Learning Lead - Mental Health - NW Based - Driver Required

Job Purpose 

To manage and deliver a professional learning and organisational development service that contributes to the ongoing development of our people and drives both individual and business performance.  

 This role will have a dedicated focus on our Mental Health division, partnering with leaders and teams across our Independent Hospitals and Community Mental Health Services to identify, design and deliver learning and organisational development initiatives. Supporting the development of a skilled, engaged and high-performing workforce, ensuring that people development activity aligns with organisational priorities and the delivery of high-quality Mental Health services.

Key Responsibilities 

• With a business partnering approach work with key managers to identify individual and collective training needs using a robust learning needs analysis methodology. 

• Lead the ongoing development and coordination of a local learning framework aligned to the business workforce plan to ensure there are sufficient individuals, skill levels and experience requirements in place to meet current and future service demands.  

• Support and manage the local delivery of OD and change management strategies, processes and interventions that support AFG’s ambition to be a high performing organisation. 

• Influence our learning culture to promote self-learning, personal mastery, continuous improvement, and reflective practice.   

• Manage and support the delivery of all Mental Health training interventions through the Learning Partners. 

• Design, develop and deliver training solutions that meet business needs through a wide variety of training methods. 

• Review and look to optimise existing training processes for efficiency. 

• Produce clear evaluation reports using qualitative and quantitative data for all training programmes and other specific development work undertaken. 

• Audit and assess opportunities and risks relating to levels of workforce competence and practice with a view to taking local action to continually improve. 

• Facilitate improvements in standards of professional and regulatory practice by contributing to the ongoing development, improvement and implementation of policy and practice changes.  

• Line manage, coach and develop the Learning Partner team. 

• Utilise and manage external relationships, such as training providers, to develop and deliver training requirements. 

• Work within the agreed L&OD budget and manage spend against your allocated budget items during the year.  

• Provide 1:1 coaching and ongoing support following requests from key customers. 

• Liaise with external training providers to source specific business requests. 

• Keep up to date with the latest training trends, developments, legislation, and best practices. 

• Product Owners who support organisational development projects where there is likely to be an impact on the target customer population. 

• Support the delivery of specific development interventions for first line managers and above across AFG as agreed with the Learning and Organisational Development Manager.  

• Keep abreast of developments and best practice within the training & development field and health & social care sector to enhance and maintain the reputation of the Learning & OD team. 

• Detailed knowledge of policies applicable to area of work and working knowledge of all relevant other policies 

• To be flexible in order to both deliver training and support to the multiple sites within the Mental Health Division of AFG.  

• To carry out any other training related duties / work as requested by the Learning and Organisational Development Manager.  

Training & Development 

• Participate fully in training and development and any external training as required.   

• Attend and actively participate in supervision sessions and performance reviews.   

• Attend and actively participate in team meetings.   

• Develop and share skills to aid in the provision and improvement of support. 

 Experience

• With a business partnering approach work with key managers to identify individual and collective training needs using a robust learning needs analysis methodology. 

• Lead the ongoing development and coordination of a local learning framework aligned to the business workforce plan to ensure there are sufficient individuals, skill levels and experience requirements in place to meet current and future service demands.  

• Support and manage the local delivery of OD and change management strategies, processes and interventions that support AFG’s ambition to be a high performing organisation. 

• Influence our learning culture to promote self-learning, personal mastery, continuous improvement and reflective practice.   

• Manage and support the delivery of all Mental Health training interventions through the Learning Partners. 

• Design, develop and deliver training solutions that meet business needs through a wide variety of training methods. 

• Review and look to optimise existing training processes for efficiency. 

• Produce clear evaluation reports using qualitative and quantitative data for all training programmes and other specific development work undertaken. 

• Audit and assess opportunities and risks relating to levels of workforce competence and practice with a view to taking local action to continually improve. 

• Facilitate improvements in standards of professional and regulatory practice by contributing to the ongoing development, improvement and implementation of policy and practice changes.  

• Line manage, coach and develop the Learning Partner team. 

• Utilise and manage external relationships, such as training providers, to develop and deliver training requirements. 

• Work within the agreed L&OD budget and manage spend against your allocated budget items during the year.  

• Provide 1:1 coaching and ongoing support following requests from key customers. 

• Liaise with external training providers to source specific business requests. 

• Keep up to date with the latest training trends, developments, legislation and best practices. 

• Product Owners who support organisational development projects where there is likely to be an impact on the target customer population. 

• Support the delivery of specific development interventions for first line managers and above across AFG as agreed with the Learning and Organisational Development Manager.  

• Keep abreast of developments and best practice within the training & development field and health & social care sector to enhance and maintain the reputation of the Learning & OD team. 

• Detailed knowledge of policies applicable to area of work and working knowledge of all relevant other policies 

• To be flexible in order to both deliver training and support to the multiple sites within the Mental Health Division of AFG.  

• To carry out any other training related duties / work as requested by the Learning and Organisational Development Manager

Skills & Knowledge

• Experience of working in a Learning Lead, Training Manager or similar role. 

• Knowledge of training requirements and needs along with experience of working in Mental Health, Hospital, NHS or similar environment. 

• Proven track record in designing and executing successful training programs in a Mental Health context. 

• Excellent written and oral communication skills 

• Excellent leadership skills 

• Ability to navigate and deal with complex situations to produce a clear way forward – big picture thinking.  

• Knowledge of learning and development best practices 

• Strong knowledge of working with traditional and modern training methods (mentoring, coaching, on-the-job, workshops, courses, simulations, e-learning etc.)  

• Ability to plan, multi-task and manage time effectively  

• Strong experience in MS Office products to support learning work 

Personal Attributes

• A quick learner who’s keen to develop.  

• Takes personal responsibility and holds others to account. 

• Solution focused and has a “can do attitude”. 

• Inspires others with their passion and enthusiasm. 

• Demonstrates honesty and integrity and demonstrates through their behaviors the organisational values. 

• Embraces change, viewing it as an opportunity to learn and develop. 

With our extended flexible working options, you can choose to work your 35 hours per week on a 9-day fortnight or a 4.5-day week basis, supporting our employees with their work life balance.

This role is Band II as per our structure.

We’re Alternative Futures Group, a health and social care charity providing specialist support for people with a learning disability or mental health condition.

We’re proud to have been positively changing lives and enabling people to achieve amazing outcomes for over 30 years.

We have a vision to create a world where amazing people do amazing things every day. Our skilled and experienced teams work with every person we support to create a personalised, outcome-focused plans to achieve their aspirations.

As a ‘values based’ employer, the people that work for us genuinely care about the people they support, and we are seeking likeminded people to join our team.  If you are passionate about working in Health and Social Care and have a real desire to make a positive difference to the lives of the people we support then we would love to hear from you.

At AFG we also recognise the contribution and value that our staff make.  We would not be able to provide the life changing support that we do without people like you!

In return for your contribution we will support you throughout your career and we provide a wide range of employee benefits, career development and lifestyle support services to ensure that you too feel supported, fulfilled and valued from day one of your employment with us.