Position Title: Director, Organizational Development, Special Olympics North America (SONA)
Location: Headquarters - Washington, DC (Hybrid) or Remote with approximately 20-30% travel to Special Olympics Programs, meetings and events in North America
Department: Special Olympics North America
Reports to: VP, Organizational Development, Special Olympics North America
FLSA Status: Exempt
Salary Range for US Based Staff: $86,660 - $101,953
Organization Overview:
Founded in 1968, Special Olympics is a global movement to end discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities. We foster acceptance of all people through the power of sport and programming in education, health, and leadership. With nearly four million athletes and Unified Sports® partners and one million coaches and volunteers in more than 170 countries, Special Olympics delivers more than 30 Olympic-type sports and nearly 50,000 games and competitions every year. Learn more at SpecialOlympics.org.
Position Summary:
The Director, Organizational Development will report to the SONA VP of Organizational Development and collaborate with SONA Programs, all SONA departments (including the technical assistance team for Unified Champion Schools), applicable headquarters/SOI staff, the Special Olympics North America Organizational Development team, and other internal and external entities, to assess, advise, and lead or contribute to various aspects of Organizational Development initiatives and services.
This position, in collaboration with the rest of the Organizational Development team, will help identify and provide resources, products, technical assistance, and consultation - across an array of topics – to educate, equip, empower, and advance the growth, quality, and sustainability of SONA’s Programs. Candidates for this role should desire to be part of a high-performing team with a high commitment to innovation, collaboration, and excellent internal and external customer service.
The Director will have emphases of facilitating the sharing of knowledge, leading practices, and centers of excellence; overall Program advancement; and ensuring understanding and compliance by Programs of such globally applicable items as Special Olympics’ General Rules, Accreditation, Census, internal project management, and other priorities of the Special Olympics Movement.
It is expected that the Director, Organizational Development will possess or develop necessary areas of knowledge and/or expertise regarding Special Olympics and nonprofit management.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Be a collaborative partner with SONA Programs and departments to help foster excellence across our Programs and region.
- Lead or Co-lead (based on workstream) Organizational Development priorities and products that provide technical support (information/guidance/resources) and facilitate leading practice sharing strategies and platforms within SONA for priority areas.
- Lead and manage all aspects of SONA Share, an online platform for information sharing, for and among SONA Accredited Program leaders, built around numerous topical affinity groups.
- Lead and coordinate all aspects of Advance. Advance is a SONA resource for Programs who desire to improve or “advance” the scope and/or quality of specific self-selected operational or programmatic disciplines of their organization. Utilizing the skills and experience of Program leaders and Special Olympics SONA staff with expertise in the identified areas, custom teams are assembled to visit the participating Program, assess, make recommendations, provide best practices and strategies, and follow up to ensure the Program is on a path to greater success.
- Serve as primary liaison between SONA Organizational Development department and SONA Unified Champion Schools department to support the furtherance of UCS in U.S. Programs as part of overall Program expansion and sustainability strategies and targeting specific U.S. Programs/areas of growth.
- Lead annual Accreditation and Census compliance, education, technical assistance, and HQ collaboration for SONA
- Support SONA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, including (but not limited to): leading annual Accreditation DE&I reporting process; oversight of the SONA Share DE&I group; serving as a liaison to the U.S. Leadership Council DE&I Committee Chair; facilitating monthly SONA Program Staff DE&I calls.
- Identify and support technology-based solutions for SONA regional councils (U.S. Leadership Council, North America Leadership Council) for information sharing and committee reporting
- Serve as department liaison to SOI Project Management Cohort, and select SOI/SONA technology working groups
- Support VP, Organizational Development with needs, as requested
- Other duties as assigned, duties subject to change
Required Qualifications/Traits:
- 5+ years of professional experience with a state/provincial, national, or international multi-tiered non-profit or for-profit organization. Strong preference will be given to Special Olympics experience.
- High commitment to superior customer service and quality
- Innovative, adaptable, solutions-oriented
- Flexible and comfortable working in a high-productivity environment with changing priorities, initiatives, and responsibilities
- Ability to identify organizational needs and operationalize solutions
- Ability to maintain neutrality, objectivity and absolute confidentiality in situations
- Ability to determine nuances of situations and craft tailored solutions/approaches accordingly
- Open to mentorship and learning; ongoing willingness to build upon current knowledge
- Servant leader mindset and behavior
- Strong project and time management skills
- Self-motivator and independent worker capable of successfully working in both an office and home office environment
- Excellent listening, interpersonal communication, written, oral, and computer skills
- Strong facilitation and presentation skills
- Comfortable identifying, adopting, and leveraging technology solutions to digitize operations and the movement, prioritizing efficacy and the end-user experience
- Ability to work weekends and evenings, and meet travel expectations, as needed
- Bachelor’s degree or relevant experience
Desired Qualifications/Traits:
- Current understanding of Special Olympics Programs, programming, culture, structure and SOI initiatives highly preferred
- Experience managing, motivating and leading teams/individuals to reach common goals
- Professional and/or personal experience working with individuals with intellectual disabilities is a plus
- Demonstrable commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion - especially the empowerment of people with intellectual disability
- Comfortable working in a multi-cultural and international operating environment
- Knowledge of SmartSheets, Microsoft Teams, Power Bi, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint
- Experience with or interest in Risk Management a plus
- Knowledge of or experience with non-profit Boards of Directors / governance a plus
*For USA based staff: Special Olympics offers full-time employees a generous and comprehensive benefits package, which includes: medical, dental, vision, HSA, FSA, life insurance, disability, retirement, legal resources, and PTO.
Special Olympics provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
**Special Olympics is an E-Verify Employer**
