Communicating Wants & Needs: Defining Organizational Roles

I left something important off the list of learning how to be an adult: “communicating your wants and needs.” This is actually a BIGGY (is that an adult word?). And the potential payoff for organizations in terms of improved resource utilization when this communication happens leads me to spend a LOT of time assisting in the process of developing role descriptions. It’s not an easy job, but someone has to do it.

I’m sure most of my clients would prefer that the people they oversee just “know” what they are supposed to do. I acknowledge how painful it is to sit down and actually define what people should be doing and how they should be allocating their time. But unless you hire someone who a) has performed the exact same role in an exactly parallel organization (same size, structure, culture, market conditions, your doppelganger twin as their manager, etc.) or b) can read your mind, you’re out of luck. Defining, discussing and agreeing upon the role description is a non-negotiable. There’s no getting around it, especially during times like these when resources are stretched to the breaking point.

When Managers do not say what they want and need, here is what I see:

• Manager is frustrated because staff member is not performing as hoped/expected/needed.
  
• Staff member is frustrated because his/her work seems to be unappreciated.
  
• There always seems to be “too much to do” the stress level is constantly on the rise.
  
• Performance evaluations are difficult and tense.
  

Here’s the conversation that needs to happen; the questions that must be asked:

• What is the gameplan for the company?
• How does our department/function support the gameplan?
• What are the major areas and specific activities that each person in the department/function is responsible for? What is the most effective way for each individual to allocate his/her time?
• Are the roles realistic given the market conditions and available resources?
  

And here’s where we get to the part about communicating wants and needs:

• What does the Manager want more of, less of, different with respect to the productivity and performance of the Staff member?
• What does the Staff member want/need with respect to direction, resources (time, money, supplies, equipment), skills (i.e. training)?
  

If you only have these conversations during the performance evaluation process, that’s not enough! If you are not perfectly aligned in the responses to these questions, there is work that needs to be done if you are to survive these challenging times!