Hiring Conundrum Part II – 5 Parts of the Position Agreement

Most people don’t take on a new job thinking they want to fail at it, get fired, or leave. That said, not everyone will be right for your company or for the position you have open. I previously wrote an article outlining the process of hiring called “A 5-Step Values-Based Systemic Solution to the “I Can’t Find Good Help” Conundrum”. Here in “Hiring Conundrum Part II”, we will go deeper into the first two steps of the hiring process – A Position Agreement.

Position Agreements are written agreements between managers and the employees who report to them. Like job descriptions, Position Agreements outline the work for a specific role in your company. Unlike Job Descriptions, a Position Agreement will detail result statements, the objective of the position as well as job-specific standards, accountabilities, and company standards. And unlike Job Descriptions, each party must agree to uphold the terms and conditions of the agreement. Position Agreements take the guesswork out of every employee’s role. They build a solid foundation and promote working together to ensure the results you want. And most importantly for employee retention, clarity on how employees will be held accountable and the support managers agree to provide.

Five Parts of The Position Agreement: 

POSITION IDENTIFICATION: The title of the position, the manager’s position, and all reporting positions. The position identification shows where the employee fits in your organization chart and includes their official title in your company. For managers, add the Position Titles and Result Statements of the reporting employees as well. One of the objectives of a management Position Agreement is the success of the people they manage. 

RESULT STATEMENT: Defines the result the position is required to produce. The result statement indicates what you want to have happen and why. It keeps everyone focused on the expected results of their positions. The result statement comes from your understanding of what you want this position to produce. 

WORK LISTING: This itemizes the work to be performed by the person occupying the position. Fully systemized landscape operations will itemize the work to be done by listing the systems and objectives for which the position is accountable. Most positions will include some combination of strategic and tactical work, except those performing strictly technical work. (People out in the field not managing others.)

STANDARDS: The requirements for how an employee should achieve the result and perform the work they’re responsible for. Consider the position and ask yourself what does and doesn’t work as the employee performs this role. Draw on past experiences, and use your frustrations and successes as reference points to inspire your standards. 

SIGNATURES: Both the manager and the employee should sign the Position Agreement. This indicates the employee’s agreement to accomplish the results and the manager’s agreement to support their employee in achieving them. 

Position Agreements reflect the organization and systemization level of the company. Go easy on yourself. Don’t expect to get this right after a few hours of working on your position agreements. This article is meant to show you how they’re structured and to shine a light on systemic work you’ll need to do before you can expect to solve the Hiring Conundrum. The systemization process is simple but it isn’t easy. Position Agreements were developed at EMyth. For help systemizing your landscape business reach out and ask for a free consultation.

Dan Pestretto

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