• Capturing learning and sharing this across IPS Grow and Social Finance

• Coordinating wider IPS Grow support, for example around workforce or data and reporting, to tackle challenges faced by local services

• Making best use of resources from within the team and from across the IPS community to support services to deliver better outcomes for clients.

Regional stakeholder engagement and delivery of targeted interventions to support IPS services to deliver better outcomes

• Engaging and building meaningful relationships with strategic regional stakeholders, such as NHS England and Improvement regional leads, senior NHS Leaders, Office for Health Improvement and Disparity regional leads, and NHS and other commissioners; acting as a champion for IPS in the relevant regions

• Supporting IPS Grow Leads to develop strategic plans for each region

• Delivering fidelity reviews, i.e., as a co-reviewer, and providing technical support as required

• Identifying common challenges and strategic issues relevant for others in IPS Grow; working across the entire IPS Grow team to develop strategies to address these

• Capturing learning and sharing this across IPS Grow and Social Finance

• Coordinating wider IPS Grow support, for example around workforce or data and reporting, to tackle challenges faced by local services

• Making best use of resources from within the team and from across the IPS community to support services to deliver better outcomes for clients.Working across the IPS Grow programme

• Engaging closely with colleagues in other parts of the team to ensure consistency of practice, help solve common challenges, and support a ‘one team’ culture  - thinking locally and acting nationally

• Leading on agreed strategic initiatives/workstreams to support the development of the programme

• Working with the recruitment and marketing lead to refine and develop our workforce offer

• Working with the Data Manager to support improved data collection and reporting

• Contributing towards regional and national reports for funders/stakeholders

• Continuously refining practice and skill by engaging with IPS experts and other stakeholders in the UK and internationally to bring the best and most up-to-date understanding of “what works” to programme delivery

• Be an ambassador for Social Finance and for the IPS model

• To reflect on own practice, including identifying own learning and development needs both as a leader and PS practitioner

About You

You will need to show competency, potential or interest in the following areas. You are not expected to arrive with a full skillset, as you will be supported to develop in the role.

• Shared values: We are looking for people with a passionate belief that anyone can work with the right support, and a commitment to our values/

• Refining and implementing strategy: Commitment to working collaboratively and constructively as part of a team to shape our strategy and roadmap for project delivery in our region.

• Strong analysis skills and problem solving skills: You will need to be comfortable with changing approaches as you and your team develop a better understanding of the problem and what might solve it.

• Understanding of the IPS agenda and commitment to driving evidence based practice and quality improvements: You will be committed and have a tenacious drive to deliver effective evidenced-based practice both internally within the IPS Leads team and across external IPS services.

• Managerial and leadership experience and leading by example: You will have substantial experience managing teams and projects to successful delivery. This will include delivery of performance expectations, leading by example and supporting the team to translate research into effective on the ground practice.

• Building a learning culture: You will have a strong commitment to learning and developing your own practice and that of the team.

• Project management: You will have experience of delivering against project plans, timelines and deliverables that are results focused.  This will include planning and delivering complex projects.

• Data and IT skills: You will have strong IT skills and use data to inform the work of the team.

• Teamwork: You will be committed to working as part of a leadership team and building a ‘one team’ culture with a strong focus on cross team collaboration.

• Ability to deliver tangible results in an IPS service environment: You should have experience working in an IPS service in a leadership capacity. You will have demonstrated an ability to drive tangible improvements in outcomes for clients. You should have a deep understanding of the IPS model and how it applies in practice. You should be familiar with the IPS evidence base and be able to talk convincingly about the benefits of IPS to different types of stakeholder.

• Managing in an agile way: You will often have to manage in an agile way, given you will be working within a complex and changing system with multiple stakeholders.

• Relationship building and senior stakeholder influencing IPS Grow does not directly manage services so your success will depend on the strength of your relationships with a range of external stakeholders at all levels: You will have a track record building outstanding relationships with different individuals and organisations, including clinical staff, local commissioners, and strategic partners from the third sector, resulting in social impact and/or operational success. You will demonstrate an ability to influence and negotiate with all parties to deliver impact.

• Negotiation skills: You will also have highly advanced negotiation and influencing skills and a willingness to tackle difficult conversations where needed to achieve the right results for services and clients.

• Independent working and ability to provide supervision and support across a remote team: You will be able to demonstrate an ability to deliver results working with limited supervision, ideally in a remote working / virtual team environment.  You will have strong communication skills both written and verbal.

• Workload management: Both for yourself and others, allocating and delegating tasks as necessary, able to deal with multiple and competing priorities using analytical skills to prioritise and meet deadlines

• Ability to respond to emerging complexities within a rapidly changing landscape in a timely and informed manner

 How to Apply

Social Finance are using Applied, an application platform developed by the Behavioural Insights Team, to record your application. Applied is focused on using behavioural and data science to improve hiring decisions and minimise unconscious bias in the recruitment process. You will be asked to respond to situational based questions which will allow you to express your ability.

Your answer to each question will be viewed in isolation. Please therefore ensure there is enough detail in that single response, without any references to your other responses. NB: Whilst we are asking for your CV, please note that we will not be viewing your CV during the initial sift process. The selection panel will not have access to your CV, so it is therefore essential that you respond to each question fully.

Should you require any reasonable adjustments to allow you to attend an interview, please highlight this when you are invited.

Closing date for applications: Wednesday 24th of April at 17:30

We will aim for interviews to take place w/c 29th April.

If you have any queries regarding the role, please contact support@ipsgrow.or.uk