Governance Lead

The Central Portfolio Office (CPO) sits at the heart of GSTT's strategic transformation agenda, shaping and managing the portfolio of change projects and programmes to deliver the Trust's strategy - 'Better, faster, fairer healthcare for all'.

The Trust has an ambitious capital programme with significant investments in digital technology, medical equipment and estates as well as a wider transformation agenda to transform public healthcare in the UK.

As an active member of the dynamic CPO team, you will work with project delivery teams across the Trust providing essential project management support and driving improvement initiatives. Our team is responsible for managing the prioritization and portfolio management process, maintaining the Trust's five-year capital plan, and supporting the delivery of major strategic programmes within our clinical groups.

Your role will also be responsible for delivering the governance function within the Central Portfolio Office (CPO) - leading on capital governance and providing the secretarial support for the GSTT capital programme.

To be effective in the role, you will already have experience both of providing governance and secretariat functions for executive level boards, as well as working on complex change programmes. If you are passionate about innovation and transformation in public healthcare, and possess strong organizational and communication skills, we invite you to apply.

Main duties of the job

1. Maintain the Trust capital portfolio governance and approvals process, including providing secretariat support for a number of high-profile executive led Boards.
2. Lead on continuous improvement of the capital governance process, enabling the Trust to make better decisions with its large and complex capital portfolio.
3. Attend senior executive level meetings and be responsible for accurately capturing key decisions, actions and outcomes and then documenting these in high quality well written minutes.
4. Work collaboratively with Reporting and Analysis Manager to ensure the effective flow of key information through the Trust Governance and Decision Making process. Jointly responsible for the effective flow of information.
5. Manage a Governance Manager.
6. Lead and deliver special projects as required by the Deputy CEO.

Headlines from Person Specification

1. Evidence of managing the secretariat function for Executive level Board meetings, including the production of high quality minutes and actions.
2. Formal qualification in Project or Programme management (PRINCE 2 or MSP) or equivalent.
3. Programme or project management experience in large complex organisations, or experience working in a PMO.
4. Work flexibly, prioritise workloads and resource them in response to changing demands and requirements.

About us

Please note: Interviews are due to take place on 10th February 2025, however alternative dates may be considered if shortlisted candidates are unable to attend on this date.

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust values

We are...

Caring - we put patients first

Ambitious - we innovate and strive for excellence

Inclusive - we respect each other and work collaboratively

Job description

Job responsibilities

Governance and secretarial support for the GSTT capital programme

1. Lead on Capital portfolio governance within the Trust.
2. Work collaboratively with Reporting and Analysis Manager to ensure the effective flow of key information through the Trust Governance and Decision Making process. Jointly responsible for effective flow of information.
3. Maintain the Trust capital portfolio governance and approvals process.
4. Ensure the effective operational management of the Trust portfolio governance boards (including CPDB, DGB, TAAG, and IPB), following best practice in governance arrangements.
5. Own the Terms of Reference (TORs) for all the Trust portfolio governance boards, updating when required.
6. Provide secretariat support and facilitation for all Trust portfolio governance boards, ensuring they are properly constituted in line with terms of reference. Ensure high-quality minutes are produced in line with the Trust style.
7. Responsible for the planning of the annual schedule of the Trust portfolio governance boards, ensuring venues are booked with appropriate meeting facilities.
8. Management of multiple interrelated Trust portfolio governance board agendas linked to long term planning. Ensure that agenda items are agreed and coordinate submission schedules and timetables across multiple directorates and clinical groups. Adjust plans as required to ensure that risks and issues are mitigated.
9. Review, quality check and edit all materials prepared for the Board and the Executive to ensure appropriate levels of high standard. Where required, ensure meeting materials are circulated, uploaded to Board IT software platforms and published to the Trust website in accordance with agreed timescales and deadlines.
10. Facilitate the effective conduct of Trust portfolio governance boards by providing high level pre-meeting support to Chairs and preparing meeting briefings and agendas.
11. Work autonomously with senior stakeholders and build relationships quickly. Balance conflicting demands, prioritise workloads, with the ability to achieve results through a combination of effective planning, firm direction, delegation and influence.
12. Maintain comprehensive document management systems and ensure standards are complied with and maintained.
13. Work in a matrix management style and foster close working relations with other stakeholders across the organisation.
14. Work with CPO Delivery Leads to shape the agendas and papers for key governance meetings, providing chairs briefs to delivery function leadership team as required, sensitively landing challenging messages.
15. Receive and provide complex, highly sensitive or contentious information in a strictly confidential and professional manner, monitoring progress of follow up action to deliver satisfactory outcomes.
16. Responsible for gathering information for and producing appropriate responses to Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts requests.
17. Interpret and manage highly complex, sensitive, confidential and contentious information.

Process and continuous improvement

1. Support the continuous improvement of the Trust portfolio governance process.
2. Support the project continuous improvement process, ensuring that lessons identified during the capital governance process are captured, and appropriate solutions are developed.
3. Responsible for ensuring the Central Portfolio Office is compliant with information governance policies and procedures of the Trust in handling all confidential material.
4. Support the ongoing development of the Trust 'Project Playbook', a repository of Trust Policy documentation that sets out how change is delivered in GSTT.
5. Ensuring Executives associated with the Trust portfolio governance are guided by the Nolan Principles of good governance.

Project assurance

1. Conduct governance assurance on all business cases prior to being presented to portfolio governance boards for approval.
2. Ensure recommendations of sub-boards are actioned before being presented to the next stage in the governance process.
3. Contribute to project assurance of capital projects as required, including business case reviews, gateway assurance and health checks.

Financial Management

Manage the approvals and decisions register for all projects with a capital expenditure of more than £250k, ensuring the register is kept up to date and that all approvals have an adequate audit trail.

1. Support the development of the Trusts five-year medium-term Capital Plan (MTCP), by collating papers, and producing minutes and actions.
2. Support the budget management for a Capital Portfolio of over £100m, highlighting budget and allocation issues and ensuring they are mitigated appropriately.

Person Specification

Qualifications/ Education

Essential

1. Relevant Masters, equivalent professional qualification or equivalent experience.
2. Formal qualification in Project or Programme management (PRINCE 2 or MSP) or equivalent.
3. Evidence of recent Continuing Professional Development.

Desirable

1. Training or qualifications in Portfolio Management.
2. Relevant qualification or equivalent experience in digital / construction programme management and delivery.

Previous experience

Essential

1. Evidence of managing the secretariat function for Executive level Board meetings, including the production of high quality minutes and actions.
2. Programme management experience in large complex organisations, including design, development, implementation and management of change in a multiple stakeholder environment.
3. Experience working at senior level in a PMO (programme or business).
4. Experience of senior staff performance management, including motivating, developing and coaching.
5. Experience facilitating group discussions to design, plan and progress programmes and projects.
6. Knowledge and understanding of risk management and issue resolution gained through experience.
7. Experience developing, monitoring and managing budgets / delivering substantial benefits associated with programmes.
8. Experience of continuously improving delivery processes in a complex project environment.

Desirable

1. Developed knowledge and understanding of the changing NHS environment, strategy, and policy agendas.
2. Experience of Enterprise wide portfolio management function.
3. Experience of setting up or leading PMO or portfolio management functions.

Skills / Knowledge / Ability

Essential

1. Knowledge of operations and / or programme management methodologies and techniques.
2. Understanding and track record of successful change and programme management.
3. A leader by example with a strong sense of quality and equality and highly effective people and project management skills.
4. Use advanced analytical and judgement skills including understanding and application of complex statistical and numerical data.
5. Ability to use and develop digital PPM tools to support information management.
6. Work flexibly, prioritise workloads and resource them in response to changing demands and requirements.
7. Developed interpersonal, communication (written, oral, presentation, facilitation), networking and negotiation skills, including where performance is a cause for concern or delivery objectives are at risk.
8. Able to effectively manage difference, bringing senior and specialist professional audiences as well as service users along with arguments and recommendations.
9. Able to maintain high levels of professionalism and leadership in the face of resistance, objection and conflict.
10. Is politically aware and sensitive to the politics of change and transformation.
11. A track record in consistently delivering performance targets and writing complex business cases, policies and change.
12. Developed management skills including motivating, developing and coaching staff.
13. Developed organisational skills and the ability to prioritise, meet deadlines and delegate effectively.
14. Confidence, resilience, energy and proactivity to maintain the pace of change required to achieve the desired outcomes over the next 2-3 years, in particular, holding others to account for delivery (both internally and externally).
15. Is self-aware, demonstrating an adaptive leadership capability self-motivated and pro-active.
16. Able to work with flexibility and adaptability, often within situations of ambiguity or emergent certainty.
17. Is a team player, but able to work on own.
18. IT literate, including competency in MS Office programmes and in particular in Excel and MS Project.

Desirable

1. Ability to use and develop digital PPM tools to support information management.
2. Knowledge of contract management.

Additional information

Essential

1. A commitment to partnership working, inclusion of a diverse workforce and service integration.
2. Ability to carry out the physical requirements of the post, with any reasonable adjustment being made under the Equalities Act 2010.

Employer details

Employer name

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Guy's & St Thomas Hospital

Education Centre, York Road

London

SE1 7NJ

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

196-COF10534-S