Roles in Business…what Gerber & Covey have taught

Stephen Covey & Michael Gerber have provided great advice…and much of it overlaps…these two ‘gurus’ have presented similar messages but they have expressed them in different ways. Here, I am referring to Dr. Stephen R. Covey…the father of Stephen M.R. Covey [who is continuing the family tradition of using the name ‘Stephen’ and teaching business folks].

 

About roles in business…Gerber and Covey each set 3 levels:

 

Leaders [Covey] or Entrepreneurs [Gerber]

 

Set the Vision
Set the Mission
Set Overall Corporate Goals
Are proactive not reactive
Define Success
Then what do they do?

• They provide Hands-Off Latitude [Covey]
• They oversee The Mapping [Gerber]

 

Follow the Leader’s Instructions on Goals
Report Progress to the Leader/Boss, at agreed-to Timing
Their levels of Delegated Authority range from Go-fer [the minimum] to Results Reporting [ the maximum]
Create the Maps…to take the business from “Here – where it is” to “Goals – where it wants to be”
Organize, Prioritize, Establish and Document Process, & Supervise People, who are called: 

• Technicians [Gerber]
• Producers [Covey]

Technicians [Gerber] or Producers [Covey] 

 

Understand the Goals
Do the day-to-day Work
Are Specialists in their selected areas
Follow Instruction

 

This outline of roles, whether applied to business roles or to roles in not-for-profit organizations, is a good benchmark.

 

From time to time, I like to refer to this Covey-Gerber benchmark.

 

It aligns with Seeking Simple…:

• role clarity removes ambiguity
• role clarity improves the hiring process
• role clarity improves the performance-review process
• role clarity removes inefficiency and duplication of effort
• role clarity ensures all the bases are covered
• role clarity creates a starting point for decisions [example - who to invite to brainstorming sessions]