About the Borough This special place in South West London between the capital and the country has been a Royal borough longer than anywhere else - it is where the first kings of England were crowned. Today it is a vibrant and diverse borough, with a long history and strong cultural and community heritage. Kingston's riverside location, fantastic retail offer, historic market place and church, parks and gardens all make Kingston town centre the vibrant space it is, and each of our district town centres (Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington) have something unique to offer. Situated in Zone 6, Kingston is among the best-connected town centres in London – with direct train links from Kingston and Surbiton stations to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and Tramlink. Kingston’s people are innovative and entrepreneurial, and have a strong sense of community pride. The borough has been home to great industry and creativity for many years, reflected in assets such as the Rose Theatre, the International Youth Arts Festival and Kingston University, which boasts more new graduate business start-ups than any other. We have seen tremendous generosity and compassion within our communities, particularly in response to COVID-19, which is a demonstration of Kingston’s key strength. The council offers a strong level of support to vulnerable groups and those who need additional support, which has also increased significantly as a result of the pandemic. Like most places, the average age of our population is rising as more people are living longer, so we are working closely with residents to help them maintain their independence and further improve the cost effectiveness of our service to meet the ongoing rise in demand. Kingston is home to people from diverse and interesting cultures and backgrounds, which helps to create the rich sense of community shared across the borough. In particular, Kingston has a large Sri Lankan Tamil community and is home to more people from Korea than any other part of the UK. About the Role The post holder will support the delivery of Community Housing’s Temporary Accommodation Improvement programme taking a lead role in ensuring that staff are equipped with the skills and technical knowledge to be successful in their roles. A key focus will be to design and implement a workforce development plan, which will enable the service to build their own talent pool from entry level and provide a structured career path with professional competencies within Kingston’s Housing Service. About Us Supporting the Corporate Head of Community Housing to design, manage and deliver workforce development initiatives to support employees to deliver Community Housing objectives and desired behaviours. Supporting the implementation of the Council’s People Strategy for Community Housing that supports the delivery of the Council's Vision, Values and objectives. The post holder will lead on the development of a tailored Workforce Development strategy for Community Housing, its implementation, and integration to support the current and future business needs. Work collaboratively with stakeholders at all levels to help determine the best approach to meeting workforce development requirements and help to shape and influence the development of plans and activities that enable the delivery of the desired change. Develop a ‘grow our own’ strategy, redesign roles to attract entry level officers, get feedback from candidates who decline offers, benchmark salaries. Routinely conduct exit interviews and feed back intelligence. Produce periodic analysis of sickness absence and ensure staff have ongoing access to health and wellbeing support. Influence and develop a range of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion interventions. Lead on the delivery of Wellbeing initiatives. Oversee and continuously review the range of career development and ‘grow our own’ activities, ensuring necessary marketing, promotion, recruitment and assessment, guidance to managers and support for deployment as required by the schemes and being the key point of contact for partner organisations on the evolution of these schemes. Fast track development programmes for high potential employees Graduate recruitment and development activities (including the National Graduate Development Programme for the LGA). Recruitment and development of apprenticeships. Early careers initiatives. About You Detailed understanding of Organisational Development and successful track record in the delivery of organisational change and learning and development projects, initiatives and interventions. Experience of working with teams with complex business issues to diagnose and analyse development needs to identify appropriate solutions and design innovative and creative interventions to support them to improve performance. A good knowledge of talent and succession planning, with an experience and understanding of the initiatives to ‘grow our own talent’ (i.e.. Apprenticeships; Work Experience; Professional Schemes e.g.Graduate programmes). Strong negotiation and influencing skills with the ability to engage, work collaboratively and build trust with colleagues, management, elected members, trade unions, employee groups; external stakeholders/partners and providers. Able to analyse problems and interpret data and other information to inform decisions on OD related issues.