Job Description Chief Executive Officer Position Title: Employment Period: CHIEF EXECUTIVE Up to 5 years. PD Created/Modified: 4 July 2017 Remuneration: Responsible To: Market related package and commensurate with the importance of the position. Mayor and Council Location: Ranfurly Ct, Kawerau, 3127 a. The Chief Executive of the Council with authority over all other staff as is necessary for the efficient management and execution of the Council s functions. b. Responsible to the Council for the management, control and reporting of Council s total operation. c. The management team report directly to the CE with scope for the senior management team to report and advise the Council, in an unbiased and complete manner, on matters affecting their departments. Primary Purpose: The Chief Executive is responsible for the inspirational leadership, direction and management of Kawerau District Council, and for providing advice to the Mayor and elected members on the identification and development of key strategic objectives and priorities. The Chief Executive is accountable for effectively and prudently managing council resources and for the delivery of excellent customer care and services to ratepayers and visitors, whilst ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation. The Chief Executive is charged with developing organisational culture and capability, decisively leading and empowering the senior management team and staff to deliver on the Council s vision, values and objectives in a coordinated, corporate approach.
The Chief Executive is responsible for leading the organisation through change, driving innovative approaches to best position the Council to create and maximise opportunities as a result of change with the new strategic vision, changing government policy and economic conditions. The Chief Executive acts as an ambassador for the Council to ensure it is fully engaged in a working partnership with its stakeholders and communities to fulfil its community leadership role, building and maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders to influence the development of the district and its communities/iwi. Direct Reports TBC Indirect Reports All staff Functional Relationships: Other Relationships: Mayor Councillors Community Iwi Public and private sector organisations Community organisations and representatives Neighbouring councils Government agencies Business community There is an expectation that the CE will be visible in the community and will attend appropriate and relevant community events.
Key Result Areas: Supporting Governance Excellence To provide clear, timely, appropriate, balanced and unambiguous advice to Council on strategy, goals, objectives, policy and new initiatives for all areas of Council activity; To regularly review and report on issues that could create future risks for Council and advise Council in a timely and transparent fashion; Ensure that all advice and decision making across all areas of Council is fully compliant and consistent with all relevant legislation and codes of practice; To develop and maintain the governance framework ensuring the timely and accurate reporting to Council to enable high quality decisions; and To implement Council decisions as required. Community and Stakeholder Relationship and Organisational Connectivity To work in partnership with elected members in their role as community leaders by advising on building and fostering relationships with community groups, Iwi, other local authorities, business and government and related agencies; To build and maintain strong relationships with local and other key stakeholders to influence the intended direction of Council; Collaborate in partnership with neighbouring councils, advocating for the needs of the district while influencing the wider regional strategy and taking an influential role in major local and regional partnerships; Role model value based leadership with an appreciation of tikanga Māori, advocating and applying the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi throughout the Council; Develop and maintain external and internal engagement and communication methodologies to ensure members, staff, key stakeholders, ratepayers and media are informed on and understand Council s strategic direction, priorities, activities and plans; and To represent and negotiate on behalf of Council at local, regional and national levels with key stakeholders. Strategy To innovatively lead the organisation to deliver its vision and purpose and to proactively look for effective, efficient and relevant ways to deliver community and business friendly services; To shape, communicate and implement strategies and initiatives that support the districts strategic vision across the Council s social, economic, infrastructure and environmental services with a particular focus on supporting and maximising economic growth opportunities in a planned and sustainable manner; To scan for future influences and opportunities which may impact on Council to ensure that it is best placed to respond to the needs of the community into the future; To report regularly and communicate both formally and informally with elected members on progress towards strategic objectives; and To develop and deliver an organisational development strategy that ensures that the organisation has the capability and capacity to deliver the Council s strategic priorities and is sensitive to the needs of a diverse community.
Planning and Reporting To complete the timely preparation of appropriate forward planning documents including but not limited to the Community Outcomes and the Strategic Plan/LTP; To develop and implement a robust annual planning process including financial budgets and plans which meet statutory, timing and quality requirements; To ensure plans are implemented as fully as is practicable to agreed performance standards and within budget including revenue generation; Oversee systems that enable the effective planning and accurate reporting of financial, and nonfinancial goals and plans, levels of service performance and exceptions across all Council activities; To scrutinise and advise Council of the implications on plans of any planned legislative changes or policy intentions from other agencies or central government; and To undertake appropriate community and stakeholder consultation, especially with Iwi, as early as is practicable in the development of strategic plans and to champion diverse needs across Council, the community and stakeholders. Organisational Culture, Leadership and Team Management To provide clear leadership and strategic direction to Council staff to ensure an integrated approach to service provision, programme management, resource allocation and prioritisation to deliver on the strategic intent of Council; To actively manage and promote an organisational culture which ensures the provision of the highest quality, and most effective customer care and service delivery to the community which is empathetic to the diverse needs of customers, ratepayers and Maori; To develop and deliver an organisational development strategy that ensures that the organisation has the capability and capacity to deliver the Council s strategic priorities in a changing and uncertain environment; Provide inspirational, supportive and empathetic leadership to Council staff and to foster effective management and staff practices supported by an organisational wide values based leadership approach; To cultivate a performance culture focusing on exceptional customer service, supported by a robust performance management framework appropriate for a customer/stakeholder facing organisation and which emphasises empowerment, accountability, initiative and continuous improvement in service delivery; To employ on behalf of Council the staff of Council ensuring best practice employment processes and policies are met at all times; To build and maintain a high performing empowered team through effective management, mentoring and communication to position council as an employer of choice ; and To maintain the interaction between elected members, management and staff, with a focus on a collaborative, engaged, and productive working relationship that is appropriate and respectful to the role of governance and operations. Operational Management To take all practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy workplace by promoting and implementing all relevant legislative and regulatory requirements; To ensure compliance by council with all statutory and regulatory provisions applicable to the operation of Council; To have an understanding of cost effective provision of infrastructure for the District;
To promote elected member and staff awareness of statutory and regulatory responsibilities as appropriate; To maintain a constant review of the organisation and its administrative structure making recommendations to Council where major changes are required in the interests of efficiency and effectiveness; To actively manage Council resources to deliver activities in the most efficient and effective manner to achieve agreed organisational outputs; and To maintain sound and robust financial practices and policies to minimise financial risk to Council and maximise return on investment.
Candidate Profile: Key competencies Thinks creatively identifying new frameworks for solutions and creates an environment where existing approaches/thinking are reviewed and enhanced; Active and influential in a wide range of networks with gravitas and highly developed communication and influencing skills that are appropriate and considerate to the audience at hand; Manages stakeholder engagement through highly developed relationship management skills with a values based approach, and is comfortable empowering and enabling relationships between senior managers and elected members; Encourages and fosters team work, performance management, and collaboration to drive improved performance; Effectively utilises the capabilities and experience of staff through delegation, provision of clear performance levels, and providing learning experiences and fostering development opportunities; Ensures the team delivers results within agreed time and resource constraints; Comfortably deals with finding solutions in light of imperfect information, complex issues or ambiguity; Encourages others to search for new opportunities and to take calculated risks; Anticipates and takes responsibility for meeting the needs of Councillors, the community and staff when appropriate; Comfortable leading a varied and complex programme of activities and projects and championing the strategy as well as working at the operation level to support implementation; Demonstrates a commercial understanding and can interpret complex commercial, financial and legal information in an analytical manner; Can clearly articulate and communicate complex and technical information as appropriate to the audience, can hold their own with subject matter experts as well as communicate effectively with nonexperts; Has a flexible approach and is capable of managing a variety of conflicting issues and demands in a calm manner; and Intellectually versatile and able to apply knowledge and skills to a broad range of issues.
Key qualifications and experience A relevant tertiary qualification; Minimum of 5 to 7 years successful leadership of a substantial organisation as a chief executive or senior manager gained in the public or private sector; Demonstrated experience with the setting of a vision and the implementation of a successful programme for its achievement in a complex wide ranging stakeholder environment; A successful track record of developing highly effective and productive relationships with a governing board in a political environment; Experience of tikanga Māori and embedding the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in organisational capability; Significant experience leading, planning and managing projects and initiatives over a broad spectrum of issues; Well versed in developing methodologies, innovatively shaping strategy, and communicating complex and information in a straightforward manner to a wide variety of stakeholders; Extensive experience preparing, managing and controlling complex budgets and capital programmes and in the deployment of resources to achieve objectives; A demonstrated track record of establishing a strong performance management culture which is customer focused, quality driven and allows for the objective measurement of outcomes and value; Management of change in a customer/stakeholder facing organisation; Achieving results in partnership with other organisations ideally including Iwi, the local government sector, business, regional, national and community groups; Experience in local or central government process would be an advantage or demonstrated experience of successful achievement in a complex and regulated environment; and The ability to develop strong productive relationships with key stakeholders.