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Many networks are hiring network weavers and/or network coordinators or managers. I pulled together two excellent examples of job descriptions, which are detailed below. You can also access them through the resource page as a free resource so you can email them to your board or hiring committee.
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Below is a network weaver job description from a network I’m working with, the Resonance Network. What would you add or change?
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Network Weaver
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Core Responsibilities
- Develop a plan to align and weave the various parts of the Network – individuals, collectives, communities, projects and actions — routinely connecting parts and people across groups and projects
- Catalyze and coordinate network-wide activities in alignment with current strategic priorities
- Support all staff, consultants and network participants to have a basic understanding of network approaches, network values and basic network weaving skills
- Facilitate integration of network weaving perspective and practice throughout network activities
- Coordinate pool of network facilitators — connecting them to collaborative and/or self-organized projects seeking their support and organizing them into a community of practice
- Design and implement engagement ladders, providing a spectrum of opportunities for network participants to get involved in network activities
- Catalyze and support self-organizing among network participants
- Use network maps to identify opportunities for connections among individuals and projects to better connect the network
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Desired Qualities/Experience/Skills
- Experience in building and nurturing networks, coalitions, or communities of practice that encompass a range of perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds, including experience growing online/offline community through art, mobilization, and/or organizing
- Proficiency in network mapping tools and analysis of maps
- Comfortable working in a quick-paced environment to help develop the weavers and facilitators to support network development.
- Open to experimentation, learning, and adjustments along the way; ability to push through ambiguity to deliver results
- Deep passion for building and supporting relationships; skilled in lifting up the work of others, often in a behind-the-scenes way
- Strong project-management skills including great attention to detail, organizational skills, and the ability to manage projects with many moving parts
- Superb written and verbal communication skills
- Comfortable flying in the cloud (Google Drive, Slack, Salesforce, Dropbox, etc.), and proficiency with or willingness to learn Kumu or other network-mapping tools
- Ability to work independently and think creatively about how to leverage the resources at your disposal
- Strong interpersonal skills, including ability to communicate openly and directly with co-workers and community members
- Demonstrated commitment to racial, social, and economic justice
- People of color, immigrants, queer, women, transgender, non-binary folks encouraged to apply
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Below is another description, this time for a Network Manager or Coordinator. From the Santa Cruz Mountains Stewardship Network developed by Converge.
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Network Manager
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Primary Responsibilities
The Network Manager creates, cultivates, and ensures high quality relationships and collaborations that advance the mission of the network. Primary responsibilities are to:
Convene the Network
- Help design and facilitate network convenings
- Organize convening logistics, including meeting locations, catering, materials, reminders, etc.
Catalyze the Network
- Support new member onboarding
- Facilitate connections between network participants
- Support network participants to more deeply connect their organization with the work of network
Coordinate the Network
- Coordinate and join monthly Core Team & Impact Team meetings and calls, identifying points of intersection and bottlenecks, and helping to connect network participants with other network members or regional leaders for assistance or support
- Track project progress, outcomes, bottlenecks
- Capture key takeaways and next steps from convenings
- Regularly update the network dashboard and provide monthly updates
- Manage network finances and budget
- Perform site visits to stay aware of network projects and stewardship collaborations between participants
- Coordinate with other regional networks to identify points of intersection
- Maintain the network’s technological infrastructure (Basecamp, Google Docs) and keep them up to date
Communicate with and for the Network
- Function as primary point of contact for the network internally and externally
- Connect with each individual participant of the network to understand their work, their organization, how the network can support the participant and their organization in service of shared goals as outlined in the MOU, and how the participant and their organizations can support and more strongly engage with the network
- Keep network conversations vibrant and alive
- Reach out to drifting participants and find creative ways to re-engage them in the network
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Resource the Network
- Support and lead network fundraising efforts with the Resource Impact Team and the Core Team
- Work with network members to identify and secure in-kind contributions, including meeting locations, transportation, catering, materials, etc.
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Essential Skills
- Strong interpersonal abilities, with a willingness to cross boundaries and work with diverse people
- Solid facilitation and presentation skills
- Exceptional attention to detail, super organized, great time management
- Dynamic problem solving skills
- Comfortable with technology
Personal Characteristics
- Deep passion for the mission
- Personal humility, servant leader, network entrepreneur
- Knows how to ask for and receive help
- Proactive, self-starter, loves to take initiative with an urgency to get the job done
- Understands the big picture and larger context of the work, systems thinker
- Ability to see all sides of an issue
- Patient, stays cool under pressure
- Great sense of humor, ability to see the positive
- Loves nature and the region
Recent developments in talent A.I. have discovered algorithmic biases that often do not represent all fairly. Fortunately, and mercifully, current tests and reviews have found them to simple be utterly useless for screening applicants. They were not moved to production. That’s obvious and an ongoing, long-term, wicked problem.
One interesting thing they did find is job descriptions are oriented to the majority. Most job descriptions in tech are biased. They in turn attract a certain type of CV. This in turn corrupts the machine learning algorithms, i.e., GIGO.
The first job description is problematic for a rather punishing, militaristic tone, e.g., ‘strong,’ ‘coordinate,’ ‘develop,’ ‘skill,’ etc. The second one is better, with a slightly rounder, softer and warmer tone. IMO, neither would attract the the broad, diverse and inclusive range of people needed for network weavers.
IMO, and of many others, the whole idea of a ‘job description’ is obsolete. Better is a conversational outcome scenario planning sequence. That’s describes the environment and what behaviors and styles would achieve and sustain optimal outcomes. It will attract a far greater dynamic range of applicants.