Dave Ciambella

Do Your Employees Know What You Expect of Them?
January 24, 2008

“Of course they do”, replied the shocked and somewhat offended owner of the business. “My staff has worked hard over the years to develop job descriptions for each position. We have even assembled a binder to keep them organized and accessible. Why would you ask such a silly question?” I replied, “I have spent the past day and a half interviewing several of your managers and employees and there appears to be a great deal of frustration among the group regarding employees who are not producing but are still employed.”

All too often I encounter businesses that are infected with the above disease, sometimes by choice and sometimes unconsciously. Some organizations have well defined position descriptions and others do a good job communicating what the job entails in the interview process. However, in many instances clearly defined expectations regarding behavior and job performance have not been adequately defined and conveyed to employees. This is a train wreck waiting to happen! How will you be able to measure how well or how poorly an individual is performing in their position? How will your employee know if he/she is doing a good job and meeting expectations? How much more difficult will it be to provide coaching to that individual?

The bottom line is in the absence of well documented and clearly communicated expectations and measures of accountability regarding job performance and behavior, it is likely that business performance will suffer, employees and employers will be frustrated and ultimately relationships will be strained. 

Posted by Dave Ciambella on January 24, 2008 | Comments (0)