No matter what job we perform, we all need to know why we do it, what we are required to do, how we do it, and who we do it for. These needs cut across several of the work-related factors that have been shown to be problematic, such as low role clarity, low job control, and high and low job demands.
Without clear reporting lines, employees can be unsure of who to turn to for support, and they can feel as though nobody is “steering the boat,” or worse, that there’s not even a destination that you’re steering towards. This creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and chaos, which in turn affects the morale and mental wellness of everyone in the organisation.
When working to implement a SMART work design strategy, it’s imperative to define and communicate clear reporting lines, so that we may avoid these issues.
When people frequently ignore the chain of command, or are unaware of who they should report to, it can also affect the morale of leaders, who may feel they aren’t respected by the people in their team, and may also feel that the organisation doesn’t support their authority.
The end result? Employees and leaders who are disengaged, have low job clarity and satisfaction, a lack of support at all levels, and of course the flow-on impacts to anxiety, burnout, depression and even physical illness. At an organisational level, this can result in compromised performance, higher accident rates, higher turnover, absenteeism, and wasted talent to name a few.
The good news is that there are some simple steps we can take to correct and counteract any areas where we might be falling down across the work-related factors, starting with reporting lines to help employees see where their role fits within the organisation and how what they do aligns with the strategic vision.
The first step is to identify the different functions people perform and capture it in an organisational chart or framework similar to the one shown.
From this, we can then get more detailed, creating role clarity through position descriptions and awareness across the organisation of how and where everyone contributes.
By sharing the organisational chart, you help people to better understand their role, their reporting responsibilities, and how they fit in to the wider, organisational strategy.
Leadership entails getting things done through the actions of people. To improve workplace wellness, an effective leader must understand the importance of human factors, such as needs, drives, motivation, leadership, personality, behaviour and work groups.
To successfully embed clear reporting lines, your organisation needs:
A well-defined organisation chart, that clearly describes the link between team functions and your organisational strategy
Inspirational and Participative Leaders who bring everyone on board and ensure people are aware of, and engaged with the overarching purpose and strategy
Employees who are engaged in the development and implementation of any interventions that arise out of change initiatives to improve and align processes to your strategic vision.
This improves workplace mental wellness through increased satisfaction of the three basic human psychological needs: belongingness, autonomy and competence which contributes to intrinsic motivation.
As Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School said, “Strategy is creating fit among a company’s activities. The success of a strategy depends on doing many things well - not just a few - and integrating among them. If there is no fit among activities, there is no distinctive strategy and little sustainability.”
In this view, to be successful, organisations must first improve and align the many processes underway to their strategic vision, and then successfully communicate this to their people to gain their commitment.
Research conducted by Better Up (2019) found that belonging can increase employee performance by 56%, reduce absenteeism by 75%, and reduce turnover risks by 50%. (1)
Call To Action
Involve your employees in the work to improve and align your processes to your strategic vision to help to ensure that those changes actually take place.
Review your organisational chart, to describe the link between team functions and your organisational strategy - does this look the same for all teams?
Re-draw your organisational chart, if necessary and engage your leadership team to provide input to this process, so you can involve the right people at the right time.
Draw on your inspirational and participative leaders to help drive outcomes and gain commitment to this initiative. This crucial step is key to bringing everyone on board and ensures people are aware of, and engaged with the overarching purpose and strategy, and that all understand how they contribute to the achievement of those goals.
Taking it Further
A study by Probst, T. M. (2005). Countering the Negative Effects of Job Insecurity Through Participative Decision Making: Lessons From the Demand-Control Model (2) found that:
“employees with greater participative decision-making opportunities reported fewer negative consequences of job insecurity compared with employees with fewer participative decision-making opportunities. Results are interpreted using the demand-control model and suggest that organisations that allow greater employee participative decision making may experience fewer negative side effects from today's rising levels of employee job insecurity.”
By involving teams in the process of setting out their structure, aligned to the functions they are responsible for, and explaining how each function aligns to the organisational strategy, your people are more inclined to feel engaged, therefore increasing mental wellness.
You can provide teams with a starting point to work together to define which roles and resources are required within their team, all the while aligning to their own strategic vision.
Consider setting out a simple, high level organisational chart, like the one shown earlier, to guide newer or inexperienced teams to connect with the strategy and vision, or when you are communicating a new or revised strategy and vision for your organisation.
Where to now?
Sources
BetterUp’s New, Industry-Leading Research Shows Companies That Fail at Belonging Lose Tens of Millions in Revenue | BetterUp (2019). Available at: https://www.betterup.com/press/betterups-new-industry-leading-research-shows-companies-that-fail-at-belonging-lose-tens-of-millions-in-revenue.
Tahira M. Probst | WSU Department of Psychology | Washington State University (2021). Available at: https://psychology.wsu.edu/people/faculty/tahira-m-probst/