Head Group Real Estate – Standard Bank – Botswana

Job Details

Operations: a range of essential and complex services to ensure processes across the bank work as effectively and efficiently as possible

Job Purpose

The Purpose of the job is as follows:

To provide strategic direction, coordinate the activities of branch and Points Of Representation development projects, Facility management, Group Physical Security, Fleet, Distribution Support, Travels and Hospitality, Stores, Warehousing, Assets and leasing, Fixed Asset Management and to ensure overall delivery in line with the banks strategic focus and objectives while ensuring that cost optimization and value for money objectives are achieved

Key Responsibilities/Accountabilities

The key responsibilities  and accountabilities for the role are as follows:

1. Support the strategic and operational planning of the business area

Provide strategic direction for the Groups Real Estate Asset Portfolio in country. Providing reports and advisory in line with trend, economic and environmental realities.
• Facilitate the creation of operational plans for the business unit or function by coordinating the inputs from different areas, checking the validity of the plans against strategic objectives.
• Coordinate the planning of the annual operational budgets together with Finance. Provide a high level insight to Finance on the operational priorities of the business area.
• Review change impact assessments that are provided by Project Management Offices. Incorporate changes into operational plans for the business area. Provide input to the leadership of the area in terms of changes that could have an adverse impact and provide supporting information to allow them to renegotiate the timing and deliverables.
• Oversee the process of planning, initiating, executing, control and closure of projects related to the construction of bank buildings and ATM deployments.

Oversee and manage the overall life cycle of the Physical Fixed Assets of the organisation.

• Provide oversight for workplace management, facility management and building services engineering for the Groups built assets
• Keep abreast of developments and trends in occupancy levels, building construction and maintenance and applying this knowledge effectively in planning and decision making and management advisory.
• Drive the generation of ideas that influence the reduction of operating costs across unit.
• Manage and control all administration and cost management for the real estate portfolio for the organisation; evaluates and approves payment of all budgeted expenses and ensures the timeous and accurate submission of invoices by the outsourced service provider .
• Conduct and review monthly performance measurements with all direct reports and provide performance update to business unit head.
• Manage a continuous improvement process looking at ways to constantly improve the performance of all units under GRES.
• Manage the life cycle of property asset from acquisition to disposal to achieve a desired return while mitigating risk, managing the life cycle of capital asset to extract maximum value and growth and to minimise capital depreciation.
• Manage financial and other resources and expenditure (including management decisions) on projects, premises and facilities management and administrative functions to support bank expansion programme and existing corporate buildings
• Provide strategic and tactical oversight in fixed asset management, physical security, fleet management and logistics, keeping abreast of development and trends in the industries and effectively ensuring effective planning and decision making
• Deliver of Strategic Key Performance Indicators for the Unit ( Service, Cost, Control, People )

2. Provide Leadership and Steer to team and Business

• Focusing attention and efforts on understanding business requirements and proactively addressing different requirements and needs. Makes organisational changes or innovates when needed to address business needs.
• Believing in oneself, own judgement, skills and experience, and using this self-confidence to challenge others for the benefit of Standard Bank.
•  Is actively curious, seeking a deeper, broader and more objective understanding, upon which to base commercial acumen, strategic decisions and actions
• Proactively identifies business opportunities or barriers to business performance and addresses them. Takes accountability for improving the business. Demonstrates a sense of urgency around the achievement of stretching business goals
• Understands the line-of-sight between strategy and organisational implementation. Translates the organisational strategy into specific decisions and actions to ensure the strategy implementation. Aligns resources to effectively execute against the strategic direction.
• Sets clear performance standards and expectations, and holds others accountable when these are not met. Takes accountability for team delivery against the expectations and contribution to results.
• Enables and empowers the team to implement/execute a strategic vision or change for the better. Leads with passion and energy.
• Effectively and strategically influences across the organisation, based on previously established credibility and respect, as well as understanding the organisational dynamics, politics and interpersonal context.
• Understands and leverages the dependencies across the organisation and the impact of own actions on the rest of the organisation to create organisation alignment for decision-making and delivery of quality outcomes.
• Taking responsibility for identifying, developing and retaining capability for the benefit of the broader business, based on a genuine intent to foster the long term learning or development of others.

3. Manage effective governance of the business area activities

• Ensure that a list of the business area specific preferred suppliers is maintained. Frequently engage with Vendor Management to monitor vendor utilisation, pricing, vendor performance and contract expiry dates.
• Participate in the definition of business requirements during the development of new RFP’s (Requests for Proposal).
• Monitor procurement compliance in the business area i tnerms of use of preferred vendors as well as purchase order processes. Obtain reports from Vendor Management on a monthly basis. Highlight areas of concern to the business area leadership.
• Review incoming charges from countries, support functions, regional offices and all other areas of the bank. Push back on inappropriate cross charges.
• Together with Finance, review the financial mandates that are in place for the business area on at least an annual basis.
• Provide input into the planning of audits and assurance reviews by providing an overall view of the state of the business area. Ensure that audit plans fit in to operational calendars and pressures in the business unit.
• Coordinate the efforts to collate evidence for auditors or assurance teams by acting as a central point of contact into the business area. Participate in the creation of audit remediation plans. Put mechanisms in place to track the progress of the remediation activities in the business area.
• Ensure that the area’s Compliance Officer is known to all key members of the business area leadership and key employees.
• Display a reasonable good understanding of different commercial company and taxation laws and practices applying to property deals in Nigeria, to understand broad legal parameter, to know what is and isn’t permissible and to understand key constraint
• Keep abreast of all regulations as they apply to property rights and the bank and ensures compliance with these regulations; understand and uses effective financing mechanism to maximize returns and financial visibility.
• Ensure that the business area has a robust business continuity management plan. Enlist the support of internal specialist teams to improve the plans. Participate in planning business continuity tests.
• Have knowledge of property regulations ,keeping abreast of development and trends in the property laws in the areas of operation and using this knowledge effectively in planning and decision making
• Anticipate, identify, measure, balance and mitigate risk in a dynamic operating environment, calculating and understanding the potential negative impact of risksand taking action to achieve a recognized benefit when potential consequences are understand.
• Ensure all activities are within governance parameters
• Ensure there are no loss as a result of regulatory and legal infractions
• Manage the Units operation within agreed financial parameters
• Ensure satisfactory Audit outcomes
• Maintain BCM plans for the Unit

4. Manage Units Operational Cost

• Ensure Units expenditure in in line with budget expectations and cost saving targets
• Provide and report regular budget monitoring updates to Business Unit Head
• Avoid unnecessary cost and wastage and to ensure controllable operating expenses are within or below budget

5. Provide administrative and logistical support to all parts of the business unit

• Participate in the negotiation of internal service level agreements with other business areas that are dependent on the delivery of the supported business area. Ensure that, where formal agreements are needed, they are documented, signed off and properly stored.
• Monitor space utilized by the business area and reconcile charge-backs received from Group Real Estate on at least a quarterly basis. Work with them to resolve discrepancies.
• Resolve escalated complaints from members of the teams around building maintenance, logistics, facilities and supporting services.
• Enlist the support of business process management teams to create and update all key processes in the area. Ensure that the processes are signed off by line process owners and made available to employees who execute steps in the processes.
• Maintain a process review calendar to ensure that all key processes are reviewed for completeness and accuracy at least once a year.
• Ensure that the services of communications teams in the bank are contracted. Communicate the process and service expectations from the communications team to the business area. Facilitate engagement with the communications team on request.
• Maintain agreed SLA levels for Administrative support services to the business units
• All vendor SLA contracts are up to date and enforceable

6. Lead and support team

• Develop a high performing team by embedding the bank’s performance process, regular performance feedback and coaching. Address poor performance.
• Motivate team members and ensure that they receive recognition for work well done.
• Determine development needs of the team and ensure that development opportunities (training, rotation, on-the-job learning) are budgeted for and executed.
• Maintain a succession plan for the team by reviewing the skills of the team at least twice a year and having career conversations with them.
• Interview and recruit new members of the team, including determining the appropriate salary with input from the Human Capital Business Partner
• Create workforce plans for the area to ensure that current and future business requirements can be met. Such plans should be revisited at least twice a year.
• Use workforce plans to obtain headcount approvals on an annual basis and as input into the financial budgeting cycles.
• Create quarterly leave plans to ensure adequate coverage. Approve leave requests ad leave sale requests.
• Monitor overtime on a monthly basis. Analyze reasons for overtime and create actions to address the issues.
• When required, initiate disciplinary processes for team members. Resolve grievances raised by team members, escalating only if unresolved.
• Maintain a Well-defined and articulates succession plan
• Ensure participation and nomination of team member for Quarterly team recognition events
• Organise and ensure Monthly team bonding events
• Ensure a minimum 80% leave utilisation

Preferred Qualification and Experience

Qualifications 

• Bachelors Degree in Architecture, /Estate management,/ Quantity Surveying,/ Planning , /Building/ Construction Project Management.
• Master degree in Real estate will be an added advantage
• Professional Real Estate qualifications/certifications
• Certification in Project Management (such as Prince II, PMP, RICS, etc)

Experience

• 10 years experience in management of real estate, ideally within the financial service sector.
• 7-10 years experience in management of security function, systems and processes
• Experience in management of service providers, negotiation and implementation of service level agreements
• Thorough understanding of real estate, project management and building practices and requirement within the Botswana space
• Practical process and project management experience
• Experience in managing people (direct and indirect reports) and relationship building across multiple locations and geographies
• Experience in working in multi-discipline teams, fostering collaboration, team work and the delivery of improved business performance
• Contractor and vendor management
• Budget and cost management

Knowledge/Technical Skills/Expertise

Technical skills required are as follows:

• Budgeting and planning skills
• Risk identification and assessment skills
• Negotiation skills
• Managing and planning projects
• Ability to analyse trends and make forecasts
• Contract management
• Ability to analyse trends and produce forecasts