Chief Executive Officer King’s College London Students’ Union Appointment Brief December 2017
Chief Executive Officer
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Appointment Brief | December 2017
Introduction from the President Thank you for your interest in being a part of KCLSU. KCLSU is every student at King’s College London. We are run by the students for the students. We work together to make sure that our students have the best university experience possible. I am the first overseas student to become President of KCLSU in its 144-year history. I am proud to say that over the last few years we have been on a journey – a journey which has seen a significant growth in regards to our income, space and commercial venues, our diversity, and our communication and engagement with our students. We’ve worked hard to help King’s students connect to each other, through our student bars and cafés, over 300 student groups and thousands of events. We’re in the midst of an exciting digital transformation to reshape our systems, our use of data and how we communicate with our 30,000 members across our campuses. We’ve also provided advice and supported King’s students to get involved and make a difference. This has meant that 2016/17 was a record year for us across all our objectives. We are now in the last year of our current five year plan (which we lovingly call our Big Plan) and are looking for a new CEO to support us in developing our next strategic plan. We are looking for an inspirational leader who can work with our senior leadership team to build on our successes and be brave enough to pioneer new approaches in the face of a rapidly changing context. Ultimately you will work with our Board – 70% of which is made up of Kings’ students – to create a vision and culture that enables us to achieve our full potential. This involves working closely with our elected Student Officers to support them in their campaigns, communications and engagement with creativity and enthusiasm. You will be responsible
for ensuring that officers progress and further develop our relationship with King’s College London and our other stakeholders, and that the organisation stays true to our values. You will be motivated to work with the exceptional young people from all over the globe that come to study at King’s College London - one of the top 25 universities in the world (2016-17 QS international world rankings). King’s provides world-class teaching and cutting-edge research with an overall annual income of nearly £738 million, and in addition to this, KCLSU has stable funding, with an annual income of £6.4 million. This will be a very exciting time for a new CEO to join KCLSU as we move into our new space in the iconic Bush House on the Strand, which used to be the old BBC World Service HQ. The state of the art facilities will provide our students’ union with an ideal launch pad for the next stages of our development. With a proud history of student unionism, King’s was also home to one of my predecessors as President of KCLSU - Ivison Macadam who founded and became the first President of the National Union of Students in 1922. The legacy of Macadam lives on with KCLSU currently rated “very good” by NUS, and receiving an award for our diversity last year. One of the largest students’ unions in the country we are also in the top 1.5% bracket of charities by income in the UK. With six elected officers, 60+ non-student staff and 150 student staff it’s an exciting organisation doing serious work for our members. So if you want to make sure every student at King’s has the best possible experience at university, please read on! Momin Saqib President of KCLSU
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Who We Are Every student at King’s is automatically a member of King’s College London Students’ Union (KCLSU). Together with our members, we are a union of students where individuals connect, have fun, build communities, share experiences, and make change. We’re run by students, for students. Our decisions, policies and what we do are decided by our 30,000 student members, and we use our staff team of 220, our income of £6.4 million and our range of social, commercial, office and activity spaces on various campuses to deliver our Big Plan strategy. As a democratic charity and membership organisation, students lead us at every level, including our majority student trustee board. Our student members elect the Student Officers, Student Councillors and Student Reps they want representing them. As well as empowering our student members to share and use their voice, there are loads of other ways they can get involved with their Students’ Union including: •• Accessing impartial and confidential support from KCLSU Advice •• Getting involved with joining, leading or creating one or more of the 330+ student-led activity groups, societies and sports clubs •• Socialising and connecting in one of our three bars and two cafés •• Buying student friendly priced ethical clothing through our Union Shop •• Making a difference through volunteering and fundraising •• Shaping their experience through Student Reps, Student Council and Student Officers
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•• Working for us as part of our Student Staff Team •• Discovering the capital with our KCLSU Events programme
Our Mission We’re a union of students. We connect with each other, create and build communities together, and share our interests with one another. Together, we make a difference for each other and the world around us.
Appointment Brief | December 2017
Our Values
Recent Achievements In 2014 we put in place a five-year strategic plan - called our Big Plan because we thought big! The Big Plan 2014-2019 set out our focus for these five years so that every valued KCLSU member could make the most of their time at King’s and leave ready and able to shape the future. Here are our key successes in 2016/17 (Year 3 of the Big Plan), another strong year for KCLSU as we continued to grow our communication and engagement across all areas of our work:
Support, information and advice for student life •• Implemented the recommendations from our Advice Review, which allowed us to support over 1,200 students to resolve their problems. Following the help from the advice team,
students reported a significant reduction in their levels of worry. •• Worked in partnership with King’s College
London to tackle sexual harassment, through the It Stops Here project.
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•• Developed a new peer support scheme for students in the Health Schools, and tripled the number of societies delivering Widening Participation outreach to over 500 children and young people across London.
Building a Students’ Union for all •• Secured double the physical space for our members at the Strand Campus, as part of the renovation of the recently acquired Bush House Buildings. •• Re-launched Guy’s Bar and opened The Shed Café – offering affordable, ethically sourced food and drink at Guy’s Campus. •• Responded to over 32,000 enquiries through Student Centres (now called KCLSU Hubs) across four campuses, from simple questions to more complex issues. •• Launched a Digital Transformation programme to develop our ability to communicate with members from all student communities – particularly those who don’t use KCLSU spaces. Our Digital Transformation will also improve our internal systems and use of data to ensure students have the best student experience possible. •• Reached thousands of students who had never engaged with the Union before through social media, powered by engaging video content.
Supporting student-led communities •• Over-achieved our target of memberships of clubs and societies, with a total of 11,395 memberships across our sports and activity groups. •• Trained 628 student leaders from our sports teams and activity groups, so that they could lead financially sustainable and inclusive communities. Page: 6
•• Supported students to log over 8,300 hours of volunteering time, play 33 Varsity fixtures, and 425 sports competition entries. •• Supported our newly formed and emerging student associations to become established, active and supportive communities for liberation, international, postgraduate, mature and widening participation. •• Improved our external speakers and room booking systems. We also improved the process of marketing student events so they get a wider audience.
Empowering student change-makers •• Successfully delivered our new campaigns process, supporting 10 student-led campaigns that between them gained support from 2,499 students, and organised 396 active campaigners. •• Saw an increase in the number of Liberation History Month events this year, doubled the number of Black History Month events and tripled the number of LGBT+ History Month events. •• Delivered a 66% increase in votes in our Spring Elections with 6,200 votes cast.
Values in action •• Grown our commercial enterprises by over 40% this year. •• Retained our Excellence Green Impact Award and won a Best Bar None Gold Award for the third year in a row. •• Won a diversity award from the NUS in recognition of our commitment to equality and diversity
Appointment Brief | December 2017
The Future As we arrive at the final year of our Big Plan we’re coming to the end of some exciting projects that will transform our ability to build a student community with our members. Big estates moves for two of our three sites combined with an improved grant formula and relationship agreement with the University, as well as a transformed student decision-making structure, have created the opportunity for significant growth in student engagement across our activities and the chance to continue our growth through improved and expanded commercial performance. Our next Chief Executive will lead on capitalising on these opportunities. Key Focus for next 3 years What’s involved Building a Better Union
Working with the Director of Operations and relevant student officers; continuing expansion of KCLSU space: •• Opening the new development in Bush House at the Strand campus for Sept 2018. •• Ensuring opportunities for KCLSU redevelopment of the Macadam Building project at the Strand Campus (short term - Sept 2018; short term and long term 2025). •• Securing investment for and ownership of proposed Student Social Space at Denmark Hill – target construction Spring 2019. •• Making the case for KCLSU presence at St Thomas’.
Digital Transformation
Working with the Director of Digital and Communications to maximise the results from a major new investment to deliver on our digital transformation roadmap: •• Maximising opportunities with our CRM to tailor our communications – moving from broadcast to conversation and developing our insight capabilities. •• Enhancing our digital communications with students – connecting with our students in a way that’s relevant to them through a new website, app and social media. •• Engaging those students that have never engaged with the Union before, by taking the Union “on tour” to spaces where they are rather than asking them to come to us.
Community Engagement
Working with the Director of Community Engagement, implement the Community Engagement Strategy: •• Developing a model and action plan for deepening and broadening engagement in KCLSU sports, activities, volunteering and representation across all demographics, levels of study and modes of study. •• Developing an understanding of working towards a liberated union; working with our communities to understand and remove barriers to engagement. Page: 7
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Commercial Growth
Working with the Director of Commercial Services and relevant student officers; continuing the expansion of KCLSU income generated activities in line with our values: •• Increasing the financial contribution of outlets. •• Growing our retail presence across sites and increasing alcohol free events and venues. •• Capitalising on venue hire and events development.
The Bigger Plan
August 2018 will be the start of the fifth and final year of the Big Plan. By June 2018 the new Chief Executive will have agreed with the Board the approach to the Big Plan’s successor. They will be the staff lead on ensuring the process is student led with appropriate stakeholder engagement, an appropriate approach to assessing opportunities and risks and an understanding of the new King’s 2029 context and wider HE landscape changes.
Financial Overview KCLSU is in a strong financial position. Income for year ending July 2017 increased across both the grant we receive from the university and our commercial venues. We made an operating surplus of £70k during the year, although the statutory accounts show a £292k adjustment for historic pension liabilities. This is purely due to a change in how we account for our pension liabilities, and does not have an impact on the overall financial position of KCLSU. We have £1.2m cash reserves and are projecting continued growth in both income and surplus in the coming years.
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Appointment Brief | December 2017
Organisation Chart
Chief Executive Officer
Head of People and Development
Head of Finance
Community Engagement Director
Digital and Communications Director
Director of Operations
Commercial Director
Head of Community Engagement and Opportunities
Head of IT
Head of Business and Development
Head of Community Development and Campaigns
Head of Brand, Marketing and PR
Head of Strand Commercial Development
Head of Advice and Support
Head of Guy’s Commercial Development
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Job Description JOB TITLE:
Chief Executive Officer
REPORTING TO: Trustee Board RESPONSIBLE FOR: Director of Community Engagement Director of Operations Commercial Director Director of Digital and Communications Head of People and Development Head of Finance Finance Advisor (consultant) LIAISON WITH OTHER PERSONNEL
JOB PURPOSE:
Trustees, Student Leaders, Senior University staff, Union staff, Students’ Union sector and wider charity leaders
Overall responsibility for: 1. The strategic vision and appropriate leadership to ensure the delivery of maximum impact with and for our Union membership. 2. The Union performance, values and compliance within the Students’ Union’s governance and accountability structures. 3. The culture and systems necessary to ensure the effective operational leadership to the staff team in a student led setting.
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Appointment Brief | December 2017
MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Strategic leadership: •• Ensure the strategy is developed and implemented to meet the charitable objectives of the Students’ Union in line with student led values. •• Lead the development and delivery of long-term strategic planning with appropriate engagement of students, Student Officers, staff, and stakeholders. •• Ensure that KCLSU strategic plans, and the Commercial, Estates, Community Engagement and Digital Transformational plans that underpin it, are linked to a viable long-term financial strategy, which is approved and regularly reviewed by the Trustee Board. •• Lead on creating a staff and governance culture that enables good governance, effective performance and staff and Student Officer wellbeing. •• Ensure that the organisation attracts, retains and motivates committed and effective staff. Support student leadership and governance: •• Promote democracy, membership engagement and student leadership. •• Ensure comprehensive inductions and continuing professional, ‘political’ and personal support is provided to the elected Student Officers. •• Support the Trustee Board and assist with the recruitment and induction of volunteer student trustees and independent external trustees. •• Support Student Representation, attending meetings and providing advice to Officers and members. •• Advise Officers, Trustees and relevant student leadership on their responsibilities within the legal framework that applies to KCLSU (e.g. Charity Law, Education Act, Licensing legislation and health and safety). Ensure that the
Students’ Union has, and reviews, procedures to maintain its accountability to its members. •• Ensure compliance with all legal and financial requirements, and with Charity Commission guidance on good governance. Lead the Senior Leadership Team (SLT): •• Provide effective and visible values based operational leadership. •• Ensure that the SLT work effectively together with the Student Officers. •• Ensure appropriate accountability and responsibility for performance to deliver on the Students’ Union’s goals and values. •• Promote and support continual professional development. Manage and develop key relationships: •• Student Officers – provide personal and professional guidance and support to Student Officers and encourage development of their relationships with the SLT and Students’ Union staff. •• Staff – work with the SLT to deliver consistently good internal communications and effective performance management for all staff. •• University – maintain good personal relationships, and advise the Student Officers on their relationships, with senior University Officers and staff. •• National Union of Students (NUS) – develop good personal relationships with key staff, and appropriate Officers, of NUS and associated national organisations, and advise the Officers on managing their relations. •• Local community and the wider charity sector – ensure that the Students’ Union has good relations with relevant charity and community leaders and organisations. Page: 11
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Operational management:
Other responsibilities:
•• Ensure the Students’ Union is managed and operates in alignment with the objectives and goals set out in the strategic plan.
•• Ensure appropriate decision making in incident response.
•• Review and develop performance measures to ensure the Trustee Board have a clear oversight of progress towards strategic goals. •• Ensure that organisational values are understood by staff, reflected in their behaviour, and championed by the SLT. •• Ensure that the Students’ Union’s estates developments deliver maximum impact for students and are maintained to a high standard, and developed to meet changing needs. •• Ensure that there are effective arrangements for business planning and departmental performance review. •• Ensure that the SLT are given appropriate support and guidance to develop operational strategies for their areas of responsibility. •• Ensure that there are effective procedures to manage risk and seize opportunities.
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•• Ensure that the Students’ Union has a positive reputation in the University, locally and nationally, supported by effective networking and public relations strategies. •• Ensure both student and staff facing policies and processes are appropriate for changing organisational need e.g. external speakers’ policy, staff and student discipline, in accordance with Students’ Union policies. •• Ensure arrangements are in place for an annual performance appraisal, providing student and external trustees with the opportunity to establish objectives and evaluate the performance of the Chief Executive and consider proposals for continual professional development.
Appointment Brief | December 2017
Person Specification Professional experience •• Working within a membership organisation, with a strong understanding of member’s needs. •• Developing and implementing organisational strategy in collaboration with stakeholders resulting in successful organisational development.
communication measures to inform stakeholders of the impact of the Students’ Union. •• Listening and reflecting in communication with others. Personal qualities •• Handling interpersonal relationships effectively and empathetically.
•• Providing strong and effective leadership.
•• Demonstrating high emotional intelligence.
•• Project Management experience. Prince II experience desirable.
•• Inspiring others at every level of the organisation and beyond.
•• Managing in a range of settings and styles.
•• Providing vision and innovation with a passion for excellence.
•• Managing complex corporate governance structures.
Attitude
•• Developing relationships with, and balancing the needs of, a broad range of stakeholders.
•• Facilitative leadership style and able to put
•• Managing, interpreting and planning finances to ensure sustainability.
•• Values driven with a strong moral compass.
•• Working with and embracing diversity opportunities. Leadership skills •• Demonstrating a flexible approach to leadership and willingness and ability to work in a studentled setting adjusting styles as necessary. •• Mobilising the collective energy of stakeholders to achieve true collaboration. •• Developing and coaching others, providing personalised support. •• Managing change effectively to build strong teams and deliver impact. •• A leadership qualification such as ILM level 5 or above is desirable. Communication skills •• Communicating confidently with a wide range of people to quickly build trust. •• Experience of a variety of different
others before themselves.
•• Resilient and displays positive energy and drive. •• Non-judgemental and able to demonstrate points of view appropriately. •• Displays and actively encourages a ‘can do’ attitude.
Benefits Annual leave: 25 days (plus 8 bank holidays, plus 5 discretionary closure days). Pension: Matched employer contribution, up to 6%. Discounts on food at venues (currently 25% in the bars and 10% in cafes), and free soft drinks on tap in the bars. Free fruit, tea and coffee. Free sporting classes (e.g. Yoga, Spin Class) Study leave, volunteering leave or personal development leave. Flexible working arrangements. Full benefits available on request. Page: 13
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Appointment Brief | December 2017
How to Apply To apply for this position, please upload a comprehensive CV and a supporting statement of no more than two pages of A4 on our website. Please ensure that your application fully addresses the appointment criteria in the person specification. We ask that you complete the equal opportunities information online when you submit your application via our website. The information collected will be treated as confidential, used for statistical purposes only, and will not be treated as part of your application. We would also be grateful if you could let us know if you will require any special provision as a result of any disability should you be called for interview. Finally please ensure that you have included mobile, work and home telephone numbers, as well as any dates when you will not be available or might have difficulty with the indicative timetable. Applications should be made via the Prospectus website at: http://www.prospect-us.co.uk/executive/job/ HQ00171525 Applications can also be posted to: Sarah Hill Prospectus, 20-22 Stukeley Street
Timetable Closing date: Wednesday 7th February 2018 Initial interviews with Prospectus: 12-14th February 2018 Panel interviews and meeting stakeholders: Monday 19th February 2018 These dates may be subject to change and applicants will be advised in advance should this happen. Recruitment Process Should you decide to make a formal application, you will receive feedback within seven working days of the closing date. Shortlisted candidates may be required to undertake an additional assessment prior to the final interview. The successful appointment is subject to a satisfactory criminal records disclosure and written references. Queries If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information or would like to have an informal discussion, please contact Anna Gardet or Selam Petros on 020 7691 1920 or via email at anna.gardet@prospect-us. co.uk or selam.petros@prospect-us.co.uk
London WC2B 5LR
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