TAEM Director of Partnerships and Process

Do you believe that all Tennessee families deserve to thrive? Do you want to be a part of a team that works collaboratively to make that vision a reality? As the backbone agency for The Tennessee Alliance for Economic Mobility (TAEM), a public-private partnership comprised of 32 partners that is implementing the largest benefits cliff mitigation pilot in the country, the Martha O’Bryan Center is now hiring a position that is critical to the collaborative’s success. TAEM is working collaboratively across Middle TN to support 900 families in moving beyond the benefits cliff. We seek to transform Tennessee’s social safety net and catalyze federal reform to support thriving families.

We operate with a collective impact approach that is led by a backbone team at Martha O’Bryan Center in collaboration with partners across the region. Between the backbone team and partners, there are 61 full-time staff and 14 part-time staff who are implementing the pilot.

The TAEM Team is a dedicated team of professionals committed to fostering economic empowerment and prosperity within Tennessee. With a shared passion for creating positive change, our diverse and skilled team collaborates tirelessly to design innovative programs, advocate for policy reforms, and provide essential resources to uplift individuals and communities. Through our collective expertise, dedication, and unwavering commitment, the TAEM team works diligently to build a more inclusive and thriving future for all residents of Tennessee.

POSITION SUMMARY

The TAEM Director of Partnerships and Process provides leadership to partners to support the overall success of TAEM’s pilot, provides leadership within the backbone team around meeting facilitation, team development, and continuous improvement to support both Our ChanceTN and TAEM, and is an essential liaison and support for partners, the backbone team, and additional stakeholders. This is a full-time, regular position, located at the Martha O’Bryan Center. This position reports to TAEM’s leadership.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Essential duties and responsibilities include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Leadership of TAEM partners
  1. Serves as lead contact for TAEM partners related to issues that are not addressed by or through other TAEM teams or positions, providing warm hand-offs to TAEM staff as needed and ensuring that requests are worked to solution.
  2. Leads efforts to maximize partner staff’s efficacy, collaboration, learning, growth, and celebration (onboarding new partners, leading development of or improvement of strategies/processes/tools, deploying strategies/processes/tools, etc.).
  3. Odds and ends that are essential to support partners.
• Supports success of TAEM Senior Managers and other TAEM staff through communication and coordination.
• Leads agenda creation, facilitation, and follow-up for TAEM’s Leadership Team meetings, TAEM Team Share meetings, and People & Process meetings.
• Leads TAEM’s continuous improvement process, People & Process, ensuring that any challenges and opportunities that are surfaced by staff and have not been solved/addressed in TAEM learning and leadership spaces (communities of practice, working groups, Steering Committee, Caregiver Advisory Committee, ad-hoc feedback, etc.) or TAEM teams, are worked to solution/addressed in Leadership Team, and then People & Process if needed and documented in ongoing Improvement Reports.
• Represent TAEM at meetings that are essential to the success of TAEM’s pilot (e.g. planning meetings with facilitation partners, county-level working groups, meetings with researchers, meetings with the state) and continued shared learning (e.g. meeting with other pilots, Beyond the Cliff collaborative meetings).
• Engages in cross-team projects as relevant and supports their successful completion.
• Develops and sends partner communications and meeting invites as requested by TAEM’s leadership, the TAEM Leadership Team, other TAEM staff, and facilitation partners.
• Support TAEM’s compliance with TDHS requirements (e.g. prior authorizations, audit).
• Leads planning and coordination for TAEM team development (i.e. retreats and professional development), team celebrations, and individual team member celebration.
• Assumes any recurring responsibilities of TAEM’s leadership when they are out of office due to work-related travel or otherwise and also serves as the lead contact for TAEM during that time.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Skills and Abilities Required:

• Ability to lead people and teams through a collaborative leadership style (including meeting preparation, facilitation, and follow-up).
• Ability to center people before process, equity, asset-based approaches, continuous learning, growth, celebration, and embracing change.
• Strong interpersonal and relationship management skills, including comfort in managing conflict.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; adept at communicating complex ideas and presenting to groups.
• Strong process management skills (e.g. continuous improvement).
• Strong project management skills.
• Strong organizational skills including time management (e.g. using time effectively and consistently meeting deadlines).
• Capacity to focus on details and the big picture and sustain motivation toward goals.
• Exercises good and consistently fair judgment, courtesy, and tact in dealing with the staff and public in giving and obtaining information.
• Comfort with project and team management tools (e.g. Basecamp, Microsoft Teams).

Experience Preferred:

• Experience managing partnerships (ideally 3-5 years)
• Experiencing managing continuous improvement processes (ideally 3-5 years)

Personal Qualities:

• Person-centered
• Collaborative
• Responsible
• Strategic
• Self-directed

Travel and any other special conditions or requirements:

• County/regional travel required with mileage reimbursement

Salary: $65,000-$75,000

This position is expected to begin mid- to late-May, 2024.

Please attach a cover letter with your application.