Suggestions are Welcome: But Stay in Your Lane

Why:
-Communication gets questionable
-Team comradery is weakened due to hurt feelings & perceived lack of confidence in other team members
-We all have enough work to do - so just do your work.
-Productively is decreased

Here are a few examples in an organization that are completely made up - this would never really happen, right?
Example #1 - Communication Gets Questionable
We have three staff in which their entire job involves reaching out to elected officials to inform them about our products, promote legislation on state and federal levels, and manage relationships with elected official staff included mayors, managers, alderman at a municipal level.

Here are the roles:
Legislative Liaison State
Legislative Liaison Federal
Director of External Affairs - all local officials
I get an angry phone call from a state elected official that says she talked to someone in our organization and cannot get consistent information.  They cannot remember the name of the person to whom they spoke.
I naturally ask the State Liaison.  They did not get a call.
The State Liaison makes sure it was not the Federal Liaison or External Affairs - or their staff.  It was not.
I ask the Chief of Staff.  Nope, not her.
I email Leadership Team to ask who spoke to the official.
At least five steps in, it turns out another Senior Staff person (who reports to the COS) took the call and answered a question.
Because it was not the role of this Senior Staff person, they should have immediately made contact with the State Liaison.  The State Liaison would have immediately called the official.
Two steps
Two staff
Two mins of time
Done

Example #2 - You Don’t Think I am Doing A Good Job
A well meaning Comptroller decides to write a new agenda template for a weekly standing finance meeting.
The meeting is lead by a financing team member.
The Comptroller is a peer with staff member’s boss.
The meeting is a two-hour make-hard-decisions on complicated deals type of meeting.
The Comptroller  is a member of this team and attends the meetings to issue spot structuring issues.
The Comptroller creates a detailed template for the agenda for future meetings and hands it out at a meeting.
This is a good example of:
Stay in your lane.  Not your meeting. Not your agenda.
A suggested format change to the meeting leader would be welcome, especially if it come in private before the meeting.
The lead (and his bosses feelings) were hurt because it made the GC look like he did not respect their hard work.

Example #3 - Just do Your Work
I see these type of examples happening with frequency.  It is up the leaders to manage their staff to staff in their lane.
There was a member of our planning staff taking valuable work time to research federal regulations and agency guidelines to find out if a certain financial waiver is required.
We have finance, underwriting and a team on internal and external attorney’s whose job is to know these regulations and guidelines.
Bottom line:  There is no better way to kill a good team vibe as doing someone else’s work.

NOTE:  Please do not read this and think I am not a proponent of suggestions, sharing information, letting team members know something may be falling through the cracks, issue spotting, or other type of healthy work communication.  But it is never OK to get out of your lane. Read my blog on Mining for Truth and Conflict.

NOTE NOTE:  I am trying really hard to practice staying in my lane at home with my 15 year old daughter.  She is a freshman in high school and has a lot more freedom than ever. On one hand, I want her to grow in her independence and forge her own new path.  On the other hand, I am her mother! I love her. I want to warn her of every possible pitfall out there. So, when I go into that mode of parenting, I silently chant “stay in your lane.”