We talk a lot about building out orgs and all the planning it takes to construct teams. A lesser discussed idiosyncrasy of that process is writing job descriptions. To post online and kick off the process of hiring people to build out said org. I went through one of those exercises this week and, with a couple minutes of thought, tweaked the title of the position. It was like a 2-3 minute decision.

But for the person who comes in and assumes this role in some ways it becomes their new professional identity. Pretty weird, right? People get really wrapped up in titles. Or trying to maintain the absence of them. The eternal fight for status rages on around us.

I’ve seen people go from a Customer Success Manager to a Manager, Customer Success. I’ve seen Global Heads of Whatever who work for companies with 100% of their business in the U.S. Managers becomes Sr Managers and Directors Sr Directors without any real change in responsibility. Team members will receive new titles to make them stay. Their teammates will receive new titles that will make allow them to leave. Some Managers manage people and some manage projects. Title soup will make you dizzy.

I used to think that titles didn’t really matter. It should be what you do that matters. But I’m not so sure anymore. Unfortunately compensation and rewards are tied to titles and their corresponding levels as companies grow. So for better or worse you have to play the game a little bit.

Titles aside, creating space for yourself and for your team members to operate remains paramount. People need to feel like they have room to grow in their career with a variety of directions to pursue. It’s one of the best gifts you can give as a leader.

So I guess that’s the thought this week. Operating space > titles. But to titles…attention still needs to be paid. For better or for worse.