We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.

We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2021–22 we reached 650 million people.

British Council Pay band 9

Salary: £61,623 to £71,611depending on skills and experience, plus a £3,300 London Market Allowance (for those based in the London area).

Benefits 

• 32 days annual leave, in addition to public holidays
• 3 days volunteering leave
• Career average defined benefit pension scheme

Location: All offices in UK ( London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Manchester, Cardiff) Manchester preferred
Department: Human Resources
Contract type: Indefinite Contract

Closing Date: 19th June 2024 at 23:59 UK Time.

Interviews will be held week commencing 08th July

You must have the legal right to work in the UK at the time of application. There is no relocation or sponsorship support.

British Council supports working in new ways such as hybrid working, subject to full approval by line management and conditional upon our ability to provide the appropriate level of service.  This may not be appropriate for all roles but can be explored at interview.

Role purpose

The Head of Organisational Development Practice exists to ensure we create positive impact in delivering a portfolio of work that addresses the biggest talent and organisational development opportunities in the British Council. The role holder will bring significant expertise in whole-system organisational development (including organisation design), with the ability to consult with business clients as well as lead and build the capability of their team.  Through ongoing prioritisation and iteration, they will curate a programme of work that collectively delivers a step change in talent and organisation development outcomes. The role holder will strategically allocate resources to the delivery of projects, ensuring a balance in providing the required skills and capabilities and developing and empowering the team.  They will have a key role in communications, shaping the narrative that describes the teams’ collective impact and will work closely with the Head of Portfolio and Change on development of a longer-term Talent and OD roadmap and investment plan as part of the People Strategy.

Role context

The British Council has recently undertaken a significant Transformation programme across all areas of the business, with departments across the organisation at varying stages of maturity in implementing and embedding their new operating models.

The Talent and Organisational Development team (T&OD) exists to bring focus to the development of our people and organisation as we come out of transformation, partnering with leadership teams to build the diversity, future skills, capabilities and ways of working they need so that we continue to renew and strengthen our global impact. It also has a significant role in the activation of our EVP (Employee Value Proposition) and in influencing our culture and the experience of working within the British Council through the work with leadership teams and colleagues in other People teams.

The Head of Organisational Development Practice is a member of the global T&OD team, which also includes the business aligned People Partners, and the Talent, Learning and Performance CoE team.

The Organisational Development Practice is a flexible and dynamic team, which can be deployed to programmes based on the talent and organisation development challenges and opportunities arising in the business. Members of the team work directly with People business partners, business leaders and CoE teams to hypothesize, test and build solutions to talent and organisation challenges and opportunities, using modern project methodologies and taking an agile approach. As a flexible pool, the team helps the People team to achieve goals of agility, customer centricity and operational efficiency.

Main accountabilities

Consultancy, analysis & problem solving

• Use expertise in organisational design & development to help solve the biggest OD challenges within the British Council as required
• Provide high level consulting and problem solving in curating and prioritising the portfolio, using creative thinking to facilitate the process to create a balanced and impactful portfolio that meets the highest priority talent and organisational development needs for the British Council

Leadership & management 

• Lead and mentor the team of organisation development leads and specialists who are responsible for the delivery of projects and initiatives.  Enable the team by building capability in consulting, change, modern project methodologies, and organisational development practices (including organisation design) so that the British Council continues to benefit from the best Talent and OD expertise.

Strategy & Planning

• Provide thought leadership to the curation of a portfolio of projects and programmes that will deliver a positive impact to the development of our organisation.
• Lead the process to build the Talent and Organisation Development roadmap in support of the People strategy and provide input to investment decisions.
• Lead the process to define and regularly iterate the portfolio so that the highest impact initiatives are delivered.

Relationship & stakeholder management

• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the People team to define requirements so that the portfolio activates strategic priorities on behalf of all People functions where there is an impact on talent and organisational development outcomes.
• Manage relationships with colleagues in the People Leadership team, providing regular updates on delivery of the portfolio to build confidence and enable People leaders to manage their respective stakeholders.

Commercial & financial management

• Support development of appropriate investment cases, including writing papers for governance forums so that user requirements are clearly identified in requests for investment and there is quality assurance and consistency in the presentation of papers

• Lead the development of the T&OD budget and participate in budget discussions so that the portfolio is appropriately funded, and budgets can be re-forecast in line with plan

Programme management

• Ensure delivery of projects within the portfolio to client specification, on budget and with a high level of quality so that talent and organisational development outcomes and progress are achieved
• Ensure stakeholders are actively engaged in project design and delivery
• Monitor the effectiveness of delivery and impact of the portfolio and identify opportunities to make improvements though people, process and technology

Role specific skills

There are three proficiency levels for HR skills: novice, developing and exemplary. The relevant proficiency level for this role is listed against each skill.

Data Literacy

• Data Driven – Grasps and uses data to make decisions and inform practice (developing).

Business Acumen

• Customer Understanding – Understands customer needs and applies user-centric principles (developing)
• Strategy co-creation- Co-creates business strategy and aligns People function priorities (developing)

Digital Agility

• Digital Adoption- Creates an environment ready for digital adoption (developing).

People Advocacy

• Culture and Wellbeing- Shapes inclusive performance culture prioritizing wellbeing (developing)
• Change Navigation – Builds the change structures and capacity to promote change and resilience (developing).

Execution Excellence

• Action Orientation – Implements actionable and adaptive plans to achieve results (developing).
• Problem Solving – Finds practical solutions to navigate and overcome obstacles (exemplary).

Role specific knowledge and experience

Minimum/essential

• Significant experience in organisational development, organisation design and change methodologies, with demonstrable experience of using these with positive client impact
• Experience building capability in organisation development and design

Desirable

• Knowledge of and practitioner experience with modern programme management methodologies

• Experience working within a global organisation
• Experience in a consultancy environment and resource allocation (could be internal)

Language Requirements

The British Council systems and global processes operate in English. Written and verbal proficiency in English is required

Professional Qualification and Certification

• Organisational development and/or design qualification / certification (desirable)
• APM qualification (desirable)

Education

• University degree or equivalent professional experience

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality , Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Statement

The British Council is committed to policies and practices of equality, diversity and inclusion across everything we do. We support all staff to make sure their behaviour is consistent with this commitment.  We want to address under representation and encourage applicants from under-represented groups, in particular, but not exclusively, on grounds of ethnicity and disability.  All disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria are guaranteed an interview and we have Disability Confident Employer Status. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with.

We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989.

Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed; these will include qualification checks, reference checks, identity & criminal record checks in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.