From the Ask Tom mailbag:
Question:
Okay, you sold me on the importance of writing better Role Descriptions. In your workshop last week, you referred to Key Result Areas several times as part of the Role Description. I am curious about how you establish KRAs.
Response:
Indeed, Key Result Areas are the framework of the Role Description. When you took English Composition in high school, your teacher always told you, before you write your paper, you should always write the outline. (No one ever did it, but that’s another story.)
Identifying the Key Result Areas (KRAs) in a role is like writing the outline. For every role, there are between 4-8 Key Result Areas, depending on the complexity of the role.
For the Role of Plant Floor Supervisor, here are typical KRAs
- Raw Material Inventory
- Personnel Scheduling
- Equipment Scheduling
- Production Output
- Production Output Counting and Reporting
- Equipment Maintenance
But your question is “how” to identify these Key Result Areas? Here’s a simple exercise. Take a sticky note pad and on each note, write down one task related to the role. Don’t stop until you have at least 50 sticky notes, more if you want.
Now, look at the sticky notes and figure out which ones go together. Put them in groups. You will likely identify 4-8 groups. Once you have all the sticky notes divided into groups, give each group a name, like the names above. Those are your Key Result Areas.
Here is how they work in the context of a Role Description –
Role Description
Role Title –
Purpose for the Role –
Key Result Area #1
–Task and Activities
–Level of Work
–Accountability (Goal)
Key Result Area #2
–Task and Activities
–Level of Work
–Accountability (Goal)
Key Result Area #3
–Task and Activities
–Level of Work
–Accountability (Goal)
Key Result Area #4
–Task and Activities
–Level of Work
–Accountability (Goal)
Key Result Area #5
–Task and Activities
–Level of Work
–Accountability (Goal)
If you would like an template for this Role Description, in MS-Word, just Ask Tom and I will send you one.