Team Manager in London

The Team Manager will provide overall operational management for a multi-disciplinary team of social workers, occupational and physio therapists, case managers and support workers. The team is extremely fast paced and sits at the heart of the Council's corporate customer centre to deliver positive outcomes for residents with adult social care needs.

The post holder will lead and develop the team to ensure it fulfils a critical role in enabling adult social care to deliver its vision to maximise independence, manage demand and balance the budget for the department. Combining significant experience as an advanced social worker and of delivering in a fast paced, resident facing service, they will provide the leadership and management skills to enable the team to perform to an exceptional standard, supporting people with ASC needs to access timely support when being discharged from hospital.

Demonstrating a deep understanding of and commitment to strength-based practice, they will have significant experience and/or knowledge of working within Hospital Pathways and supporting residents home to lead healthy, independent lives outside of formal adult social care wherever possible. The post holder will always demonstrate a solution focused approach, supporting team members to have quality conversations at the point of contact. The team works with residents to identify and resolve issues in a holistic way that minimises hand offs and delay and makes excellent use of our prevention offer including reablement, social prescribing and assistive technology.

With a clear focus on opportunities for prevention and early intervention, the post holder will possess excellent skills in risk assessment, critical analysis, multi-agency working and decision making that ensure the team delivers effective assessment and safeguarding support to some of our most vulnerable residents. The post holder will also be responsible for developing the service in line with emerging integration and joint working opportunities with our acute and community health partners, as well as other stakeholders and partners across the Council, including in Housing and Community Wealth Building.

Ensuring the service operates within robust processes and procedures, the post holder will develop performance and operational insight that will support them to identify emerging themes in contacts coming through the team and use these to inform a strategic approach to service development. The post holder will also lead on the continuous improvement of the service, seeking opportunities to work with residents and partners to reduce demand and co-produce improvements to service delivery.

They will demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the impact a well-functioning resident facing team like this can have for residents as well as the adult social care department as a whole and will present and deliver on a clear and coherent plan for achieving this.

Key responsibilities

• Leadership: To drive positive cultural change, embodying and promoting the values and behaviours of the council and empowering staff to reach their full potential.
• Ensure that the performance and development framework is effective for all staff.
• To lead on and ensure the effective implementation of corporate initiatives and transformation programmes that cut across the councils activities including playing a key role in supporting specific projects as required.
• To represent the service and wider department in senior level internal and external meetings, including deputising for the Assistant Director as required.
• To model a strengths-based approach in the way staff and colleagues are supported and interacted with, so that staff are more able to work with residents and carers in a strengths-based way.
• To actively lead the team to ensure a commitment to prevention, early intervention and reduction of need is understood and embedded throughout its practices.
• To use highly developed negotiation and influencing skills with colleagues, stakeholders and internal and external partners at all levels, demonstrating high levels of emotional intelligence, tact and diplomacy in all communications to ensure productive relationships are developed and maintained that support the achievement of desired outcomes.

Budget Responsibilities

• To hold the delegated establishment budget for the team.

Resources and Financial management

• Ensure effective financial management, cost controls and income maximisation in an ever-changing environment, fluctuating demands and priorities.
• Ensure resources are well managed and effectively deployed to the best possible effects assuring value for money in all activities.
• Ensure that any commissioned packages are cost effective, innovative, using strength-based practice values and focused on recovery, ensuring constructive challenge and support is provided to the team as required in authorisation of support plans and assessments in this regard.

Compliance

• Ensure legal, regulatory and policy compliance under GDPR, Health and Safety and in adult social care identifying opportunities and risks and escalating where appropriate.
• To ensure timely responses to Members Enquiries, Freedom of Information Requests, complaints, legal enquiries and processes e.g. Inquests, police investigations etc. including attending Court to represent LBI where necessary.
• To take lead on the team's input to Departmental quality assurance programmes and undertake audits when directed, sharing results and implementing action plans to improve the service.
• To uphold service criteria, being point of escalation in the team for decisions regarding the closure/transfer of cases and negotiating complex cases.
• At all times to carry out responsibilities/duties within the framework of the Council's Dignity for all Policy (Equal Opportunities Policy).
• Adhere to the standards of conduct, performance and ethics of Social Work England.

Service Development and Delivery

• To lead, direct and develop the functions and operational management of the team, ensuring it achieves its objectives delivering strength-based support to enable residents to lead healthy independent lives.
• To ensure that robust risk assessment processes are in place across the service and are implemented and reviewed regularly.
• To ensure high levels of safeguarding knowledge and awareness within the team. Ensure safeguarding processes are complied with, provide guidance and support to the team and the enquiry officers, manage the enquiry using a Making Safeguarding personal approach.
• To develop and maintain key operational and performance reports for the service working with Performance and Finance teams to support intelligence gathering and an evidence based approach to service improvement and team management.
• To lead on developing and maintaining relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders (e.g. Emergency services, housing, mental health, substance misuse, Children's services, Primary Care, acute and community health services) to manage the interfaces between the team and other elements of the local health and care system.
• To demonstrate the ability to work across the adult social care department, the Resident Experience Access service and other council services, managing priorities and expectations and seeking opportunities to improve service delivery.
• Provide a safe, calm and well-ordered environment for all staff, ensuring that process is well considered, fit for purpose and efficient, enabling the team to make sound and complex decisions in high pressured, fast-paced conditions, striking a balance between speed and depth of thought.
• To be committed to the Councils CARE values and ASC principles and behaviours to demonstrate this commitment in the way duties are carried out.

Team and supervision

• To supervise, performance manage, develop and appraise members of the team, ensuring staff work in accordance with agreed operating procedures including effectively managing absence including sickness in the team.
• Inspire and motivate others to achieve, acknowledging their achievements, using constructive criticism when warranted. Help people to learn from mistakes and provide support to improve performance to achieve objectives and goals.
• To promote and embed a culture of continuous learning and collaborative working with colleagues and other (internal and external) partners within the service via regular review of practice and identifying and arranging opportunities for team training and development, building relationships across services/partnerships in doing so.
• Set ambitious practice standards, creating a culture in which excellent practice is expected and celebrated, and critical incidents/case reviews are handled with fairness and discipline instilling a strong sense of accountability in staff for the impact of their work.
• To ensure the team deliver strengths based quality conversations, signposting and intervention which enable our residents to lead healthy independent lives outside of formal adult social care wherever possible.
• To lead on developing and maintaining communications materials relating to the team and its functions including web pages and service specifications to ensure its offer is clear, accessible and well understood by colleagues and residents.
• Provide professional supervision to Senior Social Workers and Therapists in the team, promoting social work standards as set out in the capabilities framework from Social Work England. Also responsible for ensuring other professions within the team receive appropriate professional supervision as required (e.g. OT).

Person specification

• Qualifications: Diploma or Degree in Social Work. Registered with Social Work England.
• Experience: Senior experience in statutory public sector services working with people who have a range of social care needs and their family/carers.
• Social Work Professional Capability Framework level descriptor Advanced Social Worker.
• Behaviours: Listening to and working with local people. Managing a quality service.
• Experience of delivering services to people with differing and diverse needs in an urban Local Authority/Borough.
• Behaviours: Listening to and working with local people. Managing a quality service.
• Experience of managing change within a resident facing, statutory service.
• Behaviours: Changing and improving. Delivering at pace.
• Experience of developing effective strategic partnerships, internal and external, including working with external providers, NHS, GPs, Emergency Services and the voluntary and community sector.
• Behaviours: Working together. Seeing the bigger picture.
• Significant experience in leading multi-disciplinary teams including supporting qualified and non-qualified staff to develop and excel and supporting the development of strong teamwork and relationships across the team.
• Behaviours: Working together. Developing self and others.
• Skills: Excellent knowledge of health and social care legislation including the Care Act 2014, Mental Capacity Act 2007 and the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
• Behaviours: Managing a quality service. Seeing the bigger picture.
• Knowledge of the effects of ill-health and disability with particular reference to race, gender and culture.
• Behaviours: Seeing the bigger picture. Listening to and working with local people.
• Proven leadership skills including the ability to motivate and inspire staff to deliver positive outcomes for residents.
• Behaviours: Communicating and influencing. Managing a quality service.
• Demonstrate strong analytical skills to create and engage with operational data sets to support the management and development of a service.
• Behaviours: Managing a quality service. Making effective decisions.
• Ability to represent the Council at a senior level including in external meetings.
• Behaviours: Communicating and influencing. Working together. Managing a quality service. Making effective decisions.
• Ability to ensure services are delivered within budget and to effectively monitor and control spend.
• Behaviours: Seeing the bigger picture. Managing a quality service.
• Excellent understanding of safeguarding, including legislative responsibilities and the ability to ensure services and staff meet their responsibilities in this area.
• Behaviours: Making effective decisions. Managing a quality service.
• Ability to demonstrate the core values of collaboration, ambition, resourcefulness and empowerment in leadership style.
• Behaviours: Developing self and others. Communicating and influencing.
• Excellent knowledge and understanding of strengths-based approaches and the ability to develop and lead their implementation within the service.
• Behaviours: Being solution and resolution focused. Listening to and working with local people.
• Ability to work flexibly to meet the needs of the service.
• Behaviours: Being solution and resolution focused. Being flexible.