Profession social services manager

Social services managers have the responsibility for strategic and operational leadership and management of staff teams and resources within and or across social services. They are responsible for the implementation of legislation and policies relating to, for example, decisions about vulnerable people. They promote social work and social care values and ethics, equality and diversity, and relevant codes guiding practice. They are responsible for liaising with other professionals in criminal justice, education and health. They can be responsible for contributing to local and national policy development.

Personality Type

Knowledge

  • Psychology

    The human behaviour and performance with individual differences in ability, personality, interests, learning, and motivation.

  • Legal requirements in the social sector

    The prescribed legislative and regulatory requirements in the social sector.

  • Social sciences

    The development and characteristics of sociological, anthropological, psychological, political, and social policy theories.

  • Social justice

    The development and principles of human rights and social justice and the way they should be applied on a case by case basis.

  • Customer service

    Processes and principles related to the customer, client, service user and to personal services; these may include procedures to evaluate customer's or service user's satisfaction.

  • Business management principles

    Principles governing business management methods such as strategy planning, methods of efficient production, people and resources coordination.

Skills

  • Manage staff

    Manage employees and subordinates, working in a team or individually, to maximise their performance and contribution. Schedule their work and activities, give instructions, motivate and direct the workers to meet the company objectives. Monitor and measure how an employee undertakes their responsibilities and how well these activities are executed. Identify areas for improvement and make suggestions to achieve this. Lead a group of people to help them achieve goals and maintain an effective working relationship among staff.

  • Apply decision making within social work

    Take decisions when called for, staying within the limits of granted authority and considering the input from the service user and other caregivers.

  • Evaluate social work program's impact

    Gather data to allow the assessment of the impact of a program on a community.

  • Comply with legislation in social services

    Act according to policy and legal requirements in providing social services.

  • Handle conflicts

    Mediate in conflicts and tense situations by acting between parties, such as service users, important others like families, and institutions, striving to effect an agreement, reconciliate, and resolve problems.

  • Undertake continuous professional development in social work

    Undertake continuous professional development (CPD) to continuously update and develop knowledge, skills and competences within one`s scope of practice in social work.

  • Manage social crisis

    Identify, respond and motivate individuals in social crisis situations, in a timely manner, making use of all resources.

  • Accept own accountability

    Accept accountability for one`s own professional activities and recognise the limits of one`s own scope of practice and competencies.

  • Contribute to protecting individuals from harm

    Use established processes and procedures to challenge and report dangerous, abusive, discriminatory or exploitative behaviour and practice, bringing any such behaviour to the attention of the employer or the appropriate authority.

  • Monitor regulations in social services

    Monitor and analyse regulations, policies and changes in these regulations in order to assess how they impact social work and services.

  • Provide safeguarding to individuals

    Help vulnerable individuals assess risks and make informed choices by proving information on indicators of abuse, measures to avoid abuse and steps to take in the case of suspected abuse.

  • Establish daily priorities

    Establish daily priorities for staff personnel. Effectively deal with multi-task workload.

  • Work within communities

    Establish social projects aimed at community development and active citizen participation.

  • Promote social awareness

    Promote the understanding of dynamics of social relationships between individuals, groups, and communities. Promote the importance of human rights, and positive social interaction, and the inclusion of social awareness in education.

  • Cooperate at inter-professional level

    Cooperate with people in other sectors in relation to social service work.

  • Follow health and safety precautions in social care practices

    Ensure hygienic work practice, respecting the safety of the environment at day care, residential care settings and care at home.

  • Review social service plan

    Review social service plans, taking service users' views and preferences into account. Follow up on the plan, assessing the quantity and quality of services provided.

  • Show intercultural awareness

    Show sensibility towards cultural differences by taking actions which facilitate positive interaction between international organisations, between groups or individuals of different cultures, and to promote integration in a community.

  • Consider economic criteria in decision making

    Develop proposals and take appropriate decisions taking into account economic criteria.

  • Carry out social work research

    Initiate and design research to assess social problems and evaluate social work interventions. Use statistical sources to connect the individual data with more aggregated categories and interpret data relating to the social context.

  • Promote social change

    Promote changes in relationships between individuals, families, groups, organisations and communities by taking into consideration and coping with unpredictable changes, at the micro, macro and mezzo level.

  • Maintain records of work with service users

    Maintain accurate, concise, up-to-date and timely records of the work with service users while complying with legislation and policies related to privacy and security.

  • Advocate for social service users

    Speak for and on behalf of service users, using communicative skills and knowledge of relevant fields to assist those less advantaged.

  • Demonstrate leadership in social service cases

    Take the lead in the practical handling of social work cases and activities.

  • Listen actively

    Give attention to what other people say, patiently understand points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times; able to listen carefully the needs of customers, clients, passengers, service users or others, and provide solutions accordingly.

  • Analyse community needs

    Identify and respond to specific social problems in a community, delineating the extent of the problem and outline the level of resources required to address it and identifying the existing community assets and resources that are available to address the problem.

  • Address problems critically

    Identify the strengths and weaknesses of various abstract, rational concepts, such as issues, opinions, and approaches related to a specific problematic situation in order to formulate solutions and alternative methods of tackling the situation.

  • Manage budgets for social services programs

    Plan and administer budgets in social services, covering programmes, equipment and support services.

  • Perform risk analysis

    Identify and assess factors that may jeopardise the success of a project or threaten the organisation's functioning. Implement procedures to avoid or minimise their impact.

  • Promote inclusion

    Promote inclusion in health care and social services and respect diversity of beliefs, culture, values and preferences, keeping in mind the importance of equality and diversity issues.

  • Influence policy makers on social service issues

    Inform and advise policy makers by explaining and interpreting the needs of the citizens to enhance social service programs and policies.

  • Communicate with social service users

    Use verbal, non-verbal, written, and electronic communication. Pay attention to the specific social service users' needs, characteristics, abilities, preferences, age, developmental stage, and culture.

  • Perform public relations

    Perform public relations (PR) by managing the spread of information between an individual or an organisation and the public.

  • Apply socially just working principles

    Work in accordance with management and organisational principles and values focusing on human rights and social justice.

  • Manage ethical issues within social services

    Apply social work ethical principles to guide practice and manage complex ethical issues, dilemmas and conflicts in accordance to occupational conduct, the ontology and the code of ethics of the social services occupations, engaging in ethical decision making by applying standards of national and - as applicable - international codes of ethics or statements of principles.

  • Communicate professionally with colleagues in other fields

    Communicate professionally and cooperate with members of the other professions in the health and social services sector.

  • Set organisational policies

    Participate in setting organisational policies that cover issues such as participant eligibility, program requirements, and program benefits for the service users.

  • Adhere to organisational guidelines

    Adhere to organisational or department specific standards and guidelines. Understand the motives of the organisation and the common agreements and act accordingly.

  • Deliver social services in diverse cultural communities

    Deliver services which are mindful of different cultural and language traditions, showing respect and validation for communities and being consistent with policies regarding human rights and equality and diversity.

  • Assess social service users' situation

    Assess the social situation of service users situation balancing curiosity and respect in the dialogue, considering their families, organisations and communities and the associated risks and identifying the needs and resources, in order to meet physical, emotional and social needs.

  • Apply change management

    Manage development within an organisation by anticipating changes and making managerial decisions to ensure that the members involved are as less disturbed as possible.

  • Manage stress in organisation

    Cope with sources of stress and cross-pressure in one's own professional life, such as occupational, managerial, institutional and personal stress, and help others do the same so as to promote the well-being of your colleagues and avoid burn-out.

  • Prevent social problems

    Develop, define and implement actions that can prevent social problems, striving for the enhancement of the quality of life for all citizens.

  • Use person-centred planning

    Use person-centred planning (PCP) and implement the delivery of social services in order to determine what the service users and their caregivers want, and how the services can support this.

  • Implement marketing strategies

    Implement strategies which aim to promote a specific product or service, using the developed marketing strategies.

  • Evaluate staff performance in social work

    Evaluate the work of staff and volunteers to ensure that programs are of appropriate quality and that resources are used effectively.

  • Involve service users and carers in care planning

    Evaluate the needs of individuals in relation to their care, involve families or carers in supporting the development and implementation of support plans. Ensure review and monitoring of these plans.

  • Work in a multicultural environment in health care

    Interact, relate and communicate with individuals from a variety of different cultures, when working in a healthcare environment.

  • Advocate for others

    Deliver arguments in favour of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy, to benefit another person.

  • Apply holistic approach within social services

    Consider the social service user in any situation, recognising the connections between micro-dimension, meso-dimension, and macro-dimension of social problems, social development and social policies.

  • Apply quality standards in social services

    Apply quality stardards in social services while upholding social work values and principles.

  • Build business relationships

    Establish a positive, long-term relationship between organisations and interested third parties such as suppliers, distributors, shareholders and other stakeholders in order to inform them of the organisation and its objectives.

  • Relate empathetically

    Recognise, understand and share emotions and insights experienced by another.

  • Manage government funding

    Monitor the budget received through government funding, and ensure there are enough resources to cover the costs and expenses of the organisation or project.

  • Report on social development

    Report results and conclusions on society's social development in an intelligible way, presenting these orally and in written form to a range of audiences from non-experts to experts.

  • Build helping relationship with social service users

    Develop a collaborative helping relationship, addressing any ruptures or strains in the relationship, fostering bonding and gaining service users` trust and cooperation through empathic listening, caring, warmth and authenticity.

  • Manage fundraising activities

    Initiate fundraising activities managing the place, teams involved, causes and budgets.

Optional knowledge and skills

support social service users in skills management communicate on the youth's well-being represent the organisation manage personnel apply person-centred care tend to elderly people coordinate care communicate with others who are significant to service users provide improvement strategies assist social service users with physical disabilities social security law ensure public safety and security pollution prevention older adults' needs disability care support children's wellbeing assess the development of youth create solutions to problems develop professional network recruit personnel apply organisational techniques conduct interview in social service meet standards of practice in social services manage health and safety manage accounts contribute to the safeguarding of children coordinate rescue missions personnel management identify security threats maintain relationships with government agencies impact of social contexts on health analyse goal progress communicate by use of interpretation in social services advise on social security benefits ensure compliance with policies corporate social responsibility manage emergency procedures adolescent psychological development strategies for handling cases of elder abuse accounting techniques apply conflict management evaluate older adults' ability to take care of themselves investigate social security applications financial management educate on emergency management test safety strategies pollution legislation first response apply problem solving in social service liaise with local authorities public housing legislation respond to enquiries communicate with youth company policies geriatrics project management protect client interests pedagogy prepare exercise session advise on safety improvements manage health and safety standards apply strategic thinking coordinate with other emergency services organise facility activities maintain relations with children's parents build community relations apply foreign languages in social services ensure information transparency government policy implementation manage children's problems oversee quality control recruit employees budgetary principles palliative care plan social service process maintain the trust of service users develop contingency plans for emergencies establish collaborative relations perform project management flood remediation equipment manage government policy implementation delegate activities implement care programmes for children organisational policies promote the safeguarding of young people present reports law enforcement child protection develop social security programmes develop a pedagogical concept schedule shifts communication principles supervise children liaise with colleagues manage administrative systems report pollution incidents plan allocation of space organise operations of residential care services manage budgets train employees health care system ensure law application ensure cross-department cooperation maintain logbooks ensure equipment availability government social security programmes maintain relations with local representatives

Source: Sisyphus ODB