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Boundaries, Secrets and Landmines

Entering an organisation is a tense and stressful time. There are hidden traps, obstacles and internal intricacies that need clarification to enable the new employee to handle the new environment and prosper there.

And no matter how much experience you have, every organisation has the ability to help guide you toward the landmines.If you’re reading this and an employee then you know all about it, being guided toward failure by a lack of institutional knowledge (the information about the way the business runs – AKA the business metadata). If you are a manager, you know all about this too. You’ve seen people under-perform, not meet your expectations, and come undone at the worst possible time.

As an employee you have to wonder why? Why you weren’t guided better, helped to avoid the issues. As a manager have you ever wondered why? Have you ever wondered why you have not helped people get things done, enabled them to succeed, provided the keys to the institutional knowledge locker that would assist employees to know the business in a short time?

So what can you do as an employee and as a manager?

1. The employee should be willing to ask for the boundaries of the role, spelled out in clear and obvious terms and not be afraid to ask for clarification. The more you know about the role you occupy, the more you about the role you play in the business. Ask questions, because if you don’t most of your managers will not give you answers. If they don’t give you answers understand that they may not know the answers. Of course they may simply not want to give you the answers either.
2. The manager should have a clear understanding of what he wants an employee to do, to achieve and to be responsible for. Ideally a little though on each role under the managers authority should be undertaken. Each role description should have some straightforward outcomes that the manager needs the person to meet, and managers should be willing to work on an informal document that outlines the pitfalls and minefields that exist within the organisation.

Summary

1. Good managers should do their utmost to aid, enable and empower their employees in their roles. Like any growing thing care and feeding are required to reach their full growth
2. Good employees should ask questions that aid them in defining their role, their boundaries and their area of operations within the organisation.

If you have found yourself in a similar situation how about sharing your experience?

Till next time, keep the good fight going.

Andrew

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