Rewrite the job you do

Your updated job description should explain the decisions you're responsible for now.

A long task list gives your manager plenty to read. The useful part is showing which responsibilities belong together, what you can decide and where you still need approval. That's the work I'd do before proposing a new title.

This is a working draft for a conversation with your manager. Your employer still needs to agree to any change in your role.

By the end, you'll know:

• which added responsibilities belong in the draft
• how to describe the decisions behind the tasks
• how to write a specific request for a review

Added responsibilities

Start with your current job description beside your calendar and recent work. Mark the responsibilities you still have, then add the recurring work you've absorbed. Include how often you do it and who relies on it. Keep temporary cover separate so your draft doesn't accidentally volunteer you to keep it forever.

For a made-up example, take a coordinator who now prepares the weekly delivery schedule, resolves scheduling conflicts and tells customers when a date changes. Those are useful details. “Helping with deliveries” leaves your manager guessing.

Use work records you can discuss internally. Customer names and private details can stay out of the draft.

Groups of work

Put related tasks under a plain heading. In that coordinator example, those 3 tasks could go under “Delivery coordination.” Then write a sentence describing the responsibility: “Maintain the weekly delivery schedule and communicate agreed changes to customers.”

That gives you a paragraph you can discuss with your manager. You can also see whether you're describing a larger version of your current role or work from a different role altogether.

I'd keep the title provisional until the responsibilities are clear. A title is a lot easier to discuss with an accurate description underneath it.

Decision boundaries

For each group, write down what you decide and what needs approval. A person can prepare a schedule without having permission to change the delivery promise. Those are different responsibilities, and the wording should show the difference.

Continuing the example: “I propose a revised delivery date. The operations manager approves it. I confirm the approved date with the customer.” If the coordinator now approves the date too, the draft should say so, with a note that the manager needs to confirm that authority.

Also name the work that should move elsewhere. For example: “Pricing changes remain with the sales manager.” This keeps the conversation specific when several teams share a customer.

Review request

Finish with a short note explaining the changes you want your manager to consider. Here's fill-in wording:

“My current description covers [original responsibility]. Since [month], I've also been responsible for [added responsibility], including [decision or approval]. I've attached a proposed description. I'd like to review the scope, title and pay that fit this work, plus [task] that I propose handing back.”

In the coordinator example, the meeting would cover whether delivery coordination belongs in the role, who approves revised dates and whether the title and pay should change. Those are decisions your manager can take away and work through.

If the review needs another person's approval, agree on who will take it to them and a date to check back. Keep the proposed description marked as a draft until the changes are agreed.

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