Get ahead in your job.
Avoid burnout.
Burn the ladder instead.
Job descriptions give you a sense of what the job is, but they are very static and limited in their depth and true day-to-day application.
A better way to clarify your role
A Ladderburners Learning Lab Experiment: 3 questions to answer that are better than a job description
- WHAT are the critical duties and responsibilities (and how will they be measured)?
- HOW is the role performed (the technical & behavioral skillsets needed to be successful)
- WHO “What are your expectations of me?
You’ve tossed your job description. Now what?
Job clarity can be super simple. Start with these three questions…
Job Clarity: PART 1 – the WHAT and HOW
What is the job itself (critical duties & responsibilities) + how will your success be measured?
How is the role performed- specifically what skill sets (technical & behavioral) are needed to be successful? This speaks wonderfully to professional development opportunities!
Job Clarity: PART 2 – WHO + the Job Wheel Exercise
Who is it you’ll be dealing with to perform your required tasks and what are the priorities?
Sit down with your manager and team. Discuss!
Follow along here for weekly experiments & career development support.
Or get the book to dive deeper right off the bat!
About the Ladderburner Learning Lab:
In Burn Ladders. Build Bridges. Pursuing Work with Meaning + Purpose, Patterson shares an essential formula for Ladderburners in pursuit of more at work. Chapter 7 dives into two of those skillsets – how to build a base of competence and credibility. This can be done through the Learning Lab – an approach to learning as much as you can about your job, the people around you, what success looks like, and how things really work inside the workplace. Learn more about the Ladderburner Learning Lab.
- Learning Lab: 3 Questions to Answer Better than Your Job Description2 min. read Job descriptions are static, limited in their depth and true day-to-day application.
- Learning Lab: Job Clarity
3 min. read Grab a highlighter, 6 post-it notes, and your job description. Mark it up. - Learning Lab: Redefine Career Success
3 min. read Many – if not most people – measure career success by how far up they’ve climbed the ladder. They measure it with “more.”