Defining Roles and Responsibilities

 Defining Roles and Responsibilities

When an organization clearly defines Roles and Responsibilities you find everyone gets on the same page and see the same vision how they work together as a team toward a common goal.

I use the analogy that having everyone work together is like pulling an elephant. So how does one pull an elephant? By aligning everyone’s thinking and working together toward a common goal and pulling on the same rope.

 

An example I use is when an organization has Maintenance Issues such as; breakdowns are high, employee morale is not good, and people seem to be blaming everyone else and possibly Maintenance Cost (as a % of Replacement of Asset Value) is high then alignment of everyone is critical.

Defining and Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities for any organization can be difficult when no one truly understands who is Responsible (the doer), who is Accountable (the buck stops here), who is Consulted (two way communication) and who is Informed (One-Way Communication (no reply required). Clearly defining Roles and Responsibilities brings calm to what may seem like confusion and misunderstanding in any organization.

 

Having learned this process while serving in the US Military while stationed at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Whether you are in the US Military, Industrial Maintenance, Production or any organization one must have clear roles and responsibilities defined and understood by all. 

How do you know if need to clarify roles and responsibilities? This is simple, when you hear statements like following maybe you need to define them:

1. It is not my job 

2. I did not know I was responsible for that 

3. I am not involved in that decision 

4. Everyone is accountable 

For any process one needs a RACI Chart aligned with the process and need everyone to understand how they work toward a common goal.

Once you have seen the RACI work with any process life will change in your organization forever. You can throw away the excuse list because their will be no more excuses required, everyone will work in harmony.

Join me for this great presentation at IMC 2019, December 9-12 in beautiful Marco Island, Florida. I will be there, how about you.

The Author: Ricky Smith CMRP, CMRT, CRL

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