Start by collaborating with business leaders to understand which roles are critical to achieving strategic business goals. Fight the temptation to label every leadership role as critical.
There are three filters that you should use when defining critical roles for your organization.
Winning - Disney, for example, considers street sweepers to be a critical role because they interact directly with the park visitors while keeping the park clean – both activities have a significant impact on the customer experience (i.e. the “Disney magic”).
Hard to Find - At some companies, an engineer with a rare skill set might be critical, while a CFO is not. A CFO plays an important role in any organization, but they are relatively easy to find and their skills are very transferable.
Long Time - Finally, is there a role at your company that takes years to learn? Having enough experienced operations managers, for example, is the primary limiting factor for many companies’ growth plans due to the years that it takes to build up the required combination of technical, business and people skills.
Notice that we said “their” vision. You always want to share your strategic recommendations in context of their vision and position your team to be the enabler to achieving it.
Your next step is to determine how best to invest in those roles. Check out our articles on building competencies and measuring skills and goals to learn more.
Happy collaborating and know that we’re here if you get stuck and need help!
If you're interested in exploring how ATLAS Navigator's software enables you to create and manage your critical roles, set up a free Insights Call with us!