Gathering the Information
Gathering The Information
Purpose of the Job - In order to determine the purpose of the job I would ask the responsible individual. This is usually the team lead or the person I will be accountable to. A verbal discussion is usually the best. Second best is a document that may be provided by the organization. Sometimes a combination of both works even better.
Responsibilities, tasks and duties - Again, a document may be available that sets out the tasks in something like a job description or job specification. I personally prefer a discussion with the team leader in combination with the document. In a team situation it makes sense for everyone to be present in the discussion (I'll talk about that later in the post)
Expectations - Expectations are sometimes referred to as performance standards. In the ICA they are usually covered in a very general way. Performance standards usually refer to employees, but I personally like to know what I need to do in order to feel that I accomplished the job in the eyes of the organization or the person(s) I have the agreement with. Having been a practicing business consultant, satisfying the person that hires you to do the job or project is key to continued income.
Job or project overlap - Working in a team means working together to create opportunities for success. I find that two or more people working to a common end, like in a team, produces a multiple of results higher in quality than three individual contributions. The downside to this is sometimes overlapping tasks or duties can interfere with this process. Knowing when this does or can occur allows me to anticipate the possible activity, prepare for it and maintain positive team work and personal productivity. The team lead is usually aware of when this occurs and should be the initial source for your information.
Stakeholders to my results - Who I interface with and what that relationship looks like is important to me. If it's a client, I need to know what kind of client (buyer, seller, etc.). If it's an external resource like a loan officer, lender, appraiser or whatever, I need to know who they are and what role I'm expected to play in the interaction. If it's a team member I feel defining that relationship whether it is a transaction manager, fellow buyer specialist or lead listing agent. Again, the lead person you have accountability to is the individual you need to get clarification from.
Decision Making - What and how decisions are made in a team or group environment can be very important. When a situation arises where a decision needs to be made, I like to know if I should be making that decision, or not. If not me than whom should that someone be. This lets me do the appropriate handoff or indeed make the decision. The worst experience I've had several times over is when the decision stalls out and I'm the reason why. The team lead is usually your information source on this one.
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