SHiFT Practice Development Leads are expert practitioners, driven to radically improve outcomes for young people caught in cycles of crime and related harms. They have the skills and professional confidence to influence, challenge, and support others to deliver exceptional outcomes for children, young people, and families within complex systems and multiagency contexts.
Practice Development Leads are the main day-to-day interface and point of contact between the national SHiFT team and our Practices. Your ability to get alongside Practices and support and challenge them to put SHiFT's vision and practice model into action is paramount to our success. SHiFT Practices are 'insider-outsiders'. One key consequence of this is that SHiFT Guides (our practitioners) are employed by the Host Organisation (typically a Local Authority) rather than by SHiFT. We believe that working in this way is an important part of how we robustly test our ways of working and drive systems change but this is a challenging setup and requires exceptional relationship building and influencing skills with a large dose of tenacity and 'can do' problem solving. Working in 'the SHiFT Way' is, by definition, different from 'business as usual'. Your expertise as an experienced practitioner is critical in creating the context for SHiFT Practices to be able to do their best work - equipping them with the intensive ongoing support and challenge needed to maximise impact for children and families, and working alongside Lead Guides and Operational Leads to ensure that the Practice is an embedded, valued, and influential part of the Host Organisation to maximise its impact for systems change. To thrive in this role, you'll need to be comfortable with discomfort and ambiguity, an effective and unflappable multitasker, a clear and thoughtful communicator, and an experienced and ambitious practitioner driven by SHiFT's mission to break the destructive cycle of crime.
The overarching responsibility of a SHiFT Practice Development Lead is to ensure the consistent implementation and ongoing development of SHiFT's practice model to (1) achieve exceptional evidenced outcomes for children, young people, and families; and (2) influence broader systems change.
SHiFT's practice model is based on Breaking Cycles, a dynamic and evidenced approach to enabling change, created by one of SHiFT's Founders, Sophie Humphreys OBE. Breaking Cycles informs all aspects of our Systemic, Anti-racist, and Anti-oppressive practice model. Our practice principles are the invisible rules that guide our practice. The key responsibilities of Practice Development Leads are structured around these practice principles:
DO THE RIGHT THING BY THE CHILD Use SHiFT's quality assurance and quality improvement processes to embed SHiFT's practice model in practice. Have a detailed understanding of the children in the Practices you oversee, and Guides' work with them, to challenge decisions with specific, detailed, and balanced oversight. Identify and challenge practice that doesn't do the right thing by the child and identify and amplify exemplary practice that embodies this principle. Escalate it, progress actions arising, and identify and share learning from it to Monthly Partnership meetings (with Host Organisation colleagues), Local SHiFT Boards (within Host Organisations), and SHiFT's Practice Committee. Proactively increase the voice and participation of children and their families in the design and delivery of practice, locally, regionally, and nationally. GO FOR GOLD
Support with scoping, recruitment, and the induction of new Practices. Ensure that the SHiFT Commitments are being met to a consistently high standard in the Practices you oversee. Identify areas of excellence as well as opportunities for improvement, and ensure appropriate escalation, action, and learning through Monthly Partnership meetings, Local SHiFT Boards, and SHiFT's Practice Committee. Work with Lead Guides and Operational Leads to develop ambitious Local Practice Improvement Plans. Contribute to their ongoing review and delivery. Use supervision and Practice Discussion meetings to reflect on the Practices you oversee and to fuel your ambitions and plans to achieve the standards you want to see in practice. Work alongside SHiFT's Learning & Insights Lead, Data & Insights Analyst, and colleagues from the Host Organisation to produce analysis and learning from practice, including for Local SHiFT Boards and SHiFT's Practice Committee. Motivate, inspire, and help to co-ordinate learning and evaluation events e.g. Annual System Learning Workshops and Annual Partnership Reviews. Motivate and inspire Practices to stay up to date with training and learning opportunities provided by the national SHiFT team, including delivering learning opportunities yourself as is appropriate. Support Lead Guides and Guides to use their Professional Development Maps to invest in themselves, their aspirations, and their continued professional development. Motivate, inspire, and help to co-ordinate partnership and practice learning events such as Launch Events, visits to the Practice, or other external opportunities to promote and develop practice. STAY IN THE COMPLEXITY
Work alongside SHiFT's Systemic Consultant to support facilitation of Child & Family Practice Discussions, ensuring that discussions are guided by Systemic approaches, ensuring multiple hypotheses are created and the use of power and self are always considered. Take up and invest in Systemic and other relevant training so that Systemic ideas can be embedded with accuracy in practice. Ensure that SHiFT's Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Practice Approach is forefronted in practice. Themes from practice that require advocacy at a national level should be brought to team meetings, SHiFT's Practice Committee, and supervision. HOLD AND PULL FOR HELP
Seek out and build networks of strong partnerships in the regions they work with, within the Host Organisation and also with partner agencies and community services. Escalate risks around practice to the Head of Practices, in Practice Discussion meetings, supervision, and SHiFT's Practice Committee, bringing in the right people at the right time to seek advice, information, or partnership in problem-solving. Use quality assurance and quality improvement processes to identify where help may be required, ensuring that we are working in partnership with other agencies. Practice Development Leads thematically review any areas which feel stuck in practice and use Practice Discussions and other Practice Development Leads to problem-solve or escalate dilemmas. Report critical incidents and ensure immediate support and resources are in place to support practice during and after these critical incidents. Work alongside Lead Guides and Operational Leads to identify themes or blocks to excellent practice that are created in systems, and use Local SHiFT Boards, Practice Leaders' Forum, SHiFT's Practice Committee, and local partnerships to address these. STEP IN TO STEP BACK
Coach and support Lead Guides to implement SHiFT with fidelity, manage Practices, and have effective oversight of practice. Identify local system change opportunities and use Monthly Partnership meetings, Local SHiFT Boards, Annual System Learning Workshops, and learning and development or other relevant opportunities to influence and create change at a local systems level. Identify systems change opportunities and support research, evaluation, media, and external events where required, sometimes representing SHiFT nationally. YOU WILL BRING
Beliefs and alignment
The belief that all people are capable of change and that a relationship with a skilled practitioner can be a powerful driver of this. The belief that young people who display behaviours linked to offending can be supported so that they cease offending and meaningfully contribute to society. An alignment to a culture of high trust and high expectation where there are fewer rules, high levels of accountability, and a need for excellent performance from the entire team. An alignment to SHiFT's Values - ambition, courage, flexibility, and tenacity - which reflect the 'Breaking Cycles' ingredients (the foundations on which SHiFT is built). A preparedness to challenge the status quo and be positively disruptive in the pursuit of higher standards even when this is uncomfortable. Dynamism, tenacity, and determination - you are someone who does not give up until you succeed. You have a 'can do' attitude. Curiosity and a commitment to learning - comfortable in a fast-paced and aspirational 'start-up' context, and as part of a team that is committed to ongoing reflection, adaptation, and improvement. Experience, knowledge, and skills
A commitment to the underlying ethos of SHiFT and its aims, including 'doing things differently'. Experience of supporting excellent practice and confidence in positively challenging colleagues in SHiFT Practices, with the tenacity to pursue deadlines and priorities across multiple streams of work. Ability to use quality assurance systems to analyse feedback, data, and practice insights and inform purposeful quality improvement that leads to better outcomes for children. Knowledge, understanding, and enthusiasm for Systemic practice, Anti-racist practice, and Anti-oppressive practice.
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Practice Development Leads are the main day-to-day interface and point of contact between the national SHiFT team and our Practices. Your ability to get alongside Practices and support and challenge them to put SHiFT's vision and practice model into action is paramount to our success. SHiFT Practices are 'insider-outsiders'. One key consequence of this is that SHiFT Guides (our practitioners) are employed by the Host Organisation (typically a Local Authority) rather than by SHiFT. We believe that working in this way is an important part of how we robustly test our ways of working and drive systems change but this is a challenging setup and requires exceptional relationship building and influencing skills with a large dose of tenacity and 'can do' problem solving. Working in 'the SHiFT Way' is, by definition, different from 'business as usual'. Your expertise as an experienced practitioner is critical in creating the context for SHiFT Practices to be able to do their best work - equipping them with the intensive ongoing support and challenge needed to maximise impact for children and families, and working alongside Lead Guides and Operational Leads to ensure that the Practice is an embedded, valued, and influential part of the Host Organisation to maximise its impact for systems change. To thrive in this role, you'll need to be comfortable with discomfort and ambiguity, an effective and unflappable multitasker, a clear and thoughtful communicator, and an experienced and ambitious practitioner driven by SHiFT's mission to break the destructive cycle of crime.
The overarching responsibility of a SHiFT Practice Development Lead is to ensure the consistent implementation and ongoing development of SHiFT's practice model to (1) achieve exceptional evidenced outcomes for children, young people, and families; and (2) influence broader systems change.
SHiFT's practice model is based on Breaking Cycles, a dynamic and evidenced approach to enabling change, created by one of SHiFT's Founders, Sophie Humphreys OBE. Breaking Cycles informs all aspects of our Systemic, Anti-racist, and Anti-oppressive practice model. Our practice principles are the invisible rules that guide our practice. The key responsibilities of Practice Development Leads are structured around these practice principles:
DO THE RIGHT THING BY THE CHILD Use SHiFT's quality assurance and quality improvement processes to embed SHiFT's practice model in practice. Have a detailed understanding of the children in the Practices you oversee, and Guides' work with them, to challenge decisions with specific, detailed, and balanced oversight. Identify and challenge practice that doesn't do the right thing by the child and identify and amplify exemplary practice that embodies this principle. Escalate it, progress actions arising, and identify and share learning from it to Monthly Partnership meetings (with Host Organisation colleagues), Local SHiFT Boards (within Host Organisations), and SHiFT's Practice Committee. Proactively increase the voice and participation of children and their families in the design and delivery of practice, locally, regionally, and nationally. GO FOR GOLD
Support with scoping, recruitment, and the induction of new Practices. Ensure that the SHiFT Commitments are being met to a consistently high standard in the Practices you oversee. Identify areas of excellence as well as opportunities for improvement, and ensure appropriate escalation, action, and learning through Monthly Partnership meetings, Local SHiFT Boards, and SHiFT's Practice Committee. Work with Lead Guides and Operational Leads to develop ambitious Local Practice Improvement Plans. Contribute to their ongoing review and delivery. Use supervision and Practice Discussion meetings to reflect on the Practices you oversee and to fuel your ambitions and plans to achieve the standards you want to see in practice. Work alongside SHiFT's Learning & Insights Lead, Data & Insights Analyst, and colleagues from the Host Organisation to produce analysis and learning from practice, including for Local SHiFT Boards and SHiFT's Practice Committee. Motivate, inspire, and help to co-ordinate learning and evaluation events e.g. Annual System Learning Workshops and Annual Partnership Reviews. Motivate and inspire Practices to stay up to date with training and learning opportunities provided by the national SHiFT team, including delivering learning opportunities yourself as is appropriate. Support Lead Guides and Guides to use their Professional Development Maps to invest in themselves, their aspirations, and their continued professional development. Motivate, inspire, and help to co-ordinate partnership and practice learning events such as Launch Events, visits to the Practice, or other external opportunities to promote and develop practice. STAY IN THE COMPLEXITY
Work alongside SHiFT's Systemic Consultant to support facilitation of Child & Family Practice Discussions, ensuring that discussions are guided by Systemic approaches, ensuring multiple hypotheses are created and the use of power and self are always considered. Take up and invest in Systemic and other relevant training so that Systemic ideas can be embedded with accuracy in practice. Ensure that SHiFT's Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Practice Approach is forefronted in practice. Themes from practice that require advocacy at a national level should be brought to team meetings, SHiFT's Practice Committee, and supervision. HOLD AND PULL FOR HELP
Seek out and build networks of strong partnerships in the regions they work with, within the Host Organisation and also with partner agencies and community services. Escalate risks around practice to the Head of Practices, in Practice Discussion meetings, supervision, and SHiFT's Practice Committee, bringing in the right people at the right time to seek advice, information, or partnership in problem-solving. Use quality assurance and quality improvement processes to identify where help may be required, ensuring that we are working in partnership with other agencies. Practice Development Leads thematically review any areas which feel stuck in practice and use Practice Discussions and other Practice Development Leads to problem-solve or escalate dilemmas. Report critical incidents and ensure immediate support and resources are in place to support practice during and after these critical incidents. Work alongside Lead Guides and Operational Leads to identify themes or blocks to excellent practice that are created in systems, and use Local SHiFT Boards, Practice Leaders' Forum, SHiFT's Practice Committee, and local partnerships to address these. STEP IN TO STEP BACK
Coach and support Lead Guides to implement SHiFT with fidelity, manage Practices, and have effective oversight of practice. Identify local system change opportunities and use Monthly Partnership meetings, Local SHiFT Boards, Annual System Learning Workshops, and learning and development or other relevant opportunities to influence and create change at a local systems level. Identify systems change opportunities and support research, evaluation, media, and external events where required, sometimes representing SHiFT nationally. YOU WILL BRING
Beliefs and alignment
The belief that all people are capable of change and that a relationship with a skilled practitioner can be a powerful driver of this. The belief that young people who display behaviours linked to offending can be supported so that they cease offending and meaningfully contribute to society. An alignment to a culture of high trust and high expectation where there are fewer rules, high levels of accountability, and a need for excellent performance from the entire team. An alignment to SHiFT's Values - ambition, courage, flexibility, and tenacity - which reflect the 'Breaking Cycles' ingredients (the foundations on which SHiFT is built). A preparedness to challenge the status quo and be positively disruptive in the pursuit of higher standards even when this is uncomfortable. Dynamism, tenacity, and determination - you are someone who does not give up until you succeed. You have a 'can do' attitude. Curiosity and a commitment to learning - comfortable in a fast-paced and aspirational 'start-up' context, and as part of a team that is committed to ongoing reflection, adaptation, and improvement. Experience, knowledge, and skills
A commitment to the underlying ethos of SHiFT and its aims, including 'doing things differently'. Experience of supporting excellent practice and confidence in positively challenging colleagues in SHiFT Practices, with the tenacity to pursue deadlines and priorities across multiple streams of work. Ability to use quality assurance systems to analyse feedback, data, and practice insights and inform purposeful quality improvement that leads to better outcomes for children. Knowledge, understanding, and enthusiasm for Systemic practice, Anti-racist practice, and Anti-oppressive practice.
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