Episode B.010 Position Descriptions

The purpose of this template is to explain the different components that comprise a well thought through and legal role, job, or position description. All of those terms are interchangeable – we prefer the term role because it explains the part this position plays in the company’s success.

What is important about creating and upgrading your position descriptions:

1. Ensures the every step in a business process has a designated owner, manager, and the individual performing.
2. Provides clarity on successful role requirements, essential to determine eligibility when advertizing and hiring new employees.
3. Provides the individual with clarity of how their work will be evaluated and compensated.
4. Meets the legal tests to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations.

The following is a breakdown of our template for writing role, job, or position descriptions. We took each component and provided a brief description.

Section 1: Basic Information

• Name: is obvious, the person current occupying the position.
• Position: it’s formal title, should correspond to the organizational chart and SOP’s.
• Date: date the position was explained and accepted by current occupant.
• Revision: the date of the latest upgrade.

Section 2: Role
Role Description: Listed below are 8 potential roles someone might assume in the organization. We use it as a checklist to make sure we don’t miss anything. Do not feel compelled to respond to each role – just consider whether it is relevant.

Lead: the process of guiding other individuals, teams, departments, or the entire organization.

• Supervision: the role requires the direct assignment of tasks for individuals, departments, or divisions. 
• Accountability: the role requires holding individuals or other leaders/managers accountable for their performance.
• Training: the role requires training individuals or groups to master skills required in their current job.
• Development: the role requires developing individuals for future skills - promotion.
• Communications: the role requires communicating information about the company, business objectives, current projects, and customer feedback by email, face-to-face conversations, or meetings.

Manage: the process of setting goals & objectives, responsible for planning, organizing, controlling, and monitoring activities to achieve results.

• Planning & Organization: Planning, does the role require any planning, includes individual work, group work, department, or the entire company; the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a desired goal; Organizing, does the role require any organizing at any level; the process of structuring, integrating, co-coordinating task goals, and activities with resources in order to attain objectives.
• Controlling & Coordinating: Controlling, the process of monitoring performance and taking action to ensure desired results are achieved; Coordinating: the process of organizing people or groups so that they work together properly.
• Staffing: Staffing, the process of hiring, positioning and overseeing employees in an organization.

Perform: to carry out, accomplish, or fulfill (an action, task, or function).

​Section 3: Hiring Criteria

• Knowledge, Skills & Certifications: based on the listed roles, what must the individual know, what skills (behaviors) must they exhibit to be successful, and what certifications (if necessary) have they received. This is where you determine what is required to be ‘eligible’ for the job. Additionally this list provides the basis for training & development programs. 
• Attributes: based on the organizations culture and the demands of the position, what are the personal characteristics required to be successful in the role.This includes the requirements of a division, department, or work group. 
• Reports To: whom on the organizational chart do they report to, whom is responsible for their performance and results; whom provides feedback and has input on compensation. One Note – people should never report to multiple individuals. 
• Responsible For: who are they responsible for; their activities & results, providing feedback, providing input on compensation, and their training & development.

​Section 4: Process Responsibilities
Processes: this is critical, what processes is the role a part of and what is the role in each step of a process:

• O – process Owner
• M – Manager of parts of the process
• W – perform the Work

​Section 5: Business Objectives

• Company/Department Goals: driven from above, what must the position achieve so the company can meet the yearly business plan.
• Department/Work Group Goals: driven down, what must the work group or people reporting to this Position achieve to meet the yearly business plan. This includes department, group, or individual KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators).