A few thoughts about role clarity
I once had a client who was meeting all of his milestones. He’d get positive feedback from colleagues, and excellent performance reviews.
Despite this success, he felt like he was running around in circles a lot. His sense of the “why” behind the work was missing, but not because he lacked an internal sense of purpose. He just couldn’t get clarity from upper management on the contours of his role.
I had a similar experience in my own career, in a past leadership position.
The person I originally reported to had retired, leaving me with many of his responsibilities and all of my original remit too. I had some questions. Would I be promoted? If so, what did the path look like, and how long might it take? Or would they backfill his position?
If I was leading a complex organization two levels below the CEO, why would my boss and the CEO often step in to do my job and that of my team?
I wanted answers. I requested them frequently, either in my weekly one-on-ones with my boss or my rare hallway conversations with the CEO. But the answers never came. My questions were deflected, or I was thanked for my patience and cooperation while “we need to figure some things out.”
If I’m being charitable to these two executives, I suspect they didn’t know the answers. Or perhaps they had priorities more pressing than figuring out the answers or sharing them. What I do know is this: having the leader of the largest business unit in a $130-million organization walking around in a state of ambiguity about his role was more than just a me problem.
It was a major challenge for me to provide a sense of purpose, or a sense of direction, to my own team when I was essentially wandering the desert trying to find the same for myself.
If you’re in a leadership role, you can and must deliver role clarity for the members of your team. If role clarity is missing for you, here are a few questions that might pry it loose from the higher-ups:
What does success look like in this role in 6 months? In a year? What does failure look like?
If other key stakeholders for my position have different answers to the previous question, which of their priorities should I embrace, and which should I ignore?
Which responsibilities will I be taking over from someone else?
Which responsibilities are new, and have never belonged to anyone?
Who are my functional neighbors in this role, and where are the boundaries between my area and theirs?
What is within my ability to decide on my own, and which decisions require approval? Which decisions require notice after the fact?
What types of decisions have the potential to be overruled? For what reasons?
What are the areas of growth potential for this role?