623: How to Align an Employee to a Role, with Jonathan Raymond

Jonathan Raymond: Good Authority

Jonathan spent 20 years building careers in business development and personal growth before realizing he could have the best of both worlds by starting his own company. Now, he uses those skills to advise CEOs and organizational leaders on how to create a people-first culture that drives results.

As the founder of Refound, his goal is to provide clients with a partner they can trust and programs that gives managers an experience of how they can make work a better place, one conversation at a time. He’s the author of the book Good Authority: How to Become the Leader Your Team Is Waiting For*. He’s also the creator of the Accountability Dial, used daily by many of our members and listeners to open up more healthy dialogue inside of their teams and organizations.

It may seem like you’ve had the same conversation about 17 times, but again you have an employee asking you, “Wait? Is this thing we’re talking about supposed to be part of my job?” You again clarify their role, but you’re also thinking in the back of your mind, “Really? We’re having this conversation again?” In this episode, Jonathan and I discuss four questions to ask of yourself — and your employee — to align them with the role.

Key Points

• Mangers often complain that employees do not have clarity on their roles.
• Separate the role from the person. Depersonalizing the role actually helps you to have a better alignment conversation.
• What do you want employees to be owning, thinking about, and worrying about? Those are windows into the Soul of the Role.
• There are three steps to role alignment: defining the role, aligning the role with the employee, and sustaining the dialogue about the role.

Four questions that will help you define a role:

1. What is the purpose of this role?
2. What makes someone successful in this role?
3. What are three priorities for this role in the next 90 days?
4. Where are their decision-making rights?

Resources Mentioned

• Refound Academy: Good Authority, Good Alignment, and Good Accountability courses
• Good Authority: How to Become the Leader Your Team Is Waiting For* by Jonathan Raymond

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• Effective Delegation of Authority, with Hassan Osman (episode 413)
• How to Balance Care and Accountability When Leading Remotely, with Jonathan Raymond (episode 464)
• How to Lead and Retain High Performers, with Ruth Gotian (episode 567)

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