Collaboration

Team Role Exploration

Misunderstandings about roles cause conflict. This exercise clarifies responsibilities, expectations, and decision authority. Ambiguous roles create duplicated effort and turf wars. Clarity prevents those problems.

Duration

2 hours

Group Size

4-10

Category

Collaboration

Difficulty

Easy

Define role responsibilities. - Identify role overlaps and gaps. - Establish decision-making authority. - Build shared understanding of team operations.

Clear role definitions with responsibilities and boundaries. - Eliminated role overlaps and gaps. - Documented decision-making authority.

Surface Hidden Assumptions: People operate with unstated assumptions about roles. Make every "obviously" explicit. Revealed assumptions can be aligned. Overlap vs. Collaboration: Some overlap is intentional collaboration. Some is confusion. Distinguish healthy collaboration from problematic ambiguity. Gaps Are Common: You'll often discover nobody owns something important. Assign explicit ownership. I've seen teams struggle with this, so be patient. Decision Authority Matters Most: Unclear decision authority is the biggest source of conflict. Make decision authority explicit for common decisions.

List All Roles (15 minutes): Identify every team role: designer, PM, engineer, researcher, etc. One person might hold multiple roles; list them separately. Aim for 5-10 roles. 2. Individual Responsibility Mapping (30 minutes): Each person writes what they think each role should do. What decisions do they make? What deliverables do they own? What activities are they responsible for? Do this individually to surface misalignment. 3. Share and Compare (35 minutes): Present each person's role definitions. Where do definitions align? Where do they diverge? You'll often discover that people think different roles own the same responsibility, or nobody owns a certain responsibility. 4. Reconcile and Document (30 minutes): As a group, agree on role definitions. For each role, define core responsibilities, key activities, decision authority, and deliverables. Name intentional collaboration explicitly. Eliminate accidental confusion. 5. Test Against Work (10 minutes): Take a recent project or decision. Do role definitions match how the work actually happened? If not, either roles need adjustment or the team needs to work differently.

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For Facilitators

Review participant profiles and expectations
Prepare all materials and supplies
Test technology and room setup

For Participants

Complete pre-session survey
Review background materials
Prepare examples or case studies

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Whiteboard or large paper. - Role definition templates. - Sticky notes. - Recent project examples. - Org chart.

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Facilitator Guide (PDF)
Participant Workbook Template
Presentation Slides
Printable Materials

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