Job Profiles

A Company whose name is synonymous with vehicle tracking systems sought to introduce Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and provide a basis for regular and meaningful staff appraisals.  The difficulty for them was in measuring what was important, rather than taking what they could already measure and making that important instead.

So we reviewed all job descriptions, interviewed job holders and their ‘customers’, explored all the functions carried out and the end-results of those functions.  We were then able to draft 'Job Profiles’ for each role which set out, under consistent categories, the outcomes that role produced when the job was being done well.  In other words, we described what the job looked like when it was done to the desired level.  Sources of evidence were clearly indicated and the relevant knowledge and skills identified to achieve the different outcomes.

Not only did we now have a basis for performance appraisal, employees were able to assess their own performance and seek learning support and guidance to fill any gaps highlighted.  It was then possible to provide learning solutions that met the needs efficiently, saving time and expense being wasted on unnecessary or poorly focused training.  Unlike usual ‘competency frameworks’, it didn’t allow for varying degrees of quality: either job-holders were competent or they weren’t yet.  The emphasis was on enabling employees to attain the desired level of competence, within agreed timeframes, and not on accepting lesser levels of performance.  Vagueness and ambiguity were removed and subjectivity was replaced by objectivity.  The end-result was a performance framework that was steeped in quality, allowing only the quantity to be variable according to the prevailing business climate.