Generally Speaking #020 - It's Part of the Job
I recently read a good article on the Polymathic Being newsletter titled “That’s not my job”.
The premise of the article is that saying “That’s not my job” when asked to complete a task that isn’t ordinarily part of your role, isn’t a bad thing. If it’s not your role, you should be calling it out and holding the responsible person accountable otherwise organisational structures and processes are useless.
I can see both sides of this argument. But, I would only ever accept one outcome.
I’ve had someone say this exact phrase to me once, many years ago. And, I’ve only heard of it a small amount of times in my 30+ years in corporate work.
Such words are career killers in my book.
By the letter of their PD (Position Description) they may be right. Probably are. But that is not the point.
This sends a negative message to other members of the team and the organisation.
In my experience, people will often step in and do things when asked, even though it may not be part of their role to do so.
This is part of being a team player.
I understand the value of holding people accountable for tasks and responsibilities. However, I work in a very lean organisation. If even one person was to say something wasn’t their job and chose not to do it, the structure struggles (you could argue about resourcing and the like, but that’s not the point - this is a lean organisation). You can’t afford the “that’s not my job” mentality in such circumstances.
I personally face this challenge every week of my working life. I have a senior role in my organisation. I have a large team that I’m responsible for, but I also report to the senior leadership team of the organisation.
Senior people will often come to me for something. Often, it’s not something I would ordinarily know. My first reaction isn’t to say that “it’s not my job”. I would have a good idea who would know and go to that person. Sometimes you get the answer you need, sometimes you don’t. If I don’t get what I need, that isn’t the end of the exercise. The business still requires an answer. I can’t tell them I tried and be done with it.
If you cannot get the answer from someone else, then you need to find it yourself.
Stepping in and helping out when you’re asked, even if it’s not “your job”, is not a bad thing. As a leader, I may assign a task to someone. That doesn’t mean that the assigned person must drop everything and do all of the work to get the answer. It means that person needs to find the right person to provide the answer. But, in the end, it may be him/her.
That’s just the way it is. And there’s nothing wrong with this.
Until next time.
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Answering with "it's not my job" is just rude.