Practice Manager

Introduction and Background

Do you love making a difference? Do you really enjoy developing people and get a buzz out of helping them be the best they can be? Keep reading. In partnership with Delivery Managers, Practice Managers provide leadership, direction and development for groups of up to 40 employees in UK Change & IT. You'll be expected to build capability in your practice to support specific projects and coach and motivate your people to achieve their goals.

We're offering a genuine opportunity to positively impact the overall capability and engagement of a busy area. It's a great step into a wider people management role and offers an insight into one of the busiest operational areas of Standard Life. A project or technical background would be beneficial but is not essential - what you need is a passion for people development and a desire to make a positive impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Working within a team of similar job holders as part of a wider Change and IT team
• Performance Manage and develop between 25 and 40 staff
• Leverage expertise and outside influences in raising people capabilities in a variety of roles
• Promote best practice approaches to "raise the bar" on professional capability of own team
• As part of the management team, ensure all people issues are visible and managed.
• Facilitates forward planning and pro-active deployment of resources in conjunction with other Practice Managers to ensure resourcing levels are managed in an efficient and effective manner.
• Supporting leadership and direction to ensure delivery of quality projects which meet business targets, priorities and strategies.
• Robustly carry out performance management to ensure resources are managed in line with our People policies and procedures.
• Coach and/or mentor staff to build capability
• Develop and motivate resources to ensure the right people, at the right time, with the right skills are effectively utilised to fulfil current and future business priorities/strategy.
• Create and maintain a training and development plan aligned with the business drivers and needs ensuring development activities are an investment for Standard Life.
• Develop and maintain strong partnership relationships with internal and external clients and suppliers, to ensure efficient communication channels and the effective delivery of existing and future work
• Assess and continually improve the standards and professionalism of the team.
• Facilitate management of talent in conjunction with our Talent Management Strategy.
• Oversee and facilitate management of SME deployment

Essential

• Experience of leading, coaching and mentoring a team and individuals
• Excellent planning skills and discipline to meet specific target dates and objectives
• Passionate about people development
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Proven ability to establish strong, trusting relationships with all customers and partners
• Experience of advising and influencing senior managers
• Proven ability to work under pressure.
• Can readily identify and embrace change in the drive towards continuous improvement.
• Able to enhance own skills and performance in the context of the organisation

Desirable

• Change/IT experience in the Finance sector