3 Stages to Onboard Successfully: Clarify Your Role and Responsibilities
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Introduction
“A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.”- Brian Tracy
I introduced you to the Eastan Onboarding Framework (EOF) in 3 Stages to Onboard Successfully with the goal of providing a framework to assist individuals in onboarding to a new role or function. This article series will provide additional detail on each stage, starting with this article, where we do a deep dive into the first stage of the EOF: Clarify Your Role and Responsibilities.
Clarifying your role and responsibilities is the most important thing to accomplish during onboarding and will make all the difference in your success. An unclear role definition is analogous to getting on stage in the middle of a play and not knowing what role to play (“Am I Romeo or Juliet?”) or getting on the field in the middle of a baseball game and not knowing what position to play (“Am I the pitcher or the shortstop?”). Clarity matters.
But this is not just a question of clarifying for your own understanding. It is also for the benefit of your direct manager and key stakeholders. Communications become a lot easier and friction is kept to a minimum as everyone has clarity on your role and responsibilities.
I deliberately chose the word “clarify” as oftentimes your role may be “defined” yet different stakeholders have different expectations, which can cause undue stress and inhibit your ability to perform. According to a survey by ComPsych, a leading provider of employee assistance programs, respondents cited unclear expectations as their primary source of stress when changing their workplace.
To get started on clarifying your role and responsibilities, I recommend taking the following steps:
- Survey key stakeholders
- Develop your scorecard
- Finalize role definition
- Communicate and calibrate
Let’s discuss each of these steps in more detail:
1. Survey Key Stakeholders
Ideally on your first day in your new role, you will be presented with a welcome packet, which will include your benefits package and a job description clearly detailing your role and responsibilities. You can then review and confirm it with your direct manager and you’re all set.
Now, if you’re a part of the 90% where that is NOT the case, the responsibility falls on you to gain clarity on your role and responsibilities, and to align them with the expectations of your manager and key stakeholders.
So, let’s begin. Survey team members asked the following questions:
1. Who are your stakeholders?
Identify and list your most important stakeholders. By stakeholders, I am referring to the set of individuals who directly or indirectly impact your ability to get your job done?
When identifying stakeholders, capture the following information: Name, Role, Department, Role Impact, and Desired Meeting Frequency (i.e., how often would they like to meet).
Then, organize your stakeholders into two groups:
- Direct stakeholders: Stakeholders with whom you regularly interface and engage. Often, direct stakeholders will provide feedback and influence on your performance review, which directly impacts your career in the organization along with any associated rewards.
- Indirect stakeholders: Stakeholders with whom you interface and engage with on occasion.
This should help you clarify the priority in which you should disseminate information.
Utilize the 1_1_StakeholderMap tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for capturing stakeholder feedback.
2. What are their expectations?
Capture what your manager and key stakeholders expect of you. It is extremely important to know and understand what is expected of you in your role including behaviors. It is also important to capture why these expectations are important. Break down the “why” in as much detail as possible to minimize confusion and maximize clarity.
Utilize the 1_2_StakeholderAlignment tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for capturing stakeholder feedback.
3. What is your role? What’s the purpose of your role?
Everyone needs to understand the importance of your role and how it impacts their organization. When your manager and your key stakeholders talk about your role, focus on how they talk of your role in fulfilling or meeting those expectations. Ideally, categorize the roles as core vs. non-core that you will focus on during the next six months. Core roles are usually the 20% of a role that contribute to 80% of its success.
Note: Do not capture too many roles (ideally three to five) or confuse a task definition (e.g., cutting carrots) with a role definition (e.g., chef).
Utilize the 1_3_RoleReview tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for capturing stakeholder feedback.
4. What is the objective of your business group? How is the business group’s success measured?
While this may seem completely outside of your role, as you seek clarity, it is especially important to understand the objectives of your business group and function to better understand how your role can support these objectives. If your group’s objective is to employ digital solutions to improve efficiencies, what is your role in supporting this objective?
You can utilize the 1_3_RoleReview tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for capturing business group objective detail.
5. Why did they hire you for the role? What experiences, successes, and/or skills do you bring to the table and stand out?
Find out why (i.e., skills, experience, relationships) you were hired. It always helps to gain clarity on why you were hired for a role. This is not to stroke your ego but to remind everyone of the particular strengths and skills that you bring to the table. It is human nature to focus on the negatives rather than the positives.
Utilize the 1_3_RoleReview tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for capturing this feedback.
6. For the defined role, what are the expected responsibilities?
Define the primary and secondary responsibilities the role is expected to complete. These responsibilities should be definitive enough to clarify expected outputs and success criteria that can be measured. We will later capture this in your scorecard to evaluate your performance.
Utilize the 1_3_RoleReview tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for capturing expected responsibilities feedback.
7. What resources (e.g. data, solutions, collaborations) are required and critical to your role’s success?
As you talk to team members, you will receive a lot of information particularly on resources you will need to use and/or reference. Be sure to capture the resources you will need in your new role to optimize your efficiency and maximize your effectiveness. As you compile this information, qualify your resource requirements as:
- “Must-have” — information that’s critical; the job cannot be done without it.
- “Nice-to-have” — information is not as critical; the job can still be done either way.
Utilize the 1_4_Resources tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for capturing and organizing resource requirements.
8. How will your role be measured? What does success look like?
It is critical to capture how your role performance will be evaluated up front. This is particularly helpful for you to have this insight not only for your day-to-day operations but also for your performance review time. Minimize surprises!
Utilize the 1_3_RoleReview tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for role measurement detail.
9. What did your predecessor do well? Not as well?
If you are replacing or backfilling a role, it is good to understand what your predecessor did well and what they could have improved upon. The goal is not to get anyone in trouble. Use this also as a time to identify the activities/deliverables that worked well and not so well. Identify what you should continue ( C), stop (S), and initiate (I) doing.
Utilize the 1_3_RoleReview tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for capturing feedback on your predecessor.
2. Develop Your Personal Scorecard
Next, develop your personal scorecard. A personal scorecard is your report card to evaluate your efforts objectively while also helping you maintain a critical focus on your top priorities.
To complete your personal scorecard, follow these steps:
- Appraise: Evaluate the corporate vision, mission, strategy, and business objectives. Next, evaluate your group’s strategy in support of the corporate strategy and objectives.
- Cascade: For each responsibility identified in your role definition, detail out the objectives of your role and how they are aligned with your group or corporate objectives.
For example, if you are in the marketing field, and your company’s objective is to increase digital solution sales, explain how your role is aligned to this objective (e.g., “to support my company’s objectives of increasing digital solution sales, in my marketing role, I will look to increase awareness and interest of my company’s digital offering to external customers”).
Utilize the 1_5_ScorecardWorksheet tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for capturing your business objectives.
The cause-and-effect linkages between corporate strategic goals and your role’s objectives are clarified to articulate how your role supports your group and corporate objectives and to further demonstrate your impact.
3. Establish Performance Measures: For each objective, drill down and define the specific measures to be used to evaluate each objective. Using the prior example, detail out how you can gauge awareness (e.g., clicks, “likes,” mentions) and interest (e.g., requests for more information, sales calls).
Utilize the 1_5_ScorecardWorksheet tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for capturing your performance measures.
4. Set Metric/Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Detail the performance criteria for each performance metric/KPI. The goal is to be as specific as possible where it can be measured but not too specific where management becomes a nightmare. When defining metrics and KPIs on your scorecard, it is highly recommended that you use SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound) goals.
For each metric and/or KPI, specify your unit of measure, current value, target, and frequency (e.g. 30 clicks per week). And, as a base to gauge your progress, include benchmarking and baseline data.
Utilize the 1_5_ScorecardWorksheet tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template for capturing scorecard detail.
5. Collect: Capture and organize each metric/KPI in your scorecard according to your objectives. This will enable you to identify the key items that influence and demonstrate your role’s impact.
6. Evaluate: Assess the completed scorecard by answering these questions: Can my role’s impact be measured? Am I measuring the right thing? Did our organization improve? Do my actions have a measurable impact? Your goal is to ensure that you are measuring the right stuff.
Utilize the 1_6_ScorecardFinal tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template to finalize and report your scorecard details.
7. Share: As part of your regular report out to your manager and key stakeholder, regularly share your updated scorecard calling out any critical points and/or key trends highlighting your efforts.
3. Finalize Role Definition
In Step 3, compile everyone’s responses on your role and responsibilities (from Step 1) and finalize the definition of your roles and responsibilities. As you compile everyone’s feedback, revisit their expectations, and prioritize your roles and responsibilities. You achieve your full potential when your manager and your key stakeholders are aligned.
Utilize the 1_7_RoleFinal tab in the EOF_Worksheet as a template to finalize and report your role definition. (Note: You should categorize roles (from Step 1) into primary and secondary roles based on their priority)
Once you have everything compiled, review it with your manager and key stakeholders for feedback and alignment. Additionally, in these discussions, aim to agree on your focus areas for the next six months. Six months will provide you a sizable window that allows you time to ensure you are up to speed in your new role and accomplish some “wins”.
Finally, prioritize two to five roles and responsibilities to ensure you are not overwhelmed. Be sure to share the final version.
4. Communicate and Calibrate
After you have defined your role and responsibilities and your scorecard, it is now time to share it with your key stakeholders. Set up meetings with each key stakeholder to review your role and responsibilities, and your scorecard seeking alignment.
When you meet, reiterate your objective to clarify your role and responsibilities, scorecard, and priorities, and highlighting how this aligns with your key stakeholder’s expectations. Additionally, be sure to minimize any surprises by calling out any responsibilities and expectations previously raised that will not be met. You’ll need to give individuals the opportunity to ask questions and understand.
Lastly, update your role definition incorporating the feedback you’ve received, finalize it, and distribute it, as appropriate.
Now you must start to execute and make the definition a practical reality.
After Dinner Mints
As we close out our main course, it is customary to provide you with a few after-dinner mints — the following reading recommendations to help inspire you and drive your thoughts and actions:
● The Importance of Defining Roles and Responsibilities: A very concise read that summarizes the importance of defining your role.
● Becoming Supernatural: A vastly different read that is not meant to distract you but to inspire you. This book makes you think about yourself and your new role, and questions how you can turn the common into the extraordinary. This really helps identify critical resources and approaches that the reader may need, along with the realization that you already have all necessary abilities required.
● The Alchemist: A friend strongly recommended this book to me a while back and it has turned out to be a great lifelong companion piece that I will find myself resorting to from time to time. The essence of the book is to listen to your heart, trust in yourself and your abilities, pursue your dreams, and the universe will align and assist you.
● Oh, the Places You Will Go! You are never too old for the wisdom of Dr. Seuss! I received this book as a high school graduation gift and, whenever I am unsure on next steps, I find myself rereading the book to re-ground myself.
Conclusion
The Eastan Onboarding Framework (EOF) seeks to address the challenges of onboarding to a new role or function. In this article, we focused on the first stage of Clarifying Your Role and Responsibilities for one simple reason: In addition to being the first step, this stage is also the most important. Clarity on both your role and your responsibilities will be the primary driver of success in your new role by properly identifying your key stakeholder’s expectations up front.
To gain clarity, use the following four-step process:
- Clarify your role and responsibilities
- Develop your scorecard with individual metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Finalize your role definition
- Communicate and calibrate with your manager and key stakeholder(s)
As a reminder, be sure to utilize the EOF Worksheet. The goal of the worksheet is to provide you with a template to jump start your efforts and assist you as you complete the recommended actions in each of the sections. Please save the template and edit as you see fit. If you have any further questions, or would like a free initial consultation, please contact Ron at: Ron@EastanConsulting.com
Again, do not skip this stage! Your effectiveness in prioritizing and completing this one stage will significantly streamline your efforts, increase your effectiveness, and maximize your onboarding experience.
About the author
Ronald (Ron) Berry is an international executive with extensive global experience and success in the B2B and B2C digital transformation space in a variety of industries and for multiple companies.
