3.2 What is a Role?

In several cohorts of the teamdecoder Academy, we’ve explored this definition in depth. Here, I’d like to share a summary as a response.

The “Neue Narrative” offers the following definition of a “role”:
“Roles are a concept used in many organizational models to divide responsibility into clearly defined areas and then assign them to people.”

In Holacracy, for example, roles are meaningful clusters of “accountabilities” that are constantly evolving and expanding.

I also found this definition from ChatGPT quite fitting:

“A role in the context of teamwork refers to the specific task, responsibility, or function that a team member assumes within the team. These roles serve to facilitate work efficiency, coordination, and collaboration within the team.”

It’s important to note that team members often hold multiple roles simultaneously, depending on the needs of the project and their individual skills. Successful assignment and execution of team roles can enhance productivity, prevent conflict, and foster effective collaboration.

Clarification:

When we speak of “roles” here, we’re always referring to work-related contexts. A role delivers a concrete, defined, measurable, and visible contribution to the team’s work. So when we talk about “roles” in our context, we’re not referring to personality “types” (which of course also exist in teams—e.g., the “Shaper” type, the “Explorer” type, the “I’ll just get this done” type, or red, green, blue, yellow types, etc.).

Details:

• A role is a clearly defined mandate for achieving a goal

• A role represents a distinct area of responsibility

• It expresses the expectations of a team or supervisor towards the role holder

• A role is less than a "position"—more like a "broken-down" version of one—which makes it more dynamic and flexible, easier to modify or reassign

• One person can hold multiple roles

• The role itself is independent of the person

• A role can be part of multiple teams/circles/groups

Objectives:

• Coordination

• Efficiency

• Facilitate collaboration

• Clarity (What is expected of me?) and transparency (Who is doing what, why, and with whom?)

• Achieving team goals

• Assembling the best combination of roles for each employee

Links:

• Video: Webinar ( in German, subtitles available) "Von starren Jobs zu flexiblen Rollen": https://youtu.be/U8-Z25NuPpQ

• Presentation (in German): https://docsend.com/view/4e6fs2cugr5kfx8v

• Blog: "How Role-Based Working Simplifies Recruiting": https://teamdecoder.tawk.help/article/wie-rollenbasiertes-arbeiten-das-recruiting-vereinfacht

• Blog: "Roles and Salaries: A Complicated Pair" https://teamdecoder.tawk.help/article/rollen-und-gehalt-ein-kompliziertes-paar-roles-and-salaries-a-complicated-pair

• Blog: "Flexibility and Team Effectiveness: Overcoming Barrieres in Adpoting Role-Based Work-Structures": https://teamdecoder.tawk.help/article/flexibility-and-team-effectiveness-overcoming-barriers-in-adopting-role-based-work-structures