Understand Your Role & Everyone Else’s

Regardless of your title or position on the organization chart, one of the most important things you can do is to fully understand your role on your team, in your department, and in the overall company structure. If you follow college or professional sports, you often hear head coaches talk about the “roles” of their players. Whether they are superstars or bit players, everyone has a role to play during each game.

This philosophy is just as true in the business community. Whether you are a Senior Vice President or the newest file clerk, you have a specific role in company operations. Success is dependent on all the “players” understanding their role and performing their duties to the best of their ability.

Even if you are currently near the bottom of the organization chart pyramid, you have an important role to play. Should you not completely understand the expectations placed on you, it becomes difficult, if not impossible to play your role successfully. Imagine trying to play on a basketball team or playing a game of chess if you don’t know the rules. Even if you are a phenomenal athlete or the proud owner of a 145 IQ, you have little chance of succeeding.

The same result normally occurs at the workplace if staff doesn’t understand their role and their duties. If you’re unsure of your own role, ask your supervisor about every area of your confusion. Your manager will appreciate your concern and desire to perform better. You will feel more confident and self-assured by knowing your role and management’s expectations of performance.

Why You Should Understand the Roles of Others to Improve Your Career

If it’s already sometimes difficult to define your own specific role, why should you try to understand the roles of your co-workers? The answer depends on your professional goals and visions for the future of your career. Ask yourself some of these questions before answering the question above.

• Are you now in an industry that you’d like to continue your career for the foreseeable future?
• Are you currently working in the area you like (e.g., human resources, IT, finance, customer service) or does another department attract you more?
• Are you planning on a career in management or are you content to be a valuable team member?
• Are you considering furthering your formal education or enrolling in job-specific courses?
• Do you consider your current employer as a long-term career home or are you considering contacting a top employment firm, like Kelly Services, to seek a new professional challenge?

There are no universally correct or incorrect answers. There are, however, honest answers that are right for you. How does this exercise relate to learning the job duties and roles of co-workers?

Knowledge is power! Regardless of your specific role on your work team, the success or failure of your group is dependent on its total performance as a collection of talent. By understanding the roles of your team members, your workplace value increases – sometimes dramatically.

Put yourself in your manager’s position for a moment. You’re responsible for an important project on which your team is working furiously. You lose a team member to illness, vacation, or resignation in the middle of your project. Just as you contemplate taking the back stairs to the roof so you can jump off it, one of your team members saves your management career by performing the departed teammate’s job as well as their own.

Do you see the value in knowing your co-worker’s duties and roles now? Your career is not only safe, but may take a rather dramatic jump forward. Understanding the roles of your teammates helps you become a more productive team member and gives you the opportunity to shine when your knowledge is needed.

You’ll enjoy another benefit should you get the opportunity to supervise your team in the future. Since you already know the roles of all team members, you’ll start your management career without any necessity to learn all the basic components of the team. Instead of merely being an expert with your role and duties, you can start effectively managing from day one in your new role. You will no doubt impress the next level of management, who will be watching your actions and results closely.

Additionally, you will get a better perspective on both the general team dynamic, so important to successful management and operations, and additional expertise on duties and responsibilities of different job areas. Finally, you’ll learn more about your own job and its role in the larger picture. In all cases, you become a more valuable employee to yourself, your team, and your company.