Roles and Responsibilities

Complaints about confusing roles and responsibilities in corporate environments are typically one type of clear indicators on the ineffectiveness of an organization or the disarray of its management. It always comes from more roles but fewer responsibilities for individuals, and not the other way around. They are usually late indicators as well.

Space triggers creativity. Mental space, a period of mental emptiness, rest and meditation, clarifies the mind and enhances the subconscious awareness. Personal physical space elevates the sense of freedom, independence and individuality. Temporal space changes perspectives. In life and work, we gain more from space and certain lacking than the total fills and crowdedness. Less is more.

The same principle works for corporate management. The Rule of Thumb for an effective management on roles and responsibilities should always be “Fewer roles, more responsibilities”. More than ever, we live in a world of sweeping changes triggered by technology innovations. The pace of competitions and changes today is demanding more flexibilities and responsiveness for organizations and people. Downsizing, reorganizations and re-training of people are all reactive afterthoughts. They are more costly and less effective. A smartly managed organization will see the natural migration of talents following forward-looking and ever-changing business needs. To achieve the best flexibility and market-driven growth, along with innovations and creativities to stay ahead of the game, an organization needs to consciously leave space to allow the natural flow and adaptation of its people inside. It’s human nature to stretch and explore. With space, talents will define their own roles in new challenges, grow into new skills and carry on needed responsibilities to their best abilities. We rarely hear people become unhappy when they are given more responsibilities of their liking.

Nowadays “Revenue per Employee” is likely a useful number to measure the effectiveness of an organization, small or large. All people inside a corporation need to be reminded that true leaders can lead everywhere and need not be a manager. The roles of the leaders and the success of each individual’s career are measured by their impacts to the business, not by the number of layers they can build or the number of reports they can accumulate. The file-and-rank system is a thing of the past in today’s business environment.

For individuals, leave some space in life with no fear, and let the universe magically fill it with wonders.