Role Alignment is the Underrated Skill that Defines Great Managers

When conversations turn to manager effectiveness, the emphasis often falls on a leader’s ability to motivate teams, encourage collaboration, and deliver on performance goals. However, a Harvard Business Review study suggests that the most effective managers are those who strategically reallocate talent into the right roles.

The world of work faces complex, interconnected challenges today: technological disruptions, particularly AI, climate change, and geopolitical instability. At times like these, organizational restructuring often becomes necessary. Organizations must reallocate workers to new roles or hire employees with different skills, ensuring their workforce is equipped to meet evolving demands.

Against this backdrop, a manager’s ability to strategically allocate talent can create a significant impact. Organizations can leverage their talent more effectively, achieve higher performance gains, and sustain high levels of engagement.

This blog examines how role alignment enhances manager effectiveness in the current era and provides managers with a guide to engage employees in their designated roles effectively. 

Why Role Alignment Should be a Managerial Responsibility

Role alignment is a process by which managers ensure that each employee is placed in a role that best matches their unique strengths and capabilities. This allocative effort provides clarity about job expectations.

Role allocation is typically an HR responsibility. However, managers, by virtue of their position, have immediate insight into their teams’ engagement levels. They frequently engage with their team members through meetings, performance evaluations, and one-on-one conversations, and therefore, have first-hand knowledge of their interests, strengths, and aspirations. For example, a manager may notice an employee’s leadership potential during a meeting. This insight may influence how they approach their development, such as assigning roles, connecting with mentorship, or providing skill-building opportunities.

Intentional role alignment is an essential managerial skill that contrasts with conventional role allocations, which typically consider only formal job descriptions and role expectations.

How Role Alignment Increases Manager Effectiveness

In the current climate of rapid change and disruption, organizational restructuring has become a common occurrence. There is a greater likelihood of employees being overworked or their skills underutilized. Therefore, it is incumbent on managers to regularly assess their teams’ performance, learn about their personal challenges, and recognize where their individual potential lies. This knowledge can ensure managers make several informed decisions:

• It helps them engage employees in the right roles.

• It allows them to adjust the workloads of overburdened employees.

• It helps them invest in high-potential employees who are ready for the next phase of their careers.

Key Benefits of Effective Role Alignment

As employees engage in work that aligns with their strengths and long-term career goals, their job satisfaction and overall well-being are likely to improve. It can also improve their earning potential via effective professional development. 

Organizations can reap productivity and performance gains, as well as greater returns on investment in high-performing managers. Unlike other managerial skills, effective role alignment benefits employees and organizations even after the manager has left.

How Can Managers Ensure Role Alignment?

Effective management is not just about boosting morale or inspiring effort; it also involves strategically placing employees in the right roles to maximize their potential.

Organizations shouldn't leave the responsibility of role allocation solely to HR. A key responsibility of managers should be to identify employees’ hidden skills and redirect them to roles where they are likely to excel.

It requires intentional efforts on management's part, including the following strategic actions:

• The importance of regular one-on-one coaching conversations cannot be overstated. Managers who take the time for one-on-one discussions can learn what motivates their employees and identify potential opportunities for lateral moves or role adjustments. High-performing managers spend more time in one-on-one meetings, serving as career coaches and mentors, which helps them create customized career pathways for their team members.

• Role alignment is not a one-time process; it requires continuous involvement from managers. An effective role alignment strategy includes continuous performance evaluation and feedback, regular assessment of job expectations, and even hiring processes. Managers should regularly assess the performance of their teams, workloads, and engagement levels, and make necessary adjustments accordingly. To that end, clearly articulating job expectations, including key responsibilities, objectives, and performance metrics, is essential.

• Managers who prioritize role-fit ensure their teams can make more informed lateral moves within organizations. They can provide customized skilling and training to employees based on their individual long-term career goals. They can connect employees to the right mentors. As a result, open roles are filled more quickly, and skill gaps are closed effectively through internal mobility. Given these lasting impacts, it stands to reason that managers are well-positioned to act as talent architects. They need to partner with HR leaders to co-create skilling and development strategies for employees. Managers should also create brief rotations to expose employees to high-quality managers. Notably, these rotations also benefit managers by expanding their skillset.

• Managers can leverage data and analytics to make role reallocations more efficient. It can provide crucial insights into how effectively team members perform their roles, how much of their responsibilities involve core and non-core tasks, whether there is role misalignment, and whether there is overwork or underutilization.

Organizations need to intentionally prioritize role alignment in managers’ skills. Recognition strategies should include rewarding managers who actively participate in developing their teams by strategically allocating roles. 

Conclusion

Role alignment is a crucial yet often underappreciated managerial capability. High-performing managers can create compounding value by matching people to the right roles within organizations. 

This allocative power, in turn, helps managers in achieving their output targets more effectively. Employees, on the other hand, benefit from opportunities to pursue their interests and hone their skills, which can lead to innovation. Notably, employees under high-performing managers can also boost their earning potential. Just as significant, businesses gain an engaged, high-performing workforce as a direct result of increased manager effectiveness.

Organizations should invest in their managers, considering the outsized impact they have on their teams’ engagement levels and career trajectories. They should prioritize a manager’s skills in talent management over those in project management. High-performing managers should also be rewarded for their ability to assign employees effectively and influence their career trajectories.