Director of Accreditation Programs

Job Title: Director of Accreditation Programs

Organizational Relationships:

Reports to: Senior Director of Accreditation Operations

Supervises: Accreditation Program staff, including but not limited to the Accreditation Coordinators and administrative support staff.

FLSA Classification: Exempt

Hours per week: 35

Salary: Commensurate with Experience and Education

Written/Revised: June 27, 2013

POSITION SUMMARY:

Responsible for the overall management and day-to-day operations of the Accreditation Programs (AP) department, including but not limited to facilitating the accreditation process for public and private non-profit and for-profit organizations; ensuring exemplary service quality; and protecting the integrity, credibility, and consistency of COA's accreditation process. Functioning as a member of the Accreditation Operations' Management Team, the Director of AP works in close collaboration with colleagues to achieve COA's strategic goals and mission.

SPECIFIC DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Responsible for the overall management of the AP department, including but not limited to establishing strategic and annual goals, identifying performance measures, developing and monitoring the budget, supervising staff and contractors, monitoring the quality of service delivery, evaluating results against projected outcomes, and implementing mid-course corrections as needed

• Responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the AP department, including but not limited to:
  • coaching staff and organizations throughout the accreditation process (e.g.: standards interpretations; self-study and site visit preparations);
  • identifying and providing support for organizations, including identifying training and technical assistance, developing MOUs, and participating in pre-site conference calls to facilitate an accurate understanding of the organization and ensure the site visit is a comprehensive and positive experience;
  • coordinating and facilitating the regular Coordinators and Departmental meetings;
  • overseeing the intake process to ensure thorough organizational assessments and consistent application of the standards
  • overseeing the process of assigning/managing caseloads;
  • identifying and facilitating improvement to the Preliminary Self-Study (PSS) review process;
  • identifying and facilitating improvements with ARC;
  • responding to customer complaints
  • overseeing AP's performance to ensure that goals are met;
  • ensuring AP practices are efficient/effective and accreditation procedures, guidelines, tools, and resources for all lines of business are current, making improvements and updates, as needed; and
  • working closely with other departments to provide organizations with support, training, technical assistance, and tools based on staff, organization, and volunteer performance and feedback.

• Responsible for establishing the short-term plan for AP, including goals and objectives; Participating in and/or leading cross departmental meetings associated with AP/COA short term plan goals and objectives; Evaluating AP's progress associated with AP/COA goals and objectives and identifying, initiating, and implementing process improvement initiatives

• Responsible for overseeing and facilitating the maintenance and growth of the public systems line of business, including but not limited to maintaining relations with public systems; marketing and outreach; managing/overseeing the accreditation process for public agencies; developing the Accreditation Readiness Assessment (ARA) process; providing any relevant feedback on the standards; further developing COA's Statewide accreditation process; maintaining a current Public Agency Accreditation Report; and planning and implementing the Public Agency Roundtable for COA's National Conference

• Responsible for the maintenance and growth of the Canadian, Networks, FEC, OTP, and EAP lines of business, including but not limited to managing/overseeing the accreditation process; maintain and developing relations with stakeholder groups (e.g.: MCFD, COA – Canada Board, NFCC, SAMSHA, etc.); marketing and outreach, as appropriate; and providing feedback on the Canadian, Network, FEC, OTP, and EAP standards; and further developing COA's Canadian, Network, FEC, OTP, and EAP accreditation processes

• Responsible for developing/overseeing the accreditation process for organizations with unique/complex structures, including but not limited to ensuring the consistent application of standards; development of clear intake criteria; creating supplemental process documents; assigning milestone timelines; and establishing site visit arrangements.

• Responsible for supervising/mentoring AP department staff and providing opportunities to encourage their professional development; Regularly evaluating staff performance and implementing performance improvement plans, as needed

• Responsible for identifying AP staffing needs; Managing the hiring process; On-boarding and developing AP staff; and Ensuring maximum utilization of AP staff, including cross-training with other business lines

• Responsible for ensuring that AP department operations are consistent with and meet the expectations of COA's Policy & Procedures Manual

• Responsible for collecting, reporting, and analyzing data to identify trends and implement opportunities for improvement

• Responsible for coordinating and managing the single service and interim accreditation processes

• Works closely with Accreditation Operations and other COA departments to coordinate services and facilitate annual planning; provide guidance on procedures, the accreditation standards, and policies and procedures; provide support and assist in the development and provision of training to peer reviewers and Commissioners

• Responsible for representing COA to market the benefits and value of COA's accreditation programs

• Other duties as assigned (e.g.: contract / project management, committee participation, training, etc.)

QUALITY EXPECTATIONS:

• Practices reflect COA's mission and are responsible, flexible, reliable, and dependable
• Demonstrates a commitment to high quality and responsive service; Proactively identifies opportunities and takes action to improve operations; Offers and accepts constructive feedback; Contributes to the development of new ideas
• Actively engages in problem solving; Responds to complaints; Seeks resolution of conflicts
• Is organized, efficient, and effective; Sets goals for work tasks; Identifies priority issues; Meets productivity standards
• Works collaboratively with others to encourage and support the accomplishment of goals/tasks
• Provides exemplary customer service to all COA stakeholders; Interactions are timely, responsive, and courteous
• Shows respect for each person's individuality and preferences, and the cultural/ethnic diversity of COA's stakeholders
• Demonstrates a commitment to learning and improvement; Pursues activities to enhance personal and professional growth for self and others
• Protects the confidentiality and the information/documentation obtained by nature of our work

EDUCATION AND PRIOR EXPERIENCE:

• Master's degree in Social Work or related field and/or five (5) years of related work experience (e.g.: human services), including administrative/management, quality improvement, and/or policy development and planning, or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Experience working in both public and private social service organizations, preferred

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, AND ABILITIES:

• In-depth knowledge of the social service field
• Demonstrated ability to lead a major organization function, including but not limited to:
  • Independent and innovative leadership skills
  • Effective staff supervision (ability to identify the best people for the job; ability to motivate, develop, and direct people to help improve their knowledge, skills, and productivity; ability to encourage and build mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members)
  • Strong organizational and project management skills (ability to establish long and short term objectives, identify and organize required resources, and execute the strategies/actions to achieve them)
  • Strong (qualitative/quantitative) analytical, facilitation, and teaming skills (ability to analyze complex issues and clearly and concisely communicate key findings; ability to build constructive and cooperative working relationships with a broad range of stakeholders, and maintain them over time)
  • Ability to manage competing priorities, multi-task, and meet deadlines
  • Strong solution oriented problem-solving skills (ability to use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative approaches/solutions to problems)
  • Demonstrated understanding of and commitment to Performance and Quality Improvement (PQI)
  • Strong oral and written communication skills
  • Computer proficient (MS Office)
  • Ability to travel
  • Experience with COA's accreditation process, preferred

Nothing in this job description restricts management's right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.