Roles and Responsibility Reset

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Produce an agreed RACI matrix that assigns exactly one accountable person and clarifies doing, consulting, and informing roles for key team workstreams.

Use it when: Use when a team faces duplicated tasks, dropped handoffs, ambiguous sign-offs, or recent structural reorganization.

Skip it when: Skip when the group lacks decision-making authority over their own workflows, or when sorting through a specific micro-task list rather than high-level workstreams.

Group arrangement: Whole group working on a shared visual grid, with brief individual writing rounds.

Timing: Source workshop specifies 90 minutes across 6 structured phases.

Materials and tools

• Large poster board or multiple flip chart sheets taped together
• Sticky notes in 4 distinct colors (at least 20 per participant)
• Markers (one per participant)
• Printed RACI Framework Explainer (one per participant)
• Dot stickers for voting (3 per participant)
• Masking tape or adhesive putty
• Timer
• Camera or phone to record the final board

Before participants arrive

1. Tape poster paper or flip chart sheets across a wide, flat wall.
2. Set out four distinct colors of sticky notes, assigning one color to each letter: Responsible (R), Accountable (A), Consulted (C), Informed (I).
3. Write the color key visibly at the top corner of the wall space.
4. Place markers, dot stickers, and printed RACI explainer sheets at each seat.

Say this to open

Work falls through gaps, gets duplicated, or causes friction when ownership is fuzzy. Today we fix that by building a visual map of who owns what using RACI: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. By the end of this session, every major responsibility will have exactly one person accountable for the outcome.

How to run it

1. Introduce RACI and Costs of Confusion 12 minutes

   Deliver opening remarks. Ask the room: 'What happens when ownership is unclear? What does it cost us?' Record 3 to 5 brief answers on a flip chart. Hand out the RACI Framework Explainer. Define the four terms: Responsible completes work, Accountable makes final calls, Consulted gives prior two-way input, and Informed receives one-way updates. Accountable is always strictly one person. Walk through a neutral example like 'Hiring a team member.' Answer brief clarifying questions.

2. Brainstorm and Prioritize Responsibilities 15 minutes

   Give participants 7 minutes to write core work responsibilities on sticky notes, aiming for 8 to 12 each. Remind them to record ongoing work areas rather than one-off tasks. Have everyone post their notes on the wall. Spend 5 minutes grouping duplicates with the room. If more than 12 distinct areas remain, give everyone 3 dot stickers for a 3-minute vote. Write the top 8 to 12 areas across the top columns of the main poster grid.

3. Draft Current Ownership Grid 25 minutes

   Take 2 minutes to write team member names down the left edge of the grid and hand out the four colored note pads. For each responsibility column, run a strict 2-minute timer asking who does the work (R), who owns the outcome (A), who is consulted beforehand (C), and who is informed afterward (I). Participants place colored notes into the grid cells. If disagreement arises over a role, do not debate now; immediately place both notes side by side with an asterisk to defer resolution to Step 4.

4. Resolve Gaps and Enforce Single Accountability 20 minutes

   Scan the grid for missing roles, multiple A marks, or excessive C marks. For contested areas, ask: 'Who has structural authority to make the final call when there is disagreement?' Shift extra A tags to R or C so that every column has exactly one Accountable owner. Prune unnecessary C marks into I marks. If an item cannot be resolved within three minutes, tag it TBD, assign an owner and deadline, and continue.

5. Establish Consultation and Information Rules 10 minutes

   Establish team ground rules for C and I. Ask: 'What does being Consulted mean in daily practice?' Capture two concrete standards, such as requiring two days notice for input before work proceeds. Next, ask: 'What does being Informed mean?' Record agreed communication channels and note that informed parties do not hold veto power. Write these operational rules clearly on the bottom margin of the poster.

6. Confirm Commitments and Schedule Review 8 minutes

   Ask everyone to inspect their personal row on the grid. Run a quick go-around where each participant confirms their roles or flags an immediate concern. Write the date on the poster and invite everyone to initial the border. Assign one participant to take a clear photograph of the chart, post it to the team channel today, and put a 30-day review checkpoint on the shared calendar.

Debrief questions

• Which role shift today removes the biggest practical friction for your daily work?
• Where might old communication habits tempt us to over-consult instead of informing?
• How will we address work that emerges between now and our 30-day review?

Finished output: A signed, complete RACI poster board with exactly one Accountable person per prioritized workstream, clear operational rules for C and I, and an assigned 30-day follow-up owner.

Remote

Use a digital whiteboard with a pre-drawn matrix (responsibilities across the top, team members on the left). Create color-coded digital sticky notes for R, A, C, and I. Run brainstorms using private sticky notes before revealing. Use digital voting pins for prioritization. Conduct whole-group grid placement by calling out one column at a time, allowing participants to place their own digital tags directly onto the shared digital grid.

Hybrid

Appoint a digital co-facilitator. The digital whiteboard serves as the single source of truth and is projected onto the room screen. In-room participants speak into a shared room microphone and place tags directly onto the digital board using personal laptops or a shared room input station, matching remote participants who place tags directly online. No secondary physical paper wall is used.

Access and participation choices

• Color-code notes with clear bold letters (R, A, C, I) written on the face of every note to support participants with color vision differences.
• Participants may review their row silently and submit private text adjustments to the facilitator if uncomfortable speaking during the public review.

If the session gets stuck

Two people insist they are both Accountable for the same responsibility.

Remind the team that Accountable means the single tie-breaker. Ask: 'If you two completely disagree on a decision, who has the structural authority to make the final call?' Assign 'A' to that individual and 'R' or 'C' to the other.

The group marks almost everyone as Consulted on every item, which will create communication bottlenecks.

Intervene and challenge the list: 'If five people must be consulted before acting, this project will stall. Who only needs to see the result?' Convert non-essential 'C' tags to 'I'.

Terms used here

• RACI: An acronym defining four ownership roles: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed.
• Accountable (in RACI): The single individual who owns the final outcome, holds decision authority, and answers for success or failure.