How to Align Roles and Responsibilities of Employees

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Business operations change with the dynamic business environment. As a result, job roles and responsibilities are subject to constant adjustments in order to accommodate the new demands. Businesses often handle the changing needs in an adhoc manner.

When a new initiative requires specific expertise from an area, the manager assigns someone to take on the project work. When a new service is launched, additional tasks become part of the normal workload. When someone leaves the department, that person’s work could end up being distribution amongst team members. These changes are inevitable. Over time, these maneuvers have a negative effect on the employees and the business.

The undesirable effects include work overload, employee burnout, confusion, and poor morale. To minimize these effects, businesses need to do the following assessment.

  1. Revisit team mandate. While the mandate might not change much at a high level, it is worthwhile to revisit and validate it. Discussions with teams that work closely together would reveal hidden assumptions others might have made. It is also helpful to get alignment on changes and new approaches that haven’t been shared.
  2. Capture current roles and responsibilities. This is an important step to gather the current state of operations from the job role perspective. Have individuals list their primary and secondary responsibilities, as well as the proportion of time taken up by the work identified. The information enables a comparison of the status quo with the intended job scope. The comparison leads to a verification of priorities that could lead to appropriate adjustments.
  3. Identify potential reallocation and delegation. Employees are in the best position to identify tasks that don’t belong and suitable homes for them. Their day-to-day exposure to the work gives them first-hand knowledge of what would work best for the business and the customers. Keeping an objective mindset would be good to filter the information gathered.
  4. Identify potential addition. This might be a question that would receive the least input. After all, who would want to volunteer to take on more work? However, you could be surprised. Progressive employees would show initiative and ideas for improvement. For the business, it is an excellent way to note the rising stars.
  5. Get input on desired personal growth. Great companies keep employee satisfaction top of mind. People value growth opportunities. Happy employees are engaged and they are loyal because there are opportunities for continuous development. Spend the time to have a conversation about desired growth, the individual’s need from management to succeed, and perceived roadblocks.Happy employees are engaged and they are loyal because there are opportunities for continuous development. Share on X

With the information gathered, gaps and misfits become transparent. By taking a holistic approach to assess roles and responsibilities, duplications, overlaps, and conflicting responsibilities would be eliminated. Business improves productivity. Employee morale improves as a result of the acknowledgement of their workload and potential adjustments. It is a win-win for the business and the employees.

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