Job Descriptions
by
Roy Lobenhofer
My wife heads a committee to find a part time minister for
our church. We were talking about the difficulties the committee is facing when
she mentioned they should most likely come up with a job description. Knowing
the effort the committee have already put into the documentation required by the
Presbytery, I was surprised that a job description hadn’t been part of it. She
told me while there was much information in what they had done, it wasn’t really
a job description.
My initial reaction was to encourage her to proceed with
the idea. I am a great believer in job descriptions because I feel strongly they
are real assets in getting agreement on job performance.
My second reaction was that I was very happy I was not
responsible for coming up with the job description for a minister. (Of course,
my years in the foundry industry really prepared me to document what a minister
should be doing.)
I’ve written before on the value of the “boss” and employee
having the same understanding of what the job is. (
Be on the Same Page
) There’s not a better way of making sure everyone is on the same page than a
job description. It’s a simple solution to an important issue; however, as is
the case so many times, just because it’s simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy.
The difficulty of preparing a job description may be the
reason, I can’t remember ever having one during my years as an employee. I
always assumed I knew what I was supposed to be doing (although at times I had a
strong suspicion my boss didn’t agree with me.) A good job description would
have taken care of the difference of opinion of what the job was even if the
boss didn’t want to really discuss his ideas.
So, how do you get a good job description? The first step
is to decide what you want done. That’s easy, right? Not so much. I look at
something I had quite a bit of experience with, the job of quality manager in a
foundry. I don’t think I was ever in two foundries where the title had the same
responsibilities. In one, the strongest asset of the quality manager in
residence was his ability to deal with upset customers. In another, the strength
was solving production issues, but he was kept away from customers as much as
possible. A third quality manager’s strength was his ability to wade through the
documentation to obtain certifications. What was important to a specific
operation was the boss’s opinion and the strengths of the current holder of the
position.
Notice, I didn’t say have the current holder of the
position write the description. It’s a way, but if you go that direction and
don’t go through a heavy editing process expect to receive the same performance
as you have been. Of course, if the current holder of the position is doing
exactly what you want, maybe that’s the way to go.
The next and extremely important step is to not assume once
you’ve written the job description you’re done. A job description must be a
dynamic instrument. It would be amazing if your first effort for a job
description of any, but the simplest job would be complete on the first try. You
will have forgotten something!
The annual performance review which both sides currently
hate with almost equal passion is an excellent time to not only review the
current position holder but also review the job description. The current job
holder will most likely be happy to relate the other things done that aren’t in
the job description. At that time, you get to decide whether those things should
be part of the job description or whether it’s time to explain that you don’t
think they are the best use of time.
Job descriptions are an excellent way of getting what you
want from employees. They’re not easy but are an extremely effective tool to
encourage getting what you want from a position. That being said, I still am
very happy I don’t have to try to write one for a minister.