Position descriptions that committees actually use
I once asked a committee Secretary where their position descriptions lived.
She laughed. “In a folder called ‘HR Stuff 2019, I think. We don’t open them. We just… know.”
Except they didnt just know. The President was doing the Treasurer’s job. The Treasurer was chasing invoices the Coordinator should own. The Coordinator was writing grant acquittals at midnight because “nobody else can.” And when someone left, the handover was a coffee and a USB stick that didn’t work.
Position descriptions (PDs) get a bad rap in the NFP world because they’re often written like corporate novels—three pages of “key result areas” and “stakeholder engagement matrices.” Then they sit unread, and everyone goes back to vibes.
You don’t need vibes. You need one clear page per role.
What a useful PD actually does
A good PD answers four questions:
Why does this role exist? One sentence.
What are you responsible for? A short list of outcomes, not every task you’ll ever touch.
Who do you report to / work with? So the org chart isn’t a mystery.
What does “good” look like? A handful of plain measuresnot KPIs for the sake of KPIs.
That’s enough for a volunteer committee role. Staff roles might add hours, award coverage, and essential requirements. Still keep it readable.
If a PD can’t be skimmed in three minutes, it won’t be used in a crisis—and crises are when you need it most.
Committees need PDs too
Office-bearer roles are not “just titles.”
President, Secretary, Treasurer, ordinary committee members—each should have a one-pager. Include meeting cadence, decision authority (what you can approve alone vs what needs the board), and the boring-but-critical bits: who holds bank access, who lodges returns, who keeps the membership list.
I’ve seen associations where three people thought they were “the public face,” and nobody thought they owned conflict-of-interest declarations. Thats not culture. That’s fog.
When you recruit, send the PD with the nomination form. People should know what theyre signing up for before the AGM, not after.
Write for humans, not for LinkedIn
Ditch: “Drive strategic alignment across cross-functional stakeholders to deliver organisational excellence.”
Try: “Make sure the board has a clear annual plan, and that we check progress every quarter.
Ditch: “Oversee financial stewardship and fiscal sustainability.”
Try: “Keep the books accurate, report monthly, and flag cash problems early.
Use verbs people recognise: prepare, approve, file, check, escalate, hand over. Avoid words you’d never say out loud at a sausage sizzle fundraiser.
Keep them alive
A PD that hasn’t been reviewed since the last Coordinator left is a liability dressed as a document.
Review when someone starts, when someone leaves, and once a year as a board. Ask: Does this still match reality? Are we dumping three jobs into one unpaid role? Did we invent a new program without updating who owns it?
If the real work and the written role have drifted apart, fix the writing—or fix the workload. Pretending they’re the same is how burnout sneaks in.
Pair PDs with a simple structure
PDs work best beside a rough org chart and a short “who to ask” list. New volunteers shouldn’t need a treasure hunt to find the membership spreadsheet owner.
A one-page template you can steal
Try this structure for committee and staff roles alike:
Role title
Purpose: one sentence.
Key responsibilities: five to seven bullets max.
Decision rights: what you can approve alone; what needs the board.
Time expectation: honest hours per month (volunteers) or FTE (staff).
Support and reporting: who helps you; who you report to.
Must-haves: skills or checks that are genuinely required.
Review date: when we’ll check this still matches reality.
If you can’t fill a section without waffle, leave it blank until you can. Empty honesty beats padded fiction.
Print it. Put it in the induction pack. Refer to it when someone’s drowning or when youre recruiting. That’s when a PD earns its keep—not when it’s drafted and forgotten.
If you’re building or refreshing roles across staff and volunteers, the Strategic Workforce Architecture guide is designed for small NFPs who want structure without the theatre. Or grab a discovery call if you’d rather talk it through for your setup.
Clear roles aren’t bureaucracy. They’re kindness—to the person in the job, and to the next person who inherits it.