Your business is going ‘gangbusters’ as you always knew it would do. You are working at a hundred miles an hour and things need to get done, but you can only be in so many places and do so much. Sounds familiar? You know, well, at least you hope you do, what the end game is and you have communicated this constantly, frequently and effectively to your team – haven’t you? Well, they should know exactly:
- What is expected of them
- What success looks like
- What their priorities are
- How their time should be allocated
- Who they report to
- What skills you need them to have to do the role
Now, I know that you are a start-up or in the early years, but –
How will your team know what is required of them if you don’t write it down?
The mere physical process of writing the position description may allow you to reassess your thinking about what is required and its objectives in a different light.
What happens when you have a couple of employees and there is confusion over who does what? Your team are not mind readers, no matter how much they love what you are doing. Plus there is the need to get a collective and aligned outcome or work output.
The writing of position descriptions will make work easier, people will know what they are doing and you will know that. It is amazing the peace of mind that comes from everyone knowing what is expected of them and just getting on with it. Productivity will be increased and you will have more time to get on with what you need to do. This does not have to dull creativity or initiative as this too can be part of the PD.
My major concern comes when things with a particular team member are not going so well. How can you say they are not doing their job if they don’t know what that job is exactly? This happens, regardless of how much you feel you have verbally communicated your needs and the tasks in hand. This needs to be in writing – i.e. in a position description. It is much more difficult to exit someone if their role and the tasks within that role have not been made clear.
If you would like a complimentary template just email me at natasha.hawker@employeematters.com.au and I will send you a good one to start with.
