The Difference Between Titles and Roles
Do you know the roles you play in your job?
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Titles vs Roles
A common proxy for searching for a new job is to find the job title that is most interesting to you and then reverse engineer into the opportunity. For example, if you want to be a product manager, the prevailing wisdom is to:
Search for job postings that say Product Manager
Review the job description for the skills and responsibilities
Identify the strengths and gaps
Try to find positions that align your strengths with the job description and minimize any gaps, and do what you can with your resume and in the interview process to highlight the strengths and minimize the gaps
Get the job.
That’s an oversimplified version, but generally speaking, it's what you do to find a new job, and when you do it right, it works. But once you’ve landed the job, your title starts to mean less, and your “role” starts to mean more.
Titles and Roles in an Organization
In an organization many people can have the same title, but the role that they play, in that company, in that organization or on that team can have significant differences. I experienced this first hand in my time at Deloitte. When I first started out of college, all 500 of us started as an “Analyst.” But the role that we played, project to project and client to client would often differ. Some of this is by design - different types of projects require different types of roles. But what it also reflects is that when you are working in a company that requires people to work together on projects to achieve outcomes, the role you play on any given project isn’t always reflected in your specific title.
Oftentimes, you’d see a “rockstar analyst” who would be an analyst on their LinkedIn profile, but when you took a look at their actual role on the project, they’d often be a workstream lead, or leading multiple workstreams. In the consulting world, that is an optimal scenario as it allows for more leverage for the more senior consultants who bill higher rates to use their time to higher valued activities. This is also why if you ever had to do an informational interview with someone (ex: say a product manager) and then did another one with another product manager you might feel that even though the title is the same the job (and role) they play is different.
Some of these things happen because companies are merely a collection of people and people are unique. And outside of core processes, compliance tasks, or rigid and repeatable tasks, work relies on some forms of creative problem solving to get to an answer that drives a project or initiative forward. And certainly many people have their own ulterior motives for going about how they do their job.
But digging deeper, from my own experience this also happens because people look at the processes and ways of working and realize that there is room for margin and creativity, or that all the rules of the book don’t always apply. They then take cues to adapt their roles to fit the circumstances and situations. And as a result, it's why some people naturally become the “go to person” for the product launch, or the closer you want to bring into your sales deal to get the executive to sign the large contract. My hunch is that if in those situations, people stuck to the responsibilities that were given in their title, none of those outcomes would have been achieved in the same way.
Why Don’t People Know Their Roles?
While that may be true for consulting, my experience is that it also still applies to other companies and organizations. Sure there are some generic swim lanes (it's not like a Financial Analyst is going to be running marketing campaigns) but role definition is somewhat up to the individual and your unique team or set of projects and tasks. Great managers know that they need to align the strengths and interests of their team members to projects that are needed to kit key metrics or outcomes. Furthermore, proactive and intelligent employees also want to take on roles that appeal to their interests. But from my experience, people regularly underestimate the agency and ownership they have in deciding the roles that they can play within their team and organization. So why is that the case? I have a few ideas:
People naturally undersell themselves because they focus on their title and role - next time you ask someone what they do, see if they say their title first or if they talk about the outcomes of their work. My guess is that they’ll lead with the title, but I could be wrong. This is why I think it’s really important to be focused on internal marketing, because the process of doing this helps reinforce what you are doing and the impact that it’s driving. When other people see the impact of your work, this is what also turns you into the “go to expert” or the person who gets asked to join the project because people see value in the role you play.
People don’t think about the different roles they play - I think in many organizations, an individual can play different roles. And this is true for both small companies (ex: working at a startup, you wear many hats as well as large companies (working on different cross functional projects requires you to have different roles.) People are multidimensional, that is true as human beings and that is true in the workplace.
Role definition can happen outside of your core title and responsibility - Some of the best roles you can play don’t always show up in your title or job description or core set of responsibilities. At Deloitte and at many large consulting firms, what you do each and every day is the majority of your project work, but also involves some form of other “firm activities.” For non-consultants, think of these like extracurriculars in college. In my core day job, I often had roles, like Project Management Analyst, or Workstream Lead, and while those were all well and good, I often found that my firm activities were the places where I got roles where I really shined.
I got to take on the role of campus recruiting lead, which taught me the ins and outs of the recruiting and hiring process (which eventually helped when I wanted to become a career coach) I got to lead new hire training, at the undergrad and MBA consultant level, which eventually helped when I wanted to start life as a corporate trainer and facilitator. I got to also take on a role helping transform the performance evaluation process, which gave exposure as well as confidence working with senior HR executives and which has helped give me credibility now when I talk to senior talent and HR leaders about their challenges with talent retention.
Sometimes the best place to start is the most obvious need
In his Netflix Special Tambourine, Chris Rock covers a multitude of different topics, including some reflections on his divorce from his wife. While most of it has nothing to do with organizational issues and team chemistry, one bit toward the end of his special stuck out to me. When reflecting on what he knew about a great marriage, here is what Rock had to say:
“When you’re in a relationship, you’re in a band. You’re in a f—- band. And when you’re in a band, you have roles that you play in the band. Sometimes, you sing lead. And sometimes, you’re on tambourine. And if you’re on tambourine, play it right. Play it right. Play it with a f—- smile, because no one wants to see a mad tambourine player. If you’re gonna play the tambourine, play it right. Play it with your –.”
As you might expect, the bit got a round of applause from the audience, probably because many of them were married and could deeply relate to the message he was trying to convey. While Rock was focused on the topic of marriage, some of this is a good reminder of the fact that while we all want to choose the roles that align to our interests, there are some roles that are needed on our teams and in our work that just require you to show up and do the work with a smile. Sometimes the best role to take is the one that’s got the most immediate need. If you’re struggling to figure out where to start with your role, this is a good place.
Make no mistake - this is not a message of “shutup and do your work”, but rather, sometimes playing a role that has to get done and doing it well is a good approach for cementing yourself on a team or in an organization. There are real issues with how work gets divided that should be paid attention to and managers must be mind of this, but having the thoughtfulness and self-awareness to ascertain what roles are needed and what role you can play regardless of your title is one way to build credibility and further you chance at having the ability to get better roles in the future. This is also why I believe that being a great teammate is always a great role to play.
What Role Should You Play?
Within any organization, there are different types of roles that are needed for the company to be successful. The beauty of it all, is that while someone can tell you your title (as it's reflected in your HR system) you have some agency and autonomy to define your role. But if you’re not sure where to start, here are a couple ideas of roles I’ve seen people play that have helped them build their confidence, competence and credibility within their organization.
Culture Carriers - Someone around whom a company’s culture develops. They possess a great deal of institutional knowledge about what the company values, both in terms of the words, and behaviors. Culture carriers are the people in your organization that embrace its values and live them out in their daily work and interactions. Getting to know these people and spending time with them will give you a better sense of the culture at your company, which increases your organizational acumen.
Example: At Deloitte, we used to bring in this Partner to come to recruiting events on campus. He started at the firm as an analyst, and worked his way up to becoming a Partner. He lived and breathed the firm, and people looked at him for advice and role modeling. He was a great person to showcase the culture to prospective candidates
Mavens - Made popular by Malcolm Gladwell and his book Tipping Point, A maven is someone with lots of knowledge, data and insight about people and the organization. They are the ones who can tell you about what’s happening inside the organization and who can read between the lines. They always have the newest inside scoops on what’s happening, what decisions have been made, projects have been launched, etc.
Example: Every year at Salesforce, sometime after Dreamforce (Fall) and before the beginning of our next fiscal year (Feb 1) there would always be re-orgs, new leaders and consolidations. This was a great time to make a move to a new team or new opportunity and oftentimes you could get a new role without having to formally interview internally, or in some cases, get a new role with a title bump. But the trick was, you needed to find out what moves were being made, what new teams were being spun up, and what leaders were looking for people to help with these initiatives. Within the organization, there were always a handful of Mavens who always knew what was going on. Oftentimes, it wasn’t people with the most power, but rather the people who were influential, or were often privy to influential people because of their information.
Boundary Spanners - These are individuals who proactively go out of their way to connect people across groups, and teams. Part of this might have to do with the cross functional nature of their role, but from my experience it also has to do with their personality. These are individuals who tend to have an interest in collaboration, and bringing people together. They can bridge silos, and connect the dots between disparate teams or projects
Example: One of my colleagues at Salesforce was a fellow Product Marketer on another team. What was unique about him, was that his product was actually a feature on a number of other teams’ products. As a result, he was constantly breaking down silos, and connecting the dots to help teams work and collaborate together.
Energizers - These are individuals who have a ton passion and enthusiasm in their interactions, thereby amplifying ideas and engaging the broader organization
Example: My first project at Deloitte I was so new and so green, and honestly, for the first 1-2 months there was not much I could do. As a result, I showed up to work each day with a smile and positive attitude, which eventually won over the client. As a result of seeing how much my client liked and trusted me, my team began warming up to me and providing me with more responsibility. And the more people worked with me, the more they appreciated my energy and enthusiasm, which allowed me to get more opportunities for other roles where I could use more of my skills and strengths
Here are 3 questions for you
What are all the roles you currently play?
What roles do you not play that would be a significant value add to your team or organization?
Managers: How are you aligning your people and their titles with the right roles?
Resources
Become and remain a culture carrier at your company (Bravely)
A “culture carrier” is someone around whom a company’s culture develops. They possess a great deal of institutional knowledge, they’re an embodiment of the company values, and they’re someone others want to be around. For the company, culture carriers are indispensable.
What Job Crafting Looks Like (HBR)
Rachel has also done some relational crafting to build deeper, more personal connections to her clients and to her fellow employees. She deliberately arrives early to meetings and makes an effort to get to know people’s interests and cares outside of work. Her joyful demeanor and ability to read the mood in a room have deepened her relationships and informed the way she frames her job.
Get Out of Your Own Way on Your Path to Power (Cornerstone)
“People who believe modesty is a virtue often self-deprecate, fail to promote their accomplishments and act in ways that give away their power. Don’t be one of those people. If you do not think you are up to the task or qualified, others will pick it up. Don’t self-handicap yourself by being unwilling to lean into your many skills.”
How to Become Invaluable To Your Boss and Colleagues (Charterworks)
The most important work feels as though it is everyone’s job yet no one’s job. Too many professionals are stuck in organizational boxes that don’t match the real work.” “Purpose rarely comes from sitting down and contemplating purpose. Mostly, surely in my case, one accidentally trips over purpose.”—management theorist Tom Peters
How to Find Your Edge (MBA Insider Podcast)
If you’re wondering how you can find your own unique way to highlight the skills you want to use or what you want to be known for to get the roles you want, check out my interview with Laura Huang, HBS Professor and Author of Edge
Have a great week!
Al