In our final installment of Patrick Lencioni’s 6 critical questions to ensure clarity, we examine Who must do what?
There are three areas of consideration to answer Who must do what?
First, this question is about the Executive Team agreeing on day to day roles, responsibilities, and accountability, and communicating this to the entire organization. What is obvious at the Executive level, may not be obvious for the rest of the team. When HR and Administration report to Finance, and business development reports to Sales but account management reports to Operations, there is definitely room for confusion. The assignment of responsibilities will be different in every organization regardless of size, so don’t count on an easy interpretation of titles; explain what they mean in your organization.
The second consideration is that strategic initiatives create another level of roles and responsibilities. If strategic initiatives are important (the dictionary says they are critical to achieving your plan) they should secure the best available resources. Once again, logic at the Executive level may not be clear to others. When the Finance Executive leads the new manufacturing plant build because they have past experience and the bandwidth, it may seem an unlikely choice (think not memorable) to the rest of the team. And when people are drawn from across the organization to help with the strategic project, their diminishing bandwidth will be noticed by their co-workers, who will draw their own conclusions unless they are informed of the short-term need for support. For strategic success, communicate roles and responsibilities rigorously, and don’t forget to explain why it is important.
The third, and most complex challenge of Who is doing what? relates to our rapidly changing world. Every organization requires an agility that was not as necessary 20 years ago. Agility means quick change, and therefore agile organizations are constantly forming and disbanding teams. This is great for quick testing ideas, but it can be difficult for employees to know what is going on. Creating an agile organization is a great objective, so as you head down that path be sure to spend appropriate resources on communication systems to keep leadership and employees up to date on Who is doing what, otherwise the watercooler talk will be filled with erroneous rumours.
Thanks for joining us on the Critical Questions journey, and now that you know Who is doing what, hopefully you are well on your way to a new found clarity for your organization.
