How to use the RACI Model to Set Expectations
One of the challenges many leaders face is understanding where and when they can delegate tasks or decisions to the people who report to them. I’ve written before about how you can use techniques like the 70% Rule to help make these decisions.
Part of why making these delegation decisions can be problematic is that it can be challenging to set proper expectations regarding a subordinate’s decision-making ability when a task is delegated, or even how they can best communicate or report back to their leader after completing the task.
It turns out that there is another tool commonly used in building organizational charts or managing projects that we can repurpose to help streamline the delegation process in ways that set clear expectations for everyone. It’s called a RACI chart, short for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. This makes it a structured way to delegate effectively.
Who’s Responsible?
A RACI chart, also known as a responsibility matrix, is an effective way to help teams understand how different members interact with one another. Each team member is listed at the top of a column using a grid or matrix. Tasks or issues then appear as rows. Each team member then receives one of the four labels for their role with that task:
- Responsible: This person owns this task and has decision-making authority over it throughout its completion.
- Accountable: This person is ultimately answerable for the task’s completion and ensures that it is completed correctly, even where some of the work may be delegated to others.
- Consulted: People who provide input, feedback, or expertise before completing the task. They are typically subject matter experts or key stakeholders.
- Informed: People who need to be updated on the task’s progress after completion. They don’t contribute directly to the task but must be aware of its developments.
RACI charts help prevent confusion by clearly mapping out everyone’s role concerning tasks or deliverables. The appropriate R, A, C, or I is assigned for each task, making it clear who is responsible, accountable, consulted, or informed.
These responsibility matrices are especially useful on complex projects involving many stakeholders and overlapping responsibilities.
However, we can also use them as an effective structured way to delegate tasks and decisions.
Managing Expectations
We can use RACI charts to help manage the expectations between leaders and their direct reports. For example, you might use a chart like this to map that for any decision that costs $100,000 or less, a direct report, such as a VP, has complete Responsibility and Accountability to make that decision, with only the obligation to Inform the CEO about it after the fact.
There might also be a threshold where the CEO retains ultimate Responsibility over an issue, but the VP has the Authority to delegate work to other team members.
For decisions with an impact of more than $100,000 (potentially up to $1 million) or that entail a higher risk to the organization, the VP may retain the responsibility and accountability for making the decision. However, they must Consult with their CEO before making the decision.
Then, for decisions of $1 million and above, the matrix would shift, with the CEO retaining ultimate Responsibility and Accountability over the issue, while perhaps only having the obligation to Inform the VP after making a decision.
We have seen this model used between a CEO and a Chair or a Board to ensure that they each understand the limits of their authority and the expected lines of communication. This can be particularly useful for a new CEO or when a CEO is promoted to the board, as it provides clarity for the incoming leader.
Using the RACI model in this way offers you, as a leader, a structured way to delegate while maintaining flexibility to customize how you manage expectations when assigning work to your team members.
Mapping Progress
Mapping out the expectations around delegated issues helps eliminate the confusion that typically arises when someone isn’t clear about what is expected of them.
As a leader, you can use the matrix to help paint a picture of where you see a direct report’s capabilities at that time, while also using it to track the progression of how that person is gaining more of your trust by earning more Responsibility and Authority over time as they shift to need you more in a Consult or Inform role.
Ultimately, this model can also track the development progress of your team members as you assign them ultimate Responsibility and Authority for issues without the need to Consult or Inform you. That’s when you know you have developmental success on your hands.
So, the next time you have an opportunity to delegate, think about how you might use a RACI chart to help you set clear expectations about everyone’s role with that task, including how everyone needs to communicate with each other about it. This is a proven structured way to delegate that improves clarity, accountability, and team development.
