Director, Education and Practice Supports

The Ontario College of Family Physicians is the voice of family medicine representing over 13,500 family physicians providing patient care across communities throughout the province.  The organization’s mandate is to support members by providing evidence-based education and professional development, by promoting and recognizing leadership excellence in family medicine, and by advocating for the role family physicians play in delivering the highest quality care to patients and families across Ontario.

Position Summary

Reporting to the CEO, the Director, Education and Practice Supports is responsible for overseeing the development and delivery of OCFP’s continuing professional development (CPD) and practice supports for members and certification of programs. This includes continuing professional development (CPD), planning and program delivery, certification processes, conferences and knowledge transfer initiatives. The Director works closely with the CEO, OCFP Board of Directors, Committee Leads, and Faculty on strategic and business planning activities to support OCFP’s vision and long-term plan. Establishing and nurturing strong effective relationships with key primary care and CPD stakeholders is a core function of the Director’s role with the OCFP. 

The Director also leads the effective development and delivery of the OCFP’s overall strategy to build and expand the Collaborative Mentoring Networks. The Collaborative Mentoring Networks link family physicians with mentors in a collaborative relationship to enhance the delivery of patient care and promote practice excellence through mentorship and education.

Key Responsibilities:

Continuing Professional Development and Practice Supports

• Cultivate the development and delivery of high-quality and sustainable professional development and practice supports for physicians including new delivery channels, program offerings and clinical (practice) tools.
• Develop comprehensive business plans which include strategic alignment, operational and resource plans in delivering programs.
• Develop standards and criteria for programs and supports to ensure development and delivery of high quality programs through:
  • OCFP’s Conferences and events, including the Annual Scientific Assembly (ASA);
  • CPD Faculty development program;
  • Standards and criteria development for flagship programs, and application to OCFP current programs or new programs;
  • Establishment and monitoring of program evaluation and metrics; and
  • Certification of CPD curriculum.
• Develop innovative strategies to establish partnerships with external stakeholders, professional development and educational institutions to achieve OCFP’s strategic plan, enhance program quality and promote collaboration in family medicine.
• Collaborate with the Senior Policy Advisor and CPD team to assess the impact of legislative, regulatory and public policy changes on OCFP program content and identify new program opportunities.
• Keep abreast of trends and best practices with respect to adult education, continuing professional development, mentorship and communities of practice to incorporate into and continue to enhance OCFP programs and practice supports.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with members and OCFP committees to understand emerging needs and concerns for members.
• Support the OCFP’s advocacy/leadership activities as they relate to education, including external relations with government, LHINs, other primary care and health-care organizations.
• Collaborate with divisional colleagues to identify opportunities to promote CPD programs to other participants and healthcare providers. 
• Work with the National College and other provincial Chapters on CPD-related activities and programs.

Collaborative Mentoring Networks

• Oversee the development and delivery of the OCFP’s overall strategy to build and expand the Collaborative Mentoring Networks.
• Ensure all Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care required deliverables and reporting requirements are met.
• Develop collaborative partnerships with key healthcare stakeholders to support achievement of CMN goals.
• Identify and assess new initiatives and opportunities to support the evolving needs of family physicians in Ontario.
• Develop funding proposals with the Director, Finance and Administration for new and expanded initiatives that support the role of family physicians in the delivery of quality healthcare across Ontario.
• Provide leadership and support to the clinical lead, chairs and co-chairs of the mentoring committees.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen skills and competencies within collaborative networks through partnering with other organizations and initiatives.
• Develop and monitor an evaluation framework to assess the impact of the mentoring networks and achievement of outcomes. Oversee the OCFP’s work in development and/or dissemination of practice tools through CPD events, online portal and other communications.

Leadership

• Provide leadership to relevant OCFP member committees to support achievement of the portfolio’s strategic objectives in alignment with the OCFP’s strategic plan.
• Lead the continuing assessment and monitoring of OCFP education/knowledge transfer activities to enhance member engagement and augment network program offerings.
• Collaborate with the OCFP leadership team to ensure awareness of emerging issues, educational and knowledge development needs for physicians.
• Lead the development of a highly effective team, ensuring high standards of delivery and delivery of programs that provide value to members.
• Provide leadership to the broader OCFP team to develop integrated and comprehensive strategies to increase value to members.
• Responsible for fostering a positive supportive and collaborative team approach to ensure a healthy and productive working environment.
• Establish team and individual performance plans, monitor success, and provide regular feedback.
• Develop collaborative cross functional relationships.
• Provide ongoing coaching and development to team members and implement practices that increase employee engagement and commitment.
• Demonstrate values and OCFP’s core competencies.

Operations and Financial Management

• Responsible to develop and monitor budget and annual portfolio operational plans subject to review from Finance and the CEO.
• Direct and manage activities of the OCFP continuing professional development and mentorship committees, including the ASA committee.
• Provide support and assistance to the CEO and Board of Directors.
• Ensure streamlined processes in the department to improve efficiency and effective use of resources.
• Ensure all systems, technology and resources required are in place to organize and achieve objectives.
• Responsible for the overall financial performance, quality, accuracy, and customer satisfaction of the department.
• Support the implementation of department and organizational standards.

Reporting Relationships:

• 4-5 direct reports
• Approximately 4-5 indirect reports

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Adult Education, Health Policy, Health Administration, or related field.
• At least ten (10) years’ experience at a senior leadership level in health-care administration, strategic and business planning and program development and implementation.
• Demonstrated experience in health-care sector and the Ontario health system as it relates to continuing professional development, mentoring networks/communities of practice, and medical education. Experience in primary care program delivery an asset.
• Proven experience working with CEO, Board of Directors, senior level decision-makers and stakeholders.
• Demonstrated knowledge of current issues affecting medical education, competencies for family physicians and healthcare in Ontario.
• Experience in analysing emerging issues and the capacity to translate into effective programs, as well as leading strategic planning efforts, annual planning cycles and delivering results within a performance measurement framework.
• Strategic thinker with ability to lead development and implementation of effective programs.
• Knowledge of adult education principles, continuing medical education and evidence-based medicine, mentoring networks and implementation as communities of practice.
• Keen awareness of emerging trends in medical education, understanding of e-learning platforms/portals.
• Excellent leadership skills with a commitment to collaboration, joint-accountability and strong relationships with OCFP members, partners and external organizations.
• Proven success in developing strong and collaborative teams by demonstrating a positive, proactive and engaging leadership style.
• Superior oral and written communications skills, to both effectively represent the OCFP in presentations and meetings, as well as in preparation of briefing materials, reports and proposals.
• Excellent negotiating, decision-making, problem-solving, coaching and conflict resolution skills.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and manage budgets, as well as synthetize and establish cost projections for business proposals.
• Strong business acumen demonstrated through the leadership and development of successful programs and strategies.
• Working knowledge of French is an asset.
• Ability to travel as required.

Core Competencies:

OCFP’s core competencies are designed to nurture employee engagement through best people practices.  All leaders will demonstrate strength in the following competencies:

Collaboration: Engages constructively with others, to be part of a team, to work together, as opposed to working separately or competitively. Promotes a positive climate, resolves conflict and creates alignment within and across internal and/or external groups.

Impact and Influence: Advocates, motivates, persuades, convinces, or influences others to gain their support and commitment. Effectively gains support by drawing the attention of others to an important issue and directing decision makers towards a solution.

Organizational Awareness: Understands the key relationships, diverse interest groups and power bases within the organization and in the wider community.

Planning, Coordination, and Execution: Plans and coordinates work, effectively manages resources, prioritizes steps to be taken, anticipates potential issues/barriers, and develops contingency plans to address these, execute individual and team activities in a way that ensures the achievement of a set of objectives. Achieves desired results on a consistent basis despite having to deal with unpredictable or unexpected circumstances.

Service & Quality Orientation: Demonstrates a desire to provide quality results by focusing efforts on discovering the needs of customers and stakeholders and meeting these needs.  Ensures quality in the delivery of services, and complies with existing rules, regulations, and legislation. Monitors service information by insisting on clarity of roles and expectations and setting up and maintaining systems that enhance quality and maximize efficiencies.

Developing Others: Fosters the long-term learning or development of others through coaching, managing performance and mentoring. Achieves higher level goals and develops new skills/competencies. Driven by a genuine desire to develop and empower others, rather than simply a need to transfer skills to complete tasks.

Holding Self and Others Accountable: Positions the organization for success by establishing appropriate levels of responsibility. Holds self and others accountable to deliver the agreed upon objectives and execute high standards of excellence. Provide clear directions, effectively communicates priorities and expectations and monitors performance.

Visionary Leadership: Inspires others to work toward common goals by providing inspiration, clarity and direction. Effectively focuses team on priorities and provides leadership and support through change. Actively solicits input and inspires the courage to challenge team process, and the commitment to achieve personal, team and organizational goals.

Business Acumen: Understand the business implications of opportunities and decisions. Implements successful business strategies. Maintains awareness of issues, processes, and outcomes as they impact the organization’s strategic direction.

Strategic Orientation: Understands the business implications of decisions and can take a long-term perspective to chart a course that delivers results today and well into the future.

Interpersonal Sensitivity: Understands and responds appropriately to the concerns of others. Practices active listening when interacting with individuals or groups. Demonstrates an ability to reflect on verbal and non-verbal behavior and communicates effectively

Leadership Presence: Develops and maintains a sense of presence and emotional maturity in understanding of one’s own emotions and the impact of one’s behavior on others; demonstrates of resiliency in a range of complex and demanding situations.

How to Apply: All qualified applicants are encouraged to submit their cover letter and resume to ocfphr@ocfp.on.ca by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 27, 2018.  Interviews may begin prior to the closing date.