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 is it you’ll be dealing with to perform your required tasks and what is their priority?
Then, sit down with your manager + team to get on the same page.
You’ve tossed your job description. Now what?
HERE’S A VIDEO WALKTHROUGH OF EACH QUESTION/STEP:
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?
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: Waiting to Feel Worthy? Knock it off.
3 min. read You’re not alone in feeling this way – especially when it comes to career moves. - Learning Lab: Who is someone you’d really like to know better?
3 min. read There are opportunities EVERYWHERE for unexpected connection and relationship building. - Learning Lab: How do you talk to yourself?
2 min. read Your attitude and actions affect others, whether you realize it or not.