One way to keep a Together Team is with Sheena’s Annual Activities document. Today, we’ll take it a step further to see how Pamela I., Chief Talent Officer for Relay Graduate School of Education, pushes her team on common Togetherness expectations.
Many Roles & Responsibilities charts look something like this:
It’s a decent way to communicate who is doing what, but doesn’t really help teams manage capacity. But when Pamela showed me HER team’s approach to Roles & Responsibilities, I was jumping up and down with excitement. Let’s take a peek!
Click to enlarge
I love that this is more than just a list of who owns which projects. Pamela and her team also carefully noted:
- The month of the project
- The owner of the overall workstream
- The specific project owner
- And be still my heart. . . an estimation of the hours each project will take!
Pamela’s rationale: “I prefer this version to get more specific on time allocations. We wanted to be sure that people had the capacity to do what they said they would do. It was particularly helpful during transitions and maternity leaves as we considered how to reallocate or postpone projects. It’s a working document that we revisit monthly, so we’re able to make adjustments as needed.”
I’m particularly fond of Pamela’s mindset that the more planned you are, the more flexible you can actually be! Many people create documents like this for specific projects, but not for entire teams. Couple this with Sheena’s Annual Activities, and your team is on its way to Togetherness.
