“A Performance Contract?” asked Ron. We had been talking about Miguel, a newly promoted manager.
“Yes, a Performance Contract,” I replied. “Miguel may have had a job description when he started here as a supervisor, but now that he has been promoted, you haven’t clearly stated his new expectations. Part of his being overwhelmed is that he doesn’t know exactly what is expected.”
“But I am sure we have a job description written, somewhere, for his position,” Ron explained, trying to cover.
“Yes, but here is the difference. A job description is a document that describes what you would like Miguel to do. It’s a one-way street. A Performance Contract is a document that you have to sit down and hammer out. It is an agreement that requires commitment from both sides.
“People will always squirm out of general accountabilities based on a job description. It is much more difficult to squirm out of clear expectations spelled out in a Performance Contract.” -TF
When you ask a carpenter to do a job for you, you write out in a contract what has to be done in a certain timeframe at a certain price. You draw the lines out for both parties whom know what to expect. In our profession though, people often give others some tasks or an job, without a detailed description fo what to do. Why? Because we expect them to know what we take for granted?
Everybody needs guidelines otherwise no one would buy a GPS anymore…;-))