Roles 101

Roles are the building blocks of a modern, adaptive organisation because they make authority and accountability explicit without locking people into rigid job positions. Roles describe a purpose, the ongoing accountabilities to enact that purpose, and any domains the role exclusively controls, separating the role from the person so work can evolve as reality changes. This post explains the essentials of roles, shows a pragmatic method for defining them, and summarises alternative schools like Holacracy, Sociocracy, and Teal so you can choose a fit‑for‑purpose approach.

What a role is

A role is a small, modular package of responsibility that exists to achieve a clear purpose for the organisation. In day‑to‑day terms, a role is what someone stewards for the organisation, not who they are or what their title says. Good roles reduce ambiguity by naming the work, clarifying what is expected, and stating where the role has decision authority without asking for permission. Roles should be transferable from one person to another.

Depending on the framework you use, roles can have various elements. The most basic and essential ones are:

• Title: A clear, memorable name, easy to grasp (optionally with a “ignature”), e.g. “Digital training fairy”
• Purpose: The “why” at the core of the role, a clear goal, e.g. “The digital training programme is always up to date and tailored to the needs of employees”.
• Accountabilities: The “what”, recurring tasks that this role is executing, written with active verbs, e.g. “moderates team meetings” or “creates user-friendly training material”.

In Holacracy, roles can also include domains, which capture the “where I decide” aspect, hence assets or decision areas the role controls. This makes it possible for multiple holders of the same role to segment their authority cleanly across different areas.

What a role is not

A role is not a lifetime job description or a ladder to climb, and it is not synonymous with a person, because one person can hold several roles and one role can be held by several people. A role is not a vague bucket like “Operations”, nor is it a task checklist that changes every day. Roles capture ongoing accountabilities rather than transient to‑dos. A role is not a hierarchy of ranks, because roles distribute authority across domains instead of centralising power in a single manager. Finally, a role is not frozen, because roles are expected to evolve as tensions arise and as organisational needs change.

Create your first roles

This section offers a practical, hands‑on way to identify your most important roles. It is framework‑agnostic and works equally well for organisations without explicit governance practices. It’s important to note, that there is no right or wrong. Please adapt it to your needs.

1. Collect activities

Begin by listing all recurring activities that you consider essential to achieving your goals sustainably and without undue stress. Think in terms of “what needs to happen regularly?” Capture one activity per (digital) Post‑it.

If you are already collaborating, start with what you actually do today, then add what’s missing. Your calendar from the past few weeks, recent to‑do lists and other collaboration tools are rich sources of truth.

2. Cluster into roles

In the second step, group related, recurring activities into coherent bundles. When several activities are similar in content or intent, they likely belong together. From three or more related activities, form an activity cluster, i.e., a candidate role.

3. Name and define purpose

Give each role a clear title and a succinct purpose. The purpose should answer “what is this role needed for?” or the “why”, e.g. “The team is always in fantastic financial shape”, “All team meetings are efficient and enjoyable”, or “All final reports are error‑free”. Naming is hard, so don’t let perfectionism slow you down. You can always refine titles and purposes later on. Transfer your roles to the role cards or directly into the (digital) tool of your choice.

4. Assign roles

At this point, you have developed your first prototype role model. The final step is to assign the roles to individual people. Many role holders are obvious choices because they already perform the activities associated with the role. If some roles remain unassigned, park them for later. The important thing is that you assign the key roles that are necessary for the team to work well, such as a moderator and a documenter.

Next steps

Document the roles so that they are clearly visible to everyone in the team or organisation at all times. Also, establish a routine for regularly reviewing and evolving them. You could even create a role responsible for scheduling and facilitating these reviews to ensure the structure stays current as circumstances change. Now would also be a good time to consider adopting a proven framework to assist with the process:

• Holacracy provides a formal operating system for roles, domains and governance. It adds a clear process to evolve roles as tensions are surfaced and resolved, which helps maintain alignment as you scale.

• Sociocracy offers modular patterns, such as consent decision‑making and role selection, that you can adopt incrementally to strengthen clarity and feedback loops.

• Teal is a broader paradigm centred on self‑management, wholeness and evolutionary purpose. Many Teal‑inspired organisations still use the role mechanics above to keep autonomy safe and productive.

Whatever you choose, the essentials remain the same: give every role a purpose, make ongoing accountabilities explicit, and clarify decision domains. Keep the structure lightweight, visible and regularly refreshed. That way, roles become clarity in motion: Precise enough to empower action, and flexible enough to evolve as your organisation learns.