The Chief of Staff supports, catalyzes, and serves as a member of the Org-wide Learning and Strategy (OWLS) leadership team (LT) (the other members are the team Senior Vice President and the four subteam Vice President leads) in designing and executing all of the team’s operations and strategic processes; building and maintain a thriving, inclusive team culture that inspires all team members to do their best work and bring their whole selves to the job; and tackling an array of special projects that are critical to the team’s impact. In order to support the LT, the CoS will be actively involved in work across the team, lead and coach the heads of functional units within each subteam, manage the team assistant, and serve as a trusted advisor to the team’s Senior Vice President and Vice Presidents. Given to the high-stakes nature of this position, this individual must model the core values, have exceptional judgment, and be excellent at solving abstract problems. This role will report directly to the SVP, OWLS.
Oversee team-wide strategic planning, execution, and performance reporting (30%)
- Optimize portfolio systems and protocols to ensure a more strategically aligned approach to project intake, prioritization, selection, monitoring, and reporting
- Build systems to track progress toward quarterly and annual goals and to build clarity about work across the team
- Actively solicit input from across the team and partner teams
- Work with OWLS leadership to continuously revisit and edit the OWLS strategic plan
- Draft quarterly updates to illustrate progress toward annual objectives
- Primary point-of-contact for Finance and Human Assets teams
- Manage team assistant, who partially supports organizational performance work
Maximize the impact of the LT by leading the group’s planning, communications, and operations (30%)
- Plan meeting and retreat agendas
- Facilitate discussion and create recommendations with the LT to address complex cross-team challenges
- Create systems to track decisions, next steps, and timelines
- Ensure team members are informed about important work and decisions
- Facilitate follow-up when there are implications and dependencies with other teams
- Advise and coach managers across the team
- Manage team assistant, who also provides calendar, travel, and expense support
Lead special projects (20%)
- As time permits, drive or support special initiatives related to OWLS team priorities
Lead culture and communication across the OWLS team (10%)
- Create and implement strategies to create and sustain a thriving culture on OWLS
- Assess the culture and needs of the team (via surveys, one-on-one communication, your own observations, etc.) in order to identify how well we’re living into our aspirations for impact and culture, in partnership with the team and functional leaders
- Plan and manage team retreats, in partnership with LT, team members, and assistant
- Design structures and forums to establish effective communications that build understanding, foster open communication, and ensure all voices/perspectives are heard
Lead cross-team Learning & Development (10%)
- Create and implement strategies to ensure team develops, excites, and retains outstanding people
- Identify and implement opportunities for team to develop multicultural competence
- Work with VPs to ensure that each individual has clear learning and development goals that are visible and regularly shared with others
- Create structures and opportunities to ensure team actively helps each other learn and develop, shares strengths and skills, and identifies learning opportunities for others
Prior Experience
- 7+ years of work/academic experience in strategy, project management, consulting, or similar roles with outstanding performance/impact
- Previous experience working to improve organizational performance through portfolio management a plus
- Distinctive impact/progression of increasing responsibility in previous work
Skills
- Complex problem solving and advanced strategic planning
- You run toward problems before others ask you
- You quickly define problems and figure out how to analyze them
- You’re comfortable drawing conclusions from quantitative and qualitative information
- You know the fine points of strategic planning
- You recognize strategic plans tell a story; thus, there’s not a single “formula” for them
- You enjoy putting together a power point deck and writing a winning memo; you explain things clearly and succinctly
- Operational power house
- You notice and plan for important details
- You know how to move things forward; inaction or a lack of clarity bother you
- You like creating systems and routines; you love when others use the systems you design
- Culture and work leader
- You notice when something is wrong and you do something about it
- You don’t shy away from sharing difficult feedback
- You see people’s strengths and you strive to develop them
- Your colleagues consider you a coach or a mentor
- You view yourself as a steward of Teach For America
- You also know how and when it’s time to move groups forward, even if there’s not agreement
- Culturally competent
- Demonstrated cultural competence, critical consciousness, and ability to work across lines of difference
- You notice voices that are missing and bring them into the conversation
- You recognize the impact of your own voice and adjust your participation accordingly
- When you observe privilege or dominant culture holding us back, you do something about it
Work Demands
- Working with colleagues who are based all over the country – using remote technologies (e.g., WebEx)
- Able to travel about once per quarter