You probably read that title and did a double take. Am I right? Why would I recommend you review your job roles daily? Because it provides insights into which tasks you should focus on accomplishing for the greater good of your organization.
Your Role in the Organization
The last time you reviewed your job description was probably the day before you got hired. If you’re normal, your day-to-day duties barely match the description. Organizational charts don’t offer much help either.
Companies that run on the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS®) use The Accountability Chart™ instead of an org chart. The Accountability Chart does more than simply outline the structure of a company’s hierarchy. Instead, it illustrates the major business functions, the person sitting in each seat, and the roles each seat owns.
The bulleted lists in The Accountability Chart represent a distillation of each seat’s job description at a very high level. The bullets under each name tick off the most important roles of that seat.
How You Make a Difference
Why does all this matter? Part of it comes from understanding how your role makes a difference in your organization. Too many employees have little insight into how their jobs impact their company’s overall goals and priorities.
A Gallup Poll surveyed thousands of employees and found that one in three employees don’t understand their priorities. Worse, one in five didn’t even care.
Part of the problem stems from companies trying to mash too many objectives into each person’s role. As the old adage goes: When everything’s important, then nothing’s important.
As an employee, using the job roles captured in The Accountability Chart for your seat provides clarity. They should serve as your North Star when prioritizing your workload. Even better, you can trace how your efforts feed up through the business structure into leadership seats. Looking at the entire chart, you see how everyone’s roles fit together to make the business run smoothly.
The Meeting Pulse™ with Yourself
Call it a solo Meeting Pulse (don’t let anyone catch you talking to yourself) or a bit of a Clarity Break™. Taking a moment each day helps keep your priorities straight. You could even ask yourself a version of the five questions in the LMA™ manager practices.
Check in with yourself on whether you:
- Keep expectations clear
- Communicate well
- Have the right Meeting Pulse with others
- Hold Quarterly Conversations™ with your manager or direct reports
- Reward and recognize (yourself and others)
These moments of reflection will feed your “why” and how what you do matters. When reflecting on this, many people report feeling more engaged at work and taking greater pride in their efforts.
Preparing for Future Roles
Early in sessions with new clients, I teach them how to complete The Accountability Chart. When we cover this foundational tool, I highlight another of its unique functions: to offer a glimpse into the future. The Accountability Chart should show a company’s structure and how it supports its longer-term goals. It serves as a road map for where the company intends to go, not just how things stand today.
“There’s a saying that nature abhors a vacuum,” former EOS Worldwide Integrator™ Don Tinney said. “If there’s an empty space, something will rush in to fill it. Great leaders come together on a leadership team to create a compelling vision that provides opportunities or openings for people to step up and into.”
Establishing a daily ritual of reviewing your roles will help you better align your efforts with your company’s vision and give you an opportunity to make your own luck and fill the vacuum. It keeps your head focused on what should rise to the top of your task list each day. And this, in turn, can lead to greater job satisfaction and, ultimately, greater business profitability and ultimately bigger raises for you.
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