03/28/2024

How to Tell Employees to Maintain Their Lane

Don't spend hours explaining decisions that don't impact their job

I manage a large team. Their job descriptions and roles are pretty clear and specific, but one of our subject matter experts, "Jane," is constantly questioning the work of other team members on projects she doesn't have a stake in (and by default my support for that work and the decisions being made). I want to encourage feedback and discussion, but I also need to let Jane know she has to trust her co-workers and their expertise, and the boundaries of who "owns" what.

I think one of the issues is the company and my team have grown from a small one to a larger one with new leadership (including me!). So we've gone from a place where a lot of decisions were made by committee to one where some people are stakeholders and others are not. Jane has been at the company for a while but is not in a leadership or management position, so is often not a stakeholder in key decisions/projects.

I've tried to put better guardrails around feedback or limit involvement in some projects but then she says she doesn't feel heard. How do I respectfully communicate that she should focus more on her role, without stifling creative collaboration and discussion?

Please select this link to read the complete article from Inc.