This is an old but useful exercise that can be used to clarify each person’s responsibilities in working towards achieving the team’s goals. You can gather people together and go through the following steps.
Step One – Clarifying The
Team’s Picture Of Success
Start by clarifying the team’s picture of success. You can put this on a flip chart and produce something like the following. You can, of course, follow your own framework for clarifying the team’s goals.
Step Two – Clarifying Each Person’s
Responsibilities In Working Towards
Achieving The Team’s Picture Of Success
Imagine that the team is clear on its picture of success. You can then put up individual flip charts with each person’s name at the top and also give each person lots of Post-it Notes.
You can then invite people to spend some time writing on individual Post-it Notes. Bearing in mind their strengths, they are to describe what they see as their responsibilities in working towards achieving the picture of success.
Each person may already have a specific job title. But it is actually important for them to also focus on their strengths and what they see as their responsibilities. This can also form for the basis for a later discussion.
Imagine that you have given people time to write their Post-It Notes. They can then go up in turn to the flip chart that has their name on the top and put their Post-its under their name. It is good if they can explain each Post-it as they put it on the flip chart.
The following pages show how this exercise might look if there are five people in the team. You can also add each person’s job title if you wish but, again, it is important for the person to bear in mind their strengths and their best contribution.
Later, after everybody has put up their Post-it Notes, there will be a chance for others to offer ideas about what may be a person’s best contribution. Here is one way the exercise can look.
Imagine that each person has described what they see as their responsibilities in working towards achieving the team’s picture of success.
You can set aside time to give other the team members chance to share suggestions regarding each person’s possible contribution. Bearing in mind a particular team member’s strengths, they my share:
The specific things a person may wish to consider adding to their contribution;
The specific things a person may wish to consider delegating to other people in the team.
Let’s assume the team has completed this part of the exercise. They can then move on to the final part.
Step Three – Clear Contracting About Each
Person’s Responsibilities In Working Towards
Achieving The Team’s Picture Of Success
Imagine that there is agreement on each person’s responsibilities in working towards achieving the goals. It can then be useful to make clear working contracts to ensure everybody has the same picture.
If appropriate, you can take away the flip charts – or other format that has been used – and write up what has been agreed. This can then be circulated to everybody in the team.
Times change, of course, and things can evolve. So it can be important to keep revisiting and revising these agreed responsibilities. If appropriate, however, you can produce something like the following framework.
As mentioned earlier, this is an old exercise but it can be useful for clarifying people’s responsibilities. They can then keep do their best to achieve the team’s picture of success.
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