Creating Transformative Job Descriptions

Traditional leadership paradigms treat organizations like machines, focusing on individual parts. Nature, however, depends on self-organization to generate excellent results without a heavy managerial footprint.

When we treat our organization as a living system, we focus instead on how people are connected to one another and to the enterprise’s larger purpose. What if our job descriptions valued those values?  

As I’ve mentioned over the last few weeks, strong organizational development practices and HR departments can help employees see the value of self-organizing and interdependence. We can also do more to inspire collaboration across the organization. 

When we write a job description that focuses on individual duties, we let the employee know that the focus is on their list of duties. Any organization frustrated by silos can shift this dynamic by articulating how each position connects to other parts of the organization. These connections help people see their contributions within the organization instead of their separation. 

Five elements of transformative job descriptions

These new job descriptions contain more than a list of tasks and required skills. Generally speaking, you can organize new job descriptions into five sections:

1. Purpose: Here, we explain why the role exists and how it contributes to the organization’s success at a strategic level. It should connect the position to the organization’s greater purpose, not just activities. What impact does this role have on the business, and why does it matter?
2. Responsibilities: Instead of an extensive list of duties specific to this position, outcomes and responsibilities would list core areas that the person would be responsible for, with specific duties clustered underneath. Core areas need to expand beyond the specific duties to topics of relationships and actively support the organizational culture it aspires to. Identifying the main outcomes makes it easier for people to see the bigger picture of the job’s responsibilities rather than a lengthy list of specific duties. Employees can see how they relate to one another from an organizational perspective.
3. Outcomes: Nature depends on individual species to self-organize their actions to serve the larger system. When we frame job descriptions as expected outcomes in living systems, we let people determine how to achieve those outcomes, rather than listing their required duties. Following that example, to take a job description to the next level, we can experiment with articulating the key responsibilities as “outcomes” expected of someone in this position.
4. Cultural Expectations: Here, we can solidify the values of our organizational culture and describe how the role operates within the broader system. We must embed expectations in the culture we aspire to within the job description. This goes beyond individual performance to include collaboration, shared leadership, and contribution to the whole organization.
5. Personal Qualifications: Here we can outline the capabilities, behaviors, and mindsets needed to succeed in the role, especially in a dynamic and collaborative environment. It should emphasize qualities like self-organization, emotional intelligence, adaptability, and the ability to work effectively with others. These specifications help ensure the person can operate effectively without rigid oversight, reduce drama, and contribute to a more regenerative organization.

It may be hard to picture a job description that is written this way. Here’s an example of an approach to a job description with a living systems framework in mind!

VP of Sales—a living systems job description  

Vice President, Sales

Purpose:

Lead the sales team to achieve organizational goals.

This position creates and organizes the distribution channels that communicate the organization’s value proposition for its customers. It’s a critical place for gaining customer feedback. The sales team is also the first to learn about competitors’ products and offerings. This information helps the organization learn when it needs to adapt and develop new products that will maintain and grow its market share.

Responsibilities

Develop a high-performing team.

• Hire talented staff who are competent and are a good fit within the organization and its culture.
• Coach, orient, and train staff to model values of self-organization and interdependence. 
• Reinforce alignment of work with the organization’s purpose.
• Provide ongoing feedback to employees to promote ongoing individual development. 
• Conduct holistic performance reviews for all staff members on the team.
• Model the core values of the organization within individual leadership practices. 

Outcomes 

The sales team will offer best-in-class service to its customers and demonstrate high levels of collaboration inside the group, within the organization, and with key partners outside the organization. The team understands how they are connected to other divisions and external environments. 

Cultural Expectations

This leader will actively support peers across departments, think beyond their own team, and model core values in everyday decisions. Actions should reflect a commitment to developing strong relationships and demonstrate values of trust, self-organization, adaptability, and continuous improvement. They will actively support and cooperate with other leaders within the organization.

Personal Qualifications

The person in this role must exemplify and model regenerative leadership practices.

• An outward mindset and self-awareness of how actions and decisions impact others.
• Ability, desire, and experience to actively support the success of others in an interdependent organization.
• Capable of initiating and organizing their own work and spotting potential team members who can do the same.
• High degree of emotional intelligence, including the ability to self-regulate emotions
• Ability to observe and facilitate group dynamics to generate effective meetings, teams, and other relationships inside and outside the organization.
• Committed to active, ongoing learning.
• Capable of scanning the external environment for information that helps the organization become more adaptive and innovative.

This is just an example of simple shifts to help your job descriptions support more interdependent, regenerative organizations. Nature rewards cooperation, banks on diversity, and depends on self-organization. If we want the adaptive capacity we see in Nature, we need to start embedding these expectations in human resource processes. Job descriptions are a great place to start!