SESSION ELEVEN: CLEAR ROLES AND ASSIGNMENTS
It’s pretty easy to go after the things that we need to do if we know what’s expected of us. If you are a leader at work or at home, how would you rate yourself at being clear in your role and explaining expectations to others?
In this session, you’ll consider clarity and how you can apply clear expectations in what you do.
Characteristic Eight
Let’s continue discussing the 12 characteristics of effective teams. Remember that the first seven characteristics were:
- Clear purpose
- Informality
- Participation
- Listening
- Civilized disagreements
- Consensus decisions
- Open communication
The next characteristic is clear roles and assignments. This is facilitated by making sure that each team member understands what they are to do, and how what they do fits into the bigger picture. Work is distributed fairly throughout the team, and action plans are completed.
The Leader’s Expectation Checklist can help us make sure we’re doing what needs to be done to lead our team to success.
Leader’s Expectation Checklist
| Area | Explanation | Rating (1-10) |
| Work Methods | Understanding our leader’s expectations regarding required work methods and procedures when completing jobs or projects. | |
| Time Frames | Understanding due dates for the completion of projects; determining when dates have slipped and which completion dates are final and non-negotiable. | |
| Work Responsibilities | Understanding each team member’s role when we are assigned to a given job or responsibility. | |
| Customer/Supplier Interface | Understanding our leader’s expectations when dealing with supplier problems or customer complaints or requests; understanding how far we should go to build effective relationships with other work groups. | |
| Work Priorities | Understanding which jobs take priority and the changes in work priorities; being able to clearly differentiate between hot jobs and other jobs. | |
| Performance Expectations | Understanding what our leader expects in the way of desired outcomes, what it means to do a good job, and the degree of effort we are expected to put into a job (as opposed to overworking low-priority jobs). | |
| Resources | Understanding what resources (facilities, support staff, equipment, software, and budget) have been allocated to perform a job and how much control we have over resource decisions. |