Leaders and managers, including you, share a universal expectation for staff members. You ex-pect every one of your team members to make a significant contribution to the advancement of your business or organization. When this expectation is met, you are pleased, the team is validated and the business grows. Here is your challenge: you must make your expectations clear, specific, personal and consistent.

You must clarify your expectations with a professional assignment for each team member. Each professional assignment clarifies your expectations, spells out each team members goals and pro-jects and establishes a foundation of accountability and professionalism. I have passionately de-clared to hundreds of leaders, “If you only do one thing, do this: write a professional assignment for each team member.”

As the leader of your team, you are responsible to organize and manage the business. You are responsible to 1) write a business plan, 2) model the plan personally and professionally, and 3) monitor the progress of each team member.

Professional team members are responsible to organize and manage their own work. They are responsible to 1) write an action plan, 2) model professional behavior, and 3) report on their pro-gress.

When the boundary between your responsibility and their responsibility is unclear, confusion reigns.

Expect Team Members to Make a Significant Contribution

You assign your business goals to various team members. That’s your responsibility. The team member is responsible to reach the assigned goals. The team member must display a level of pro-fessional self-management to be successful. They must take responsibility for their appearance, their attitudes, their priorities and their decisions. They must plan their action, monitor the results, adjust tactics and expand their skills. In summary, professionals are expected to organize their own work, manage themselves and achieve their goals.

These responsibilities differentiate professional knowledge workers from day laborers. When it comes to day laborers, the boss organizes and manages the work. The boss doesn’t expect day la-borers to understand the big picture. The boss understands the goals that advance the business. The boss is the only one equipped to manage the work of the day laborers, “This is what I want you to do next.” For the day laborer, the boss is the one who knows what needs to be done. The day laborers are told what to do, but they don’t always know why they are doing it.

It is different with professionals. They are supposed to know what to do and why it needs to be done. Professionals organize and manage their own work.  A professional is expected to understand the big picture and take personal responsibility for accomplishing an assigned portion of it. A professional is expected to take responsibility for making a significant contribution to the advancement of the business or organization.

Allow Team Members the Freedom to Organize Their Work:

You confuse your team when you manage them as if they were day laborers. Most of the time, you lead them as professionals. You give them freedom to organize and manage their work in away that fits their best. However, when you are stressed, irritated, anxious, or confused, you step in and make decisions they have been making. You tell them what to do, but don’t explain why.

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The team will recognize and respect your authority as their leader (if they don’t, they are not professionals). But they do not understand why you change their priorities, reverse their decisions or criticize their actions. The reason may be clear to you but it is perplexing to the team. They don’t connect your actions and orders with their portion of the big picture.

Like you, your team wants to be treated with respect. They want to do their work in a way that pleases you. But when you step in and take over, they don’t understand what you expect from them. All they know is that you are stressed, irritated, anxious and confused. In this, they follow your lead. They become stressed, irritated, anxious and confused. This is not a good combination.

Micro-managing turns professionals into day laborers. Your team members don’t know what decisions they should make or when you will overturn a decision they have already made. They are frustrated. The day laborer handles the problem by repeatedly asking the boss, “What do you want me to do next?”  This “day-labor system” will not work in your office. You won’t like it and your team won’t like it. You need a system fit for professional knowledge workers.

Give Team Members a Professional Assignment

A professional assignment clarifies each the team member’s responsibilities and your expectations. It provides the purpose, priorities and principles team members need to know so that they can make a significant contribution to the growth and strength of the business. A professional assignment contains the following:

The Organization’s Values and Mission: Sets the foundation for professional attitudes, actions, and decision making. Any attitude, action or decision that compromises the values or mission is grounds for dismissal.

The Title and Purpose: The title should indicate what the person does, such as P&C specialist, Client Service Representative, Family Therapist, Financial Advisor, etc. The purpose states why the assignment is important. Focus on benefits for clients and customers. This clarifies what is important beyond the financial bottom line.

The Contribution: Contributions focus on long-term success. They are not goals (such as ‘close 50 sales in June’) but principles that advance the growth and increase the strength of the business. For example, increase the number of clients we serve or strengthen the loyalty of our customers or place our products and services before the public. Each task, priority and decision made by a team member should connect to these contributions.

The Goals or Projects: Goals or projects are specific, measurable and timed objectives. Quarterly goals are often more motivating than year-long goals.

Accountability: Every professional needs someone to take their progress report and help them solve problems. This is the purpose of an accountability meeting. Spell out when, what and to whom he or she reports.