Work Effectiveness

Work Effectiveness Defined: Demonstrates the skills and uses the technology necessary to collect, verify, document and organize information from a variety of sources; uses logic to determine effective solutions; understands job duties, college processes and related work; is dependable and can be counted on to complete work on time and in an accurate manner; can flex and adapt to changing goals and work requirements.

Category Word Cloud

Work Effectiveness

The Word Cloud text annotation indicator above was created from the definitions contained in the category Work Effectiveness and the related Critical Success Factors. Only those definitions under the levels of achievement for the Excels and On Target were included in the Cloud. Note how the words follow-through, timely, adapts, completed and reliable are among the predominant.

NOTE: All employees and positions in the following exercises are fictional.

Work Effectiveness Exercise 1: Job Knowledge

Background information:

Picture of a Woman Ingrid has worked as a Technology Help Desk technician for the last three years. Her responsibilities include phone support for software and hardware problems, entering work orders for the technical support staff, working with walk-in customers and maintaining the information in the online support web pages.

To see how Ingrid was rated on Job Knowledge, click on the Self Check below.

How would you rate Ingrid on Job Knowledge based on the following scenario?

Last year, Ingrid was rated as On Target in this category. Over the last year she has kept up with the changes in technology at the College by learning to support the newly introduced software and keeping up with the new models of computers. It is seldom that she doesn't know how to resolve a customer's problem.

She does a reasonably good job keeping up with the changes to the online support pages but occasionally needs to be reminded to attend to them.

a. Excels:

Demonstrates complete and accurate knowledge of job; work is always of the highest quality; continually strives to stay informed; requires minimal instruction and direction; always assures that work is done right, thoroughly or precisely.
b. On Target:

Possesses knowledge and skills necessary to effectively perform the job; seeks opportunities to increase knowledge; is attentive to details and produces work with consistent accuracy; may occasionally require instruction and direction to complete work.
c. Acquiring:

Demonstrates appropriate skills to succeed in role; will deliver consistent quality work with additional job knowledge, experience and exposure; has desire to increase understanding of role; requires routine instruction.
d. Needs Improvement:

Possesses only basic job skills required for the job; makes little effort to increase knowledge; requires regular instruction, direction and oversight to complete routine tasks; inconsistently produces accurate work; shows concern when errors are made but does not make efforts to fix them.
e. Unsatisfactory:

Lacks skills required for the role; makes no effort to increase knowledge; requires extensive instruction, direction and oversight; produces work that contains notable and careless errors; demonstrates lack of concern for getting details right.

Work Effectiveness Exercise 2: Adaptability and Flexibility

Background information:

Picture of a Man Vince is the manager of the residential hall, Palm Towers and has worked at the College for 4 years. Palm Towers houses 200 students and Vince supervises 4 residential assistants, one for each floor. Vince is also responsible for providing programming support and training, crisis management, personal conflict intervention and being in an on-call duty rotation.

To see how Vince was rated on Adaptability and Flexibility, click on the Self Check below.

How would you rate Vince on Adaptability and Flexibility based on the following scenario?

Last summer, the College closed Palm Towers for a major remodeling project. Previously, the dorm had individual rooms housing two students with common areas for restroom, recreational, laundry, cafeteria and bathroom facilities. The new layout included suites housing 8 students in 4 bedrooms with a kitchen, a laundry and Internet access. The hall retained common recreational spaces with a game room, a theater room and a study lounge.

The new layout greatly changed the way Vince performed his job. During the remodel, he focused his efforts on developing new procedures and processes and providing the necessary training for his staff. As the semester began, his flexibility and calm demeanor helped the students and assistants successfully adjust to the new situation.

a. Excels:

Successfully alters activities to suit demands of new or changing requirements; embraces and readily accepts change; adapts easily to new situations; comfortably refocuses when priorities shift; successfully diffuses stressful situations.
b. On Target:

Openly adapts to change; understands impact of change and can be flexible when faced with new situations; handles stressful situations calmly and professionally.
c. Acquiring:

Open to change; attempts to adapt to new situations; learning to seamlessly shift priorities; may require help to understand the impact of change; learning to adapt to unusual stressful situations.
d. Needs Improvement:

Focuses on barriers; inflexible and is reluctant to shift priorities or make adjustments when change is necessary; may become defensive or irritated when times are tough.
e. Unsatisfactory:

Demonstrates a high level of resistance to change; is negative and incapable of shifting priorities when faced with changing situations; unable and unwilling to adapt to change.

Work Effectiveness Exercise 3: Dependability

Background information:

Picture of a Woman Alyssia has worked in the Registration Department for 5 years. Over the course of time, she has held several positions. She has been in her current position for 2 years. Her responsibilities include , assisting students at the registration desk and assisting students with online registration over the telephone -- she is the primary support person assigned to this task. She has been coached over the past year to work with the phone calls before helping out at the desk.

To see how Alyssia was rated on Dependability, click on the Self Check below.

How would you rate Alyssia on Dependability based on the following scenario?

Alyssia has been assigned as the primary telephone support person for students using online registration. During her last performance review, her supervisor rated her as Acquiring for Dependability because she had only been assigned the telephone support for about 6 months and was having a difficult time remembering to attend to the calls first.

Alyssia still tends to let the calls go to voice mail and sometimes waits several hours before calling the student back. Over the last year, she has been coached several times on how to prioritize her tasks. However, she continues to attend to the front desk work before helping with the students with telephone support.

a. Excels:

Work consistently exceeds acceptable standards by a significant degree; extremely punctual and reliable; excellent follow-through.
b. On Target:

Can be counted on to deliver on commitments and provide quality work; ensures timely follow-through; is reliable and punctual; work is completed in a consistent and timely manner.
c. Acquiring:

Is enhancing the ability to determine priorities to consistently deliver on projects and tasks; developing skills to ensure commitments are met in a timely manner; may benefit from support in determining priorities and setting schedules.
d. Needs Improvement:

Work is not consistently completed in a timely manner; often misses or is late with appointments, deadlines and other commitments; does not consistently follow-through.
e. Unsatisfactory:

Projects and tasks are not completed in a timely manner; is not present and punctual; lacks commitment and follow-through.

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