Table of Contents

• Hello

• Where To Catch Me

• Stop Writing Job Descriptions. Start Writing Align …

  • The Essence of the Role

  • What Makes a Strong Job Post

  • Clarity is the Hidden Engine

• 1% Solutions

• What I’m Reading

Hello

I’m currently at EdTech Week in NYC. Last week I was in Nashville for RecFest. Everything has been incredible— but I feel like I am that Lady Gaga gif, running on caffeine and vibes.

I try to attend a mix of conferences- some focused solely on talent, others focused on the spaces in which I work. Sadly, I don’t see conferences really focused on building talent and talent infrastructure in schools and nonprofits so I often feel like the odd person out in each space. But that also helps me to be a better connector. As I promised in a LinkedIn post last Friday, here are my notes, cleaned up so that a normal human can understand my writing. But if you have questions on anything, please feel free to email me!

Where To Catch Me

Over the next few weeks, I’m sharing a few opportunities to learn and connect:

• Too often, feedback sounds like a judgment of who someone is. This erodes trust, reinforces bias and leaves no path to improve. On October 23rd, I’m leading a free webinar on how to spot and avoid personality driven feedback— and what to say instead. Sign up here.

• Leaders are often unclear with their teams when they haven’t taken the time to be clear with themselves. Enrollment for my cohort Lead WIth Clarity is open, and we start October 29th. Registration is here. Nonprofits and self-funded folks- email me directly for a discount code. I’ll close enrollment on Monday October 27th.

• On November 4, I’m joining a panel on AI in Coaching. This is a practical, hands-on session for talent leaders. You can learn more and sign up here.

Stop Writing Job Descriptions. Start Writing Alignment

When I was a teacher, the first step in planning a year-long curriculum wasn’t picking texts or activities. It was clarity.

What should students know by June?
How will they demonstrate that knowledge?
And how complex should the questions be by the end of the year?

As a principal, I pushed my teachers to do the same. Without that anchor, there was no way to prioritize, build a narrative, or layer lessons so they built upon one another. You’d just be teaching in circles.

So when I moved into talent and people strategy, the role of the job description felt obvious — but I was in small company (at first at least).

I was in a high-growth organization that treated job postings as a box to check so we could get applicants in the door. But that shortcut always caught up to us:

• Employees felt hoodwinked when their day-to-day looked nothing like the description.

• Interviews missed the mark because we hadn’t defined what “great” actually looked like.

• Managers struggled to evaluate performance because there was no shared picture of success.

A good job description isn’t busywork. It’s your curriculum for the role — the foundation for alignment, accountability, and growth.

The Essence of the Role

At its core, a strong job description captures why the role exists, how it contributes, and what success looks like. Until you have that clarity, you can’t automate, delegate, or build systems that scale. Every hiring, performance, and development process rests on this foundation (btw- if you nerd out on this as much as I do, please check out Kat Kibben on LinkedIn and subscribe to their newsletter

What Makes a Strong Job Post

When it’s time to turn that description into a public-facing post, focus on three essentials:

1. Impact of the work: Why this role matters and how it moves the mission forward.

2. Everyday tasks: What the role actually looks like in practice — the real rhythm of the work.

3. Decision-making- When articulating the above tasks also be sure to list at what level the person is making said decisions.

4. Mandatory requirements: The specific skills and experience needed at the right scope, scale, and stage.

5. Define success- What are 2-3 indicators for success in the role?

Skip the fluff (what exactly is a rockstar?) and inflated requirements (“8+ years,” “goes above and beyond”). Those create noise, not clarity.

(P.S. I led this activity for a group of executives as a precursor to giving better feedback- and they found the activity helpful even for roles that already exist. So even if you aren’t hiring, it’s a great exercise especially before performance evaluations).

Clarity is the Hidden Engine

Job descriptions are the building block of every people system. When done well, they lead to:

• Better hiring (you attract people aligned with purpose)

• Smoother onboarding (expectations are explicit)

• Fairer evaluations (everyone knows what success looks like)

When done poorly, they lead to confusion, misalignment, and turnover that looks like “bad fit” but is really just bad clarity. And what’s worse- a lack of clarity is generally a breeding ground for bias and inequity, Because when we fail to get explicit about what success actually looks like, we privilege people who think like us or have our lived experiences.

Clarity isn’t paperwork. It’s culture in written form. And like any good curriculum — it starts by knowing what you want people to learn, do, and become.

And even if you are not actively hiring, I’d strongly suggest reviewing your job descriptions periodically. At minimum, it can be the start of any performance review year to reground and clarify expectations.

1% Solutions

• Schedule time to close the loop on feedback: Schedule time in your calendar to close the loop on anyone who has shared an idea or concern. This can be as simple as saying: “Here’s what I did / Here’s why not.”

• Plan better meetings by starting with the end in mind- My former teachers will appreciate this one! Add one line at the top of every agenda: “If we are able to do X/walk away with Y, this will have been a successful meeting.” Articulating the goal ahead of time helps you to identify what conversations need to be had and what data folks should be looking at in order to meet that metric.

What I’m Reading

• For AI Productivity Gains, Let Team Leads Make Their Own Rules- One thing I’ve learned about change management and transformation— it actually happens on the ground. And so pushing some level of decision making down is critical for any change to stick. This article for MIT names the same for AI policy. This doesn’t however mean abdication. Read more for ideas on how to thread that needle (and honestly even if you are not focused on AI, it’s a good read on leading change).

• How to Deliver Feedback that Unlocks Potential of Underperforming Employee- Feedback that is technically correct is often not enough to really support an underperforming employee. This Fast Company articles shares four strategies to equip managers in really communicating with those under-performers while also encouraging a growth mindset.