Don't blame the poor employee.

Usually when employees fail to fulfill the expectations their job descriptions raise, their superiors work with them to improve their performance. If that fails, they are sent packing. Such firings--and all the hurt feelings, wasted time and tried patience that accompany them--aren't always avoidable, but leaders shouldn't overlook the part the job description can play. Sometimes it's the job description that should be sent packing, not the employee.

Poorly written or conceived job descriptions abound. Some are too much about the skills and knowledge the employee should have, rather than about responsibilities. Others are what I would call "results descriptions." They say what should ultimately be achieved but nothing about how to achieve it. Still others might be called "vision descriptions." They speak mainly of the hoped-for growth of the position and/or organization.

The forms they take vary considerably, as do their lengths. They can run on for pages, in exhaustive detail. Or they can be short and intentionally vague, full of phrases like "and whatever else is required," to make sure they can provide legal grounds for termination as well as maps for success and expectations.

Job descriptions are vexing partly because they serve so many purposes. They generally are expected to protect the organization legally, define the employee's responsibilities and reflect the specific work demands of the business unit. Is it any wonder they become either a dumping ground for tasks that don't get performed satisfactorily or an unrealistic wish list for tasks that haven't even been assigned?

Here are the most common reasons job descriptions fail:

-- An organization or department lacks resources, so new employees are asked to handle too many different or competing tasks.

-- The descriptions aren't rewritten in times of rapid growth and change. The demand to get new work done is so pressing that errors in workflow simply aren't identified. New employees are left to figure out on their own how to meet new needs.

-- Employees don't think to question the descriptions, either because their jobs preceded them or because they fear appearing incapable. If they do share their concerns, their supervisors may try to work to correct them, not the job descriptions.

Poorly written or conceived job descriptions harm entry-level workers, middle managers and senior leaders alike. Senior leaders ought to recognize the flaws in their own descriptions, since they partake in writing and enforcing others', but they believe so strongly in their own abilities that they often take on too much. This especially happens with small-business owners who are both president and manager. Owner-president-managers either try to reach agreement among all three of their roles or become divided personalities trying to juggle the three.

As an executive coach, I have seen many owner-president-managers who have lost countless hours of sleep, if not their jobs, because of unwieldy or nonexistent job descriptions. I worked with a head of a professional services firm who had job descriptions for everyone in the business except himself. He felt responsible for anything that wasn't anyone else's defined job, and he was working 70-plus-hour weeks and had bags under his eyes. His family life suffered, and his business was plateauing after years of fast growth. Since his role was undefined, he never felt satisfied. To make matters worse, when he finally did define all his roles and their responsibilities, he discovered how poorly he'd been doing as president and manager. He didn't fire himself, but he did relieve himself of several key responsibilities. The company came out of the plateau and, in a declining economy, had its best year ever.

Job descriptions need to be purposeful, clear and fair. They should always be crafted with both the present and future in mind, and they should always take into account overlaps and gaps in responsibilities. No matter what the organization needs, employees shouldn't be assigned tasks with competing aims.

To ensure the effectiveness and fairness of your job descriptions, you should:

-- Revisit them regularly. Unless job descriptions are incorporated into performance reviews, they tend to become obsolete, especially in organizations that experience significant growth, contraction or restructuring. Whenever there's a real gap between expected and unexpected outcomes, pull out the employee's job description and make all necessary changes.

-- Invite employees who leave the organization to help write the descriptions for their replacements. You'll get a better sense of what the job is now, what it isn't anymore and what it maybe never was. You must bear in mind, of course, how the job might have shaped itself to the departing employee's particular strengths and weaknesses, and also the employee's specific reasons for leaving.

-- Avoid a double standard. Don't operate without a current and accurate job description of your own (especially if you're an owner-president-manager). The more you revisit and refine your own job description, the savvier you'll be when crafting, approving and enforcing others'. You will also be more accountable to yourself, the organization, your customers and your co-workers.

In my coaching business, whenever I hear a diatribe about an employee, I ask to see that employee's job description. After examining the responsibilities it spells out, I ask the leader, "Could you do that job effectively?" The answer is often no. We sometimes have a hard time imagining anyone succeeding at that job. Afterward, we get to work on designing a job description that gives the employee a real chance to win.