Clarifying Management Roles and Expectations

As a business evolves and grows, the roles and expectations of managers, including owners, begins to shift. However, in many cases, this simply happens by default, with little or no discussion. Problems can arise when expectations differ and when people don’t perform in a way that is consistent with expectations.

I recently visited a company where ‘Dad’ had promised to begin to step away from his previous management position so that ‘Junior’ could take over and be seen by others in the company as a stronger leader. However, this wasn’t happening. Dad was still acting the same way that he always did – solving problems and being the go-to guy for making decisions. Junior was very frustrated.

I believe this sometimes occurs because managers can’t always envision their new management roles clearly and they don’t understand the shift that they need to make. So, instead, they revert to their same, old behaviors.