Roles

The reason we have different roles in the organisation is so that we can specialise.

A role is an area of accountability defined by a domain and assigned to a person (the role keeper), who has autonomy to decide and act within the constraints of the role's domain. The role is like a hat, carried by a person – the role keeper. One person can fill several roles. The same role can be filled by more than one person. In some contexts, you carry one or more hats, and in others, you carry another hat. Role keepers are nominated and selected by consent for a limited term and peers support one another to develop in the roles they fulfil.

We differentiate between two different main types of roles: functional roles and process roles.

Functional roles can be consultants, developers, creatives, leaders, and other specialists with different skillset requirements. Process roles are there to make sure that the process from tension to agreement runs smoothly. The five common ones are:

Operations leader

Representing the higher or lower circle in the team. It’s the top-down link and the closest you get to a classic manager but without the decision-making veto (since everyone has decision making power with the consent method).

Representative

Bottom-up link and inverse information flow compared to operations leader. Makes sure that the lower circle is represented in the next higher circle.

Meeting secretary

Responsible for inviting colleagues to upcoming meeting, booking rooms, coordinating with facilitator and logbook keeper, and sending out agenda beforehand (24 hours is recommended).

Logbook keeper

Taking notes, documenting agreements and updating Planner, etc.

Facilitator

Responsible for sticking to the agenda and making sure that decisions are made. Also, inviting everyone to be heard and sometimes stopping arguments in the team. Sometimes coming with clear suggestions when there are disagreements.

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As with circles, the role also accounts for a domain including a primary driver. And as with domains, she, he or those who discover a need are the ones responsible for creating a domain description and making sure it gets populated. Simple. Difficult if you're new to this way of working, but, not very complicated once you get the hang of it.