Creating Roles That Actually Solve Problems

In this episode of The Delegation Download, hosts Ashley Carlson and Nichole Hughes continue Series Two: The People Puzzle – Building Your Dream Team with a conversation about hiring with intention and creating roles that actually solve problems.

They unpack one of the most common hiring mistakes business owners make: hiring for a title instead of defining the true need. From “junk-drawer” job descriptions to chasing mythical unicorn candidates, Ashley and Nichole explain why clarity around outcomes, responsibilities, and communication is the foundation of a strong hire.

The episode walks listeners through identifying bottlenecks, designing roles around business gaps, and writing job descriptions that drive results. They also explore the mindset shifts required to hire strategically, build a strong culture, and create roles that evolve as the business grows.

Listeners will walk away with practical tools to approach hiring with confidence, clarity, and strategy, understanding that the right people don’t just fill seats, they fuel the vision.

Takeaways

• Hiring with clarity, confidence, and strategy is essential.
• Define roles based on business needs and bottlenecks, not titles.
• Avoid creating “wish list” job descriptions that try to cover everything.
• There are no unicorns, hire for specific strengths and skills.
• Bottlenecks often exist because leaders hesitate to delegate.
• Strong job descriptions outline outcomes, responsibilities, qualifications, and communication structure.
• Culture and team fit matter just as much as skillset.
• Clear expectations reduce micromanagement and improve performance.
• Roles should drive measurable results, no matter how small.
• Open communication builds trust and strengthens team collaboration.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the Delegation Download Podcast, where business owners, CEOs, and leaders learn to work smarter, not harder.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

We're your hosts, Nicole Hughes and Ashley Carlson, here to share real stories, expert tips, and simple strategies to help you delegate with confidence and grow your business with support. Because you can do anything, but not everything. Welcome to series two of the Delegation Download: The People Puzzle: Building Your Dream Team. This series is your guide to hiring with clarity, confidence, and strategy because the right people don't just fill roles, they feel your vision. Whether you're making your first hire or reconstructing for scare, oh, excuse me, we'll help you solve the hiring puzzle piece by piece.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

This series is all about hiring with intention. And today we're digging into a critical piece of the hiring puzzle, creating roles that actually solve problems. So I'm really excited about this topic. And but first I have to ask, where are you at today?

SPEAKER_00 0:53

It looks awfully different. Yes, it is awfully different. I am in my husband's office today. He is on a work trip. I am solo parenting this week. So it has been a little wild. And speaking of hiring the right people, the reason I'm in his office is because our air conditioner unit upstairs went out. So we are, yeah, we're dealing with that. It's fun. But um, I had to hire an air conditioner service to come out and look at the unit, which we had serviced back in August. So like less than 30 days ago. But they came out, they took a look at it. We're still troubleshooting a little bit, but upstairs is cooling, but I'm down here just in case it doesn't. That's pretty miserable. So I am glad that you have this face. Yep, me too. So it's just, it's one of those things where, you know, you just kind of have to roll with it as it comes. And even though my husband is out of town and we have all of the things, I'm just thankful that I was able to call somebody that could do it and get it so that upstairs is not 85 degrees anymore. Even though it's raining here and it's storming, it's still hot and humid and it's no place to be upstairs with no air conditioner. I love this topic. I think that it's a great topic to step into, you know, really figuring out mistakes that happen, wins that happen when it comes to hiring. So, Ashley, tell me what is one of the mistakes that you have seen business owners that you've that we have worked with, that you've worked with before, or even in situations that you have been in where they struggle to define roles.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yeah, I think that this is really common, especially for those of us who come from a corporate environment, if you will, where we tend to try to put a name on it first. So we think of titles, right? So an assumption of what the role is, this, you know, square peg that might have to try, you're trying to make it fit in a round hole. So I think what people need to instead is start from scratch, basically. So, like, what is the need and what are the responsibilities and expectations that are needed to fill and then build the job from there. So, for example, I hear all the time I get contacted by people who say, I need an EA. But when I start asking more questions, I want to get some clarity as to what are their pain points, what does support look like? It actually turns out that they need a marketing assistant or a project manager or a director of operations, right? So, but I think because people tend to try to pick the title in their head first, they don't, they're not quite under defining the needs first, which is what needs to happen. And so I think we just need to remember that jobs should be built around the gaps that you need to fill and the skill sets needed to fill those gaps, not just first jumping straight to that traditional position or title.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Yeah, absolutely right. And I think that a lot of times we see that what happens is these job descriptions just become a wish list of what you would like to have done, not necessarily the role that you are trying to fill or the title that you're trying to create for this role. It's just a long wish list of things that you would like to have done and taken off your plate.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

So yeah, I think that a lot of the times people will have this whole laundry list, which is a really great place to start for when you need to hire. But what ends up happening is they try to find one person to fit all those things. And so I think it's really important to make sure that we are actually looking at this list and trying to maybe put them in buckets or skill sets or interests and all of that because there might be a way to you want to make sure you're finding someone who can fit the role. And we just know there's no unicorns out there. There's no one person who's gonna fit all of the things that you need done in your business. And so really making sure that you're identifying, you know, where are your bottlenecks and where is this need and, you know, who could that look like, right? So we'll talk a little bit more about the process today. But I guess where do you feel like we tend to see things consistently breaking down or being delayed because of these bottlenecks that we see clients face when they are needing to hire?

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Well, I think it starts with we all want to keep what we have on our plate, right? Like we can do it best because we've been doing it for so long and we know how to do it, and it's just it takes too long. We've said it before. Like, if you feel like it's taking too long to train somebody, that's okay. You want to think about what is on your plate and ask yourself, what can somebody else do that I'm already doing at at least 80% capacity, right? They don't, it doesn't have to be perfect. You want to make progress, and that is important to remember. You're not searching for perfection, you're searching for progress. And that's where you start to delegate. Cause you just have to be okay with not reaching perfection at the very beginning.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Absolutely. I think that people have to remember that, like you said, the 80%. So again, that goes towards, you know, let's just say, for example, maybe marketing, right? Maybe that's a bottleneck for me as a business owner and a skill set that I just know I'm not strong in and it's taking me too much time. So I know that I want to find someone who can do that. Hopefully, the goal is that you're hiring someone who has the ability and the skill set and the experience to do the marketing that you've been doing 80% as good as you can. And maybe that 20% is just them getting to know the business a little bit better and the branding. And in the beginning, there's gonna be a lot more feedback and edits and all of that. But along the way, at some point, it's gonna become easier and easier. And then that person, because they're not so close to the business and because they come from a whole different set of experience, they're gonna then start doing it just as good as you and then come bringing new ideas to the table, right? I think all of this is just like it's this starting line of delegation where you just have to know it's gonna, it's gonna feel different, but it shouldn't feel too hard if you're defining it correctly in the job, like we're talking about, and if you're allowing that person to grow from there, it's actually gonna even turn out so much better.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

No, I was gonna say absolutely, because I think that that's where your job description comes from. Like that's the base of your job description. And then you build up from there. You don't start with, I need, like you were saying, I need an executive assistant. No, what you need is you need somebody to schedule content. If we're staying on the marketing topic, you need somebody to schedule content, you need somebody somebody to create content, create copy. You need somebody to envision and like bring ideas to the table. An executive assistant does not meet, maybe they can do it, but that's not what that job title entails. So start with what you need and be clear about it, and then build the title from there. Because it could be a marketing slash executive assistant. It could be both, but you want to make sure that you have the job description set up.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Yeah, I think that people need to remember that the job description isn't just a long list of tasks for someone to do. That will become if you're just kind of like, hey, I'm gonna hire you and here's my list of a hundred things. That isn't a job description, that's a task list, right? So we want to make sure we're turning that task list into an actual job description with clarity about what that person's impact is gonna be in the business or for you and what success looks like. I think something that I've really realized is when we bring people on at Elevate, we really make sure they're aligned with what we're doing, that they're understanding that they are the reason why we are successful every day, right? So people want to step into a job with yes, like with a full list of things to do. So they're not bored, of course. So the list is important, but they also want clarity. Why, why am I here? What difference am I making? And also what does success look like, right? Like how when I, you know, do X, Y, Z, I'm gonna feel really good because I know it's going towards this, right? So just making sure that you're putting more thought into it than just this long laundry list of tasks when you're coming up with a job description.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Yeah. And I think that when you're coming up with that job description, there's a way to break it down so that it doesn't feel overwhelming because, like we're saying, you have this long laundry list of tasks, right? And you want to make sure that you are hiring the right person for those tasks. But if you break it down and make them into mini milestones, we love mini milestones so we can celebrate as we go. But you want to start with what number one, start with the outcome. What is your goal for this role? What do you want this person to accomplish? Like you were saying, what is the end game? Like what do you want them to do? Then the second thing you're gonna do is think about the responsibilities that will come in from that on a day-to-day basis to get to that end goal. From there, then you want to think about qualifications. What do they need to bring to the table as a new hire that you want them to have, whether it's a requirement or whether it's preferred, because there is a difference in what that qualification is gonna be. And we're not just talking about qualifications as far as like experience. Do you want to make sure that you are hiring in the US so that they're a US resident? Do you wanna make sure that they are located in a specific time zone? Those are all qualifications that need to go on your job description. Otherwise, you're kind of setting yourself up for a lot of back and forth because you're gonna have people applying for a role that don't meet the expectation that you have in your head because you didn't put it on the job description itself. Then number four is communication. How are you gonna get in touch with them on a day-to-day basis? Is this all remote? Is this gonna be hybrid? Do you are they expected to travel? You wanna be clear and lay that out at the beginning so that when the time comes, they're not surprised when you're like, okay, so you're gonna be flying to LA next week. And they're like, oh, I don't, I don't fly. I hate flying. I'm not getting on an airplane. That's not happening for me. And then number five, which I think is a very important thing to have, and we have it on all of our job descriptions, and it's something that we take pride in is your culture. You want to make sure that you are setting the person up for success because as much as they need to be a good fit for you, you want them to be a good fit for your business. And that starts with your job culture, putting out there your mission, your vision, your values, telling them about yourself, telling them about your business and letting them know what they're getting into in the business so that they align with what your vision is moving forward in the future.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Yeah, absolutely. I always say, you know, it's super important that we find someone who, like you said, meets the qualifications and feels excited and aligned with the responsibilities, but it's also really important for each hire of ours to step into the team and be excited about our mission, our vision, our core values. It's very important that we have people who are just excited and aligned with what we're doing. So I think all of those pieces are definitely a must on a job description. I think it's also just like we said, just don't think of the job description as some like junk drawer that we just, you know, we all have that shamed junk drawer. I was actually just saying this morning to my kids, wow, I need to clean this drawer out, right? It just ends up like all of the all of the little stuff just gets thrown in there, the miscellaneous things that don't really have a home. You can't make that into a job description, right? The miscellaneous things just simply cannot all fit into one job description. So we have to be able to go through it and pick a lane, pick where this person might fit and define what success looks like. And just remember that like when you first hire this person with this clear job description, there still might be things that you wish you had included and all of that. Well, it can change as this role grows, as you get to know this person, their skills and their interests, as the person gets to know you and your business. And just as happens, as your company evolves, this role can also evolve. I mean, Nicole, you have been in countless seats at Elevate because of me getting to know your strengths, you getting to know where you're excited about at Elevate, the ideas that you bring to the table, and also just how we have changed. So where you start with hiring someone does not have to be, you're not not committing to this for life, right? So just, but it is a really important piece to start with. So success is defined, clarity is there. It feels really good for someone to step into the business and have that clarity. So that's kind of where I'm getting at. So as far as when speaking of when you have shifted it at Elevate, when what like what shifts do you notice when I guess, and you can speak to this probably in multiple facets, in when we have made your roles at Elevate and also from the perspective of a client, but there's a difference between, and I know we have been there uh with you in your journey, when a role is clearly defined and we have given you a job description and all of those, versus when things maybe have been kept a little vague. What are your thoughts and feelings about that from your own experience?

SPEAKER_00 13:33

So I think when the job description or the job responsibilities, I'm gonna say responsibilities, have shifted to somewhere, something that we are clear on what the goal is. It is an easy transition to be able to say, I know where I'm gonna move from here. I know what my goal is. Now I need to figure out the steps to get there. And we have done that through collaboration, through open communication. And we have been able to build our partnership as boss and employee to where we're able to talk through how to get to the end goal. But I think that's that's the key thing is knowing what the goal is and then being able to have that collaboration on how to get there because it's going to look different when it does shift for every business, because it may not be this black and white where you're like, oh, perfect. We know steps one through five. This is great. No, there are going to be things that come into play where you're gonna have to shift and say, okay, well, this didn't work, or we got rid of that platform because we found this new platform. So now we have to integrate this into the process and use it to get to the end goal. It, the clear goals at the end, it also improves onboarding and the performance and the communication because I know what I'm doing. So I know what questions to ask. And then you are able to be like, okay, yes, this is where I see that you're coming from. Let's talk this through. When I don't have a clear, and we've been there just because we're like brainstorming and we're like, oh, this is a great idea, let's do it. And then we're like, oh, wait a second. We don't really know exactly where we want to go with this yet. We just have this like grand idea. So let's like pause. But when there have been times, and I've seen it in other places too, when it's more of a vague idea of what you want the end goal to be, it just kind of leads to confusion. You're not meeting milestones, which then leads to a maybe a little bit of micromanagement because maybe you as a business owner or the boss are checking in on the person that's supposed to be getting to that end goal because you're not seeing progress because that person doesn't know what they're doing, which then can lead to frustration and then a lack of communication and potentially turnover, like worst case scenario, obviously, but turnover. And you don't want that to happen because then you're having to start from scratch. So it just having clear goals in mind and having an idea of where you want to go and really solidifying that just makes it easier for the business owner and for the employee to trust each other and to let go and say, hey, these are your responsibilities, these are my responsibilities. Once we complete each of our responsibilities on this list to get to this end goal, let's communicate and figure out where our next steps are. But you have to have the clear responsibility because otherwise it just leads to so many things and that could become potential problems down the road.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Yeah, I as you were talking, I remember when we were shifting your role at one point out of again, necessity, interest, changes, things like that that needed to happen. Both you and I didn't really have the clarity. So we sat down and we kind of created at least buckets, like to your point. We said, okay, here's what we can think of that makes sense for you to own now. And we started with those higher level buckets and areas that you were going to own. And then we just sat and we brainstormed, okay, what falls in those buckets? And we understood and had the conversation that, you know, if I think of something or if you think of something as we go, let's make sure we cover that. In the beginning, we make sure we have lots of sinks and we're meeting often to talk about what you're working on and what maybe we may have forgotten and all that. But we always, I feel like we did a really good job of making sure that it stayed within those lanes that we first identified because that is where things, again, you don't want it to become a junk drawer type of role. That becomes very confusing. That becomes, you know, a lot of people on the team don't know who to go to because it's not clear of what you do. And so um, I think that that was also really important. And I mean, it just is important that people remember, including us, that the role doesn't have to be, you know, it's not solidified forever. Roles can evolve, but starting with clarity is a really important piece of the foundation for that employee to grow from. And let them get really good at that role, right? Like even if it does expand, let them get really good at it, really take ownership of it. It will fulfill their cup, it will fill your cup because now it's you can fully trust and delegate better because you know they've got it. They're skilled, they're excited. How good does it feel when you hand something off to someone and you're like, I know they've got it? So allow them to get to that point and then start talking about okay, where do we grow from here? Where do we shift from here? And let it be a collaborative experience based on their interests and all of that. And so, but again, starting from a really clear, concise set them up for success place is so important.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Yeah, absolutely. And I want to remind listeners, I know that we have mentioned it before. I've been with Elevate for nearly five years. So, and when we're talking about these job descriptions and building this job title from the job description, it's not necessarily just for leadership. So when you're bringing on a brand new hire and they have never been in your business before and you have the job description, the responsibilities that they're gonna own, and you're you're talking to them and it's the first month, make sure that you're asking them for feedback too as an employee or as a subcontractor or whatever their role is, even if it's an outsourcing person that you have hired on, ask them for feedback. Like, hey, do you see anywhere that anything that you've touched or anything that you see me doing that you think you would be interested in taking over? Or do you have any ideas where we can do this? Because from the get-go, that is showing the person that you have hired that you are willing and invested in their success as much as you are in your business business's success. Two words you should not put together. They're kind of hard to say. But make sure that you are opening that door for communication from the very start. And I think that that will allow you to one, build that partnership because you need that with trust and with open communication. And it just allows things to blossom from there and to build from there and grow from there in their role.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Yeah, absolutely. I think, I mean, I'm sure people either who know us or who have been listening long enough, they understand that collaboration is huge for us. We think communication pretty much solves everything. So as long as there is that open flow of communication, I have no doubt that, you know, things will things will grow beautifully from there.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I wanted to end this episode with a few mindset shifts. Again, two words that are hard to say together today, guys. I don't know what's going on. But let's end with a few mindset shifts for anybody who that might be writing their first job description or you're getting ready to write your next one. So instead of thinking, I just need somebody to help with everything, shift to I need someone to own a specific area of my business, like Ashley was talking about. Those buckets. Think about what your buckets are and how you can have somebody come into the role there. Instead of thinking, I'll figure it out once they're hired. That's a recipe for disaster. So instead, think about clarity before hiring, because that will help everybody succeed. Not just you as a business owner, but them as an employee. Instead of thinking, I want a unicorn that can do it all, think about I want somebody who can do it really well. That's where those qualifications come in, making sure that they have the experience and they are qualified for the role. Instead of thinking they'll figure it out as they go, no, no, no, no. Start thinking, I'll set them up for success with clear expectations and do that from the get-go so that they understand what's expected of them. And then last but not least, make sure not to think that it's just a small role and shift that mindset to every role should drive results, no matter how small, because the smallest thing could be a big problem down the road. So nothing is small, and the smallest thing could be a huge success down the road. So never think that it's just a small.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Absolutely. You never know where someone in a quote small role is going to grow. I think that everyone deserves just as much investment, especially when you're expecting it from them. So well, we're gonna end it there. Thank you for turn tuning in to the People Puzzle series on the delegation download. And if this episode brought you one step closer to your dream team, hit follow and share it with another leader who's building too. And don't forget to grab your free hiring resources at the link in the show notes. You've got this.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Thanks for listening to the Delegation Download Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and follow us at ElevateVV Solutions for more tips to help you lead smarter and live better.