Job Specification

Purpose :

To provide the Ministry's Corporate Coordination and Results Office with expertise, initiative, and leadership in the assessment, analysis, and coordination of policy, legislative, and regulatory submissions from across the OPS, as part of a one-window access to Cabinet Office. To lead the development of a coordinated strategic narrative for the Ministry, including the tracking and reporting on mandate commitments, other Ministry priorities, program evaluation and performance measurement. To advise and liaise with management of program areas to develop cross-cutting Ministry-level responses to internal and external requests, including coordinating inter-governmental activities. To advise and support management of program areas with activities such as tracking/processing board appointments, and tabling Annual reports. To liaise with Cabinet Office and Treasury Board Secretariat to facilitate policy, legislative, and regulatory submissions.

Key Responsibilities :

1. Policy, Legislative, & Regulatory Coordination
As a Senior Policy Analyst, provides the single point of contact between CCRO and designated business streams in the Ministry (e.g., ServiceOntario, Ontario Shared Services) for policy, legislative, and regulatory coordination as part of the CCRO's core functions by:
- Coordinating input, and providing policy expertise, in the assessment / impact analysis of policy, legislative, regulatory submissions from across the OPS, as part of a one-window access to Cabinet Office. Determining whether there is compliance with the requirements of the Central Agency's corporate control and coordination of Ministry policy and Cabinet Submission reviews and responses.
- Conducting policy reviews and analyses on policy papers, Cabinet submissions, and coordinated responses to issues identified at Cabinet, Cabinet Committees and other major policy meetings, and develops policy/program related recommendations to the Manager, Director, as part of the Ministry's policy approval process.
- Serving as a one-window Ministry policy contact for assigned Divisions/business streams with Cabinet Office and on all Cabinet Committee processes for the review of policy submissions and Cabinet Committee agenda items by providing policy analysis, negotiation, and coordination, notably for resolving potentially conflicting or overlapping interests/impacts on other parts of the Ministry or on other ministries with associated/ impacted mandates.
2. Policy Consultation
Provides authoritative expertise to senior management and policy staff in the areas of integrated policy development, analysis, coordination, and planning by:
- Supporting the Manager and the Director by developing complex policy advice and analyses on cross-ministry policy conflicts/implications of policy proposals submitted by MGCS program Directors. Seeking advice of, and consulting with program Directors on resolving potential policy gaps or conflicts, including developing presentations to explain the broad implications of policy proposals, and the potential impact of cross-ministry policies, as well as the development of corporate environmental scans. Developing policy recommendations to be presented to the Deputy Minister's and Minister's Offices; developing/editing briefing materials for the Deputy Minister's and Minister's Offices. Providing advice on non-matching or contradictory policy proposals.
- Developing consultative business relationships within the Ministry and with counterparts in other ministries to coordinate policies and strategies and to address and resolve potential policy conflicts. As assigned by the Manager, participating on inter-ministerial committees to represent the Ministry's policy positions and to recommend to management potential solutions to potential policy conflicts.
- Facilitating policy and legislation consultations between Senior Management Team, Cabinet Office, Cabinet Committees, Treasury Board, Minister's and Deputy Minister's Offices by liaising with senior management on program and corporate policy development issues, Cabinet submissions, legislation, regulations, and policy advisors/scheduling staff from Cabinet Office on the development, analysis, review and revision of submission materials, Cabinet Committees agendas, minutes, future items, and to articulate the Ministry's position and concerns.
- Analyzing and coordinating the preparation of briefing notes in response to requests from the Minister, Minister's staff, Deputy Minister, Chief Administrative Officer, Director and other Central Agencies. Leading the development of comments on other ministries' Cabinet submissions, Private Members Bills, processing of Orders-in-Council, Legislation and Regulations, and other corporate initiatives related to Cabinet, under tight deadlines.
3. Assessment of Corporate Mandate Commitments & Performance Measures
Leads the review and assessment of the Ministry's mandate commitments and performance measures, and the development of a coordinated strategic narrative for the Ministry, including the tracking and reporting on mandate commitments, other priorities, and KPIs by:
- Monitoring and reporting to the Director and CAO/ADMO on the Ministry's progress toward mandate commitments, and on trends in performance metrics.
- Providing direction and guidance in the development of performance evaluation frameworks, in support of continuous and evidence-informed improvement across the Ministry.
- Leading the development and preparation of logic models and performance measures; developing clearly defined objectives and realistic indicators for performance evaluation, with emphasis on identifying leading indicators, and supporting resource management that meet accountability criteria.
- Coordinating the development and implementation of a variable number of program evaluation initiatives for the Ministry from a large cross-section of potential criteria. Developing evaluation frameworks, terms of reference, goals, standards, and roles for the Ministry.
- Coordinating support for the development and continuous improvement of key performance indicators and performance measures, and sharing best practices and tools on performance standards and performance measurement, liaises with key Ministry contacts and Central Agencies such as the Centre of Excellence in Evidence-based Decision Making, and Cabinet Office where applicable to ensure effective sharing of information and results reporting.
- Consulting with Divisional management teams to resolve complex program evaluation criteria issues in order to achieve streamlined activities.
- Leading the development of systems to evaluate progress and results for review by senior management.
- Coordinating evaluation services in support of business plan projects, including the development of policy and program options. Developing policy reports and making recommendations to Director and other senior decision-makers. Liaising with program areas and other Central Agencies; ensuring that information needs are met quickly and efficiently, and that communications from program areas are relayed promptly, and action taken.
- Managing corporate information and analysis services in support of operational priorities and evidence-based decision-making.
- Leading the development of products (e.g., tools, templates, and dashboard) to support Ministry's policy coordination, tracking and reporting.
4. Coordination of Corporate Requests
Leads the Ministry's resolution of corporate requests by:
- Liaising with management of program areas to develop cross-cutting Ministry-level responses to internal and external requests, including coordinating inter-governmental activities.
- Developing policy briefing materials for the Minister and/or the Deputy Minister regarding the Ministry's recent achievements, ongoing policies and programs, as well as future plans in support of their attending major events, such as Federal/Provincial meetings, conferences, and consultations.
- Planning and leading the development and coordination of key cross-cutting products such as Ministry-level KPIs, impact notes, and Ministry strategic narratives. Identifying emerging issues and trends that may impact Ministry's agenda, and providing recommendations/advice on effective issue management.
- Working cooperatively with Ministry contacts to coordinate responses to government-wide planning initiatives and corporate requests ensuring that Ministry interests are represented.
- Updating and maintaining the '(new) Minister's Briefing Book' which would provide an incoming Minister with a current and concise overview of the Ministry's role, organizational structure, operations, human and financial resources, achievements, challenges, and upcoming plans and aspirations.
- Coordinates and ensures the provision of up-to-date program-specific content for the Ministry's functional areas by liaising with the respective ADMOs.
- Coordinating portfolio and/or Ministry responses to information requests from Cabinet Office and the Premier's Office. Coordinating the receipt of requests, and the assignment of responsibility for responding and analysis of the response for accuracy.
- Leading the development the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) submissions as part of the Program Review Renewal and Transformation process.
5. Coordination of Corporate Requirements
Advises and supports management of the Ministry's eleven Delegated Administrative Authorities, such as TICO and RICO, with activities such as tracking/processing board appointments, and tabling Annual reports. Follows up with relevant management teams if Annual Reports are late in being submitted, and works with the teams to endeavour to resolve reporting concerns that they may have. Leads the Ministry's review and resolution of corporate requirements.
6. Central Agency Liaison
Liaises with Cabinet Office and Treasury Board Secretariat to facilitate policy, legislative, and regulatory submissions and serves as a one-window Ministry policy contact with Cabinet Office and on all Cabinet Committee processes for the review of policy submissions and Cabinet Committee agenda items.

Knowledge / Skill :

Knowledge of:
- Ontario's political and organizational structure, policy development/approval processes, protocol/practices and Central Agency functions, MGCS objectives and values, program areas, policies, procedures, guidelines, relevant legislation and regulations, to support the delivery of well-integrated corporate coordination services involving planning support, and the analysis, coordination and preparation of Minister/Deputy Minister corporate briefings.
- Cabinet Committee functions in order to coordinate and facilitate access for the submission of policy/legislative proposals from all of the ministries through the MGCS' 'one-window gateway' to the Cabinet Committee review and approval process, as well as to oversee/provide follow-up by the CCRO, for MGCS.
- MGCS corporate issues, concerns and trends to recognize priorities and appropriately evaluate corporate briefing materials, and response to Premier's Office/Cabinet Office policy and information-related requests.
- OPS decision-making and accountability framework, including program evaluation and measurement techniques and methodologies, such as program monitoring and reporting, and allocations processes, in order to design and conduct program evaluations and to support the accurate reporting of program performance data relating to the Ministry's multi-faceted operations throughout the Province.
- Project management techniques to plan and lead initiatives, to provide direction and guidance to project teams, and to manage external research consultants when assigned.
Skills in:
- Leadership skills to serve as a project leader in managing special policy and performance management initiatives, and to undertake leadership as required by the Manager in planning and leading the development and coordination of a broad range of policy analysis initiatives for designated sectors of the Ministry.
- Communication and consultative skills to facilitate and deliver policy submission coordination, liaison, and connectivity between Senior Management Team, Cabinet Office, Cabinet Committee, Treasury Board Secretariat, and Minister/Deputy Minister Offices.
- Presentation and writing/editing skills to lead the research, development, and preparation of various complex/contentious reports, reviews, policy recommendations, and briefing materials for senior management and the Minister.
- Planning and organizational skills to address constantly competing priorities and to promote the delivery of well-integrated, coordination service.
- Research, analytical, and conceptual skills, together with problem solving and issue management skills in order to anticipate, research, identify, analyze, and evaluate complex situations and issues; identify sources of major policy coordination conflicts, weigh their implications, and lead development of solutions/recommendations.
- Oral and written communications skills to conduct meetings, and to develop provincial and inter-provincial presentations for the Minister or Deputy Minister, e.g., at Federal/Provincial conferences, develop recommendations; prepare reports, options papers, and briefing materials.
- Written communication and presentation skills in order to develop policy assessments and recommendations, policy presentation materials, House Notes, Cabinet Submissions, legislation recommendations, Central Agency submissions, briefing documents, spreadsheets, memoranda and correspondence on issues and initiatives.
- Ability to work collaboratively across program and organizational boundaries, whether within the Ministry, or with other ministries and their agencies, and the other Central Agencies regarding policy coordination-related issues.
- Ability to work both as a team member and independently.
- Skill and ability to utilize standard software programs and tools, and statistical software packages for data management and analysis.

Interpersonal / Influencing Skill :

- Interpersonal and influencing skills that incorporate a high degree of sensitivity to significantly differing points of view, together with diplomacy and negotiating skills, in order to consult with, and to provide authoritative policy coordination expertise, to senior management of other ministries regarding their submitting of policy/legislative proposals to Cabinet Office, as well as to consult on the Ministry's own policy planning and development operations, by focussing on integrating or coordinating policy development and planning.
- Influencing and persuasion skills are required to persuade various groups of MGCS policy-makers to make changes to their policy proposals in order to achieve compatibility with related policy areas within the Ministry, and as required, with other ministries which have overlapping interests.
- Interpersonal, consultation, and facilitation skills to provide leadership and project management to assigned project team members.
- Consultation skills to provide leadership and expert advice in policy analysis and research to senior management, other ministries and stakeholders to support Ministry policy and program initiatives.
- Influencing and presentation skills to clearly communicate recommendations for changes, based on policy analysis and an in-depth understanding on policy linkages within MGCS and other ministries, to management teams within MGCS, and to endeavour to reconcile differing points of view regarding the scope and impact of the proposed changes to their policies and programs.
- Advisory, facilitation and cooperation skills to work with other branches, ministries, governments, central agencies and academics to develop and implement policy analysis and research projects.
- Negotiation skills to resolve performance issues with external analysis/research service contractors/providers and to influence them to adopt the CCRO's priorities and methodologies which may differ from their own.

Analyzing / Problem Solving Skill :

Analytical and problem-solving skills to:
- Coordinate and lead the assessment of policy, legislative, regulatory submissions from across the OPS, as part of a one-window access to Cabinet Office and determining whether there is compliance with the requirements of the Central Agency's corporate control and coordination of ministries' policy and Cabinet Submission reviews and responses.
- Lead the synthetization of policy and program proposals on highly complex issues involving MGCS provision of services across the OPS, as well as to lead the analysis of policy and program issues from a corporate perspective; to identify potentially contentious issues; to reflect consistency/integration with the corporate direction and focus of the Ministry.
- As a one-window Ministry policy contact for assigned MGCS Divisions/business streams on all Cabinet Committee submissions, lead the review and analysis of policy submissions and Cabinet Committee agenda items by providing comprehensive policy analysis, negotiation, and coordination, notably for resolving potentially conflicting or overlapping interests/impacts on other parts of the Ministry or on other ministries.
- Lead the development and preparation of MGCS logic models and performance measures; develop clearly defined objectives and realistic indicators for MGCS performance evaluation, with emphasis on identifying leading indicators, and supporting resource management that meet accountability criteria.
- Lead the analysis, development, planning and preparation policy briefing materials for the Minister and/or the Deputy Minister regarding the Ministry's recent achievements, ongoing policies and programs, as well as future plans in support of their attending major events, such as Federal/Provincial meetings, conferences, and consultations.
- Lead the evaluation of directions, trends, and policies for MGCS using multiple sources of information to identify research requirements, develop options, and make recommendations to the Manager and Director.

Decision Making / Responsibility :

Responsible for:
- Conducting policy reviews and analyses on policy papers, Cabinet submissions, and coordinated responses to issues identified at Cabinet, Cabinet Committees and other major policy meetings, and develops policy/program related recommendations to the Manager, Director, as part of the Ministry's policy approval process.
- Serving as a one-window Ministry policy contact for assigned Divisions/business streams with Cabinet Office and on all Cabinet Committee processes for the review of policy submissions and Cabinet Committee agenda items by providing policy analysis, negotiation, and coordination, notably for resolving potentially conflicting or overlapping interests/impacts on other parts of the Ministry or on other ministries with associated/ impacted mandates.
- Supporting the Manager and the Director by developing complex policy advice and analyses on cross-ministry policy conflicts/implications of policy proposals submitted by MGCS program Directors. Seeking advice of, and consulting with program Directors on resolving potential policy gaps or conflicts, including developing presentations to explain the broad implications of policy proposals, and the potential impact of cross-ministry policies, as well as the development of corporate environmental scans. Developing policy recommendations to be presented to the Deputy Minister's and Minister's Offices
- Leading the development and preparation of logic models and performance measures; developing clearly defined objectives and realistic indicators for performance evaluation, with emphasis on identifying leading indicators, and supporting resource management that meet accountability criteria.
- Coordinating the development and implementation of a variable number of program evaluation initiatives for the Ministry from a large cross-section of potential criteria. Developing evaluation frameworks, terms of reference, goals, standards, and roles for the Ministry.
- Planning and leading the development and coordination of key cross-cutting products such as Ministry-level KPIs, impact notes, and Ministry strategic narratives. Identifying emerging issues and trends that may impact Ministry's agenda, and providing recommendations/advice on effective issue management.
- Working cooperatively with Ministry contacts to coordinate responses to government-wide planning initiatives and corporate requests ensuring that Ministry interests are represented.
Has latitude to: decide research/analytical approaches/methods on which policy and performance management advice is based; deal with sensitive and complex policy/program issues for senior management; determine whether to handle/escalate issue/request; make recommendations on OPS-wide policy coordination initiatives (e.g., improvements to the one-window access to Cabinet Office for submissions).
Decisions are guided by: MGCS processes/procedures/guidelines for policy/legislation review, and coordination, leading to review and approval by Cabinet Office, including Cabinet's policy and legislative approvals processes, practices, and related legislative authorities.

Contacts / Stakeholder :

- Ongoing contacts with ADMs and Directors across the Ministry, as well as senior staff in other ministries, regarding the areas of policy development, program evaluation, and performance measurement in order to negotiate and seek policy/program changes to address and resolve potential policy/program conflicts within the Ministry, and with other ministries, as part of the 'gatekeeper' function of CCRO in coordinating policy, legislation, and regulation submissions to Cabinet Committees and Cabinet Office. Ongoing consultations with MGCS Deputy Minister's staff to coordinate corporate services functions.
- Senior staff in other Provinces and the Federal Government to coordinate policy briefings leading up to Federal/Provincial/Territorial meetings for which the incumbent would be contributing policy briefings for the MGCS Minister and Deputy Minister.
- Senior Ministry officials to submit reports, recommendations and to interpret statistical/research findings, make presentations on technical issues and provide expert advice.
- Senior Ministry officials and management to provide policy coordination and performance management information and expert advice; to seek direction; to discuss program issues; to provide progress updates.
- Senior staff of other ministries and central agencies to provide policy coordination guidance, expert advice, and to negotiate situations where there are conflicting or overlapping policies, requiring the Senior Policy Advisor to reconcile potentially significant and diverse points of view regarding the proposed or existing policies among different Divisions and ministries, as part of CCRO's 'gatekeeper' role in controlling policy submissions to Cabinet Office, which requires a great deal of political acuity as well due to the potential conflict reaching the Cabinet level if resolution cannot be achieved.
- Chairs and/or participates on Ministry/Divisional committees, inter-ministerial committees, task forces and working groups to address policy and negotiate resolution of policy and legislative coordination challenges
- Chairs and/or participates in consultations with management teams of the Ministry's Agencies and Boards in order to address and resolve issues involving their Annual Reports, related issues, and issues involving vacancies on their respective Boards of Directors.
proposed or existing policies among different Divisions and ministries, as part of CCRO's 'gatekeeper' role in controlling policy submissions to Cabinet Office, which requires a great deal of political acuity as well due to the potential conflict reaching the Cabinet level if resolution cannot be achieved.
- Chairs and/or participates on Ministry/Divisional committees, inter-ministerial committees, task forces and working groups to address policy and negotiate resolution of policy and legislative coordination challenges
- Chairs and/or participates in consultations with management teams of the Ministry's Agencies and Boards in order to address and resolve issues involving their Annual Reports, related issues, and issues involving vacancies on their respective Boards of Directors.

Guidance / Supervision :

- Provides expert advice and guidance to senior officials, senior management in the Ministry, as well as to senior staff in the Ministry's boards and agencies.
- Provides guidance and support for the Analysts within the CCRO, including mentoring and coaching, as appropriate.
- Provides guidance and supervision to assigned project team members and external consultants when leading or coordinating policy/performance management projects.

Demands / Pressures :

Work Demands :

- Regularly required to prioritize competing work demands to meet tight deadlines. May be required to work beyond normal work hours to analyze policy submissions and/or negotiate policy impact changes.
- Daily changing priorities and workload with varying deadlines and tight time pressures require quick shift in focus and activities in order to respond rapidly to corporate management requests on short notice from senior management.
- Limited control over the pace of work as much of the work involves coordinating others' activities/input.
- Frequently required to balance and rebalance work priorities.

Mental / Sensory :

- Regularly required to concentrate intently when analyzing complex policy and performance data and complex policy coordination assignments originating with senior management.
- Regularly required to give instructions on policy coordination and conflict resolution, and to consult on the analysis of performance management data/information with senior management.
- Frequent requirement to read, review, and concentrate on complex policy analysis/coordination, and performance management requests from the Director and Manager without interruption (e.g., comprehending and assessing the implications of urgent and involved requests received from senior levels of Ministry).

Conditions / Environment :

- Work is performed in a typical office environment.