{"id":4126,"date":"2010-04-27T13:53:16","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T20:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=4126"},"modified":"2010-04-27T13:53:16","modified_gmt":"2010-04-27T20:53:16","slug":"what%e2%80%99s-my-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=4126","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s my role?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>So, now you have your dream job.\u00a0 What next?<\/p>\n

The expectations of your job go well beyond your title or job description.\u00a0 Your title may be the operations manager, the program manager, the engineering manager, etc.\u00a0 But, what does it really mean?\u00a0 What are you expected to do in order to be successful in your new role?<\/p>\n

Understanding your role and responsibilities can sometimes be straightforward \u2013 but often not.\u00a0 A job description is a good place to start. But to a large extent, you need to be able to create<\/em> your role.<\/p>\n

The analogy I would like to draw here is to a standard lego kit.\u00a0 My kids love lego, and over the years they mastered how to build to the letter of the instructions.\u00a0 However, their best creations came out from being able to evolve their creations and try out new ideas.\u00a0 So, it is with your role.\u00a0 You have an instruction set to start with \u2013 your job description.\u00a0 If you meet the letter of that description, it is a start.\u00a0 To succeed, to have bigger impact and (also some fun), you need to be able to really tune into the evolving needs of the business and adapt your role<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, how do you go about figuring out what you need to do?<\/p>\n

Here are some guidelines that have worked for me that I am putting to use in my new role:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Regularly check in with your manager as to whether the things you are doing are in line with what he expects.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You were brought in to fulfill certain responsibilities \u2013 so, make sure they are being met.\u00a0 A check in at least once a week is critical to making sure needs are aligned.<\/li>\n
  2. Talk to customers\/clients to understand their expectations. \u00a0Some of the expectations will likely be different from the needs of your immediate manager.\u00a0 You may have special skills that could help in certain areas and this would be an opportunity to expand your role and offer more business value.\u00a0<\/li>\n
  3. Talk to peer groups and understand how they interface with your team and what their expectations are.\u00a0 They are a source of valuable information and will provide you with ideas on how you can partner more effectively.<\/li>\n
  4. Talk to people who have held your job prior to you or who are holding similar jobs.\u00a0 Understand their views of how to succeed in this role.\u00a0 What are the unwritten rules of the game and what should you do and not do to maximize your impact.<\/li>\n
  5. Talk to trusted leaders who interface with your team \u2013 especially those who have had some history of working with your team.\u00a0 What is their view of how the team has done, and how this role was performed in the past?\u00a0 What should you continue doing, or do differently?\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Certainly all these conversations should happen on a regular and ongoing basis \u2013 and with ongoing dialogue with your immediate manager.\u00a0 What you will learn is that the needs will change over time.\u00a0\u00a0 This is your dynamic job description.\u00a0 Having an open and flexible outlook and being able to adapt to changing business needs will make a vast difference.\u00a0 By reaching out and having these conversations, you allow yourself to be influenced and look for opportunities to continually add more business value.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    So, what is your role?\u00a0 It is really what you<\/em> make of it.\u00a0 Start with your job description, be flexible, be open and build from there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    So, now you have your dream job.\u00a0 What next? The expectations of your job go well beyond your title or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1494,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}