5.3 Assign roles, detailing responsibilities and personal work objectives with team members

Course: NVQ Level 5 Diploma In Leadership & Management for Adult Care (RQF)

Unit 1: Leadership & Management in Adult Care

LO5: Manage team working

5.3 Assign roles, detailing responsibilities and personal work objectives with team members

As a leader, it is important to be able to express and detail the job expectations for each team member. Setting goals, managing performance, giving feedback on personal work objectives are some of the responsibilities of a leader.

Assigning roles to every team member, paired with detailing responsibilities paired with each role ensures that everybody is working towards the same end goal while also communicating the level of autonomy with which each member will be allowed in achieving that end goal. Clarifying the expectations for each team member, allows everybody to work more efficiently and productively.

As an effective team manager, you will take the time to get to know your employees on a personal level. This includes learning what motivates them in their work and how best can help them achieve goals that are important both professionally as well outside of business hours. Effective managers put forth effort into understanding each individual’s strengths so they may be properly utilized while also taking note if one employee needs more motivation than others based on certain situations like when there is less staff available or deadlines need to get met quickly with little margin for error involved.

Those who are not assigned their first choice of the role

If a new employee is not assigned his first choice of role, it may be beneficial to ask the employee why they picked their initial role as opposed to offering an explanation as to why they were not given what they asked for. In some cases, the new hire may have misunderstood or miscommunicated what type of work would be involved with certain positions. In other cases, the new hire may have been applying to a different type of company than you are.

In some cases, however, where employees have been with the same employer for a while, it would be advisable not to allow them to continue in a role that is dead-end or a position that was involved in a termination decision. This is due to the fact that it would be very difficult to convince them otherwise. It is in both parties’ best interests for everybody in a company to have realistic expectations of what type of work they are expected to perform and how much will be expected of them when it comes to achieving personal goals.

Those who might disengage from the process or demonstrate complacency

While employees may not always be motivated or simply lack the initiative to initiate job performance discussions on their own, it would be advisable as a leader and team manager to not wait for an employee’s first annual review before initiating such a discussion.

It is important as a good leader and effective manager to keep track of individual performance and set up early conversations with employees to discuss their strengths, weaknesses, and how they can be better utilized.

An effective leader knows that the best way to retain their employees is by giving them autonomy. While there may be some specific deadlines or standards that need to be met, by allowing your employees to believe their job is valuable and would not be done without them, you will increase their engagement within the company as well as with particular tasks at hand.

Effective managers give their employees a sense of ownership and let them know that they are responsible for certain tasks. Furthermore, the manager should always strive to be supportive rather than critical. While there is constructive feedback that needs to happen on occasion, it is important that employees feel as though you have a vested interest in their success. If a leader does not care about the people they are leading, then they will never know if their team is truly happy or satisfied with their current roles and position within a company.

Ultimately, it is important that you communicate to your employees that you value them as people. If an employee feels valued, then they will most likely be more productive in their work as well as excited to come into work on a daily basis. This will reduce absenteeism and increase morale, which is only a win-win scenario for everybody involved.

Those who might show less motivation and/or enthusiasm than others

As previously mentioned, it is important to not allow those who might disengage from the process or demonstrate complacency to continue in a role that will never be rewarding or fulfilling for such an individual.

The reality of the situation may be that employees who present this type of behavior and demotivate others will likely not improve their work ethic or overall attitude. This is typically due to the fact that they are not interested in improving themselves or feel as though their current position within an organization is satisfactory for them.

While it may be difficult to confront somebody about their lack of motivation, the manager can still attempt to do so by first pointing out specific instances of such behavior and then by explaining what they can do to improve in order to be a valuable member of the team.

While it may take some time for some personality types, if somebody is simply unmotivated or lacks interest in their current role, they will eventually lose interest and begin disengaging from the company and/or their team.

It is important for leaders and managers to not only create an environment where employees are engaged in their work but also have a voice within the organization. It takes both parties being open-minded about the situation, discussing concerns on both ends and coming up with a solution that works for everybody involved.