Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities Within the Workplace

Teamwork & CooperationConflicts & TensionsManagers≈ 20 min

Key skill: Decision-making

Summary

Clarify who does what to defuse team conflict: three approaches, from precisely defining scopes to mission-based accountability, plus RACI to clearly divide up expectations.

Target audience

Any manager wanting to promote a model of collaboration that inspires boldness, agility, and accountability

Learning objectives

Define clear scopes of roles and responsibilities where possible and desirable.
Encourage individual responsibility for an organic evolution of accountability.
Define missions and objectives to foster autonomous accountability.
Use tools such as RACI to clarify everyone's roles and expectations.

Module outline

StorytellingThe story of a dedicated employee who embodies the values of initiative-taking and shared responsibility
ArticlesRACI best practices · Individual responsibility and collective responsibility · "I step in if...": the 5 key situations
Expert videoAn overview of 3 solutions to avoid conflicts caused by unclear roles and responsibilities
AnchoringA quiz and true/false exercise to explore the topic further and cement what you've learned
Memo cardDownloadable memo card: the key takeaways from the expert video
CommitmentConcrete examples to help you define your own commitment

Models & methods

Scope clarification; self-governance; mission- and objective-based accountability; RACI tool; individual vs. collective responsibility.

Research-based

Self-governance as described by Frédéric Laloux in "Reinventing Organizations."