Adverse possession, if you aren’t familiar with the term, is simply taking someone else’s property and using it. So over time, one would make their own property larger, and this property belongs (in title) to someone else. If the actual owner doesn’t say or do something about it, they could actually lose the right to it. In fairness, most aren’t familiar with the term unless they or their neighbour have found themselves in this very specific situation. While most of us will never experience this with respect to property, many of us have experienced this exact situation as it pertains to our jobs.
Lets break it down in two categories:
Situation number one: The corporate turf war. In this situation, someone starts assuming particular functions in an effort to make their own roles and portfolios bigger and the perception of their role in the organization as more influential and powerful. Let’s call a spade a spade, these people are jerks.
Situation number two: More commonly, and this is where what I will call accidental adverse possession comes into play, is a situation where someone starts doing something to be helpful, and all of a sudden it becomes part of their job.
We all have job descriptions. Some are more defined than others, and some require very specific guard-rails as a means to protect various audiences. Think of a general surgeon vs. a cardiac surgeon.
While a general surgeon may be familiar with the intimate workings of a human heart, and may even in some cases be required to perform cardiac based functions within their capacity – they would not arbitrarily decide to start performing a triple bypass.
In the same vein, albeit less life and death…As a marketer, I don’t consider myself “qualified” to start programming a complex chat function, just because the team of people who are tasked with this deliverable can’t drop everything and start immediately.
Think of your job description in terms of accidental adverse possession. Assuming responsibility for functions that are outside your job description, is kind of like staking a claim on those functions if you don’t establish the right expectations at the onset; even if you didn’t intend for them to become part of your job. By doing the job of others, you are, in fact, not doing your own job, and it’s hard to point the finger at the person who should be doing it, when you volunteered…
Organizations are complex organisms that require each part of the whole to work in concert towards a common goal. It’s why we have individual departments to begin with. We depend on legal, marketing, sales, communications etc. etc. to each understand the role they play in delivering on common objectives.
Now, despite my example comparing types of surgery, very rarely are the day to day decisions that we’re making involving life or death consequences (Phew!). Much more likely, the consequences of people deliberately working outside their swim lanes are financial and reputational in nature.
Let me be clear, I am not saying that there are no reasonable situations where we from time to time take on additional responsibility outside the scope of our roles. These are opportunities that give us a chance to grow and develop within and outside our roles. I am also not saying there is a hard and fast rule around taking initiative. What I am getting at here, is that there is a right and wrong way to demonstrate that initiative.
I see this all the time, in particular when it comes to marketing functions. Working in marketing necessitates a problem solving mindset. That’s what marketing is. It’s a solution to a business problem. Sometimes having that problem solving mindset means that we assume responsibilities that are outside our scope – and then before we know it, we’ve assumed ownership of that function.
Usually, the examples of this situation are a lot more grey. This comes up when people genuinely don’t know what to do with a particular situation, and well, someone has got to do it. So how do we take initiative without taking ownership, I mean since we aren’t all surgeons or programmers:
- Be solution oriented: When a situation comes up that leaves the collective group looking like a deer staring down headlights on the highway – this is where you shine and can take initiative. Notice here, that I am not saying fix the problem yourself, I am saying be solution oriented and take the lead by gaining consensus on the issue at hand and collectively propose a few solutions.
- Escalate: Most people managers will tell you that a large portion of their job involves removing roadblocks – this is a road block!
- Follow up: Once the group has reached a consensus, take the lead and establish who will take ownership of this function going forward. This is a tough conversation to have. Sometimes the person that actually resolved the issue this time, isn’t the person that will be responsible going forward. This is a group think approach where everyone considers where this function should sit, and the final decision is collectively agreed to. Sometimes it means a new job is created, but more commonly it gets identified as a gap and becomes part of a department or existing role going forward. The difference is that it’s a decision reached by consideration and consensus of the group and not one individual in insolation.
Sometimes these problems have solutions that are harder to come by. They require complex discussions around roles and responsibilities and can become a worm can that you desperately want to hide under a floor board.
In other words, not all solutions are clear. One thing that is clear, if you don’t think it falls in your bailiwick, and will detract you from focusing on the priorities that you are directly accountable for, then it warrants a discussion with someone who can help. Remember, you’re part of a complex organism and there’s a reason why each part of the whole has their own role on the path to greatness!
Rebecca 