Provincial Manager

ACHIEVE STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE
Analyse the company's strategic plan and create and execute a long, short and medium term provincial strategic and operational plan for funeral service. Ensure that every Area manager funeral service has and executes a business and operational plan for their respective areas, aligned to the overall strategic plan. Collaborate with the General Manager : Funeral Service to develop the integrated business plans for their respective business areas of responsibility, to operationalise and execute the strategic business plan. Submit quarterly and monthly progress reports on the achievement of the set objective as per provincial plan and any changes that were made to the plan. Identify and comprehensively recommend business opportunities and innovative ways to improve current business practices and processes. Achieve the annual targets with regards to productivity, client services, profitability, etc. Evaluate performance by analysing and interpreting data and metrics.

Ensure all regions under your control meet the set targets. Achieve the business split for Funeral Service between Private, Fund and contract business. Achieve the minimum conversion rate objective. Ensure that all area managers are achieving agreed targets and take corrective actions should the targets not be met.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Create an effective and successful team through open discussion, coaching and mentoring. Lead, inspire, and motivate team members to cultivate a successful and motivated team. Create and execute a succession plan for the province. Ensure that signed performance contracts are in place for all direct reports. Ensure that a development plan is available for each manager in the province and is aligned to the provincial strategic objectives. Ensure that all agencies are properly staffed. Ensure that there are sufficient assistant agents in training. Ensure that the training agencies are properly staffed. Ensure that all the non-compliance and non-performance issues of direct reports are identified and disciplinary processes are adhered to. Conduct coaching and mentoring sessions with direct reports. Communicate regularly, via multiple mediums with all employees on policies, practices, strategies on marketing, operational and other related issues.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Develop and implement the business development strategy for the company's Funeral Service in collaboration with the General Manager : Funeral Service. Engage continuously with key stakeholders, internal and external. Ensure good cooperation between the different departments in the province, such as insurance, funeral service and senior citizens and that all these stakeholders are involved in marketing activities. Ensure that community funds are utilised effectively to create relationships and build trust with communities. Ensure that complaints escalated are investigated and resolved. Proactively build strong commercial and strategic relationships to drive the company's business agenda with key stakeholders (relevant government departments / ministries, municipalities, and sectoral organisations), gatekeepers (customers, business partners), industry bodies and opinion leaders (media) at senior level. Establish a strong network of business contacts and leverage the relationships to drive the company's business agenda.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Ensure profitability of regions through cost control, asset efficiency and optimisation. Compile a capital budget for the province that addresses vehicles, furniture, equipment, computers, telephones, and other ICT equipment and fixed properties for funeral service and insurance. Plan and manage the Funeral Service capital and budgets for the fleet and assets. Ensure that all funeral agencies are profitable and expenses are within budget. Ensure that stock levels are maintained, effective utilisation of the fleet and other assets. Plan and implement effective cost-saving measures. Ensure that policy and procedures pertaining to financial transactions and management are met.

RISK MANAGEMENT
Management of risk within respective departments / business units and compliance to all relevant policies and legislations. Risk management is an important part of planning for the businesses. The process of risk management is designed to reduce or eliminate the risk of certain kinds of events happening or having an impact on the Group. Management of risk within Funeral Service and compliance to all relevant policies and legislations. Ensure that all audit findings are addressed and resolved within the allocated time frame. Consult policies, procedures and compliance standards of the Group. Identify, monitor, measure, report and manage potential risks that the business may be exposed to. Implement risk mitigation strategies. Review Internal Audit reports and implement the necessary corrective action to ensure that clean audit reports are achieved across the business divisions to mitigate reputational damage. Ensure that all non-compliance related issues are addressed.

REQUIREMENTS
In possession of a relevant tertiary qualification in marketing or sales and operations. Proficient in MS Office Suite (MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint). 10+ years in strategic and tactical management experience. Experience in managing large and diverse teams in target-driven, sales-focused, customer-centric environments. Required to have well-developed commercial acumen gained through experience in the funeral service industry. Needs to understand and appreciate the complexities of potential reputational risk in the delivery of funeral services. Sound understanding of and practical experience in the application of human resources, operational, risk and customer service practices and principles. Good understanding of financial management, budgeting, cost management and financial reporting. Understands the regulatory environments for Funeral Service and the associated requirements on the organisation.