ROLE & GOAL CLARITY

Role clarity is the condition where members of a team have a perfectly clear understanding of everyone's role expectations of them.

A character or part played by a performer.

The characteristic and expected social behavior of an individual.

A function or position.

When this condition does not prevail, role ambiguity exists: team members are not sure what they

should be doing team members are not sure about what

others in the team think they should be doing

team members are not sure about what they think others should be doing

Roles are not clearly defined

Lead to conflict & confusion on tasks Team members may not understand

what exactly is expected of each of them.

Some team members may land up shouldering a bigger share of the work and find themselves overstretched and stressed out.

Conversely, some may take on too small a share as a result of poor understanding of the role and therefore feel underutilized or demotivated.

This lack of awareness can also mean that not all goals are reached as there are parts of the teams responsibilities that aren't getting done.

Findings

'Individuals who reported higher role clarity also reported higher role effectiveness and performed better than those with lower role clarity‘

- Steven Bray, University of Lethbridge and Lawrence Brawley, University of Waterloo conducted a study to examine role clarity as a moderator of the role efficacy / role performance relationship

The responsibility to ensure the understanding of roles and create an effective team structure rests squarely with the team leader. When the team performance is below par due to a poor understanding of roles, it points back to ineffective team leadership.

Leadership

Activities to help role clarity Take a sheet of flip chart paper and draw a circle

in the centre to represent your role as a manager. Draw round it smaller circles to represent 'significant others' in your role set i.e. all the people who you feel will have expectations of your role and/or of whom you have expectations. Show the importance of a particular link by the distance of the circle from the centre.

Discuss this 'map' with a colleague. Check that you have included all significant role relationships.

When you are satisfied that you have included all the vital role relationships, make a chart with four tables: Role, Their expectations of me, My expectations and demands of them Possible sources of co- operation and conflict.

For each member of your role set, complete the

chart as far as you are able at this stage.

Discuss your chart with a colleague How will you obtain the information you

need to clarify others' expectations of you and to check and to check whether your expectations of them are accurate and realistic?

How will you ensure that possible areas of cooperation become a reality?

How will you ensure that possible areas of conflict can be removed, reduced or coped with?

Ways of using charts

These charts can be used in different ways, depending

on the situation and the levels of trust and cooperation

that exist. They can be completed by each member of the

team and then shared with members of the role set to see how far members agree or differ in their perceptions. Individuals can give feedback to each other in order to identify areas of ambiguity and possible conflict. This requires a high level of trust and cooperation.

Alternatively they can be discussed individually with a colleague, consultant or mentor who is not part of the role set.

GOAL

The purpose toward which an endeavor is directed; an objective.

Whether we like it or not, goal setting is an integral and important aspect of all our lives. For some of us, this is a conscious process, however for many others it is an unconscious act that has very little direction or purpose. Some people may even be surprised to learn that they are actually setting goals on a daily basis.

If you reflect back on your day, you will realize that you are actually setting and achieving an immeasurable amount of goals as you progress throughout your day. Some are relatively small and seemingly insignificant such as deciding what you will eat for lunch, while others are more important and relevant to your future endeavors.

BENEFITS

Goal Setting Encourages

Personal Growth Responsibility Achievement Orientation Better Decision Making Prioritization of Activities Control of the Changes in Your Life Development of Skills and Talents Sense of Purpose and Direction

Goal Setting Decreases

The process of goal setting naturally decreases the habits of laziness & procrastination.

These two behaviors go hand-in-hand in sabotaging many promising creative ideas, wishes and dreams. Goal setting will provide you with a renewed energy and a sense of direction which promotes and motivates action and quick decision making.

RULES

Essential Rules of Goal Setting

Positively Written Having Personal Benefit Preserves Current Life Benefits Desirable Challenging In Everyone’s Best Interests

Setting S.M.A.R.T. F.O.R. M.E. Goals

Specific Measurable Attainable Timed Focused Optimistic Ready Meaningful Exciting

Motivation to Achieve Your Goals

Self-Sabotaging Goal Setting Forces