You ensure that time is set aside for the team to focus on each aspect of their role, wherever possible, free from distraction and interruption, ensuring their well-being is protected from the pressures of work.
NCF Category: Leadership
Managing external pressures (Level Five)
You support your direct reports by showing them how to deal with the political and organisational pressures from outside of the department and give them the tools to evaluate perspectives and push back on work that is not as high a priority.
Professional development (Level Five)
You lead by example with your focus on CPD and PDP, even discussing yours with members of your team where appropriate.
Training opportunities (Level Five)
You ensure that your managers enable training on a regular basis within their unit and have ample access to training for their own development. You ensure that everyone has access to the best training, balancing cost with quality.
Supporting ambition (Level Five)
You take the time to talk to all staff members within your remit and encourage your managers to support their ambitions, providing solutions where these diverge from perceived organisational drivers.
Recruitment (Level Five)
You ensure that funding is in place for the appropriate recruitment and retention of staff whilst leading by example on recruiting to promote equality, diversity and inclusion.
Headcount (Level Five)
You are able to manage a large staffing budget to make sure each team has the requisite number of staff to achieve goals and restructure personnel to achieve objectives.
Business cases (Level Five)
You are able to assess the merits of business cases and options appraisals and balance these in line with business needs and financial capacity.
Forecasting (Level Five)
You are able to produce accurate budgets based on aspiration and foreseen developments in the responsibilities placed on your department.
Budget control (Level Five)
You are able to set, monitor and adjust annual budgets to ensure individual projects don’t overspend unless it is done so with the conscious ssacrifice of other areas of work.
Professional development (Level Two)
You ensure that all staff are able to focus a portion of their work time on CPD and ensure that their Personal Development Plans are regularly reviewed, updated and constantly worked on.
Succession planning (Level Five)
Developing talent (Level Five)
Expectations (Level Five)
You have high hopes of your team but make low demands so that everyone knows that what is expected is different to that which is hoped for and that not doing what is expected is not acceptable.
Motivation (Level Five)
People within your team have a clear understanding of their career path and feel valued and supported in achieving it.
Performance (Level Five)
You deliver messages around performance in an unambiguous but approachable manner.
Goals (Level Five)
You foresee shifts in staffing requirements and plan personnel and succession accordingly.
Opportunities (Level Five)
You will maintain a strong overarching knowledge of the data profession in order to highlight opportunities and enhance your team’s confidence in you as a leading data professional.
Managing expenditure (Level Five)
You are able to set, monitor and adjust expenditure to ensure your teams have the requisite resources are in place for the year’s priorities.
Fairness (Level Five)
You act as an aspirational figure for those working within your business unit.
Safe to fail (Level Five)
You promote the importance of learning through failure and set up safe environments where your team can develop their abilities safely, creating an environment where failure is celebrated as the first indicator of progress.
Innovation (Level Five)
Your team often hears you praising their work to others.
Positivity (Level Five)
You approach discussions on targets with positivity and use challenges as a means to develop innovative solutions.
Team support (Level Five)
The goals and expectations you set for your unit are both achievable and aspirational.
Bringing people together (Level Five)
You are a leading exponent of bringing people together to work towards joint goals that were not at first visible.
Compassion (Level Five)
You show compassion to others who are struggling and create solutions to difficult emotional situations.
EDI (Level Five)
You act as a champion for EDI issues and ensure that everyone within your remit shows compassion and understanding to those with differing life experiences and ensure that all opportunities are open and fair to all.
Pressure (Level Five)
You have an acute awareness of organisational and political pressure and are able to influence at the highest levels in order to alleviate them.
Empathy and understanding (Level Five)
You act with care, empathy and understanding and find the time to know the people within your team.
Skill (Level Five)
5
Managing external pressures (Level Four)
You ensure that time is set aside for the team to focus on each aspect of their role, wherever possible, free from distraction and interruption, protecting them, where possible, from the pressures of other managers outside the department, ensuring their well-being is protected from external pressures.
Professional development (Level Four)
You take an active interest in all staff members’ PDPs within your area and ensure that development opportunities are seized upon.
Training opportunities (Level Four)
You ensure that your managers enable training on a regular basis within their unit and have ample access to training for their own development. You ensure that everyone understands delegation is a development opportunity that requires time and should not be seen as a shortcut to alleviating workloads.
Supporting ambition (Level Four)
You take the time to talk to all staff members within your remit and encourage your managers to support their ambitions, providing solutions where these diverge from perceived organisational drivers.
Recruitment (Level Four)
You support your team to recruit effectively whilst ensuring that fairness towards equality and diversity remains a priority throughout the process.
Headcount (Level Four)
You are able to articulate the ramification of headcount on service provision to negotiate for alternative staffing levels.
Business cases (Level Four)
You deliver accurate and insightful business cases with appropriate and balanced options appraisals.
Forecasting (Level Four)
You are able to produce accurate forecasts based on current expenditure and foreseen developments within your division.
Budget control (Level Four)
You agree and control budget allocations, highlighting anomalies in expenditure and make suggestions for the reallocations of funding.
Expectations (Level Four)
You are able to express the ramifications of below standard work in an honest and unemotional way.
Developing talent (Level Four)
You take pride in the talent of your team and go to great lengths to develop their skills and innovations.
Succession planning (Level Four)
Managing expenditure (Level Four)
You are able to agree and control expenditure required for the effective running of your team.
Motivation (Level Four)
You use your knowledge of the motivations of your team to plan succession and support them in their ambitions beyond your team.
Performance (Level Four)
You regard sub standard work as a reflection of your ability as you had the opportunity to prevent it.
Goals (Level Four)
You set challenging goals whilst empowering the team to explore a number of different solutions whilst keeping yourself available to support them.
Opportunities (Level Four)
You identify opportunities for your team to learn from failure including fast fails and sandbox environments.
Fairness (Level Four)
You are regarded as fair by your team who consistently give you the best of their abilities.
Safe to fail (Level Four)
You facilitate networking opportunities for your team, including those with external organisations.
Innovation (Level Four)
You build the importance of trying new things and failing in a controlled environment into your ways of working whilst always celebrating success.
Positivity (Level Four)
You set clear goals and expectations that are visible to your team and others in affiliated areas.
Team support (Level Four)
Your team feels supported and empowered to exceed their goals.
Bringing people together (Level Four)
Compassion (Level Four)
You ensure that, whilst being a workplace, emotional issues are dealt with care and sensitivity.
EDI (Level Four)
You actively engage in your organisation’s EDI networks to better understand and appreciate the lived experiences of people different to you and how you can create a working environment supportive to all.
Pressure (Level Four)
You are aware of the pressures faced by your senior managers, as well as those in your team, and are able to work collaboratively to ease them.
Empathy and understanding (Level Four)
You act with care, empathy and understanding and ensure that your team knows you are always available to them.
Skill (Level Four)
4
Managing external pressures (Level Three)
You ensure that time is set aside for the team to focus on each aspect of their role, wherever possible, free from distraction and interruption, protecting them, where possible, from the pressures of other managers outside the department, ensuring their well-being is protected from external pressures.
Professional development (Level Three)
You ensure that all staff are able to focus a portion of their work time on CPD and ensure that their Personal Development Plans are regularly reviewed, updated and constantly worked on.
Training opportunities (Level Three)
You provide ample opportunity for training for all members of your team whether that is from internal colleagues, external organisations or specialist providers.
Supporting ambition (Level Three)
You understand the backgrounds and motivations for all members of your team and ensure that all efforts are made to support their ambitions whilst aligning them to the needs of the organisation.
Recruitment (Level Three)
You take time to build your recruitment processes around professional standards whilst ensuring that the process remains open and transparent for all.
Headcount (Level Three)
You are able to accurately plan workload to headcount, identifying how much is required in each area.
Business cases (Level Three)
You are able to highlight the need for a business case in new areas or work and identify options for appraisal.
Forecasting (Level Three)
You are able to produce accurate forecasts based on current expenditure and foreseen developments within your team.
Budget control (Level Three)
You are able to plan and manage your budgets ensuring that you have the enough money allocated to the correct area.
Managing expenditure (Level Three)
You are able to manage your expenditure and ensure you have no quarterly or annual overspend.
Succession planning (Level Three)
You are able to readily identify those in your team who have the opportunity to excel at their level and beyond and use this knowledge to begin succession planning.
Expectations (Level Three)
You are able to articulate disappointment when the efforts of others fall below expectations.
Motivation (Level Three)
You consistently celebrate success but also promote learning through failure in safe environments.
Performance (Level Three)
You offer support to your team to exceed expectations.
Goals (Level Three)
You set clear goals and articulate achievable expectations.
Opportunities (Level Three)
You empower the team to follow through on new ideas or processes, providing a safe environment in which to try new things.
Fairness (Level Three)
You understand the preferences and strengths of individuals within your team and can utilise them effectively whilst developing their skills in other areas.
Safe to fail (Level Three)
You will promote your team’s successes publicly and examine failures privately, taking responsibiity for those failures in public.
Innovation (Level Three)
You seek out innovations that will support your team’s work.
Positivity (Level Three)
You are able to act effectively and fairly when under pressure whilst being aware of the dangers of favouritism on morale.
Team support (Level Three)
You back your team consistently when questioned in public.
EDI (Level Three)
You actively engage in your organisation’s EDI networks and take care to appreciate the lived experiences of those people different to you.
Pressure (Level Three)
You are able to explain to those around you why organisational and political pressures make it seem like senior managers are pulling in a different direction sometimes.
Empathy and understanding (Level Three)
You are always available to your team and consistently act with care, empathy and compassion.