ROLE/POSITION ANALYSIS
CSSR ROLE CHANGE/ROLE CLARITY WORKSHEET
INSTRUCTIONS
1. What:
• A tool designed to capture key role (or position) changes for those stakeholders significantly impact by your
planned changes.
2. Purpose:
• One of the main contributors to project failure, i.e., the inability to meet and sustain goals, is the lack of role clarity.
This tool insures that role/position changes are recognized and addressed appropriately, e.g., professional
development is provided as required.
• Another contributor to failure is not taking items off the platter when new duties and responsibilities are added.
This tool assists identifying what no longer should be done, as well as what is new to the role or position.
• The tool can also be employed to describe the parameters of a new role or position.
3. Who:
• As a dry run, the team should fill out a form on every positions they feel will be significantly impacted by the
proposed changes. This provides perspective on how much change is being imposed on existing
roles/positions. This also insures that changes that impact the union contract are addressed appropriately.
• Once a general picture of the scope of change has been identified by the team for all key positions impacted,
separate role/position change workshops should be conducted for each of the roles/positions impacted. These
workshops should include representatives from the team, incumbents of the role/position being impacted,
supervisors of that role/position, and other stakeholders significantly impacted by the role/position, e.g., if it is the
teacher role/position, students should also participate in the role/position analysis workshop.
4. When:
• As soon as it is clear what positions will be impacted by the proposed changes and the nature of the changes are
well understood.
• Well before implementation!!!
© 2015 CSSR, Inc. All rights reserved.
ROLE/POSITION ANALYSIS
5. How Long:
• 2-3 hours.
6. How:
• Start with the most critical stakeholder group impacted by the changes.
• Break the group into three sub-teams (at least 4-6 people per team) insuring there is a role/position incumbent and
a mix of key stakeholders on each team.
• Distribute the form and explain the type of information requested in each cell.
• However, before starting the exercise, explain the proposed changes in enough detail that people will have
sufficient data to fill out the form. For example, if you are implementing an Advisory Program, you would reiterate
the purpose, content, organization, assessment, and leadership elements of the program and respond to questions
to provide everyone with sufficient knowledge to engage in the role change exercise.
• Ask each table to analyze the first five role elements.
• Compare results and come to a consensus on elements 1-5 (post on the wall for all to see).
• Based on the consensus for items 1-5, ask one table to analyze item 6, another table to analyze item 7, and the
final table to analyze item 8.
• Review results and come to a consensus on elements 6-8 (post on the wall for all to see).
• As a large group, identify what professional development is required to address role/position changes.
• Repeat the workshop/process with the next most important stakeholder group impacted by the changes. The only
difference is that you will provide them with the analysis done by the first group.
• Repeat and refine all role/position analyses.
7. Processing the Results:
• Build action items, e.g., professional development, into your overall implementation plan to address needs
identified during the role/position analysis sessions.
• Be sure to communicate your workshop findings to all interested stakeholders.
• Keep in mind that you may need to make refinements to the roles/positions you analyzed based on subsequent
stakeholder role/position analyses. In other words this will probably not be a one-shot deal.
© 2015 CSSR, Inc. All rights reserved.
ROLE/POSITION ANALYSIS
ROLE CHANGE WORKSHEET
ROLE ELEMENT
1. Outcomes Reflecting
Success (Measurable)
2. Most Important
Contacts/Interfaces
3. Most Important
Tasks/Activities/
Responsibilities
4. Workload
5. Special
Requirements
© 2015 CSSR, Inc. All rights reserved.
NOW
AFTER CHANGE
COMMENTS
ROLE/POSITION ANALYSIS
ROLE ELEMENT
6. What Is No Longer
Required - Comes
Off The Plate
NOW
N/A
7. Authority - Final
Word On
8. Primary
Knowledge,
Skill, and Talent
Requirements
9. Professional
Development
Requirements
© 2015 CSSR, Inc. All rights reserved.
N/A
AFTER CHANGE
COMMENTS