Know who is responsible for what in your organization
“Well, if I find out that you’re accusing me of doing something I didn’t do, then I’m going to accuse you of making false accusations.” – Schitt’s Creek
One of the issues I often hear about when I work with clients is a lack of clarity on who is responsible for what. This can result in team members being frustrated at each other because, in their mind, the other person keeps interfering with their responsibilities... or conversely things get missed because everyone thought it was someone else’s responsibility.
In the military, geographic areas are clearly spelled out so who is responsible for what is clearly spelled out…if it happens in this area it is my responsibility if it happens in another area it belongs to someone else…
As a leader you need to establish that clarity for your people, and there are multiple tools out there to do that…there is the Accountability Chart, which you can find in the book Traction by Gino Wickman, or Functional Accountability Chart from Verne Harnish…and I am sure there are others.
If you find multiple people working on the same thing….or things falling through the cracks, look at how you have established responsibilities within your team. If it is a lack of operational boundaries and then those problems may simply be a symptom…and you need to provide that clarity for your team.
Create clarity in your organization around these areas and watch many of these issues disappear!