Departmental Engagement and Leadership Events Lead

The Organisation Design and Development (OD&D) team, sitting within Organisational and People Change, plays a key role across MHCLG: improving our organisational agility and change readiness; providing organisational design and development consultancy support; engaging our leaders on our organisational journey and culture; and finding innovative approaches to bringing the employee voice to the surface and enhancing the employee experience. We are looking for someone who can lead our internal engagement programme and contribute to organisational development activity to support us in our ambition.
Effective engagement is a critical enabler of a healthy and effective organisation, and our team has responsibility for translating complex organisational strategies, changes and priorities into a clear and cohesive narrative for our people. We strive to create dynamic and fun opportunities for leaders and colleagues to connect and collaborate on organisational activity and are passionate about giving people space to share thoughts and be curious. We also have a role to play in the development of our leaders, working with leaders to encourage them to lead across the organisation and drive the whole system forward.
Travel to offices and event locations around the UK will be required, This role sits at the helm of this engagement work and the post-holder will have the chance to work collaboratively with teams right across PC&C, internal communications, other corporate and strategy teams, as well as leaders inside and outside the department to shape the programme of work. This is a high-profile role that works across the whole Department and has exposure right up to the Executive Committee, and it will require someone who is curious, creative and up for a challenge.
Some of the specific responsibilities you will hold include:
+ Developing our internal narrative, building strong relationships across the change team, and beyond, to weave strategy, change, inclusion, and capability activity into our engagement plans
+ Responsibility for designing and delivering leadership events and business as usual leadership engagement, working with SCS sponsors and engaging our executive team in the development of initiatives, to ensure our leaders are well informed, feel part of a two-way dialogue and are working together to lead the department
+ Leading on the internal engagement programme for our Permanent Secretary, working directly with her office to create a fun and varied programme of activity, helping our people feel connected to, and heard-by, the top of the organisation
+ Owning our regional engagement and community building activity, working collaboratively with SCS across the UK to create innovative and purposeful employee engagement experiences, driving increased collaboration and connection across our workforce
+ Sharing the insights and learning from our engagement activity with colleagues across the corporate centre to help inform our wider work on organisational development, proactively contributing ideas and energy, As part of our pre-employment checking process we will be using your CV to confirm your job history. Please note that by providing us with your CV you are consenting to us using the information enclosed as part of the checking process.
Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).
At application stage you will be asked to upload a CV document. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage.
Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions, for example all candidates’ responses to ‘Seeing the Big Picture’ rather than seeing a candidate’s full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.
Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.
When writing your application, remember:
+ The assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially.
+ Do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers.
+ If talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!)
At sift, we will be assessing
Experience (lead Sift) - Provide an example of when you have drawn on your engagement, facilitation and organisational development skills to develop and deliver a highly effective engagement or leadership event
Experience - Provide an example of managing an engagement initiative, demonstrating your ability to problem solve and continually adapt, explaining how you managed senior stakeholders and ensured smooth delivery
Behaviour : Communicating and Influencing - Provide an example of how you have gained buy in for a particular piece of work from multiple stakeholders at once, and how you used varied communication techniques and data to engage and influence them
Behaviour: Seeing the Bigger Picture - Explain how you develop your own understanding of wider organisational context, and talk about how you have used that intelligence to inform a piece of work
There is a 250 word limit per question.
In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview., There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role.

• Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack.
sift and interview dates:
Sifting is envisaged to take place starting 18/09/2024 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.
Reserve List
In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details in a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.
CTC (Counter-terrorism Clearance):
Important note
Successful candidates for roles based in our 2 Marsham Street building must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete.
Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the CTC security checks – this requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 3 years. Please refer to the MHCLG Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Counter Terrorism Clearance (CTC). Thank you.
Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office. In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by MHCLG. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database.
Candidate Pack Information
Please see attached Candidate pack for further information.
Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the MHCLG candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules
Internal Fraud Database
The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to MHCLG as a participating government organisations. MHCLG then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.
For more information please see - Internal Fraud Register
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
+ UK nationals
+ nationals of the Republic of Ireland
+ nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
+ individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
+ Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

You will have experience in leading internal engagement or communication activity, confident in facilitation and event design, and be familiar with the field of organisational development
You will have very strong organisational planning skills, with experience of project managing events, working with suppliers, and managing multiple streams of activity at once
You will have credibility and experience of working with senior leaders, and be able to confidently engage with and influence leaders at all levels of the organisations
You will have strong communications skills and be experienced at presenting information in user-friendly and professional ways and absorbing and sharing different types of data
You will be a problem solver and strategic thinker who is pro-active in coming up with ideas and adapting approaches as needed, able to make connections between local activity and the wider organisation.
You will be collaborative, able to work with colleagues in an inclusive and supportive manner and will have experience of bringing multi-disciplined teams together to work towards a shared goal.

Alongside your salary of £51,934, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £14,022 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
+ Learning and development tailored to your role
+ An environment with flexible working options
+ A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
+ A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%, The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:
Behaviour – Leadership, Communicating and Influencing, Managing A Quality Service
Experience - Yes
Strength - The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.
Candidate invited to interview will be expected to prepare a presentation. Further details on this will be sent along with interview invites. The Presentation will be assessed against experience.
In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements:
Behaviours: Leadership, Communicating and Influencing, Managing A Quality Service, Seeing the Bigger Picture
Experience: Yes
Strengths: Yes
We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs
Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign.
Grade 7 salary
+ The salary for this role is £57,091 (London) or £51,934 (National)., Any move to MHCLG from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk