South Kesteven Role DescriptionRole title: Head of Customer Experience

Salary: £42,534 - £54,468 Contract: Permanent

Hours: Working hours will be 37 hours per week.

Week by week arrangements will be in accordance with business requirements and by agreement, subject to your right not to work more than 48 hours per week unless by agreement.

Location: Council Offices, St Peters Hill, Grantham Political restriction: This role is politically

restricted

1 Overall purpose

To manage the ongoing and successful operation of the Revenues, Benefits and Customer Services Team, whilst at the same time:

Developing a new strategy for customer engagement and experience. This will focus on assessing demands patterns, channel shift, the use of new technologies, innovative new ideas for better customer understanding and working across the corporate centre to link everything we do with our service users. In particular, you will work closely with the ‘Lightbox’ team on new design concepts for managing customer demand in a more efficient and pro-active manner.

Customers should quickly expect to have a 24/7 access to information based on self-help channels - and their experience should be positive.

This role is not about ‘business as usual’; rather it is about designing a new and more integrated function, which will set the benchmark for other councils to follow.

2 Responsibilities and outcomesYou will:

Be responsible for the overall direction and maintenance of the Customer Service, and Revenues and Benefits Teams

Ensure that:- the Council Tax database is maintained and that efficient collection processes in are place- benefit processing is timely and accurate- fraud prevention practices are working effectively- business rates are collected efficiently- rents and sundry debts are collected in a timely manner and in accordance with Council performance

targets Be responsible for leading the teams, and facilitating ‘channel shift’ in the provision of the Council’s

Customer Service arrangements Lead on the Council’s Customer Feedback process in order to learn lessons and implement improvements

to policy and practice

Ensure the Council has an efficient and effective revenues and benefits payments system that operates

within all statutory guidelines Ensure the delivery of a modern, effective customer services function that delivers against the customer

access strategy, and is in line with the Council’s Corporate Strategy Ensure that Revenues and Benefits Teams work together to operate a ‘one team’ approach to enhance

service delivery, productivity and customer satisfaction Develop all Customer Services, Revenues and Benefits staff to enable them to reach their full potential,

and thus building a powerful team with effective working relationships across the Council.

3 Values and Behaviours

To be successful in the role, you must demonstrate the values and behaviours adopted by the organisation to help us achieve our goals set out in the Corporate Strategy. All South Kesteven District Council (SKDC) employees will be regularly appraised and held accountable to displaying and demonstrating the council’s values and behaviours.

Accountability – In order to succeed we will need a culture of accountability throughout SKDC. Everyone at every level will need to be responsible for what they do; willingly taking ownership for their actions and decisions and being a reliable, dependable member of the team, often going beyond the normal terms of employment. We cannot work flexibly without accountability.

Flexibility – We can’t be set in our ways if we are going to succeed, so flexibility matters. It might be flexibility in terms of the hours you do, the way you work or where you work. We can’t afford to do things the same way just because “that’s the way it’s always been done”. Our performance will be measured in outcomes and those outcomes will contribute to achieving our strategy.

Agility – Related to flexibility is agility. SKDC’s needs are going to change over time and we need people who can respond to those changes, who can move freely between teams and who want to stretch themselves by being trained to be better at more things.

Equity – Every member of the SKDC team matters, irrespective of their rank or position. This hasn’t always been the case in the past, but it will be in the future. All of us should expect to be treated with respect and dignity, and doors should be open. We will all be held to account for this.

Networking – We learn from each other and from external partners, so we need to be better at networking. Our networks hold the key to raising our profile, improving our performance, discovering better ideas and developing ourselves.

Learning – We are constantly learning from everything we do, regardless of success or failure. When we do something well, that knowledge can help us repeat and refine what we do in the future. We clearly won’t seek failure, but neither will we be frightened of it. And if we fail, we will learn from it and not seek to just apportion blame (see ‘accountability’ above).

Talent – Having a diverse and talented team is fundamental to our success. However, a person’s real talent isn’t always obvious; sometimes it’s overlooked, other times it may be hidden or ignored. Sometimes it’s a talent the person didn’t realise they had. Harnessing talent will be everyone’s job, not just HR or senior managers.

4 Corporate Responsibilities

As a Head of Customer Experience at South Kesteven District Council, you will be expected to be a positive member of the management team, to lead by example and to behave in accordance with the SKDC ‘Behavioural Framework’. You will also be expected to conduct your duties within the professional and legal standards.More specifically, you will be expected to:

Work collaboratively across all service clusters with other managers and senior managers in order to deliver business objectives

Develop and maintain effective working relationships with all areas of the Council and where required, external organisations

Ensure direct reports understand their accountability, responsibilities and the need for cross-functional working across the Council

Effectively lead and manage staff - setting, monitoring and evaluating objectives on a yearly basis Be accountable for all your allocated budgets Ensure that Health & Safety legislation and the Council’s Health & Safety requirements are complied with and

monitored within your area of responsibility Be aware of and comply with the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy, safeguarding arrangements and other

corporate strategies and policies Realise and accept that assigned resources may be released to contribute to corporate projects to deliver

priority outcomes As and when required, manage one or more corporate projects to deliver defined operational or priority

outcomes Ensure commercially advantageous business plans are in place for all your business areas Understand the commercial priorities of the Council in order to optimise use of resources Manage your business area such as to ensure resources are aligned to organisational outcomes and key

business objectives Identify and introduce best practice ways of working to drive performance up to agreed standards in a cost

effective way Provide or make available professional/technical support to the team and the Council.

5 FlexibilitySome flexibility in your working hours will be required from time to time. Your role description is not intended to be exhaustive. You will be expected to adopt a flexible attitude to your duties, which may have to be varied (after discussion with you), subject to the changing needs of the organisation.

6 Authority to work in the UKYou must have the legal authority to work in the UK. Non-EU nationals must have the relevant approval to work in the UK from the UK Border Agency.

Key Criteria Role Requirements Essential or desirable

PART 1 – Experience Proven understanding of how to achieve a step change in delivery of a

service by leading a ‘channel shift’ in customer services and organisational services more widely

Proven ability to manage change, including supporting teams in a positive, influential and resilient way

Experience of successfully implementing change and efficiency programmes in customer-facing services

Experience of successfully leading, managing and motivating a customer services function through a period of cultural change – shifting from a traditional approach to some thing much more innovative and interesting

E

E

E

E

D

PART 1 – Qualifications

Educated to degree level or equivalent work related experience Current driving licence or ability to make suitable alternative

arrangements Relevant Management Qualification Commitment to continuing (professional) development

EE

DD

PART 2 – Knowledge/ Skills

A demonstrable passion for Customer Services and driving service improvements along with transforming and growing a service

Knowledge/appreciation of relevant Revenues and Benefits service primary and secondary legislation, best practice & guidance notes, rules, regulations would be advantageous although not strictly essential, given we have experience/skills/knowledge internally that could be harnessed for any necessary mentoring and coaching

A demonstrable ability to manage the Revenues, Benefits & Customer teams so as to deliver improvements that contribute to Council priority outcomes and that reach required performance levels

E

D

D

PART 3 – Aptitudes

A customer focussed approach with a drive for continuous improvement Committed to on-going and continuous personal self-development A leader who can inspire by being energetic, determined, positive,

decisive and resilient An enthusiastic and effective ambassador for the Council, who will

enhance its reputation An excellent role model, who will promote the highest standards and

live the Council’s values and behaviours Willing to embrace and tackle difficult issues, including under

performance Resilient, tenacious and able to handle pressure positively Well able to work collaboratively, whilst seeking the highest standards

for your own area of responsibility Able to both constructively challenge and receive feedback to improve

motivation, delivery and performance A thorough appetite for change and understanding of how to manage it

positively A flexible and agile approach to the work place, resourcing and

managing staff

EEE

E

E

EE

E

E

E

E

PART FOUR – Issues around ‘fit’

We posed a range of questions to Aidan Rave, Chief Executive, on your behalf:

Chemistry and ‘fit’

“Aidan – tell us about your style and what is important to you”?

Whilst I can cope with some ego and know that it can be a driver to deliver, I am not wild on people with ‘huge’ egos, and wanting to be the centre of attention all the time

With the above, comes an utter dislike of duplicitous behaviour Considers candour amongst colleagues to be critical Likes people who focus on how it is, rather than how they wish it could be Likes people who focus on creating an environment where we can get things done – that is

the level of expectation that he expects to see at this level And I like a bit of humour

“Culture and fit – beyond the person spec above, what will be necessary to survive and thrive here”?

Important that you read our ‘Values and Behaviours’, which we have invested much time to develop o I am avid about this, and determined that:

we will live these values and behaviours the organisation has to demonstrate them and our leaders have to be leading them

o Our new performance management framework will hold all staff accountable to these values and behaviours; and that needs to be demonstrable and manifest the further up the organisation tree one is

o If you read them and if there are any that you are not prepared to buy into, then in all honesty, no matter how commercial and fabulous you might be, this role will likely not fly

For this role especially, your influencing skills are going to be vital; whether introvert or extrovert, it is your capacity to harness the right blend of charisma, authenticity, credibility and knowledge to be able to shape a new definition of customer experience that will determine success in the role

“From your perspective, what will be this person’s immediate priorities on taking up this role”?

- Start shaping the service in line with the ambition of our corporate strategy- In the first instance, it is a change job; find where the superstars and solid operators are- You are going to need to come up with a strategy for changing services whilst running the service; it

is a bit like building an extension and replacing all the signalling, whilst keeping the Tube running- You will need to plug into ‘Lightbox’ quite a lot, and understand the design work that is going on in

Lightbox; that means sticking close to the team and the agreement with EY- You will need to work closely with our technical partners, to understand what the options are for

technical solutions- You will need to convince some officers and politicians re the merits of working in new ways; you’ll

need to prove your concepts- Your focus is going to be on making each customer the organisation’s responsibility rather than that

of ‘customer services’ alone

“What is the Leader like to work with”?

Quite hands-on and involved compared with many political leaders Likes people who are straight-forward and don’t play games, or play one person off against another Very receptive and keen to hear about new ways of doing things and reasonable/transferable

lessons we can learn from the commercial world – or elsewhere

Likes people who stay well networked and connected Less keen on mavericks – likes folk who realise that they need to keep the politicians on board

“What might this person be doing right now/where might they be”?

OK, so:

You don’t have to be a ‘revenue and benefits’ expert or a ‘customer services’ expert as such – buto You do need to know the pitfallso You do need to show you have undertaken and achieved considerable and demonstrable

change in the delivery of customer services, whilst taking people with youo You do need to have shown that you have effectively used influence and charm to change

behaviours and services that you did not directly have control over You are ‘likely’ (though not necessarily) to be more of a shooting star re a career which is still on the

way up You might be someone who meets most/all the criteria above but whose career has sort of ‘stalled’

because you have hit an organisational fog, or your organisation has lost heart in pursuing its change programme

You are ‘probably’ in an operational role You are almost certainly working in an environment where genuine importance is attached to

customers You could be working in a ‘John Lewis’ type environment, seeking a balance between quality and

efficiency You could be in any sector – because the truth is that no sector is brilliant at what we are describing

above You could be working in a purely commercial environment

o If so, you are likely to be a person who is keen to be challenged and minded to take a managed risk with your career by moving into another sector

o Or you could be a person who is ready to commit a period of your life to showing that such a leap can be achieved

The bottom line is that if you have the necessary attributes, then you should be assured that our political leaders will hold their nerve about making what some might call a ‘brave’ appointment – because they have done so already re other appointments here in the last 12 months

“If this person has all the ‘hard experience’ noted above, then they will likely have many options for their career. In that case, why would they want to come here to South Kesteven and to this role”?

Any, or a combination of the following:

You You are looking to work in an organisation, who’s scale of ambition matches your own; and that

likely means that we are talking about your wanting to be a key influencer, at a ‘whole organisation’ level

You are looking for both a big job and a big opportunity You want a corporate canvass to work on You want an opportunity to develop your career - fast You absolutely believe that customer service and customer experience can be something far more

than where you are right now You have a nagging feeling that if only ‘you ruled the world’, you could fix it You might well be feeling deeply frustrated in your current role, and on the verge of packing it all in

to do something entirely different

The Organisation South Kesteven, as an authority, is very forward thinking It is almost the case that the possibilities are limitless; and we are building a managerial and political

culture to match As an organisation, we are determined to be (and beginning to believe we can be) the best Council

in the country within 3 years; we have a fairly considered view of what ‘best’ means, which is more about everywhere we look and in all that we do – we are doing as well as we can, and still striving for better

And nobody is expecting this of us; we are flying under the radar so far, but are about to go national with a key relationship/partnership with EY to facilitate the introduction of robotic processes and operations; our partners are multinational, and all will be wondering ‘who exactly is SKDC’

We have a charismatic political Leader, and our CX (who has been here just over twelve months) is not too shabby either

We are not in trouble financially As a local authority and organisation, we’re not failing and we’re not in trouble; rather, without in any

way being complacent, by comparison with many we’re in a good place – but we want to do so much more

Local government and the public sector is facing very challenging times, but we always look for opportunities to work within that environment/context to innovate and succeed

We offer lots of potential to make a real difference for our communitieso We are ambitiouso We are financially stable, have the resources to invest – and are doing soo This is a great opportunity to deliver something ‘on the ground’

We have elected members who really are ready to listen and engage We have a new and extremely ambitious ‘Political Leadership Team’ that is hungry to deliver on our

strategic goals and ambitions Being financially sound allows us the space for innovation and personal development – and we are

committed to that We try and flip challenges into opportunities, rather than being reasons not to do things We have a strong strategic vision that is approved and supported by the full Council, and this is an

opportunity to be part of implementing that vision With that background context of stability plus ambition, you’ll gain a tremendous amount of

experience in a short time as we pursue our growth agenda, a renewed focus on customers and change management

It will be challenging in lots of ways; it will be different; we are ready and set up for challengeo We are looking to change our management thought processes and how we worko Changing that traditional local government ethos to become more commercial in our

mindset; the latter is a bit of a veneer at the moment; but you are going to help make us think differently

The Role You will be joining an organisation where the senior corporate management team are all comprised

of future CX’s, so you will find yourself stretched, stimulated and satisfied by those to whom you report as well as the peers you are working with

Professionally and intellectually, there is a combination of some key challenges within the services plus stretching ambitions from elected members that should engage you sufficiently to have the opportunity to make an enormous difference to the District, and leave a lasting legacy

We have a huge appetite to work in partnership with both the private sector and other parts of the public sector; you will learn a huge amount here, and build substantial and lifelong networks

We will challenge you constructively, support you, and ensure that you have opportunities to grow within the role

The role offers you a chance to get your teeth into ‘investing’ into making customer services and customer experience an exemplar across public services and beyond – helping to provide the best services, right across all of our communities

If you aspire to be a director/chief executive one day, then the potential deliverables and skills to be learned/deployed here will seriously aid you on that journey, and we won’t put any blocks in your pursuing that path

The Place It’s a great area in which to live and work There is a great quality of life Education/schools are top notch House prices are low relative to many areas in England

The Rewards The non-financial rewards have been outlined above Remuneration as outlined below is competitive We offer a good package to assist in re-location Generous terms and conditions; we still have private healthcare, essential car allowance, and a

good pension

Health & Wellbeing as an employer We take the health and wellbeing of our employees very seriously

TERMS AND CONDITIONS 

Summary information about the key pay and terms and conditions and associated matters

Salary

Specific range is £42,534 - £54,468, depending upon experience

Holidays

Annual holiday entitlement is 25 days per annum (plus bank holidays) goes up to 30 after 5 years

Pension

You will have the opportunity to join the Council’s Occupational Pension Scheme (the Local Government Superannuation Scheme)

Relocation assistance

Up to £7,000 relocation assistance is available, depending on circumstances

Other

Sick pay 1st year 1 month full and 1 month half pay; goes up year on year to 6 months full and 6 months half

Pool cars/car loan scheme/parking Maternity/paternity/parental scheme Employee assistance scheme/cycle to work/discounted gym and various other benefits

Flexibility

37 hours per week/flexible working applies/working from home. Some flexibility in the working hours will be required from time to time. The role description is not intended to be exhaustive. You will be expected to adopt a flexible attitude to duties, which may have to be varied (after discussion with yourself) subject to the changing needs of the organisation

Political restriction

The role is politically restricted

Authority to work in the UK

You must have the legal authority to work in the UK. Non-EU nationals must have the relevant approval to work in the UK from the UK Border Agency. Copies of all documents provided by you as proof of identity are retained for our records, by providing these proofs the Council will treat this as your consent for this to happen

HOW TO APPLY

This guidance contains important information to help with your application.

General Conditions

We recognise and welcome our responsibility to remove any barriers in our Recruitment and Selection process for disabled people. We have tried to do this, but if you have a disability and identify any barriers in the job description please tell us of these in your application. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to the job wherever possible and it would help us to know your needs in order to do this.

To apply for this role, we would like you to provide the following:

A motivation statement (ideally no more than 2 sides of A4), which explains why you are applying for this role and the contribution, style, skills and experience you will bring to it.

A supporting statement, providing evidence/examples of how you match the key requirements of the role as outlined in Part One section of the ‘role profile’.

A comprehensive, up to date and current CV ensuring all gaps in employment and education history are fully explained.

Contact details of three referees so that we are able to take up your references if you are shortlisted for initial officer panel interview (referees will not be contacted without your permission).

A completed Equal Opportunities monitoring form (see below). We are keen to ensure that our jobs are accessible to all members of the community and use this data to monitor our progress in doing this.

The equal opportunities and monitoring form can be found at the end of this pack. This is a word document that you need to complete and return to us.

Please ensure you return the above documents by the end of the closing date (see below), to SK1064@davidsonpartners.com

Following long listing, you will be contacted directly with an update on the status of your application. In line with the timetable below:

o Those candidates who are longlisted will be invited to an initial screening interview with our advisors, Davidson & Partners

o A shortlist will then be selected for final Officer/Member interview (possibly plus additional assessment); in advance of this interview, you will also have the chance to have an informal telephone conversation/meeting with Aidan Rave and other colleagues, to whom the role will report

Please ensure that you let us know in your covering letter if there are any specific dates that present you with a problem.

INDICATIVE TIMETABLE

Closing date 19th August 2018

Longlisting TBC

Preliminary Interviews TBC

Shortlisting TBC

Informal meetings/conversations TBC

Final Member Panel TBC

If you have any specific queries about the role, or wish to have an informal and confidential discussion, then please call or email our advisors at Davidson & Partners:

Hamish Davidson: hamish.davidson@davidsonpartners.comM: 07932 698 807

Jack Williams: jack.williams@davidsonpartners.comM: 07885 670 504

DIVERSITY MONITORING FORM

Role: Strategic Director (Commercial & Operations)South Kesteven District Council

Reference Number: SK1063

Where/how did you first learn about the role?

We are committed to employing a workforce that reflects the community we serve. Please help us to monitor our progress by completing the details below. Your information will be treated confidentially.

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