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My job responsibilities are clear.
Survey Domain: Manager
Survey Theme: Employee Involvement
Understanding the Issue: The first step is to understand the issues behind the survey performance scores. Unless you are absolutely sure that you understand the issues related to a particular survey item, the best place to start is identifying them, and the section Understanding Issues can help you do so. The activities described in Understanding Issues can be used for any of the survey items.
Employees need to understand the responsibilities of their department and specifically, their job responsibilities. Vague or out-of-date job responsibilities may lead to incorrect assumptions about the employee's priorities, performance standards, or department workflow. In addition to negatively impacting department performance, vague or out-of-data job responsibilities may lead to employees feeling that evaluations of their performance are arbitrary.
Organization change, technology change, and process changes may all contribute to changes in job responsibilities and periods of rapid change often present little time to rethink and formally revise job responsibilities. It is often not until an employee brings the subject up, or a negative event occurs, that time is allocated to improving job responsibilities. This reflects negatively on the manager involved.
Improvement ideas:
Make sure each job position has clear, documented job responsibilities. Review them annually and when technology and/or process changes are introduced, to be sure they stay current. Leave room for flexibility as some responsibilities cannot be anticipated. Ask your manager and/or HR representative to give you some guidance or share examples from other areas.
Schedule one-on-one meetings with employees to review their job responsibilities and job performance. You should meet with each employee at least annually to formally review their performance. If possible, schedule a more informal meeting at the midpoint of the annual review. If you are unsure whether your organization has a performance review policy, talk to your manager and/or HR representative to be sure you are in compliance.
Give feedback regularly, formally and informally. If you provide ongoing feedback, your employees should have no surprises during the annual performance review.
Arrange a work unit meeting to discuss the impact of organizational changes on job roles. When work environments are in a state of change, employees are often asked to perform tasks that have not been part of their daily routine. The change may create confusion, or even resentment, for some employees. Reviewing expectations as they evolve can help clarify responsibilities and reduce anxiety.
Communicate newly adopted organizational strategies, directions, and policies that may alter the work your work unit performs. Employees need to understand how these changes affect their work.
Ask employees how you can make the job responsibilities clearer. Sometimes employees can get confused because of an uninformative new hire orientation, promotions to new positions with new tasks without the proper training, or poorly written job descriptions. Ask for help in determining the source of the confusion.
Make yourself available to meet with employees and to answer their questions. If employees feel you are easy to talk to, they are more likely to ask questions about their job responsibilities.
(MI 73)