Head of Talent & Organisational Development

The role's main purpose is to provide strategic direction, design, and implementation of talent management and organisational development initiatives in order to deliver business priorities and the ambitious GPA 2030 plans as a member of the HR Senior Leadership Team. This role encompasses Talent Management, Early Careers, Succession Planning, Leadership Development, Learning and Organisational Capability Building, Wellbeing, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Culture and Values, and Employee Engagement. The role will assess, optimise and deliver Civil Service learning and processes whilst supplementing and enhancing this offer to deliver the GPA People Strategy where appropriate, and will do this by championing and developing an Organisational Development mindset, tools and techniques applied throughout the wider HR team. The role will also involve managing a budget and small team and work collaboratively in partnership with Senior Civil Servants and their management teams, the Senior Human Resources Business Partner, Head of HR Services and the Internal Communications Team and alongside external strategic partners to support, drive and enable organisational transformation including cultural shifts. Reporting to the Director of HR, the Head of Talent & OD will shape the organisational culture, strengthen leadership behaviours, build learning and career routes and promote an inclusive and supportive environment that fosters employee individual, team and organisational growth and performance. Direct Reports

• Talent & Leadership Lead
• Learning & Organisation Development Lead
• Culture & Values Lead
External Partners
• Strategic Learning Providers
• Leadership Development Providers
• ED&I Consultancy
• Wellbeing Program Vendors, Strategic Leadership:
• Talent Strategy: Develop and execute a comprehensive talent and succession management strategy that aligns with the organisation's long-term goals ensuring robust pipelines for critical roles and leadership positions, and an early careers (Fast streamers and apprenticeships) pipeline developing future skills and capabilities.
• Performance Management: Oversee and develop the performance management process, ensuring it is aligned with the organisation's strategic objectives and supports employee development and individual performance. Organisational Development and Values Driven Culture: Lead initiatives that promote a high-performance culture guided by aspirational values and performance management framework to deliver organisational effectiveness and change.
• Learning & Organisation Development: Oversee the design and delivery of impactful and engaging learning and career routes of employees across all levels in collaboration with the Learning & OD Lead. Drive organisation-wide learning to meet current and future skills and capabilities.
• Leadership Development: Oversee the design and implementation of values-led leadership development programmes that develop new and existing leaders, fostering a culture of continuous leadership growth and coaching mindset, driving high-performance and delivering change.
• Culture, Engagement, Wellbeing and ED&I Strategy: Champion and embed equality, diversity, and inclusion strategies, ensuring the organisation fosters an inclusive and equitable workplace. Lead the annual employee engagement survey, ensuring insights are effectively analysed and used to shape targeted action plans. Partner with the Culture & EDI Lead to design ongoing engagement initiatives that enhance morale, trust, and alignment with organisational values.
Operational Delivery:
• Talent & Leadership Development Programmes: Deliver programmes of development for Leaders, technical experts and professions sponsored and embraced across the senior leadership team. Embrace gold standards representing the professional expertise, knowledge and skills.
• Learning & Organisation Development; Oversee the development and delivery of learning across the employee lifecycle to drive a learning culture beyond the learning team. Lead on Organisational Development as an approach to driving organisational performance centred on building people skills and capabilities.
• Employee Wellbeing: Lead the development and implementation of comprehensive wellbeing programmes that support the physical, mental, and emotional health of employees, contributing to a positive work environment.
• Employee Engagement: Deliver the People Survey and drive employee engagement initiatives that enhance workplace satisfaction, productivity, and retention, using data and analytics to inform strategies.
• Partnership and Vendor Management: Manage relationships with strategic external partners, ensuring they deliver value and align with the organisation's talent and development goals.
Team Management:
• Leadership: Provide leadership, direction, and coaching to a small team, ensuring they have the resources and support needed to deliver on their objectives.
• Performance Oversight: Set clear objectives, monitor performance, and provide regular feedback to team members, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and high performance.
• Development: Support the professional development of team members, ensuring they have access to relevant learning and growth opportunities
.Stakeholder Engagement:
• External Representation: Represent the organisation at external events, conferences, and forums related to talent management, leadership development, and ED&I. Exploit an external professional network bringing new thought leadership and expertise into GPA.
• Collaboration: Work closely with senior leadership, HR business partners, and other key stakeholders to ensure that talent and organisational development initiatives support the broader organisational strategy.
• Communication: Communicate talent strategies and outcomes effectively across the organisation, ensuring transparency and alignment with organisational goals.
  
  We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Head of Talent & Organisational Development as a new role reshaping the HR Senior Leadership Team to enable delivery of an ambitious People Strategy. This is a fast paced role, and is varied and challenging, and will give the postholder an insight into the whole of the Government Property Agency and also the machinery of central government. It is a busy and demanding post, in which the post holder will be required to be proactive and build strong working relationships with a range of senior stakeholders across GPA and the wider Civil Service., Disability Confident
About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.

The Government Property Agency is the largest property holder in government, with more than £2.1 billion in property assets and over 55% of the government's office estate. We are transforming the way the Civil Service works by creating great places to work, leading the largest commercial office programme in the UK, working towards halving carbon emissions from government offices, and achieving greater value for taxpayers. And we are looking for innovative, solutions-focused people to join our team. Representing the best covenant in the UK - His Majesty's Government - we are leading transformational programmes such as the Government Hubs Programme, Whitehall Campus Programme and Net Zero Programme, as well as delivering modern, cost-effective real estate service solutions. Innovation and progress are at the heart of our behaviours. We foster a culture of lifelong learning, where curiosity and self-improvement are encouraged. And we're dedicated to becoming a leading, inclusive employer both in the external market and throughout the Civil Service. Our strong emphasis on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) is not just about driving inclusion across our organisation, it is also about ensuring our services meet the needs of government departments and the civil servants who use our spaces. Join our dynamic and diverse team that leads with purpose, improving sustainability, nurturing social value, driving inclusivity and flexibility, and kickstarting economic growth. We are driven by purpose, and you can be part of it too: where you make a meaningful impact; where you influence; where your voice really matters; where you help to shape our future direction. The GPA is committed to representing the communities we serve by making Diversity, Equality and Inclusion part of everything we do. To ensure that we are always recruiting and retaining a diverse mix of talent, we are particularly inviting applications from candidates who are disabled, ethnically or gender diverse, and people who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community.