Job summary
Are you an experienced Learning & Organisational Development professional who thrives on driving culture change, developing leaders, and shaping the future of organisational performance?
Do you want to make a real difference to the staff and patients of Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust?
If so, we'd love you to join our passionate and high-performing L&OD team.
As our Senior Learning & Organisational Development Manager, you will play a pivotal leadership role in designing, delivering, and embedding impactful L&OD interventions that directly contribute to our 5 Star Patient Care Strategy.
This is a highly influential position where you'll work across the organisation -- partnering with senior leaders, coaching teams, analysing complex data, and leading Trust-wide programmes that improve staff experience, service performance, culture, and patient outcomes.
Main duties of the job
You'll bring expertise in organisational diagnostics, leadership development, and change methodologies -- using evidence-based approaches to transform how we work and how we grow.
This is your opportunity to shape a modern, innovative, and compassionate workforce culture that empowers colleagues and strengthens patient care.
What You'll Be Doing
- Lead and influence Trust-wide L&OD programmes
- Use evidence and diagnostics to drive organisational change
- Coach leaders and teams to embed new ways of working
- Manage key L&OD functions and digital learning solutions
- Line manage the Learning & OD Manager
You will be
- Experienced in delivering complex L&OD or OD programmes
- Skilled in analysing and interpreting organisational data
- A strong communicator able to present complex information confidently
- A natural coach who empowers others
- Able to work autonomously with professional judgement
- Passionate about people, culture, and improvement
Why Join Us?
- Make a meaningful impact on people and patient care
- Supportive senior L&OD leadership team
- Strong opportunities to grow and develop your expertise
- Influence Trust-wide strategy and culture
Ready to Lead, Inspire and Transform?
If you're excited by the prospect of shaping organisational culture and enabling excellence across our hospitals, we'd love to hear from you.
Apply today and help us deliver outstanding care through outstanding people.
About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our Services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
- Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Job description
Job responsibilities
Communication
- Produce, analyse and communicate highly complex, sensitive and contentious information for a diverse range of clinical and non-clinical staff both internally and externally about operational and interpersonal processes. Present the current situation initially through information and data gathered during observation and formal diagnostics, and through the interpretation of performance data.
- Discuss and present highly complex, sensitive and contentious information through different media channels to individuals and staff groups throughout the project life cycle, combining data gathered from workplace observations, specialist OD diagnostics and via the various Trust information systems to secure the cooperation and staff buy-in to the project.
- Present detailed and complex information to Board and senior leadership, such as staff survey results, and facilitate action planning across their portfolio using this data.
- Apply a coaching approach to empower teams and services across the Trust, recognising that solutions lie within the teams while facilitating sustainable change that becomes embedded in future ways of working.
- Communicate sensitive and confidential information effectively while fulfilling line management and leadership responsibilities within the L&OD team and across the wider HR Directorate.
- Communicate professionally and effectively with external suppliers regarding contracts for services such as coaching, leadership development, staff survey delivery, and OD diagnostics.
Knowledge Training and Experience
- Responsible for coaching, mentoring, and supporting staff, individually and collectively, throughout the employee lifecycle. This includes the use of teaching tools, techniques, and approaches, and leveraging their own extensive practical experience to ensure that theoretical concepts are effectively translated into new ways of working.
- Use their highly developed specialist knowledge of L&OD diagnostic and improvement methodologies e.g., McKinsey 7S, AffinaOD, TED, Burke-Litwin and a range of leadership models.
- Expected to understand and apply emerging models such as the NHS Management and Leadership Development Framework to their work.
- As a senior member of the L&OD team, be adaptable and willing to learn new skills to carry out duties across the whole L&OD portfolio as directed by the Assistant Director of L&OD.
Analytical and Judgement Skills
- Collect, analyse, and interpret complex qualitative and quantitative data to produce robust recommendations that address operational challenges and workforce performance issues.
- Lead the delivery and analysis of the National Staff Survey with the support of the wider L&OD team and use the data to inform the development of support and interventions.
- Make judgments about when to escalate problems that prevent programmes of work achieving their planned result. These decisions will draw on highly developed specialist expertise in programme management and the application of L&OD diagnostic and improvement methodologies, balancing the risk of disengagement, to keep the programme on track.
- Analyse a range of diagnostic tools and data sets to inform decisions, shaping the delivery of options and approaches that enable effective change and development programmes across the organisation.
Planning & Organisational
- Support the Assistant Director of L&OD and the Head of L&OD in shaping and delivering complex & strategic programmes for the team, making informed adjustments in response to insights gained from data analysis and emerging organisational priorities.
- Manage individual projects across the spread of the L&OD portfolio as directed by the Assistant Director of L&OD, coordinating the input of a wide range of stakeholders from across the organisation to achieve improved operational performance and quality.
- Develop and manage a comprehensive database of all L&OD projects/programmes across the Trust.
- Schedule large scale Trust-wide programmes such as the National Staff Survey to make the most efficient use of resources.
Physical Skills
- Transport and set up stationery and IT equipment required to present data from multiple sources in various formats to stakeholders both within and outside the Trust.
- Required to travel to different sites across the organisation and externally.
- Work within both clinical and non-clinical environments alongside front-line staff, delivering duties in close proximity to patients within care settings.
Responsibility for Patient/Client Care
- Proactively raise any concerns related to people, patient safety, or patient experience identified while gathering data.
Responsibility for Policy/Service Development
- Propose and support the implementation of L&OD interventions that enhance service delivery across the Trust, ensuring alignment at service, departmental, and divisional levels throughout all projects.
- Lead the design and implementation of complex L&OD interventions across pathways, working beyond traditional multidisciplinary boundaries to align L&OD services and staff around shared project objectives and organisational priorities.
- Contribute to and support the Head of L&OD in the on-going development of the L&OD teams function.
- Responsible for the development of appropriate policies and procedures and actively contribute to broader HR processes to ensure compliance, consistency, and best practice across the organisation.
Responsibility for Financial & Physical Resource
- Ensure each project includes a clear financial plan for required expenditure and/or demonstrates measurable impact on cost improvement or reduction.
- Manage all allocated physical and IT resources and provide advice to the Head of L&OD on any additional expenditure required to support projects, including OD diagnostics, external contracts, and the staff survey.
Responsibility for Human Resources
- Provide direct line management for the L&OD Manager, including responsibility for appraisals, mandatory training compliance, managing disciplinary matters, and overseeing all forms of absence (e.g., annual leave, sickness, study leave).
- Informs the work of the wider L&OD team in agreed areas of their work drawing on their own significant experience to guide and support them.
Responsibility for Information Resources
- Identify the need for and lead the design of systems that collate, analyse, and disseminate information to wider audiences, including data from staff surveys and governance reporting requirements.
- Accountable for the design and implementation of digital learning solutions and process efficiencies, leveraging technology to enhance accessibility, scalability, and user experience across organisational development initiatives.
Responsibility for Research and Development
- Regularly assess services and processes using a range of diagnostic, observational, and analytical tools to identify opportunities for improvement and inform organisational development initiatives.
- Use data gathered as an initial indicator to conduct deeper analysis of processes and systems, generating evidence to inform and influence organisational change.
- Research a wide range of sources, including emerging best practice, national policy, and academic literature, and use these insights to inform processes and enhance the methods and approaches to L&OD improvement adopted by the team.
Freedom to Act
- Initiate L&OD projects under own direction, applying highly developed specialist knowledge to shape project scope and progress, while adapting to emerging data and incorporating input from frontline staff.
- Provide regular progress updates, including any barriers, risks, anticipated outcomes, and exceptions. Using their own judgment, they should determine when to report by exception or escalate issues, take all necessary remedial actions, and ensure that the appropriate stakeholders are informed and corrective measures are implemented.
- Prepare and present formal reports to Trust committees, governing bodies, and external partners, exercising professional judgment to select the most appropriate media and content for effective communication.
Mental Effort
- Generate primary data from L&OD diagnostics and observations in the workplace, plus referrals from services or HR.
- Work requires sustained periods of concentration and a flexible approach to adapt to changing circumstances arising from the unpredictable nature of the role.
Working Conditions
- Work in clinical and non-clinical areas alongside front-line staff in the delivery of their duties and close to patients in their care setting.
- Travel across all MWL sites to support teams and deliver objectives, and beyond Trust locations to engage with regional and national networks.
- Required to spend extended periods using Display Screen Equipment in an office environment.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Communication
- Produce, analyse and communicate highly complex, sensitive and contentious information for a diverse range of clinical and non-clinical staff both internally and externally about operational and interpersonal processes. Present the current situation initially through information and data gathered during observation and formal diagnostics, and through the interpretation of performance data.
- Discuss and present highly complex, sensitive and contentious information through different media channels to individuals and staff groups throughout the project life cycle, combining data gathered from workplace observations, specialist OD diagnostics and via the various Trust information systems to secure the cooperation and staff buy-in to the project.
- Present detailed and complex information to Board and senior leadership, such as staff survey results, and facilitate action planning across their portfolio using this data.
- Apply a coaching approach to empower teams and services across the Trust, recognising that solutions lie within the teams while facilitating sustainable change that becomes embedded in future ways of working.
- Communicate sensitive and confidential information effectively while fulfilling line management and leadership responsibilities within the L&OD team and across the wider HR Directorate.
- Communicate professionally and effectively with external suppliers regarding contracts for services such as coaching, leadership development, staff survey delivery, and OD diagnostics.
Knowledge Training and Experience
- Responsible for coaching, mentoring, and supporting staff, individually and collectively, throughout the employee lifecycle. This includes the use of teaching tools, techniques, and approaches, and leveraging their own extensive practical experience to ensure that theoretical concepts are effectively translated into new ways of working.
- Use their highly developed specialist knowledge of L&OD diagnostic and improvement methodologies e.g., McKinsey 7S, AffinaOD, TED, Burke-Litwin and a range of leadership models.
- Expected to understand and apply emerging models such as the NHS Management and Leadership Development Framework to their work.
- As a senior member of the L&OD team, be adaptable and willing to learn new skills to carry out duties across the whole L&OD portfolio as directed by the Assistant Director of L&OD.
Analytical and Judgement Skills
- Collect, analyse, and interpret complex qualitative and quantitative data to produce robust recommendations that address operational challenges and workforce performance issues.
- Lead the delivery and analysis of the National Staff Survey with the support of the wider L&OD team and use the data to inform the development of support and interventions.
- Make judgments about when to escalate problems that prevent programmes of work achieving their planned result. These decisions will draw on highly developed specialist expertise in programme management and the application of L&OD diagnostic and improvement methodologies, balancing the risk of disengagement, to keep the programme on track.
- Analyse a range of diagnostic tools and data sets to inform decisions, shaping the delivery of options and approaches that enable effective change and development programmes across the organisation.
Planning & Organisational
- Support the Assistant Director of L&OD and the Head of L&OD in shaping and delivering complex & strategic programmes for the team, making informed adjustments in response to insights gained from data analysis and emerging organisational priorities.
- Manage individual projects across the spread of the L&OD portfolio as directed by the Assistant Director of L&OD, coordinating the input of a wide range of stakeholders from across the organisation to achieve improved operational performance and quality.
- Develop and manage a comprehensive database of all L&OD projects/programmes across the Trust.
- Schedule large scale Trust-wide programmes such as the National Staff Survey to make the most efficient use of resources.
Physical Skills
- Transport and set up stationery and IT equipment required to present data from multiple sources in various formats to stakeholders both within and outside the Trust.
- Required to travel to different sites across the organisation and externally.
- Work within both clinical and non-clinical environments alongside front-line staff, delivering duties in close proximity to patients within care settings.
Responsibility for Patient/Client Care
- Proactively raise any concerns related to people, patient safety, or patient experience identified while gathering data.
Responsibility for Policy/Service Development
- Propose and support the implementation of L&OD interventions that enhance service delivery across the Trust, ensuring alignment at service, departmental, and divisional levels throughout all projects.
- Lead the design and implementation of complex L&OD interventions across pathways, working beyond traditional multidisciplinary boundaries to align L&OD services and staff around shared project objectives and organisational priorities.
- Contribute to and support the Head of L&OD in the on-going development of the L&OD teams function.
- Responsible for the development of appropriate policies and procedures and actively contribute to broader HR processes to ensure compliance, consistency, and best practice across the organisation.
Responsibility for Financial & Physical Resource
- Ensure each project includes a clear financial plan for required expenditure and/or demonstrates measurable impact on cost improvement or reduction.
- Manage all allocated physical and IT resources and provide advice to the Head of L&OD on any additional expenditure required to support projects, including OD diagnostics, external contracts, and the staff survey.
Responsibility for Human Resources
- Provide direct line management for the L&OD Manager, including responsibility for appraisals, mandatory training compliance, managing disciplinary matters, and overseeing all forms of absence (e.g., annual leave, sickness, study leave).
- Informs the work of the wider L&OD team in agreed areas of their work drawing on their own significant experience to guide and support them.
Responsibility for Information Resources
- Identify the need for and lead the design of systems that collate, analyse, and disseminate information to wider audiences, including data from staff surveys and governance reporting requirements.
- Accountable for the design and implementation of digital learning solutions and process efficiencies, leveraging technology to enhance accessibility, scalability, and user experience across organisational development initiatives.
Responsibility for Research and Development
- Regularly assess services and processes using a range of diagnostic, observational, and analytical tools to identify opportunities for improvement and inform organisational development initiatives.
- Use data gathered as an initial indicator to conduct deeper analysis of processes and systems, generating evidence to inform and influence organisational change.
- Research a wide range of sources, including emerging best practice, national policy, and academic literature, and use these insights to inform processes and enhance the methods and approaches to L&OD improvement adopted by the team.
Freedom to Act
- Initiate L&OD projects under own direction, applying highly developed specialist knowledge to shape project scope and progress, while adapting to emerging data and incorporating input from frontline staff.
- Provide regular progress updates, including any barriers, risks, anticipated outcomes, and exceptions. Using their own judgment, they should determine when to report by exception or escalate issues, take all necessary remedial actions, and ensure that the appropriate stakeholders are informed and corrective measures are implemented.
- Prepare and present formal reports to Trust committees, governing bodies, and external partners, exercising professional judgment to select the most appropriate media and content for effective communication.
Mental Effort
- Generate primary data from L&OD diagnostics and observations in the workplace, plus referrals from services or HR.
- Work requires sustained periods of concentration and a flexible approach to adapt to changing circumstances arising from the unpredictable nature of the role.
Working Conditions
- Work in clinical and non-clinical areas alongside front-line staff in the delivery of their duties and close to patients in their care setting.
- Travel across all MWL sites to support teams and deliver objectives, and beyond Trust locations to engage with regional and national networks.
- Required to spend extended periods using Display Screen Equipment in an office environment.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Masters Degree in a relevant subject eg Leadership / Management or demonstrable equivalent experience
- Educated to degree level, ideally in the area of HR, OD, Occupational Psychology or equivalent demonstrable experience.
- Highly developed specialist knowledge, through experience or professional qualification in the areas of OD; culture, engagement and change management experience.
Desirable
- Accredited coach and/or mentoring qualification.
- 5Professional Registration eg BPS, CIPD or equivalent.XA/C
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Significant experience of developing and implementing large scale leadership and Organisational Development interventions at a senior level.
- Track record of building leadership capability, team and individual development, facilitation, and OD skills.
- Experience of working in an organisational development function which has enabled business transformation.
- Significant experience of supporting and building effective relationships with partners, leaders and managers at all levels in the organisational setting.
- Experience of creating, commissioning and implementing innovative leadership and organisational development programmes.
- Theories and/or best-practice underpinning organisational development and change.
- A track record of delivering high quality results at pace.
- Experience of coaching and/or mentoring leaders.
- Production and delivery of reports and presentations to audiences of various sizes and levels
Desirable
- Knowledge of the NHS context.
- Good understanding of clinical flows and pathways in the NHS environment.
- Demonstrable experience of capability and capacity for service management at a senior level in a complex hospital environment.
Skills
Essential
- Confidence and credibility to operate at a senior level.
- Delivery experience at a senior level in large, complex organisations.
- Demonstrate a strong understanding of multidisciplinary issues and commitment to multidisciplinary working.
- IT literate; proficient in the use of Microsoft Office packages.
- Excellent negotiation and influencing skills.
Desirable
- Practical understanding of the NHS staff survey.
Other
Essential
- Evidence of substantial experience of effective staff management & day to day supervision.
- Experience of developing and implementing new systems and procedures.
- Practical experience of the use of data systems to support operational planning, delivery & assessment.
- Be prepared to travel to multiple sites.
- Office based role with occasion to present to large groups online or classroom based.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Masters Degree in a relevant subject eg Leadership / Management or demonstrable equivalent experience
- Educated to degree level, ideally in the area of HR, OD, Occupational Psychology or equivalent demonstrable experience.
- Highly developed specialist knowledge, through experience or professional qualification in the areas of OD; culture, engagement and change management experience.
Desirable
- Accredited coach and/or mentoring qualification.
- 5Professional Registration eg BPS, CIPD or equivalent.XA/C
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Significant experience of developing and implementing large scale leadership and Organisational Development interventions at a senior level.
- Track record of building leadership capability, team and individual development, facilitation, and OD skills.
- Experience of working in an organisational development function which has enabled business transformation.
- Significant experience of supporting and building effective relationships with partners, leaders and managers at all levels in the organisational setting.
- Experience of creating, commissioning and implementing innovative leadership and organisational development programmes.
- Theories and/or best-practice underpinning organisational development and change.
- A track record of delivering high quality results at pace.
- Experience of coaching and/or mentoring leaders.
- Production and delivery of reports and presentations to audiences of various sizes and levels
Desirable
- Knowledge of the NHS context.
- Good understanding of clinical flows and pathways in the NHS environment.
- Demonstrable experience of capability and capacity for service management at a senior level in a complex hospital environment.
Skills
Essential
- Confidence and credibility to operate at a senior level.
- Delivery experience at a senior level in large, complex organisations.
- Demonstrate a strong understanding of multidisciplinary issues and commitment to multidisciplinary working.
- IT literate; proficient in the use of Microsoft Office packages.
- Excellent negotiation and influencing skills.
Desirable
- Practical understanding of the NHS staff survey.
Other
Essential
- Evidence of substantial experience of effective staff management & day to day supervision.
- Experience of developing and implementing new systems and procedures.
- Practical experience of the use of data systems to support operational planning, delivery & assessment.
- Be prepared to travel to multiple sites.
- Office based role with occasion to present to large groups online or classroom based.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
