OBJECTIVES
to help your team clarify and agree on each member’s roles to avoid duplication of effort, gaps in coverage, or wasted time.
ABOUT
The module helps members identify what roles are needed for the team to succeed, clarify each member’s roles, and evaluate whether there are gaps or overlaps in member’s roles. This is particularly important with hybrid and virtual teams where members may not know all the responsibilities of each member.
The primary purpose is for each member to have an opportunity to get clear on what their roles are on this team, discuss how these may be different from some of their formal job description and have their viewpoints heard and acknowledged and their role appreciated by others.
The module provides the opportunity to participate in adding to, deleting, or better defining what particular team member’s roles are so that there is team agreement.
This module also helps team members get clear on what each other’s team roles are and frequently how these can be different from job descriptions.
WHEN TO USE
Use this Module when:
- there is a lack of clarity of what roles and tasks certain members are working on and what activities the team needs them to do
- members are frustrated or confused between how job descriptions are written and the actual roles they may need to perform as a contributing team member
- some members seem to not appreciate the efforts that other members are making and there hasn’t been an open discussion of contributions and roles
- job descriptions don’t match team roles and even if the descriptions can’t be changed, the roles being fulfilled need to be seen and valued
- members see duplications or overlaps in what others are doing and could benefit from a safe way to bring these up and clarify them
This module, Clarifying Our Team Roles, has two components.
1) The Discussion Guide and Worksheet
This discussion guide, which is what the team members complete, contains step-by-step interactive fields, check boxes, and open fill-in spaces. This guide can be completed online using the interactive pdf and then shared or referenced as the team discusses each step. Some steps are designed to be completed together.
The supporting worksheet helps team members each create a list of their roles and then review these with the other members to ensure that everyone is clear and supportive of these roles.
2) Facilitator/User’s Guide
These support materials are available to help guide the leader or facilitator through the steps of the discussion guide. An example of a completed worksheet listing team roles for each member helps team members fill gaps and eliminate overlaps.
The facilitator may be an outside consultant, the team leader, or one of the team members. However, everyone can help ensure success by reading through some of the tips and suggestions in this guide.
NOTES FROM DR. PATRICK HANDLEY
Clear and agreed upon roles are a necessary component of all successful teams. Almost every book on leadership and team development will address the importance of roles. Typically, the directive is for the leader to set clear roles and manage them. But, what I’ve found in years of working with teams that it is more important for team members to do this themselves and to hear each other’s opinions about the needed roles. That sets them up to work together to define these roles and watch for gaps and overlaps.
This also helps members appreciate each other for their contributions and it helps them recognize that frequently organizational job descriptions don’t fully capture all that it is that team members do in their roles on a team.
Another important thing this does is it shifts the responsibility for managing these roles from the leaders to the team members. This is huge. Usually, leaders find themselves acting as police officers and having to continually check on who is doing what and if there are overlaps and gaps. When team members do this as a part of their responsibility on the team then they not only track this issue better, they become actively involved in keeping things up to date.
Keep in mind, job descriptions tend to be written by compensation department staff as a method of identifying salary ranges. That’s their job. Standardize jobs as much as possible so salaries across industries can be compared and set. Seldom do these descriptions take into account many of the day-to-day roles that members are called upon to do to help the team succeed.
So, an important aspect of establishing team roles is to help team members “see” what each other member is doing and appreciate these extra efforts. If members work away day after day and don’t feel those closest to them, their fellow team members, acknowledge their efforts, then over time they become demotivated and discouraged. High functioning teams have systems that make it possible for members to regularly validate each other and continually recognize special efforts. This module will help you establish this for your team.
STEPS
1) discuss the importance of clear Roles and the pattern of confusion with job descriptions that exist in many organizations.
2) Identify what the team’s needs are, the roles that should be filled
3) list the roles each team member sees as theirs
4) solicit input from all team members on the roles of each member (rotate through each member)
5) agree as a team on roles for each member so there is clarity upon completion
6) plan a time to check back in and update roles – for hybrid teams these tend to change over time.
LEADER/FACILITATOR TIPS
This module can be completed fairly quickly if job descriptions have been updated and closely match team roles. However, if these have gone unattended for some time, are out of date, or aren’t clearly defined you may need to allow extra time.
Spend time really getting clear on what is needed for the team to succeed. If there is no one taking on these roles, then there is a great opportunity for filling this role and making a big difference. It’s guaranteed that even if, as a leader, you haven’t noticed this gap, the other team members have.
Be prepared for this module to bring out some frustrations among some team members. Some may generate such long lists of roles that they feel taken advantage of or not fully paid for all they do. Others may have small lists that seem to highlight an imbalance in what they do compared to what busier team members are doing. These and similar issues are already there, the module is just providing the time and space to bring these issues out and discuss them before conflict emerges.