When clients include multiple stakeholders in the Role Definition foundational stage of the selection process, the feedback is inevitable astonishment and satisfaction around the clarity, consensus, and buy-in achieved in such a short period of time.
Sure, anyone could write a job description and force it into the format of a Job Scorecard, asking others to comment on the relatively finished product, but that just accomplishes an illusion of inclusion.
Including the stakeholders of a position within your firm allows everyone to contribute to what success will really look and feel like if the activities are executed at a level of excellence; this includes both objective and subjective measurables. Who would be included as a stakeholder? Those who understand what it might take to do the job well, or those who would be impacted if the job were done poorly or well.
As an example, if you were defining a sales leadership role, certainly you’d include the leader of the position you are defining, those who would report to this role (sales or account representatives), operations (they need to deliver what is sold), finance/accounting (they always want a say if sales is earning their keep), customer service ( needs to follow up on the difference between what was promised and what was delivered), etc.
Now imagine the odds of success when a new person comes into the role! All these stakeholders are looking forward to person doing the work they helped define and on which they rely. The stakeholders are excited to help the person get up to speed so they can contribute more fully and shorten the learning curve. In general, the support the new hire will receive is far greater than the typical wait-and-see attitude team members typically experience when they’ve been kept in the dark about the expectations and impact of a new team member.
Empowering leaders include others to help define a role (new or existing) to ensure the success of all team members.