Most business owners know that every member of their team needs a job description, which should include:
- Clearly outlined responsibilities and tasks
- Some specific and measurable KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
- A set of clear expectations around core competencies and behaviour
When a job description is clearly documented, it’s much easier to monitor and measure performance. However, as logical as this seems, many business owners fail to do this for their own role as Director of the business.
So, as Director, what should be in your job description?
The most important function of a Director is to maximise shareholder value. This means carrying out activities that drive up returns and business value; by working smarter, not harder.
Your key responsibilities include setting the vision and strategy, managing and mitigating risks, growing the business, establishing the right business structure and holding the CEO (who may also be a Director) to account.
How much time are you dedicating to working ON your business?
To give a general indication… as Director, you should spend an hour or two every week working ON the business. In addition to that, every quarter you should dedicate half a day to ongoing strategy planning and take one to two days every year for an annual off-site planning session or retreat. This is to remove yourself from day to day distractions to do some serious ‘blue sky thinking’.
As Director, you still need accountability.
Appoint someone independent to ensure you adopt best practice as a Director. There are several ways to get accountability. You could establish a quarterly advisory board (with an independent chairperson). Or, you could engage an experienced facilitator to coach you regularly to ensure you’re meeting your objectives. Having an independent accountability process in place will ensure better planning, better decision making and faster progress.
Remember, you’re not exempt from meeting the requirements of your Director role. Like every other role in your business, you need a job description for your role as Director, and it should have clear responsibilities and tasks with KPIs so that you can monitor and improve performance.
So, if you don’t already have a job description, set that as an important task, with a due date, and start thinking about who will hold you accountable.
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