Published on Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007
What is your job all about? This is quite an obvious and basic tenet of any job – one that actually needs no mentioning. Yet, in the hullabaloo of getting a new job, joining formalities and settling into a high-pressure role, this crucial epicentre often goes overlooked.
In fact, ask someone the rationale behind his or her job, and most of them will be at a total loss. Don’t we enter the workplace with a personal perception of performing the job, and continue to take it from there? But success hinges on the actual content and not our assumptions of the same. And what if our interpretation of what we should do and what actually needs to be done is totally inconsistent?
In such a case, all the hard work and sincere attempts go down the drain as we may be doing things that add little value to the job, that too at the cost of more important tasks. Ultimately, we just end up meandering around in a vicious cycle - without any career progression and wondering over the ever-eluding success.
Therefore, hastily moving into a job without understanding the ground realities will only set you up to fail. It is essential to comprehend exactly what a job entails, what is expected of you and then perform accordingly, in order to maximise your career growth even while contributing to company productivity.
Then and only then, can you limit your focus to the necessary activities that constitute success, away from those things that you don’t have to or even, shouldn’t be doing.
The limelight is on Job Analysis as a powerful tool to get to the heart of your job priorities, i.e. the multiple duties needed to perform the job that you have been hired to do. Only by understanding why your job really exists, can you get a firm grip on the essential components, tasks and functions that constitute job success.
This will help you to cut through the clutter and distractions of superficial tasks that keep your work schedule overloaded forever, yet never provide value to the job or the organisation.
Here’s how to take control of your output with job analysis:
Analyse job description: This is not the synopsis posted in classifieds or on job boards, but the formal documentation that lists out in detail the key job objectives and priorities. Also, carefully peruse all business documents and procedure manuals related to your job to determine particular job duties and their relative importance.
Study performance reviews: Reviewing the assessment criteria will shed light on the precise behaviours that are expected and rewarded, thus helping you to figure out where you can prove your abilities and worth. Talk to your colleagues or past employees to identify what you are expected to achieve and what constitutes good performance.
Inspect strategy: Most people are not even sure of how their job function fits into the overall structure of the organisation. Delve into the organisational vision and goals set out in the mission statement to align your priorities in coherence with company strategy. This will enable you to ascertain and concentrate on those tasks that directly contribute to business success.
Authenticate: Discuss the job purpose, requirements and key actions with your supervisor. Once you develop a comprehensive profile of do’s and don’ts, run them by him for further corroboration. Also, substantiate the support, training or improvement needed to carry out the job effectively.
In an unstructured company, jobs may be haphazardly designed with managers themselves unsure of what exactly employees are supposed to do.
This chaos can further undermine your position and performance. The onus is on you to cut through the inaccuracies and work at establishing a clear understanding of the job content, role, objectives and responsibilities. Work on them with your manager to precisely define the expected outcomes.
Therefore, a thorough job analysis will help you to bridge the yawning gap between what you do and what your boss thinks is important. This will provide the basis for what tasks to concentrate on, which ones to de-prioritise/delegate and also those that do not even form a part of your job.
Once you work out the discrepancies, not only will you be able to manage the workload and excel at the job, but also derive a sense of unparalleled accomplishment.
In fact, ask someone the rationale behind his or her job, and most of them will be at a total loss. Don’t we enter the workplace with a personal perception of performing the job, and continue to take it from there? But success hinges on the actual content and not our assumptions of the same. And what if our interpretation of what we should do and what actually needs to be done is totally inconsistent?
In such a case, all the hard work and sincere attempts go down the drain as we may be doing things that add little value to the job, that too at the cost of more important tasks. Ultimately, we just end up meandering around in a vicious cycle - without any career progression and wondering over the ever-eluding success.
Therefore, hastily moving into a job without understanding the ground realities will only set you up to fail. It is essential to comprehend exactly what a job entails, what is expected of you and then perform accordingly, in order to maximise your career growth even while contributing to company productivity.
Then and only then, can you limit your focus to the necessary activities that constitute success, away from those things that you don’t have to or even, shouldn’t be doing.
The limelight is on Job Analysis as a powerful tool to get to the heart of your job priorities, i.e. the multiple duties needed to perform the job that you have been hired to do. Only by understanding why your job really exists, can you get a firm grip on the essential components, tasks and functions that constitute job success.
This will help you to cut through the clutter and distractions of superficial tasks that keep your work schedule overloaded forever, yet never provide value to the job or the organisation.
Here’s how to take control of your output with job analysis:
Analyse job description: This is not the synopsis posted in classifieds or on job boards, but the formal documentation that lists out in detail the key job objectives and priorities. Also, carefully peruse all business documents and procedure manuals related to your job to determine particular job duties and their relative importance.
Study performance reviews: Reviewing the assessment criteria will shed light on the precise behaviours that are expected and rewarded, thus helping you to figure out where you can prove your abilities and worth. Talk to your colleagues or past employees to identify what you are expected to achieve and what constitutes good performance.
Inspect strategy: Most people are not even sure of how their job function fits into the overall structure of the organisation. Delve into the organisational vision and goals set out in the mission statement to align your priorities in coherence with company strategy. This will enable you to ascertain and concentrate on those tasks that directly contribute to business success.
Authenticate: Discuss the job purpose, requirements and key actions with your supervisor. Once you develop a comprehensive profile of do’s and don’ts, run them by him for further corroboration. Also, substantiate the support, training or improvement needed to carry out the job effectively.
In an unstructured company, jobs may be haphazardly designed with managers themselves unsure of what exactly employees are supposed to do.
This chaos can further undermine your position and performance. The onus is on you to cut through the inaccuracies and work at establishing a clear understanding of the job content, role, objectives and responsibilities. Work on them with your manager to precisely define the expected outcomes.
Therefore, a thorough job analysis will help you to bridge the yawning gap between what you do and what your boss thinks is important. This will provide the basis for what tasks to concentrate on, which ones to de-prioritise/delegate and also those that do not even form a part of your job.
Once you work out the discrepancies, not only will you be able to manage the workload and excel at the job, but also derive a sense of unparalleled accomplishment.
PAYAL CHANANIA
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