Deadline: 29.12.2022

Head of Sustainability Leadership/

GBC
United Kingdom

THE ROLE

As momentum around the climate and ecological crises build, the role of a sustainable built environment in tackling these, as well as improving our health, wellbeing, and quality of life is increasingly understood – and now demanded. And significantly for our team, our organisation is right at the centre of this transformation. The UKGBC’s mission, vision and potential have soared in importance for public and private sector organisations that want to play their part. At this pivotal moment in our industry, we need passionate, bright and creative people to help us make positive change happen.

This Senior position is focused on deepening the sustainability knowledge and skills of built environment professionals and cultivating purpose-led leadership mindsets across the industry – strategically defining, developing and delivering the sustainability leadership programme to meet the learning needs of built environment professionals in the UKGBC membership and beyond, and maximising the impact of this.

This person will influence across the whole value chain by driving high engagement with our mission from participants in our Leadership programmes and events, through the design and facilitation of powerful experiences for senior decision-makers in our member organisations. It is best suited to those with excellent interpersonal, facilitation and negotiation skills; especially those with an innate ability to motivate and inspire.

Self-leadership is a key requirement for all UKGBC team members, who are actively supported in their own ongoing learning and personal development. The whole team is also brought together on a regular basis in order to foster a connected, diverse, and highly engaged culture that benefits the individuals and the organisation as a whole.

UKGBC OVERVIEW

UKGBC is growing fast in profile, size, and impact, and our increasingly agile approach to working enables us to be an inclusive, flexible, diverse, and caring employer. We are a purpose-driven, dynamic, and ambitious charity made up of a team who are all passionate about working together for a better-built environment.

An industry-led network with a mission to radically improve the sustainability of the built environment with over 700 member organisations spanning the entire value chain, we represent the voice of the industry’s current and future leaders who are striving for transformational change.

We collaborate to advocate, enable and inspire accelerated leadership and action, primarily by business and government, on climate change, resource use, nature & biodiversity, health & wellbeing and socio-economic impact. We also engage our members in advocating a progressive message to the government, informing and influencing policy at national and local levels.

UKGBC is committed to providing equal opportunities to all existing and prospective colleagues. We aim to be inclusive to everyone regardless of ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation or political beliefs.

JOB SUMMARY

Job title:  Head of Sustainability Leadership

Job purpose:Strategically defining, developing and delivering UKGBC’s sustainability leadership programmes to meet the needs of built environment professionals in the UKGBC membership and beyond, and maximising the impact of these.

Line Manager:Director of Experiential Learning and Leadership

Length of contract: Permanent

JOB DESCRIPTION

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

UKGBC’s Leadership programme (65%)

  • Work closely with the Director of Learning and Leadership to strategically develop the UKGBC leadership portfolio to support the transformation of the Built Environment
  • Championing of UKGBC Leadership programmes; managing external programme delivery partners
  • Be the UKGBC ‘face’ and lead for the leadership programmes, including facilitation
  • Responsible for the sustainability and leadership content and design of the leadership programmes to ensure high quality and impactful Leadership offerings and review on an ongoing basis
  • Deploy leadership insights across the industry through lighter leadership learning opportunities
  • Leverage UKGBC alumni groups as change agents, supporting the continuation of their leadership journeys
  • Work with UKGBC members and the wider sector to identify skills gaps around Leading Change for a  sustainable built environment
  • Be abreast of latest developments in sustainability leadership and emerging sustainability, innovation and systems change thinking and content.
  • Liaise with UKGBC policy, programmatic, insights and research teams and externally with experts to leverage on knowledge sharing internally and externally
  • Lead on the executive leadership programme; engage the Leadership Network deeper immersive learning  experiences
  • Lead on business development for new bespoke contracts for leadership work and undertake learning needs analysis, and design and develop tailored leadership learning solutions for members
  • Financial and legal management – responsible for development and monitoring of the business plan and budgets for Leadership
  • Profile Raising – raise the profile of UKGBC’s leadership programmes as widely as possibly through public speaking and stakeholder engagement; working closely with the Marketing, Media & Communications team as the principal spokesperson

Leadership responsibilities (c. 15%)

  • Take part in regular Leadership Team meetings with a purpose of creating plans and tactics to deliver against the strategic priorities of the organisation, in relation to short and long-term business planning, financial performance, and operational decisions
  • Maximise integrated ways of working and a high-performing efficient culture
  • Day to day team player supporting motivation and empowerment of team focusing on Education & Leadership
  • Champion the organisational culture and values and act as a role model for wider team members

Partnerships & profile (c. 10%)

  • Build relationships with strategically important industry organisations (e.g. other green NGOs, industry bodies, think tanks) and potential funding organisations, identify opportunities for engagement and develop trusted relationships
  • Represent UKGBC as a spokesperson at conferences and events to raise our profile amongst target audiences, and to promote our key messages to media and other outlets.

Member engagement (c.10%)

  • Account manage a number of Gold Leaf members to ensure strong engagement with UKGBC across their organisations.
  • Engage with members and other stakeholders face to face, and via phone and email regarding their overall engagement with UKGBC and to inform them of specific activities they could benefit from
  • Identify, liaise with, and secure new members. Focussing on organisations with whom you have an existing relationship or their focus is on climate resilience or nature.

DECISION MAKING AUTHORITY

Without reference

  • Programme and stakeholder management
  • Line management and team building
  • Speak at and attend industry events
  • Managing the day-to-day delivery of projects
  • Resource allocation within directly managed team
  • Expenditure (in line with annual budget) up to a maximum of £10k per transaction.

With reference

  • Cross-departmental resource allocation
  • Recruitment
  • Development and launch of new projects or membership initiatives
  • Outsourcing decisions, and third-party appointments
  • New income-generation and fundraising
  • Annual budgets and financial reporting
  • Major investments or unbudgeted costs

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

KEY COMPETENCIES

Essential

  • Able to ‘translate’ complex issues into clear and compelling narratives to drive action
  • Impact-oriented with agile delivery
  • Strategy setting and horizon scanning
  • Ability to build consensus from potentially competing viewpoints
  • Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills at native or bilingual proficiency in English
  • Excellent planning, organisational and project management skills
  • Ability to remain calm under pressure
  • Aptitude in decision-making and problem-solving – with a creative and innovative mindset
  • Demonstrable leadership skills, with emotional intelligence and coaching ability to inspire and motivate a high-performing team
  • Strong commercial awareness
  • Excellent interpersonal, facilitation and negotiation skills; able to motivate and inspire
  • Ability to build trust quickly and maintain a range of highly effective working relationships
  • Ability to thrive in a very small team, willing to lend a hand wherever necessary
  • High level of competence in using standard software packages (MS Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Adobe Acrobat etc), and other digital platforms (Cisco, Articulate etc.)
  • Honesty, integrity and the highest standards of probity
  • Passion for UKGBC’s mission and a personal drive to succeed

Desirable

  • Strong existing network of relevant contacts in property and construction businesses
  • Technical built environment competences (e.g. architecture or engineering)
  • Recognised as an expert on Leadership, Learning & Development
  • Understanding of marketing strategy for a particular product or programme

EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE AND QUALIFICATIONS 

Essential

  • Substantial experience in the property or construction industry
  • Experience of generating income and developing new business, and developing and managing budgets
  • In-depth knowledge of leadership development, professional learning needs, and how to deliver learning outcomes
  • Experience of implementing strategies in sustainability to improve at least one of climate resilience or biodiversity
  • Strong technical understanding of either climate resilience/adaptation or biodiversity/nature, in relation to the built environment
  • Knowledge of current technological, policy, financial, and social innovations to address climate change and nature depletion
  • Experience of various qualitative and quantitative research methodologies
  • Experience of recruiting, managing, and motivating a high-performing team

Desirable

  • Involvement in collaborative industry projects/initiatives
  • Delivered bid writing / fundraising and grant reporting
  • Charitable / NGO sector experience including Theory of Change and impact reporting
  • Experience of working in either industry, government, or academia
  • Advanced understanding of the built environment industry

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