Writing a job description is a mandatory part of any employee engagement strategy. In today’s ever-changing world of work, things such as professional development and new responsibilities demand that you regularly review and tailor your job description to ensure you are providing the best possible service to your employees.
However, having a job description that is too specific can actually hinder your ability to attract and retain top talent. While it is important to define the role and responsibilities of a role, far too often employers get so lost in the minutiae of day-to-day operations that they forget to see the bigger picture.
For example, a company that I worked for a few years back had an extremely rigid process for writing job descriptions. To describe the role of a Recruiter, they would write things like, “Manages the onboarding of new Employees joining the company. Ensures all new Employees meet the corporate culture and are provided with the training they need to perform their role effectively.”
While this type of description may seem extremely detail-oriented and could even be considered inflexible, it is important to see it from another perspective – especially if you are trying to solve a problem. If a recruiter at that company had a problem with their onboarding process, instead of improving it by reviewing and revising the job description, they would have shut down the company and gone to work for someone else. The point is that their problem was not solved by having a detailed job description; it was simply moved to another department with another set of specialties.
So, while it is important to give a clear idea of the responsibilities and tasks associated with a role, it is just as important to remember that everyone has problems and challenges they need to overcome. Sometimes the best solution is the simplest – like a fresh pair of eyes seeing the same responsibilities from a different perspective.
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Accelerated Onboarding?
So, how do you solve a problem like accelerated onboarding? One word – collaboration. Specifically, by having the leadership team sit down with the HR team and a representative from each department. To avoid any misunderstandings or misinterpretations as to the company’s expectations, it is important to have someone from each department present so there are no assumptions made that may not be true.
At the end of the day, everyone needs to walk away with a better understanding of how everything fits together. Plus, the more you can bring people together who normally would not speak with or about each other, the more you will solve problems. This is why, when you are planning a strategy session, you should include people from different backgrounds and experiences who can provide novel points of view.
When coming up with a strategy for solving a problem, one of the best things you can do is define specific metrics you will use to measure its success. For example, you can set a target date for when you want to have all new Employees ready to go for work. This can be a very specific date or target and it may even be a date set by a particular department, such as Accounting or Finance. Defining this specific date in conjunction with the other departments can help you set a deadline for when you want to have everything completed. Be sure to consider how you will track the progress of implementing your strategy and review these metrics regularly.
Are You Sure That This Is The Best Approach?
While brainstorming solutions to your problems is always a good idea, it is important to remember that there may be easier or more direct solutions. After all, if a problem cannot be solved, it probably means there is no need to reinvent the wheel and develop a whole new strategy – right?
So, it might be a good idea to try and determine if your new strategy is going to be effective before you start implementing it. One way to do this is to test it out on a portion of your employees first and see how it goes. This is why, when developing a new strategy, it is usually a good idea to try and find ways to test it out – before you commit to a whole-scale implementation.
The Importance Of Looking At Both Sides Of The Strategy
A lot of times, when developing a new strategy or plan to solve a problem, you will only focus on the positive aspects of what you are trying to achieve. However, it is also important to look at the ‘dark side’ of what you are trying to accomplish. As humans, we are naturally biased towards seeing the positive in situations and circumstances. This is why, when developing a plan to solve a problem, you should also take the time to look at how everything will work against you. For example, if your goal is to reduce turnover, you should also consider how losing employees will impact your company’s productivity.
Takeaway
Writing a job description should not be a difficult task; however, too often, employers go about it in such a way that makes it hard for them to be effective. The main takeaway from this article is to consider the bigger picture and not get so lost in the details that you forget to see the wood for the trees. If you sit down with the goal of writing the perfect job description that will solve all of your employee’s problems, you will write a job description that is too specific and cannot solve any problems – it will create more because it will be impossible for people to perform the job effectively. So, instead of trying to write the perfect job description, take a step back and consider all the roles and responsibilities you already have and how you can improve upon them. This way, you will write a job description that is specific enough to solve a problem but not so detailed that you forget the purpose behind it – which is to get the best possible results from your employees so they can provide YOU with the best possible service.