Have you ever needed more help on something but don’t know who to ask? Or need someone to make a decision but can’t figure out who?

Not knowing who is doing what is a challenge that has always plagued teams. So we use org charts, and job descriptions, and other stiff, 2-dimensional methods that can’t possibly capture the complexity of your team and its work.

So what to do about it?

We invited Nathan Evans of Peerdom onto the podcast to help us out. Peerdom thinks visuals are key to making sense of how you work, but they reject the 2-dimensions we’ve been stuck with.

Read on for our 3 takeaways from the episode, and the link to listen in full:​

Mapping roles in dynamic orgs, with Nathan Evans

1. Org charts and job descriptions don't cut it for dynamic, growing orgs

Think of it like this, a job description is something that’s generally created when you’re hiring. But once you hire someone, there is a person and their growth and their strengths shaping the role. And so the job description quickly becomes a document that doesn’t represent your reality. Roles change all the time as strategic direction shifts, opportunities emerge, and teams better understand how to play to each other’s strengths. So, what should you do instead of org charts?

2. Break your work into a few smaller roles to encourage intentionality and specificity

Instead of a static job description that represents a fixed cluster of roles, try breaking it down. With a finer resolution of the work that needs to be done and what people are working on, it’s easier to distribute work around the team. How often should you update your roles? It depends, but quarterly can provide stability while capturing change.

3. Visibility of teams and roles needs to be more explicit in remote

When you’re working together in an office, it’s easy to have a vague sense of teams and roles. When you can’t see how people move within the space, you need a map. Mapping people and roles in a way that’s visual and interactive can make collaboration smoother. It also makes it easier to see bottlenecks, waste and duplication, lack of focus, and if teams aren’t learning from each other and building on each other’s work.

‍

Listen to the full episode here.