Make Those Meaningless Job Descriptions Disappear (Part 1 of 2)

Let's face it, a job description in this day and time is about as useful as an extra toe.  Still, you need something that will define better what a person with a specific role is supposed to do and how to do it.  You need something that will serve as the foundation for consistent, high performance.  The job description is just not the right tool.  On those occasions when you imagine yourself saying the magic words to make the perfect tool appear, you ask it to:

• Enable any employee performing in that role to be successful. 
• Carify learning needs. 
• Define selection and recruitment criteria. 
• Help individuals and teams interact with the rest of the organization. 
• Assist in improving retention and employee satisfaction. 
• Make the output of the role consistent without stifling creativity and innovation.

Is this too much to ask?  On the surface it may sound like prestidigitation is the only way to produce such a tool, but specialists in the growing area of human performance technology (who have nothing up their sleeve) have developed what could be a solution.  This tool comes under different names, but we can call it a role definition.  It describes the following components of a …