Role clarity

In a world where people support each other and share the workload, role clarity could look a little old fashioned and even a barrier to teamwork. But good fences make good neighbours, and role clarity and its interdependencies are actually at the heart of team success.

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Punchy, actionable insights and tips to make the life of the team leader a breeze.

[00:00:00] Pia: In a world where people support each other and share the workload, role clarity could look a little old fashioned and even a barrier to teamwork. But good fences make good neighbors, and role clarity and its interdependencies are actually at the heart of team success. I'm Pia.

[00:00:19] Dan: And I'm Dan, and this is Squadify Connects. Team leaders join their team often with a clear idea of their expectations that have been given to them via job Descript or a brief, but then they discover it's a different experience when they start actually working together with their teammates.

[00:00:35] Roles aren't really fixed either. You know, external, internal changes and pressures can create subtle or not so subtle shifts in what is required from each, uh, member of the team, and without clarity or understanding of the role, it can cause friction. Inefficiency or gaps in delivery. So it's important for team members to see where their interdependencies lie and where they need help, collaboration or extra communication to enable them to achieve the overall team goal.

[00:01:03] Pia: A good way to do this is to use a team meeting for each member to talk about what they're actually trying to achieve, the challenges, including deadlines and workload, the opportunities and what support they may need. This will lead to natural collaborations. The team works together on how they can flex their roles to achieve the overall outcome, and doing this as a regular update, maybe quarterly with your Squadify, keeps the conversation live and helps to iron out the challenges.

[00:01:32] Dan: Now if you have an Excel wizard in your team, you might like to make this a visual and quantifiable task. So this would allow you to see what the team is focusing on as a percentage, and you can actually show that as little pie charts. This enables you to get a full team view of how the Team rolls overlap. We've attached a link to one. We've prepared just to show you how it's done. We hope that's helpful.

[00:01:53] Pia: Yes, cause we have an Excel wizard on the Connects. So set some time to have a roles conversation in the team and rather than you as the leader trying to sort it all out on your own, see it as an opportunity to facilitate the team, to work it out together and build their relations and dynamics together to achieve the team goals.

[00:02:13] Dan: You can do this either by looking at what each person is focused on and look for opportunities and challenges, areas of support, or if you're spreadsheet motivated, try out that Squadify roles review to create a high level of transparency, and then review it with each of your Squadifys.

[00:02:31] Pia: So that completes our miniseries on aligning your team. Clarity is more important than ever to set your team up for success, and we hope that each step in building your clarity on a page will support you and your team to shoot for the stars. Next week we're diving into climate and looking at how to set up psychological safety so that everyone is able to contribute their best selves. See you next week.