In the previous installment of this series, I talked about how to describe the value in the job you’d like to create.
One of the most difficult concerns about creating a job is how it affects other people around it. This includes areas such as:
- People who receive value directly from the work you’d do
- Others who are already delivering work which might be addressing what you’d be doing
- Others who have to change what they’re doing because of your new job
- People who would sense a status change in themselves or others
- People who have to manage you in this job
- People who have to help you address other areas of risk – smoothing ruffled feathers, explaining things, making or influencing decisions
- People who are impacted by you moving out of your current job
- People who have to fund, approve, or expedite your work
This is just a partial list! Expect this to be at least 20 or 30 people, or you probably haven’t thought through it enough. What you’re trying to do is to describe the organizational difference between the current situation and your desired situation, from the standpoint of everybody’s role, job, and status.
I recommend getting as specific as possible: real people with actual names, not just vague generalities. When you treat people as groups, you often miss some specific concerns which may come back to derail your plans.
When you’re talking to these people to understand if they would be affected by your proposal, you may have to be a bit cagey. Perhaps you can’t just come right out and say, “I’d like to create this new job…” – Just saying that may set off a firestorm of resistance that will be hard to control. Most of the time, you’ll be talking with people to understand their role and their needs, to get a sense of whether they recognize the compelling organizational need I talked about back in part 2.
My next article will go into more depth on two particular groups of people: stakeholders and gatekeepers.
You might also find this interesting:
- What are you?
- Creating custom jobs out of thin air, part 1: How are jobs normally created?
- Creating a custom job out of thin air, part 3: Describing how value would be provided
- Creating a custom job out of thin air, part 6: Courage, follow-through, and accountability
- Getting permission from your boss