Do you have any suggestions for writing effective job descriptions?

Meryl says,

Yep. I describe this in my performance review book and my management phrases book.

Use the three R’s – really reflect reality. Make sure the descriptions are concrete. Choose words that paint a picture of what it looks like when performed 100%. Not, answers phone – more – answers phone by the third ring with proper company greeting.

Here are some questions to ask in building the description:

• What is the main purpose of the job?
• What are the primary responsibilities of the job?
• What are the main elements of the job?
• What parts of the job are essential, and there would be serious consequences if they were not done?
• What parts of the job are non-essential?
• What do others depend on this position for?

Ask people who depend on that person. For example:

• What do you depend on the person in this position for?
• What do you see as essential for this position?
• What qualities and behaviors do you appreciate most from the person in this position?
• What job standards would you like to see the person in this position have?

Pull it all together, and ask yourself the 3 R question. Does this really reflect reality? If you follow the process, it should.

Meryl Responds,

Clarify your expectations and hold employees to job standards. The fact that they’re students doesn’t excuse irresponsibility. I imagine you explode because you feel powerless to affect change.

In Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors, I describe how to establish job standards and how to get people to agree to them. Once that’s complete, your conversations can refer to the standards they agreed to. When you address transgressions, adopt a troubleshooting, “how can I help you do your job right” attitude. If that doesn’t work, you need to warn them and if that doesn’t work, replace them. One of my seminar attendees values the phrase, 

•       I need someone to do your job, and I’m hoping it will be you

It may be these students haven’t learned responsibility, or it may be they have but think the job is beneath them. Or they could be overloaded. Whatever the reason, be clear, direct and supportive – and make it clear that they will be held to the standards of the job.

Check out my Performance Flow Chart. It guides you though the entire process.

Instead of: Use:

At this point in time Now

Come to the conclusion Conclude

Despite the fact that Although

Exhibits a tendency to Tends

I am of the opinion I think

In the amount of                     for

Is indicative of indicates

A Power Phrase is as long as it needs to be and no longer - so keep it brief.

My immediate supervisor uses the word “argue “when anyone disagrees with her. How do I change this around?

Meryl Responds:

Very interesting Poison Phrase. I suspect it reflects her attitude about disagreement.

Inquire. Say,

• My intent is for us to exchange ideas and learn from each other, not argue. Am I coming across like I’m arguing?
• How can I express a different perspective without sounding argumentative to you?
• When I hear the word argue, I wonder if you think I’m working against you. I’m on your team, and want to be able to make suggestions without coming across that way. Can you suggest ways to make that happen?
• When I make a mistake or am overlooking something, I like people to tell me. And when I have information I think you could use, I’d like to be able to tell you. How can I do that without sounding like I’m arguing?

I used this process to decide whether I wanted to sponsor The UltiMate(tm) Relationship Seminar in Colorado Springs. The answer was a decisive yes.

Three supervisors work for me. Two of them have been in the unit 20-25 years. The third has only been with the team 5 years. The two longer term sups are beginning to nit pick at each other and complain individually to the 3rd supervisor. The 3rd supervisor now feels caught in the middle but apparently holds her own openly agreeing or disagreeing with the issue. I dearly enjoy and respect all 3 ladies but the bickering is getting old and now I can see some passive aggressive behavior that impacts the business.

I’ve recently decided to have a Teambuilding meeting off premise but really I think the better term is an intervention like they have for alcoholics. In other words, sit down with all 3 and just tell them what I see and that some actions are now impacting the business. I believe I could get the 3rd sup to chime in also. Then sit back and see what surfaces so we can talk about it. I believe the bickering is nothing more than symptoms of something bigger but I can’t get at that until I get them talking.

What would you do? What could my opening line be? I’m not sure how to preface this get together. EEEK, help!

Meryl Responds,

Say,

• I’ve brought us together to establish some communication standards to create a habit of proactively addressing issues rather than complaining. Here are some standards of communication I recommend.

Then list communication policies that you think would resolve the problem. Things like:

• Address the issue with the person who can do something about it.
• Speak in the same way when someone isn’t present as you would if they were.
• Discuss problems to resolve them rather than vent or complain.

Invite the group to add to ground rules.

By the way, I have a complete chapter on communication ground rules in my Unite and Concur book. They are designed for political dialogue but can easily be adapted to your needs.

Let me know how this works for you.

1. You expect blind compliance from a critical thinker
2. They need to understand your expertise
3. There are undermining circumstances you need to address
4. You need to adapt to their style

If in doubt, ask your listener how you can win their trust.

The ultimate credibility booster is to give great answers to the serious questions people ask.

Read my article Good Advice for Giving Advice.

I had my meeting with the managers of our team regarding the results of a recent survey I conducted. I asked questions about what challenges the team faced in their jobs, as well as their thoughts about the management of our group. I am happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly this meeting went.

I opened the meeting by saying:

• I received some honest feedback that we’ll go through one by one. As we go through these responses, I’d like you to remember that the feedback represents how these folks feel and how they perceive a situation or challenge. There are no right or wrong answers as these responses represent their feelings. I’m excited about the honesty of their answers.

• Based on how some of these responses are worded, as well as what some of the folks specifically said, you may know who responded in a particular way. Again, I ask you to do your best to dismiss trying to figure out who-said-what and just focus on what they said.

During my informal presentation, there was a lot of silence and note-taking — which I feel was their way of absorbing what was being discussed and documenting what they felt were possible resolutions.

After the presentation, my manager asked the team, “Well, how do you all feel about this?” One manager started saying something like, “You know, I’m really sick and tired of all this griping and I know who said the majority of these comments and she always…”. The Director of the group (who was one of the people I initially anticipated a lot of resistance from) interrupted her and said (calmly and quietly), Stop… we’re here to look at the answers and not judge the people… these are important and a lot of them are right-on. We need to figure out how to fix this.

WOW

We continued with an open and honest discussion, and ended with action items and next steps. It was such a successful meeting. Thanks again, Meryl, for your words of guidance.

• We’ve given you several opportunities to improve, Bob, but we cannot spend company resources that way any longer.
• It is time to part ways.
• Separated from the job/position

The word “termination” got no votes.