Goals

1. Describe roles in problem solving.
2. Skillfully use roles to organized problems.

Roles (What)

A role is an area of responsibility or concern for an actor (person or group).

Examples of Roles

• A teacher’s role is to guide students.
• One of the roles of a university is to create new information by engaging in scholarly research.
• One of the roles of a restaurant is to provide good food to its customers.
• A doctor’s role is to diagnose and treat patient.
• If a person plays tennis, on of their roles is “tennis player.”

Multiple Roles

The roles of an actor refer to all the things that they care about and should do well. In general, actors have multiple roles.

Here are some examples of the roles that JD might have: Father, Husband, Lawyer, Volleyball Player, Business Owner, Manager, and Caregiver for Elderly Parents.

Here are some of the roles associated with a company in my hometown: Provide reliable and safe products to customers. Maintain a healthy and safe work environment. Maintain inventory. Advertise. Make sales. Hire employees. Keep the business operation organized. Educate the workforce. Act as a good citizen in the community.

Most universities have three main roles: educate students, conduct research and publish findings, and provide service.

Skill with Roles: Using Roles Effectively

Framework

1. Identify all the roles and give them a name.

   1. Ensure that the list of roles covers everything that is important to the actor.

2. For each role, keep a list of problems that might be worthwhile to solve.

3. Keep this list prioritized.

4. When you devote resources to a role, align your actions with your most important problems to solve and your most important operations to keep up on.

Tips

• If you do this skillfully
  1. You feel like your efforts are aligned with your highest priorities.
  2. You feel calm and in control, not overwhelmed by problems.
  3. You continually get things done.
• Strive to make your roles CEME (Collectively Exhausting and Mutually Exclusive)