Role Clarity
We have a pretty unique place out here on Long Island, called The Barn. It’s a small structure that actually looks like a barn (hence the name) that you can drive your car up to and order things like chips, water, ice, coffee, egg sandwiches, and so on.
There used to be one on what felt like every corner, but now, it seems they’ve become pretty rare. Anyway, there’s one in my town, actually at the end of my block, so I go there often.
The Barn has two sides, so when you pull in, you can choose to go to the right or to the left. Sometimes, when it’s not that busy, there’s only one person inside, so if the car on the other side pulls up first, you wait. If you pull up first, the car on the other side has to wait.
Sometimes, however, when it’s very busy, there are multiple people inside. And herein lies the issue. Often, a person on the inside doesn’t know if someone else has already taken your order and has since left the structure to get you ice (the freezers are behind the building). Sometimes, they don’t know if your order is in process.
This, of course, isn’t a huge deal. I’m sure many of you have experienced being at a bar, placing an order with one bartender, only to have another ask if you need something.
The fix here is simple.
“She already took my order. But thanks so much.”
That bartender then moves on to someone else and all is well with the world.
That same thing should happen at The Barn. But recently, people on the inside, after telling them that I’m already being taken care of, have attempted to “help” by inserting themselves.
It sounds like this.
“I’m good, man. He’s already helping me.”
“Well, what are you getting? I can grab the rest of it.”
“Okay, three gallons of water. Two twenty-pound bags of ice. Two boxes of mini-bites…”
Now, that person runs around grabbing some of this stuff. But without me (or him) knowing what the other guy has already grabbed, they invariably wind up doing double the work. Or, miscommunication ensues as a person at the register is calling to both me and the people grabbing my order so they can ring everything up. With three people barking at you, it’d be pretty hard to be accurate.
This extra support seems helpful and it seems like it saves time. It also likely makes the people inside feel useful when it’s not that busy. But is it efficient? Is it clear? Is it actually helpful?
I’ve told the story, more times than I can count, of the school leader, who, upon entering a teacher’s classroom, was told there was a light out. The teacher asked if the leader could find a new lightbulb. I trailed the leader as he asked about ten different people if they knew where the lightbulbs were. When someone said, “Ms. Smith would” he told them, and others afterward, “Please tell Ms. Smith I’m looking for her.”
This leader was trying to be helpful, but instead, inserted himself into something he had no business being involved in. He pulled nearly a dozen other people into it as well. And Ms. Smith, upon hearing from multiple people that the boss was looking for her, was likely very stressed out.
If these examples seem extreme, I assure you, they’re not. How many things at your job are being done by way too many people? How many things are running poorly, not because of the system, but because the people running the system are unclear as to what their part is? Or, they are clear but are doing other peoples’ parts just because?
A bunch of people bumping into each other in the cramped space inside The Barn isn’t really a big deal. A bunch of people bumping into each other (literally or figuratively) inside your place of work likely is.
Establish role-clarity and then hold people to it.
