Role Titles: Method or Madness?
The question ‘What do you do?’ is almost always followed with a response that includes someone’s job title and understandably so; a job title often forms a key part of our professional identity. It is how we present ourselves to customers and clients, and sometimes it plays a key role in what responsibilities get assigned to us; because it should clearly illustrate the purpose the role fulfils. However, this isn’t always the case and as the world of work evolves, new roles and titles enter the market, meaning organisations can find that their chosen role titles don’t align with the market norm.
A reflection of reality?
The technology landscape is evolving, new roles are introduced into operating models at an unprecedented rate, and unsurprisingly each organisation has its own take on what those roles mean to their businesses. However, when it comes to adding entirely new roles to organisation structures, common sense usually prevails, and we end up seeing titles that are variances on a theme, which is the case across most functions. Titles must make sense within a given organisation and should be created with the organisation in mind, but they also need to make sense to the market. This may sound uninspiring, but role titles are important for generating interest when it comes to sales, being presented with relevant opportunities, and being discoverable by the candidate market. In these respects, going against the grain can be risky so any makeovers relating to role title should be carefully thought through.
When new skillsets get added to existing role structures, we can see role evolution without changes to role titles meaning organisation charts don’t reflect the skillsets present. If role titles aren’t reflective of the roles they represent, responsibilities are unclear to those on the outside of an organisation. Within larger organisations, this can create a lack of clarity even within the organisation for those who sit outside of the technology function, creating inefficiencies in information requests and when seeking guidance from subject matter experts. Wearing multiple hats isn’t uncommon, especially for those operating at a senior level or within a smaller organisation. In these instances, employers generally choose between assigning a role title that represents only one set of responsibilities or having two titles (for example CIO and COO). Whether a role scope has expanded or has always had a broad scope of responsibility, assigning a title that only partially represents the role can affect how that employee’s role is perceived in the market. This is especially the case for client facing employees or members of the senior leadership team.
Let’s take the CIO and CTO roles as an example. These roles are often confused, conflated, and misrepresented. Being at the top of the technology tree means these roles have evolved tremendously and have two distinct set of responsibilities. Yes, they work together to ensure technological agility and competitive edge, but they serve separate purposes. Much like sales and marketing roles, they have dependences on each other but distinct responsibilities. However, within SMEs this broad set of responsibilities may fall under one position; the remit and budget may not stretch to two separate positions. Often in these circumstances these employees are assigned either the CTO or the CIO title and whilst this wouldn’t cause too much confusion in terms of internal perception, they will still be approached as the most senior technical person in the business, the market perception may be affected. The result is confusion in the market of what the role responsibilities for those positions should be and where the distinctions between the two roles should lie, with it meaning different things to different people. Whilst there will always be nuances between organisations, chosen job titles do have an impact on how that role is perceived and how other organisations use that title.
Does it matter?
A lot of people will tell you that they aren’t bothered about role title during the course of career-based conversations, but that’s not entirely convincing. The ‘as long as it’s broadly reflective of seniority and responsibility’ goes unsaid but often implied. Role titles are deeply attached to our sense of accomplishment in the workplace. After all it’s what observers to our career use to track progress whether it’s senior leaders inside your organisation or those we are connected to on LinkedIn, in the world of work our role titles our synonymous with our names.
It’s not just important for those who are motivated by status or progression, having a title that is unique to the role you do and is reflective of that role can support a sense of purpose in the workplace. Equally, if very hierarchical or prescriptive in nature, role titles can play a part in establishing boundaries between employees which doesn’t always have a positive impact on company culture and collaboration. Internally, role titles can be considered especially important at leadership level, acting as a signal of decision maker, mentor, role model, and expert. Even within a fairly flat structure, leadership roles should be identifiable both internally and in the market to ensure approachability and encourage accountability. Obviously, the relative importance of role titles across an organisation is highly dependent on company structure. In complex, matrixed organisations, role scope should be as clear as possible and role titles can support this. In smaller organisations, there is less complexity and therefore accountabilities are much easier to infer from less prescriptive titles.
The ways in which role titles are important is different within different organisations. In some organisations it may be less important for titles to depict seniority but how they align with role responsibilities may be pertinent to operational processes. In other organisations prefixes demonstrating seniority may be significant to culture or how the business operates. Seniority labels can be crucial to the organisational culture that leadership teams are looking to establish. There are positives and negatives to having these form a part of role titles, but they do impact the way people view others internally, the way external parties view employees, employee motivation, and talent attraction. Once someone has had a title reflecting their seniority, they may be less inclined to consider roles that appear to be less senior because a seniority label doesn’t form part of role title format. In an age where a large proportion of professionals are on LinkedIn and judgements can be made on careers with just a quick glance at a profile, titles are more consequential.
Unique job titles can bring the benefit of standing out in a crowd but can cause difficulties when it comes to candidate attraction and employee satisfaction. Sometimes they can elicit a sense of pride in the organisation, positively impacting company culture. However, when advertising vacancies or engaging candidates, those unfamiliar with the organisation could feel the role title doesn’t align with their career history which can be an unattractive proposition. Organisations should also consider the sense of achievement that role titles can bring and the possibility of unique titles diminishing that.
In summary
There is usually method behind the madness, most organisations think very carefully about the role titles they assign when introducing a new role into their organisation structure. However, as organisations and their roles evolve, titles can go unchanged especially if the position is filled. There is no one fix for this; businesses must adapt to change and roles titles can seem inconsequential in the grand scheme of things but the benefits to a clear organisation structure and title assignment shouldn’t be ignored. The fast pace of technology change does mean that technology role titles aren’t always aligned with the market or representative of responsibilities as roles evolve to keep pace. Where possible organisations should attempt to mitigate this in order to maximise employee satisfaction and retention, talent attraction, and improve external engagement. After all, evolving role titles reflect progress.
Things to think about
- If you’re adding to your organisation structure, clarity is key when it comes to role titles, it will support talent attraction and external engagement.
- Technology functions are constantly evolving so gaining insight into market expectations when it comes to introducing new roles can be invaluable.
- In an ever-evolving technical landscape recruitment strategies must be designed to navigate the increasing complexity of identifying talent. For senior positions candidate identification should be guided by research. The ideal candidate may not have the role titles or career history you might expect.
- Role titles have their importance but reinventing the wheel may not have the desired impact. In the highly competitive world of technology talent, the focus should remain on what will maximise talent attraction and retention whilst reflecting the reality of a given position.
Abstract Talent sits alongside our software development and technology consultancy capability, helping organisations build and retain the technology teams needed to implement transformation and growth plans. We are research led, delivering technical leadership and insight to empower businesses, enabling them to attract, acquire, and retain.
Emily Wells
A researcher by background, I've held roles in executive search and talent intelligence, undertaking a variety of projects spanning headhunting, benchmarking, insight generation and market analysis, working with a range of organisations across numerous industries, from SMEs to large corporates, and private equity firms.
As a divisional head within Abstract Group, I am responsible for leading on Abstract Talent's service offering, go to market proposition, and project delivery. I'm hands on in both client engagement and undertaking research, ensuring our services are tailored to the needs of our clients. Abstract Talent specialises in identifying and assessing technical leaders and helping organisations develop effective talent strategies to ensure they can attract, acquire, and retain the right people.