Why You Should Stop Writing Job Descriptions
“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” Steve Jobs
I have a coaching client who hired a person and didn’t give them a detailed job description. The new person is writing their own. He has goals and responsibilities, but he’s writing the details himself.
They meet every week to track progress and set the path forward.
Ignite passion and tap potential by allowing people to write their own job description.
Distraction:
Job descriptions are distracting documents that dilute relationships, at least in the beginning. They’re often written to cover all the bases. If an employee screws up, you can point to an obscure sentence in their job description to hold them accountable.
Purpose not duties:
Explain purpose before discussing daily practices.
Purpose drives passion.
Tell potential employees how the job matters. It’s impossible to feel passion about something that doesn’t matter. Give them the opportunity to feel they might matter if they take the job.
Responsibilities:
Explain responsibilities only after discussing purpose. Invite them to figure out the path.
- Engage in frequent conversations when they’re first hired.
- Maintain focus on purpose.
- Align, authorize behaviors.
- Protect against scope creep.
Interviews:
Interviews go wrong when conversations focus on job descriptions.
Don’t explain duties at first. Talk about them, not you.
Questions:
I’ve seen job interviews where the interviewer did most of the talking.
Listen to their story.
- What would you like to talk about?
- What are high and low points of your life?
- Tell me about your best friends.
- What are your volunteer activities?
- Who has helped you the most? How?
- Disappointments? Joys?
- What would you like to ask me?
In what context could you allow someone to write their own job description?
What interview questions help you understand people?
To answer your question about when someone could write their own job description, in no particular order:
– when the position and/or organization is new
– when the position is unique (or, if a number of people do more or less the same work, let everyone in the group develop the spec)
– when a new strategic plan, vision, merger, whatever, means a major change in what the incumbent will do
– when you hire and encourage innovative people
– when you need innovative ways to achieve results
– when you need cost-effective ways to achieve results and free up time for other important tasks
– when the position funding is not linked to following exact processes (there are always different ways to comply with standards)
– when you have leaders confident enough to let people use their creativity and with enough communication ability to explain the desired outcomes
– when leaders are willing to delegate
– when you haven’t tied the organization down with overly detailed descriptions of exactly what to do in what order (e.g., TQM or ISO certification)
– when the staff member asks
– when a disability needs to be accommodated
And in as many other situations as you can imagine. In other words, there are few if any good reasons not to have people write their own job descriptions.
Thanks Jane. You added tons of value.
One of the issues you hint at is the way one job impacts others in an organization. If you write your own job description it requires people to understand connections and interactions within an organization. That’s one reason it’s a long process.
Great article-thanks. One of my favorite all time interview questions: “What makes you smile?”
ke
One of the things I’d recommend looking out for is whether someone is a natural extrovert or introvert, which keeping an open mind. I am highly extroverted and a people person and I found myself in jobs working alone, virtually no face-to-face human interaction and wondered why I was miserable. At one point there, I was in an office without any windows and now I think back, it felt like a wooden coffin. Since then, i’ve worked on the communications side of marketing and am quite a good networker and enjoy putting people in touch. Writing reports and doing data analysis was definitely not my thing but I made it through the interview process. xx Rowena
Thanks Rowena. Good seeing you here today. You bring up the importance of understanding the implications of personality types. It’s so helpful to know what gives people energy.
It was this disastrous job placement that sent me searching and I stumbled across Myers-Briggs. Unfortunately, I am quite good at telling people what they want to hear and should have been more conscious of who I was. That said, I was only 23 at the time so it was very early days.
Sounds like a great experience ! Thanks for sharing.
So if you’re trying to attract the right person to your organization for a certain job, how do you do it with no job description? I’m on board with all the reasons for writing your own, but there’s a Catch 22 here.
I agree with Jon. To me the job description is an outline of the position NFD qualifications. Once the person is hired you, the leader, and the new employee should sit down and mutually develop a performance plan that defines expectations, goals, objectives that will be used to evaluate job performance.
NFD typed by mistake…sorry
Thanks Lucy. Frankly, I think it’s unfortunate the job descriptions don’t have more character qualities in them. This position requires curiosity, for example. The discussion would then be about ways to express curiosity.
Thanks Jon. Useful observation. This approach wouldn’t always work. Would it be possible to discuss the purpose of a job without getting into the details of a job?
You have to put something online or in print to advertise the job. I wonder if that information would be enough to start a conversation. Glad you stopped in.
I struggle with this.. I see the JD like the boundary lines on a football field.. Here’s the goal, here’s what’s “out of bounds”, here’s a way to score an extra point.. Play inside the boundaries.
.. That said I’m not quite ready for an unmarked/unlined field!
Thanks Ken. Me either. However, giving individuals more input to how they play on the field may be useful.
Great if living in Bubble. What is HR law in your state. Determine this before dropping job descriptions, it may protect you in lawsuit
This sounds like the communication needed in a job interview or yearly review
Thanks Mike. Your addition of HR laws is essential to the conversation. It also seems that the larger an organization the less likely this would work. In addition, this idea is probably more feasible when the position is higher level.
Dear Dan,
When context allows autonomy and encourages effort. When context does not focus on result but actions. When effort is appreciated and means carries more weightage. In such situation, I allow someone to write one’s own job description.
One way to know about people in interview is braking one’s preconceived parameters. One need to understand candidates capability beyond pre set parameter. There can be many others parameters to measure candidate. Unless we step in candidate position, it may not be easy to explore potential. Secondly, it is even more important to see the journey people have traveled so far. Comparison may not provide the clear picture.
You have clearly mentioned- purpose fuels passion. Passion should be measured against effort and not against what one has achieved. And journey is the great determinant of passion.
Thanks Dr. Gupta. Just to chime in on the idea of knowing a persons journey. What have they done? Where have they succeeded? What are their important failures?
I’m with you on stepping outside of normal parameters. An interview could happen at dinner, on the golf course, on a walk, is one way to step outside the typical boundaries from an interviewers point of view.
I know many companies who are moving away from job descriptions. I think this practice has promise, as long as an organization’s mission is clearly defined. When individual contributors understand what their work, ultimately, must result in, the method to getting there can be far more oriented to individual strengths.
Thanks Laurie. Your point about mission is essential. As you indicate, we still need to deliver results.
Hi Dan, I’m intrigued by this notion of no JD in the workplace! I read all the comments with great enthusiasm and feel the need to share these thoughts with my HR department here at Momentum in South Africa! Thanks for your thought provoking leadership articles, I so enjoy reading them and sharing as well!
Thanks Kellman. Please let me know what they think, if you get a chance.
“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” Steve Jobs What a great quote. Fear and the need to control probably prevent most organizations from trying something so bold. The second challenge is probably that our team members haven’t connected their daily business to the overall mission of the organization.
When I hired IT guys, I could tell them honestly “You can make a difference” – I think that’s an important part of satisfaction. I also think that “the book” is essential as process is very important, but when people can improve/change the process the company moved forward.
Dan,
I’m not sure about people have to write their own job description in environments where hoy need first basic stability and discipline. I think once there is some order and organisation is forward your idea would be great because now one could begin with an improvement phase that brings the better of our people.
I will really apprecite your feedback about it.
Thanks in advance and best rewards