One Position, Many Roles
We Work in a One Degree World
As we make an inventory of our significant links, we are also making a list of the teams we are members of or interacting with. An organization membership (A1) title role establishes a position in the management team of the position’s boss. Matrix reporting links represent membership in a second manager’s team. If the position has reports, then there is a management team at the next level and a manager role with each staff member. Workflow links (B) may connect internal roles or external to supplier and/or customer teams. A position may have membership in additional teams (C) that are formed by the organization as required by the work.
Person-Position
1-Degree Circle of Relationships
  • Each link represents a relationship between two nodes
  • Each link represents a role in a relationship
  • Each link indicates a team of interdependent roles
Management Teams
Reporting Roles
• A1 In - Title role for primary boss
• A2 In - secondary role for matrix boss
• A1 Out – Boss responsible for staff a
• A1 Out – Boss responsible for staff b
• A1 Out – Boss responsible for staff c
• A2 Out – Secondary boss to staff d
• A2 Out – Secondary boss to staff e
Workflow Teams
Process Roles
• B1 In – Receive workflow from supplier
• B2 Out – Deliver workflow feedback
• B1 Out – Deliver work to customer
• B2 In – Receive feedback from customer
Specialized Teams
Specialized Roles
• C1 In – Member with role in Team X
• C2 In – Participant with role in Team Y
• C1 Out – Team Z leader for member a
• C1 Out – Team Z leader for member b

For a manager that formally has one boss and 3 direct reports, a more comprehensive inventory of responsibilities reveals 15 roles engaged in 9 teams. All represented by a link. Adding information flows and significant personal relationships would further rexpand this person-position hub map.

Remarkably, if each position node carefully defined its significant relationships in whole/part and input-output terms, and confirmed the connection with the person-position at the other end of each link, the whole network would be rendered in all its magnificant complexity. The whole emerges from the persisting interactions of its parts.