Level 2 – Professional/Technical Officers, Managers, Supervisors and Team Leaders
One council one team – seeing the bigger picture, collaboration and partnering
Be alert and anticipate economic, social, political, environmental and technological developments to keep activity relevant and targeted.
Develop an understanding of your service area’s priorities and identify implications of council priorities to ensure that plans and activities align to these.
Actively seek out and share experience to develop understanding and knowledge of own work and of team’s business area. Create/contribute to policies, plans and service provision. Seek to understand how the services, activities and strategies in the area work together to create value for the customer/end user and support corporate policy.
Ensure relevant issues relating to your activity/policy area are effectively fed into strategy and the big picture.
Actively build and maintain a network of colleagues and contacts to achieve progress on objectives and support the delivery of business outcomes. Support partnership working.
Demonstrate genuine care for staff and others, be approachable and build strong interpersonal relationships.
Readily share resources to support higher priority work, showing pragmatism and support for the shared goals of the organisation. Encourage collaborative team working and flexibility within own team and across the council
Deal with conflict in a prompt, calm and constructive manner.
Seek constructive outcomes in discussions, challenge assumptions but remain willing to compromise when it is beneficial to progress.
Can do – changing and improving, delivering at pace, developing self and others
Check own and team performance against outcomes, make improvement suggestions or take corrective action when problems are identified.
Take account of the diverse contributions of team members and delegate work to improve the capabilities of all. Review, challenge and adjust performance levels to ensure quality outcomes are delivered on time, rewarding success.
Find ways to improve systems and structures and understand and identify the role of technology in service delivery and policy implementation.
Regularly review procedures or systems with teams to identify improvements and simplify processes and decision making. Spot warning signs of things going wrong and provide a decisive response to significant delivery challenges.
Encourage and recognise a culture of initiative and innovation focused on adding value – give people space and praise for creativity.
Actively encourage ideas and provide constructive challenge from a wide range of sources and stakeholders and use these to inform own thinking.
Champion change within your team and consider the cumulative impact on own business area.
Get the best out of people by giving encouraging and enthusiastic messages about priorities, objectives and expectations. Show a positive approach in keeping everyone’s efforts focused on the goals that really matter. Adopt clear processes for managing performance at all levels. Act as a role model in supporting and energising teams to build confidence in their ability to deliver outcomes.
Maintain effective performance in difficult and challenging circumstances, mentor and support others to set and achieve challenging goals for themselves.
Plan ahead but reassess workloads and priorities if situations change or people are facing conflicting demands. Be flexible.
Customer focused – delivering value for money services, managing a quality service
Recommend actions to achieve value for money and efficiency, maximising revenue through every opportunity.
Achieve the best return on investment and deliver more for less on specific budgets by managing resources and maximising the use of assets and new technology.
Work confidently with performance management and financial data to prepare forecasts and manage and monitor budget against agreed plans.
Work with financial processes and tools to evaluate options and ensure financial and management information are accurately reflected in business plans.
Work with team to set priorities, create clear plans and manage all work to meet the needs of the customer and the business.
Ensure delivery of professional excellence and expertise.
Keep internal teams, customers and delivery partners fully informed of plans and possibilities.
Promote adherence to relevant policies, procedures, regulations and legislation, including security, equality and diversity and health and safety.
Identify common problems or weaknesses in policy or procedures that affect service and escalate these.
Promote a culture that tackles fraud and deception and ensures security of information.
Develop proposals to improve the quality of service with involvement from a diverse range of staff, stakeholders or delivery partners.
Honesty and respect – Leading and communicating, making effective decisions
Continually communicate with staff, helping to clarify goals and activities and the links between these and council strategy.
Recognise, respect and reward the contribution and achievements of others, valuing a diverse range of ideas.
Promote the work of the council by communicating in a straightforward, honest and engaging manner including the use of digital channels and play an active part in supporting the council values and culture, challenging unacceptable behaviour; lead by example, role model enthusiasm and energy about their work and motivate others to do the same. Be open and inviting to the views of others.
Make decisions (based on policies/constitution) when they are needed, even if they prove difficult or unpopular, explaining rationale as appropriate. Remove unnecessary bureaucracy and structure to allow innovation and delivery.
Ensure the secure and careful use of all council and public data and information within their service area. Analyse and evaluate data from various sources to identify pros and cons and identify risks in order to make well considered decisions in line with the policy/constitution.
Identify a broad range of relevant and credible information sources and recognise the need to collect new data when necessary from internal and external sources.
Recognise scope of own authority for decision making within the constitution and empower team members to make decisions.
Invite challenge and where appropriate involve others in decision making to help build engagement and present recommendations.