Working with Roles

At oikos, there are rarely jobs that match one job description. There are no ‘boxes’ on organization charts. Instead, everyone has a unique combination of roles that they agreed on & are committed to

WHAT are roles?

Each role bundles a number of responsibilities & activities that belong together. A particular set of roles is clustered together into a (sub-)circle, or in other words: (sub-)circles contain multiple roles (see user guide for team structure). One person usually has multiple roles in different circles & sub-circles. A role can be owned by one or multiple circle members, rendering it an individual, shared or split responsibility. Roles are created, exchanged and discontinued in response to current needs and they emerge & cease in conversation with the relevant circle they belong to.

Responsibilities cluster into roles, roles form a circle

All roles of the oikos International team are summarized in the role base on airtable. Each circle has one sheet in the base, introducing categories & questions that support the reflective process around relationships, objectives and processes related to a role. It helps to bring clarity to oneself and the team and can serve as a first orientation in handover processes.

Roles are like accessoires we can pick out of our closet for certain occassions. Which roles are you wearing?

WHY roles?

• Clarity: for oneself and in collaboration with teams, first orientation in handover processes

• Accountability: Knowing who is responsible for what

• Adaptability: to changing requirements & contexts. Job titles and descriptions rarely do justice to unique combinations of roles, and they are also too static to account for the fluid nature of our work. Furthermore, roles can easily be passed on to another person if defined clearly which increases the adaptability of our team as a whole. With a lot of fluctuation in the team, this is particularly useful.

• Whole person work: We see our team members as the humans they are and do not want to equal them with what they do at oikos. Therefore, we use this concept of roles rather than positions or job titles. When we believe our job is who we really are, we start thinking and behaving accordingly. Without job titles and descriptions, we are more likely to see ourselves and others as human beings who simply put their energy into specific work for a period of time and we stay more open to different perspectives. Without focusing just on job titles, it becomes much harder for people to merge their identity with the position they hold. Also: people tend to choose (and be appointed to) roles that have a much better fit with their interests and talents. When people can’t turn to a job description to tell them what to do, they have to find their own unique way to fill a role with life and meaning. This also means we can better Identify potential gaps & opportunities to increase fit of roles with interest & talent.

HOW to shape & shift roles?

Roles on the airtable database reflect the reality of your roles within the sub-circle as close as possible. After the initial creation of a role, there will be constant refining & adapting to clarify, change & maybe even discard roles. This means that roles are an ongoing process of refinement, peer consultation and agreement and NOT a final, never-changing position. Despite the agile nature of roles, having a status quo is increasing clarity and accountability. When someone senses the need to create, modify or scrap a role, they step forward, ask for advice (see decision making user guide) by consulting affected people, and make a decision. A team meeting is a great place to have this conversation. If the role extends beyond the team, the initiator can call a meeting, have several one-on-one conversations, or share the suggestion on a broader platform.

Introducing new roles

An individual or a circle realizes that not all responsibilities are covered by the existing roles & brings the topic to one of the circle meetings. Roles thereby can be as granular or wide as need be. After a reflection on potential names, responsibilities and relationships of the role, it is added to the respective sheet in the role base (see user guide for airtable). You can already add a proposal to the sheet before, highlighting its status as 'visionary'.

This process is usually led by the one(s) who feel responsible for the role/for finding a matching person to take on the role. All people who are directly related to the role have the opportunity to give advice (eg. in 1 on 1 conversations). Once integrated & met with consent by the circle or broader team, the role owner takes over the responsibility & starts filling the role with life.

If a new person will join the team as a result of the newly created role, please ensure to include the people responsible for recruiting & onboarding in the process to ensure transparency and smooth processes (see user guide for recruiting).

Suggestion: Use verbs as titles for your roles. It reinforces the effect of detaching roles from the person and focuses more on the actual responsibilities/activities connected to it.

Maintaining roles - an ongoing process

Roles need to be maintained in order to stay relevant and informative, they need reality-checks so to say. This is a reflective process of looking at your role(s) and asking questions like:

• Does the description in the role base still summarize what I am doing in this role?
• Is this role still relevant?

• If yes, what could improve the clarity around the role, now that I gained experience? Did I meet my goals? Do I need new objectives?

• If not, do we have to discard the role? Is another, complementary role needed?

After reflecting and proposing adjustments, invite your direct circle mates to give advice and remove critical objections before you move ahead with the adaptations. This reflective process should take place every 6 months, our recommendation is to put a date into your calendar and maybe do it together with your teammates (FUN!).

Discarding roles

In case we identified that a role is no longer needed, there are a number of questions to address:

• How to document the learning of the role and store it for future reference? (field guides?)

• What other roles are more helpful/needed?

• Is the role fundamental for the sustainability of the organization? (if YES, you cannot discard the role, but might have to put some effort into reshaping it)

After this reflection by the role owner is done and presented, the respective circle needs to consent to finally remove the role and potentially take follow up steps. All this should be documented. Change the status of the role in the role base from active to inactive.

Handing over Roles

Roles make handover processes great again. Seriously!

When it’s time to hand over a role to another person, make sure to think about the following aspects:

• Is the role and the entry in the role base up to date? Before handing over, a maintenance process is needed. Feel free to add open questions the new role owner might want to address herself. What do you think is the future of the role?
• Have you forwarded all relevant contacts, relationships, documents, emails etc. and explained them to the new person?

• Is there any other contextual information to pass on? After talking through the role canvas and sharing about the general rhythm of the work, what else might be helpful for the other person to know?

• How can you be reached in the future, in case there are relevant open questions?

FAQ

Roles vs. positions, what’s the difference?

Positions are job titles, are identities many people strip over like a onesie. People tend to identify with their positions, merging with them before realizing how much of themselves they leave behind in the workplace. Roles, in comparison, can be more seen as funky accessories we consciously put on in the workplace as we take on a certain number of commitments. They highlight our identity and help us grow and shine.

How are entries in the role base different to job descriptions?

In comparison to job descriptions, entries in the role base are just a tool to support the reflection and working process of a role owner. In effect, the sum of all your roles equal a "real-time contract", negotiated with the colleagues you work with most closely. Roles are refined and agreed upon directly, and say a lot about the important relationships in this role. The role base supports the relational processes.

Do all roles have the same scope?

Roles differ depending on context. Some roles have a rather narrow scope, while other roles take a broader perspective. There are different degrees of granularity. The fluid arrangement of roles (instead of defined job descriptions) also allows for a better matching of talent with roles.

What about managers, who takes the management tasks within roles?

The traditional tasks of a manager - direction-setting, budgeting, analyzing, planning, organizing, measuring, controlling, recruiting, evaluating, and communicating - are distributed amongst various members of a team. People are not accountable to one manager but to their peers, every one of whom is a boss in some respect. Anybody can put on the hat of “the boss” to make important decisions, launch new initiatives, hold underperforming colleagues to account, help resolve conflicts, or take over leadership if results are bad and action is needed.

How do I know where I fit?

Of course, the whole process around roles makes it much harder to know where you fit. The absence of grades and job titles makes career development and salary progression much less certain. Following the LEAP spirit, we have to work on getting comfortable facilitating our own progression in a self-responsible way. This is not something negative - it gives you ownership of your professional development within the organization. Jobs are defined by people rather than the organization. They emerge from a multitude of roles and responsibilities that reflect the interests, talents, and the needs of the organization. By focusing on what needs to happen rather than jobs, we strive to be more adaptable and responsive.

How do I know who is responsible for what?

Outsiders, and sometimes even insiders, can find the absence of job descriptions and job titles confusing because it is less clear who is responsible for what. At oikos, we encourage people to record the roles they are currently filling [AND WE ARE STILL FINDING OUT WHERE ;)). This adds clarity and helps others understand their expertise. However, oftentimes it is also the case that certain people take over a couple of complementary roles which makes it easier to understand responsibilities on an organization-wide level.

Can I still have a job title?

If need felt, people still can choose to have an additional job title they use for external communication. It is common practice to use one’s circle name as a title. For example – introducing oneself as “Carla from Transforming Education” or signing an email: Carla, Transforming Education, oikos. At the same time, in situations when it is more practical to use a conventional title, each person has the freedom to do so. For example, it might be practical for a member of the sales & marketing team to identify as oikos’ marketing manager when addressing marketing services vendors. There is either enough peer pressure or good conscience to avoid fancier ego-driven titles!

What is my scope of responsibility?

While people have clear roles and responsibilities, their concerns don’t need not be limited to these. They can take the well-being of the whole organization to heart. Using the advice process, anyone can take action if they sense an issue. As there are no bosses, there is no one to say, “That is none of your business.” In contrast, everyone is obliged to do something when they sense an issue, even if it’s outside the scope of their roles. That usually means talking about the problem or opportunity with a colleague whose role does relate to the topic. It’s difficult to say: “Somebody should do something about this problem”, and leave it at that, but it is a first step in the right direction.

How are roles allocated?

When a new role is created, in many cases there is an obvious candidate that emerges naturally. It might be the person who sensed the need for the new role, or another team member that everyone sees as the natural person to fill the role. Often, very little discussion is needed. A simple question in a team meeting ("Who feels like taking on this role?" or "I feel Catherine would be the natural person to take on this role, what do you think?") is all that is needed, certainly considering the capacities of individual team members.

How can roles be shifted between team members?

Because roles are granular, it is easy to trade roles within a team. A person who is overly busy can ask someone to pick up one of his or her roles, either temporarily or permanently. Someone who wants to acquire a new skill can ask a colleague to trade a role.

Why do we need roles? Can't we work without formalizing any roles?

By the very nature of the division of labor in organizations, people end up taking up certain roles. We often feel a need for clarity around these roles, for example "I need help with X: who can I talk to?", "I have an idea to change something in this domain: who would be the natural person to make that happen?", "We agreed to do something that didn't get done: who was the person that committed to this?". There is value, therefore, in creating clarity on roles and commitments. Some people can be allergic to any formality or clarity, as it reminds them of traditional, static hierarchies, job titles and job definitions. Remember, roles can be fluidly created, modified, exchanged and scrapped, using peer-based rather than top-down processes. They are a means of facilitating reflective & conversational processes.

Further information: Learn more about roles here. https://reinventingorganizationswiki.com/theory/job-titles-and-job-descriptions/

Or contact Elena & Sophie :)