Blog
Beyond HR
People leadership, written down — the thinking behind the product.
Short, sourced articles on the decisions behind talent: what the research actually says, what works in a company of 2 to 150 people, and how to make a people call you can explain.
Latest reading · ours and this week's picks
Sample guide
Talent audit — sample guide
A four-step method for founder-led companies of 2–150 people.
PDF · printable · free to share
Sample guide
Talent pipeline — sample guide
How a company of 2–150 people keeps a pipeline alive without a recruiter.
PDF · printable · free to share
Glossary
The words we use, defined.
Talent audit, talent pipeline, calibration — what each one means here, in one or two sentences.
- Talent audit
- A written review of every role and every person: what each role owns, where each person stands against it, and what happens next. Run from a record, not from memory.
- Talent pipeline
- The written list of people you would hire or promote when a role opens — with the reason for each name on it. Internal people and external contacts sit in one map but stay strictly apart.
- Role clarity
- Whether a role's outcomes, decision rights and boundaries are written down clearly enough to judge someone fairly against them.
- Role scorecard
- One page per role: outcomes, decision rights, boundaries. Written before anyone is assessed, and approved by the manager.
- Role Clarity Check
- The entry point of the audit. It tells you whether a role is defined clearly enough to assess someone against it fairly.
- ABCD
- The four categories you define yourself, A to D, used to record where someone stands against their role. You set what each letter means and which actions it allows; the letter follows evidence.
- Calibration
- Comparing your read on people with other managers'. Differences — including disagreement about what a role expects — become visible and get resolved together.
- Succession gap
- A critical role with no ready successor behind it, flagged while there is still time to act.
- People record
- The running history for one person: what was agreed, when, and with whom. The part that survives when someone leaves.
- Beyond HR
- People leadership that runs on a written record instead of a department — the thinking behind the product, and the name of this area.