Defining Roles & Responsibilities

Establishing Roles and Responsibilities

Operating a business requires finding the sweet spot between structure and flexibility. Too much structure, and your professionals are hindered from exercising judgment and creativity. Too little structure, and you expose your company to unnecessary liability, your employees don’t know what is expected of them, and you have an unclear picture of who you need on your team to enable it to continue to grow.

If you are a solopreneur, you may still rely on independent contractors to support various aspects on your business, so the exercise still applies. Who do you have on your team? What do they do on a daily basis? What should they be doing on a daily basis? How do you measure success in that role? Do the same exercise for the roles that you would want on your team.

For those roles that will be employees on your organization, consider what skills are critical and what skills are ones that can be learned on the job. Having a clear picture of who you have on your team and who you need and what will be required of them will help you establish a means for discussing performance and the employee experience.

Not sure where to start? Pull a few job descriptions from Indeed or LinkedIn. Highlight the key skills that you believe would apply to the roles in your company.