The phrase “stay in your lane” is commonly used to affirm the importance of doing your assigned tasks and only your assigned tasks. If you see an important task that needs to be done that isn’t your responsibility, should you do it? Before you decide whether to switch lanes, consider the authors’ research, based on observations and recordings of first responders completing mass-casualty incident simulations. They’ve identified three essential lessons to consider. First, be mindful of the environment. Second, beware of crossing team boundaries. Finally, remember to update your team and leaders. You don’t necessarily need to stay in your lane — just be sure to merge both out of your lane and back in appropriately.
You see an important task that needs to be done, but it isn’t your responsibility. Should you do it? For some, the answer is “Of course!” It’s good to be a team player and pitch in whenever possible. For others, the answer is a resounding no, not necessarily due to laziness but rather fear of reproach for stepping on another’s toes.
Indeed, the phrase “stay in your lane” is commonly used to affirm the importance of doing your assigned tasks and only your assigned tasks. In an effort to find out whether lane switching (i.e., out-of-role task switching, like leaders performing member tasks or vice versa) is helpful or harmful, we explored this phenomenon using observations and recordings of first responders completing mass-casualty incident simulations (like multiple motor vehicle accidents and mass shootings). This type of training is critically important to prepare first responders. Although not everyone operates in environments as turbulent and complex as these, it’s informative to look to settings that have long wrestled with chaos for insight applicable to today’s increasingly dynamic world. We found that it’s essential to keep in mind three things when deciding whether to switch lanes at work.
Beware of switching in turbulent environments.
Before switching to someone else’s tasks, ask yourself: What else is going on? In a turbulent environment with intense volatility, uncertainty, workload, and urgency, it’s important for both leaders and members to stay in their respective lanes and maintain the expected flow of information. In these settings, things are changing so fast that by the time an individual switches back to their assigned tasks, they’ve lost situation awareness and contributed to the chaos and confusion.
This is a common problem for leaders who prefer to do their team members’ tasks as opposed to orchestrating the big picture. During particularly tumultuous times, we saw many leaders who jumped in to help treat patients lose awareness, forgetting to request resources (like calling for more ambulances) and directing members to work on the wrong tasks (like treating patients with minor injuries instead of critically injured patients).
We also saw members perform leader tasks in an effort to help manage the chaos, giving incorrect directions and further hurting overall performance. Members’ redirecting their efforts ultimately slowed task accomplishment, as fewer people were caring for patients.
In short, leaders and members should be wary of adding more change to a rapidly changing situation. Even sending an email to the wrong recipient or forgetting the Zoom video is on can throw a department into crisis mode, as there’s suddenly urgent effort required to manage the unfolding event. Similarly, supply chain disruptions and client change requests can create more work for the team as they struggle to deal with the volatility and ambiguity. During such turbulent times when there’s a lot of pressure to maintain awareness and make progress, it’s a good to time to stay in your lane and avoid out-of-role task switching.
Beware of crossing team boundaries.
As teams are increasingly working in more fluid and interconnected multiteam arrangements, it’s common for leaders and members to be tempted to manage the other teams that influence their input or output. However, it’s unlikely that a team leader will have a detailed enough understanding of the precise situation another team is facing to jump in and immediately lead effectively. It’s even less likely that a member will have sufficient knowledge of both teams’ situations and be able to manage the change in information flows (like who gives directions or who needs to be updated).
In our study, any attempts by members to lead other teams were immediately shut down — sometimes with colorful language. Alternatively, when leaders attempted to lead other teams, they were often allowed to do so. However, it ultimately harmed both teams, as one team received no directions from an absent leader and the other team received conflicting directions from two different leaders. Thus, leaders and members should exhibit extreme caution before “crossing the median” and attempting to lead across team boundaries. In addition, members should be encouraged to reject attempts from other team leaders to wield their authority in places it doesn’t apply.
Be sure to update when switching back.
Finally, successful lane switching is about more than just knowing when and where it’s okay to switch — what you do as you return to working on your assigned tasks also matters. In our study, we saw numerous examples of leaders and members engaging in out-of-role task switching and then resuming their assigned tasks as though nothing happened. The problem is that things did happen. For example, someone else moved the critically injured patients in the green car, so now it’s hard to know which patient should be moved next.
When leaders didn’t update themselves and/or when members forgot to update their leaders, the leaders began giving directions based on an outdated understanding of the situation, wasting effort and creating confusion. We’ve witnessed this same phenomenon across several organizations as some leaders falsely believe they can randomly pop into any meeting and take charge, assuming nothing important has changed since their last check-in a month prior. On the flip side, we’ve also seen members fail to keep their leaders updated and explode in anger when the leader doesn’t magically know what they need or the challenges they’ve overcome. As leaders are not yet omniscient, status update check-ins are important, especially in times of change. These check-ins can be done one-on-one or, if the situation is sufficiently stable, take the form of team huddles with rapid-fire status updates.
As you consider whether to engage in important tasks that need to be done but aren’t your responsibility, carefully consider the implications of doing it, especially in tumultuous situations, and whether you have the knowledge to do it, especially across team boundaries. If you choose to switch lanes, be sure to update others. You don’t necessarily need to stay in your lane — just be sure to merge both out of your lane and back in appropriately.
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July 08, 2021 at 08:25PM
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When to Take On Tasks That Are Outside of Your Job Description - Harvard Business Review
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