Yesterday’s lesson was all about process. We talked about everything from ant hills to analyses. Today, we want to discuss job descriptions and how they may be sabotaging your employees’ performance.
People and Their Roles
An organization needs people to run effectively. Without people, an organization is just empty seats, and vacant roles with no one to perform the actual work. Traditionally, those roles are defined by a job description, usually written by HR and perhaps a few relevant managers. That job description is used to hire and, often, to evaluate performance when review time comes around.
The problem is that job descriptions rarely accurately portray a role, and most of the work that actually happens gets lumped under “other duties as assigned.” That’s a vague descriptor that provides no guidelines for the people doing the work on what is actually expected of them.
Job descriptions provide little to no guidance on what success looks like, and most of them were written to describe the exact qualities and background of the person who last sat in the position, making it less of a description of what the role should be and more of a description of that one specific person. It works on the fallacy that if Jane was great at the job and she had a certain background or experience, then the new person should have the same background and experience. Even if that was the case:
- How much could be taught during onboarding?
- How much of the “required” skills, knowledge, and experience are never used in the role at all?
- How many great candidates are you blocking from even sending their application?
Let Us Introduce You to the Performance Profile
The best way to fill a position and keep that employee is to provide the actual performance the role is expected to accomplish. This can be done by replacing the traditional job description with a role overview paired with a “performance profile.”
A performance profile gives your people clear expectations on what their role is expected to contribute and to what standards, as well as the key tasks they are expected to perform to achieve success. In other words, a performance profile acts as a roadmap to success within a role.
This kind of clarity helps your organization to ensure people know what is expected of them and how they can achieve it, meaning:
- Clear expectations will result in higher quality work.
- Your people can actually achieve the goals set for them.
- They will become engaged and focused on performance.
- You can attract the RIGHT people for your open positions.
- You can easily retain talent by using performance profiles to help people grow.
- Your team will achieve more with the same resources.
Performance profiles start very similarly to the standard job description, with the higher-level role overview. This includes:
- The role title and a basic description of the position
- Reporting structure, pay scale, etc.
- Minimum education, experience, certifications, and software or equipment skills required.*
Where the Role Overview and Performance Profile Differs
It is from here on that role overviews start to differ drastically from job descriptions. The role overview ends with a list of the quality outputs that the role is responsible for producing. Quality outputs are the end result of a role’s performance. The primary focus is placed on outputs because they are the intended product of the behaviors that a person in that role performs. Different people may go about achieving those products in different ways, but the resulting outputs should be the same.
Each quality output then gets its own performance profile that outlines the different components needed to achieve a high-quality output:
- Standards: The standards define what a good output looks like. Without this guidance, there is no way for the performer to know whether or not their outputs meet expectations or not.
- Trigger: A trigger is anything that signals the need for an action. It lets the person know when a performance should begin. They can watch for the trigger and know to start work on the output when it happens.
- Key Tasks: These are the essential behaviors that lead to the completion of the quality output. They should not be too detailed, allowing for variation in the process that does not impact quality.
- Best Practices: Some behaviors are not essential to producing the output, but when they are done, the quality of the output improves dramatically. When best practices like this are identified, they should be included in the performance profile.
- Business Results: This list provides only the business results that are directly impacted by the output’s successful completion. It offers insight for the performer on how their performance connects directly to organizational success.
- Measure(s): The measure provides a concrete means of measuring the success of the output. It makes the output countable and provides a way to hold the performer accountable for their performance.
- Processes Involved: Because the organization needs set, performance-based processes to run effectively, the output should be part of at least one organizational process. By listing these processes in the performance profile, the performer has awareness of what processes are impacted by their performance.
- Interactions: Performers do not work in a vacuum. Their success often depends on their interactions with members of the team, their customers, and any software and equipment the performer needs to successfully complete the output. When the necessary people and tools are listed in this way, the performer can ensure they have what they need before they begin work on the output.
- Organizational Values and Any Related Expected Behaviors: A performer must exhibit behavior to complete an output. If those behaviors do not align with the values of the company, the performer is not performing in line with the organization’s expectations.
- Influences: Much like interactions provide the people and tools needed for success, this list provides performers with the other factors that influence performance and can help them complete the output to standard. This includes expectations, feedback, incentives, and resources. Resources may include job aids, manuals, work instructions, guidebooks, expert coaches, team member resources, etc.
- Knowledge and Skills: This section lists the knowledge and skills needed to complete the output successfully, as well as the means by which the performer can acquire them.
- Performer Characteristics: To be the right fit for a role, a performer needs to have certain strengths, attitudes, and the ability, willingness, and availability to perform.
When each of these components are provided in one location for those currently in the role and those who wish to be in the role, there is no confusion on expected results. As the role and the outputs evolve, the role overview and performance profiles should change to match current expectations. It is a living document that should always contain the most accurate information.
Once you say good-bye to traditional job descriptions and change over to performance profiles, you are on your way to building the performance culture you desire. This also connects directly to tomorrow’s topic: Hiring and Onboarding.
At Radcom, we believe that every performer should have what they need to be successful, including clear expectations for what performance looks like. Sometimes, it takes an outside perspective to write a successful, accurate performance profile. We can help. Give us a call at (330) 650-4777 ext. 230 or visit www.RadcomServices.com/contact to schedule a no-strings-attached call with a Radcom Performance Advisor.
