Typically, a job description will include things like “will support the team,” “will handle day-to-day activities,” “will engage with clients,” or “will support operations.” These are generally considered acceptable statements in a job role, but they lack specificity. Who is responsible? What are the specific goals expected? Where does this person’s responsibility end and where does someone else’s start? This area is often where a new team lead or an HR learner will first experience ambiguity in the process.
A clear job role description describes what work actually needs to get done. You might have a coordinator write everything down. But instead of listing every possible task they could do, you could ask the person to identify the main output they should generate from that role. That coordinator might be the person who provides updates on the weekly plan, gathers status information from team members, and highlights missing information in preparation for the team check-in. The support assistant might field routine inquiries, log employee information, and route anything outside the ordinary for the line manager. These examples show that a role is easier to grasp because it is connected to something tangible that you can observe.
Next, distinguish responsibilities from general expectations. A responsibility would not be to “Be organized” but rather to “After each individual, update the action list for what needs to be tracked,” which you might also have them provide and you can also review. “Will communicate clearly” is another broad statement, while “When the task is not complete at the end of the shift, communicate the action items to the next shift, in written notes” is a specific action item to describe the expected communication practice. This distinction is important because the lack of clarity here often results in ambiguous follow-up discussions.
It’s a good exercise to take a job role description, locate a loose statement, and revise the statement by explaining: 1) what this person has ownership over, 2) the product that should exist, and 3) who the report goes to. “Be prepared to assist with onboarding” becomes “Develop a checklist for onboarding, ensure all equipment and introductions are in place, and provide the team lead a confirmation after the first-day check-in.” This change is an improvement because it gives the new hire better direction and gives the manager a more concrete basis for a subsequent dialogue.
You will also want to clearly establish where responsibilities end and a role begins by stating what a person can decide on their own, what requires approval, or what needs to be delegated to someone else. Without these specifics, a new team member may be too hesitant to take action on smaller projects, or they may make a decision that requires another individual. This might be “May authorize any routine schedule modification,” “Must seek approval before adjusting task priority,” or “Policy questions to be transferred to the manager.” This helps to eliminate ambiguity and unnecessary decision-making.
You will also want to establish the link between the new person’s role with their first week. It’s not always appropriate to have a job role description that spans over a person’s entire job description onboarding, so choose from a few first-week job tasks that reflect their role: review and agree to the team communication guideline, participate in a single handoff, add your information to one data record, or complete notes for one team check-in. These examples transform a job role from a document into a plan of action.
If a job role description is effective, another team member should be able to review it and answer these questions: What does this person own? What will they produce? Whom do they update? What can they decide on their own? Who needs to be contacted for approval? If those answers are clear, this is no longer a list of job responsibilities but a guide for hiring, onboarding, task assignment, feedback, and people management.