The Association Blog

Jamie Gay shares why Tree House Humane created role tiers to help staff grow within the organization (& P.S., this new process is already having an impact)

Early in my career, my goal was simple – to gain experience. I didn’t have a set map of steps and achievements I needed to hit by a certain time. I let experience and opportunities dictate my next move. Looking back, I don’t question that approach. For me, it worked. And what works for one person might not work for the next.

What really moved the needle for me, however, was proactively building opportunities for growth and skill development, even when that meant going outside my comfort zone or taking a job that was slightly outside what I had “planned.” Moving to different departments was a hard step, but I had a passion for the work. And saying yes to those opportunities is what helped me start skill-stacking and become a stronger candidate for future growth. Those lateral moves shaped how I think as a leader in my role of Senior Director of Operations at Tree House Humane Society today.

My early experience with lateral moves also helped how I thought about finding a way to address our Tree House staff when they asked “what’s next” before they’d really mastered their current role, sometimes having been with us for less than a year. Others were fatigued because their roles covered so many different types of tasks that constantly shifting between them wasn’t sustainable. We’re also living in a world of instant gratification, and people want specific, attainable goals so they know what they’re working toward. So we began creating specific roles and plugged them into tiers so that staff could see ahead to a clear pathway for their growth.

You can see tiered roles reflected in our organizational chart, which you can download here:

Role tiers were especially important in the medical department. In veterinary support roles, the traditional options were pretty cut and dry—certified technician or assistant. What we learned from our team was that there’s actually a wide range of skill sets within those assistant roles that were going unrecognized. Our department heads, with decades of veterinary hospital experience, started identifying the key, objective skills needed to complete specific tasks and how those tasks connect to independence in the role. That became our framework.

In creating this new framework, we had to think (and rethink) quite a bit. And as you know as animal welfare professionals, in our sector we regularly look for some pretty specific, niche skills. Rethinking how we define roles and job descriptions helped us adjust our expectations. Now in some cases we can hire someone with less experience, knowing we’ll invest in training them to the next level. We invest in people and want to see our staff succeed.

As for the impact of tiered roles—we’re already seeing it. Skill gaps directly impact our capacity for care, so having a more objective way to identify what skills we have and what we need to build through training or hiring has been a meaningful shift. One team member who had just advanced into a new role told me they appreciated how Tree House gives people the opportunity to grow and learn new skills. That kind of feedback matters, and it’s a reminder that these pathways are just one route to success—but an important one.

How do you ensure that staff can see a clear path ahead for growth in your organization?