I wrote about role stressors and, more specifically, the main stressor, role ambiguity, in two previous newsletters. Role ambiguity was identified as one of three main role stressors that can lead to poor performance and lower overall well-being. In those two editions, I wrote about the role leaders play in providing their employees with clarity on what’s expected, at what level of quality, and by what date. These expectations give employees the confidence and understanding they need to execute autonomously. But as I was working with a group of new leaders earlier this week, I realized that leaders very rarely get clarity on what’s expected of them when it comes to balancing their time between the two roles they have in the organization.

Those two roles being leader and individual contributor. There are very few leaders who practice pure leadership, spending every minute of their day working on leadership-related tasks. Every leader has individual contributor work to do; I define this work as tasks a leader must do independently, using their own judgment, resources, and discretion. You might have to make a schedule, develop a presentation, work on a report, run payroll, or develop a new-hire training plan. The list could literally go on and on.

The leaders I talked to all got tripped up when I gave them this scenario:

It's mid-morning on a Wednesday. A key client escalation just landed in your inbox, marked as urgent, and your boss needs your written response within 30 minutes, or the client relationship is at risk. At the same moment, one of your best employees pulls you aside and tells you they're thinking about quitting. They want to talk now. You know from experience that these conversations are time-sensitive, and if you put them off, they may already be gone before you get the chance to respond.

Neither choice is wrong. One prioritizes the short-term consequences your organization can see in the client, the relationship with them, and your boss waiting for a response. The other prioritizes the long-term investment your organization may never fully notice in the cost of losing someone valuable to its future success. Without clarity on what your organization expects from you as a leader, you're making this decision based on your own assumptions and criteria. You can choose the client or the employee. One choice makes you look good as an individual. The other choice fulfills your duties as a leader and steward of the organization’s talent.

Which task would take priority in your organization?

Does your organization value your work as a leader of its people more than your work as the face of the brand for your clients?

If you could only choose one, employee or client, how would your organization expect you to choose?

These situations create stress for leaders; the role ambiguity makes their job harder than it needs to be. Leaders in this position need to seek out that clarity before the moment arrives. The right answer to the scenario above is whatever your organization expects you to value. If you don’t know what that is, you should seek it out.

Until next time,

Rick