RACI Analysis

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A RACI Chart is simply a way of documenting responsibilities.  This can be for a specific project, or for ongoing roles within an organization.  We discuss the following aspects of the RACI Chart below:

  • Definitions for a RACI Chart.
  • What is a RACI Chart, and why it is important.
  • Guidelines and Rules for building a RACI Chart.
  • How a RACI Chart works
  • RACI Chart horizontal & vertical analysis

Definitions for a RACI Chart

RACI is an acronym that stands for:

R – “The Doer”: Position working on activity

A – “The Buck Stops Here”: Position with yes/no authority.

C  – “In The Loop”: Position involved prior to a decision or action

I – “Keep In The Picture”: Position that needs to know of decision or action

What is a RACI Chart, and Why it is Important:

The RACI Chart serves a variety of functions:

  • It is a technique used to clarify roles and responsibilities.
  • It describes the participation by various roles in completing tasks or deliverables for a business process.
  • It is especially useful in clarifying roles and responsibilities in cross-functional/departmental projects and processes.

Benefits of a RACI Chart

  • Eliminates misunderstandings and encourages teamwork.
  • Reduces duplication of effort.
  • Encourages communication and debate.
  • Increased productivity through well defined accountability.
  • Streamlined organization structure by collapsing unneeded layers and placing accountability where it belongs.
  • Reinforces empowerment at the appropriate level of the organization.

Guidelines for Building a RACI Chart:

  1. 100% accuracy is not always required, and certainly not at first.
  2. It is an iterative process.
  3. Place accountability (A) and responsibility (R) at the lowest feasible level.
  4. There can be only one accountability (A) per activity.
  5. Authority must accompany accountability.
  6. Minimize the number of Consults (C).
  7. Actions/functions identified must be appropriate to this team’s level.  Cascading RACIs will be put in place for other levels of the organization.
  8. Actions should focus on positions not Individuals

Rules of Engagement

  • Debate is encouraged, but must be considered and respectful
  • Argue your viewpoint, but respect the outcomes of the group
  • Need to work towards an 80% solution.  Do not consider exceptional circumstances

How a RACI Chart Works:

There are two primary perspectives or uses of a RACI Chart:

  • An analysis tool
    • To chart the current system
    • To identify issues or where things may be falling between the cracks
  • An Improvement tool
    • Focus on how the organization should be
    • Very useful after a reorganization, or acquisition/merger

RACI Chart Horizontal and Vertical Analysis:

RACI Vertical Analysis

A larger RACI Chart process

A simple RACI has been described here.  A few other considerations for the use of the RACI Chart:

  • Consider cascading RACIs throughout an organization.
  • RACI Charts are most often iterative, that will need refinement.
  • The RACI Chart should be revisited at least annually or as jobs or organizations change
  • Connect RACI Charts to job or position descriptions
  • Connect RACI Charts to organizational scorecards or measurement systems
Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about RACI Charts (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

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Raw Courage Drives Workplace Performance

“What’s wrong with everyone nowadays? What is it that makes everyone seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities?” – Prince Charles, heir to the throne of 16 Commonwealth nations.

Many years ago when I was in grade-school, we used to hate getting our report cards.  Mostly because they were perceived as a testament to our inadequacies.  More recently, we stopped telling children they needed to improve at anything, so every child is wonderful at everything.  It apparently helps their self-esteem.  We’ll just ignore the fact for now, that the reality of a big, bad world is going to clip these poor kids in the head like a drunk Edward Scissor-Hands at the beauty parlor.

When I progressed on to post-secondary education, I was introduced to the rather Darwinian concept of the grading curve – the quality of your work didn’t matter as much as how it compared to others.  Such methods of evaluation were brutal in their own way.  They were also very instructional.  I got used to the idea early that I was very average at just about everything I did.  It also meant the one or two things (and not many more) I was truly good at, I could leverage to my advantage.

I don’t think kids coming up today will have that same advantage.  They expect to be told they great at everything, which they are not.

Of course, this is already wreaking havoc in the workplace.

Performance Appraisals have become a ridiculous exercise to keep the HR folks off our backs, rather than something that will drive the performance of an organization.  Every employee survey tells us that people want more feedback.  In reality, they want more positive feedback.  Corrective feedback is about as welcome as Ike at the Tina Turner fan club meeting.

Yet, one thing that the few truly great organizations do consistently is provide honest and regular feedback both informally, and in the form of Performance Appraisals.  The one truly great manager I had when I had a real job, was also the guy who was brutal in his assessment of me.  He could have taken the easy way out, and given me a rosy review that would have changed nothing.

It’s a courage that is as rare as steak tartar; but is also the only thing that will drive improved performance.

Performance appraisals don’t have to be a painful, time-wasting exercise done simply to satisfy HR.  We show you how exactly how to conduct a performance appraisal so its more than just a report card, and leads to the behavior changes you want to see in your employees.  Become a member and get instant access.

Writing Performance Appraisals

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Writing Performance Appraisals is a required job of every manager, that few enjoy doing.  When done well, Writing Performance Appraisals can drive performance of both individuals and of the organization.  Below we talk about:

  • Why Bother Writing Performance Appraisals
  • Key Actions When Writing Performance Appraisals
  • Potential Pitfalls When Writing Performance Appraisals

Why Bother Writing Performance Appraisals

In some organizations, Writing Performance Appraisals is so painful, that the question is asked whether they are worth doing at all.  Consider the following:

  • Feedback is critical to success.  People need to know how they are doing and where they stand.
  • Performance Appraisals are often painful, and done poorly.  It doesn’t have to be this way.
  • When done properly, Performance Appraisals can drive, and drastically improve performance.

Key Actions When Writing Performance Appraisals

  1. Form the Foundation
  2. Make Performance Appraisals Part of Ongoing Feedback
  3. Make Performance Appraisals Future Oriented
  4. Conduct Your Appraisal Meeting

Form the Foundation

  • Make Performance Appraisals consistent with other documents – use the same definitions and competencies in all documents.  For example, it makes no sense to have one set of criteria on a Job Description, and another on a Performance Appraisal.
  • Articulate clear goals and expectations.  People need to know and understand well in advance what they will be evaluated on.  Show them the forms and the rating system significantly in advance of the Performance Appraisal meeting.
  • Define the performance criteria.  Managers must not say, “Be Organized”.  There need to be behavioral descriptions of what “organized” means.
  • Use measures where possible.  Not everything is easily measured, but every attempt should be made to use objective, measurable criteria where it exists.
  • Support with examples or behavioral descriptions wherever possible.

Make Performance Appraisals part of Ongoing Feedback

Managers must offer feedback more than one or twice a year during Performance Appraisals.  Feedback must be continuous, and be informal as well as formal.

  • There should be no surprises on Performance Appraisals.
  • Performance and feedback should be discussed at manager – employee one on ones regularly.
  • Communicate about the Performance Appraisal process.  Tell people what to expect, and show them the forms to be used.
  • Choose your timing.  In some cases Writing Performance Appraisals is attached to the calendar.  In other cases, managers have discretion as to when they are conducted.  Do what is most appropriate for your situation.

Make Performance Appraisals Future Oriented

The less a Performance Appraisal feels like a report card, the easier it will be for all parties.

  • The past doesn’t count.  You cannot change past performance, but you can learn from it.  Use the past only as a guide to improve for the future.
  • Overcome employee resistance.  The manager needs to facilitate a conversation that will ultimately improve performance.  This is much easier if the employee is not defensive and angry.
  • Tie very closely to development plans.  Again – future performance is what counts.  For this reason, Performance Appraisals and Development Plans should be very closely linked, and highly correlated.

Conduct Your Meeting

The Performance Appraisal meeting should be much easier if the manager has followed the steps above.

  • Before the meeting:
    • Let employees know what to expect
    • Have them fill out the forms themselves, so you can compare notes during the meeting.
    • Envision the entire meeting beforehand.  Prepare responses to any pushback you may get.  Also prepare tangible examples to support the ratings.
  • During:
    • The Manager should ask lots of questions
    • Be consultative and listen
    • Focus discussion on improving performance, not on discussing dead issues of the past.

Potential Pitfalls When Writing Performance Appraisals

  • Only offering feedback during Performance Appraisals
  • Not dedicating adequate time
  • Not having predetermined, crystal-clear expectations
  • Poor or unclear process

3 Things to Remember About Writing Performance Appraisals

  1. Everybody hates performance appraisals for a reason – they are usually done poorly
  2. Make it future oriented
  3. Offer feedback continually – not just once per year.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Writing Performance Appraisals (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

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Performance Appraisals

Join Jed and Bob as they discuss the four key actions, and potential pitfalls of conducting a great Performance Appraisal.

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4 Secrets to Management Success

‘Distributed Leadership‘ is the latest management buzzword.  Is it a good idea or just another ‘Flavor of the Month’ management mistake?  Discover the pros and cons of Distributed Leadership and the potential pitfalls that could derail both your company and your career by becoming a Wily Manager Member today.   Our newest video and cheat sheet gives you the scoop.  You’ll get instant access to this career saving guide and over 90 other vital management topics immediately.

I once did a one-year project for an enormous insurance company.

They had some significant challenges – they were hemorrhaging cash, it took them way too long to process a claim, they had ridiculously high levels of staff turnover, and they had a remarkably poor public and brand image.  This organization was to insurance what Twinkies are to fine pastries.

They tried a number of things to attempt to improve the situation.

They reorganized every few months, thinking that if they arranged the boxes on the org-chart differently, it would magically change results.

They read the latest management books, and within a five-year period, they implemented:

  • Self-directed teams
  • Democratic leadership
  • Co-managers (having two managers cover one portfolio to ensure adequate coverage)
  • Business unit autonomy
  • Total quality management
  • Continuous improvement teams
  • Lean manufacturing methodology
  • Six-sigma

After working in the organization for several months, it became clear to me that despite significant rhetoric to the contrary, the single most important organizational value was to maintain the status quo.

The entire organization, from the CEO to the janitor, desperately wanted different results – as long as they personally didn’t have to do anything different to get those results.  It’s kind of like yelling in anger at the speedometer in your car, because you’re going too fast.

Flavor-of-the-Month management practices work about as well as a chocolate teapot.  If they really wanted to succeed as an organization, they would need to do a few simple, but fundamental things:

  1. Value leadership – you need to hire, develop, promote and reward people for being great leaders.
  2. Set clear direction, and create crystal-clear expectations of people.
  3. Hold people accountable for those well-understood expectations.
  4. Continually reward and reinforce the things you want.

Most of the “Management by Best-Seller” crowd get parts of this right – but they think that the latest stuff the gurus are talking about is going to somehow make the four things above easier.

It won’t.

The truth is, there’s NO flavor-of-the month technique that will make your job easier.  The only route to management success is to diligently focus your efforts on the basics.

You can safely ignore what the latest best-seller is saying…that’s just a distraction you don’t have time for.

You won’t have to worry about missing anything important, because we read all the latest management books and journals, so we’re up-to-date with what’s new.  Every week we focus on a different management or leadership topic, and give our members bite-size chunks of information and advice about that topic.  It’s quick to digest and easy to understand, and you’ll keep up-to-date in less than 20 minutes a week.

It’s the best of both worlds – you’ll save time and energy by zeroing in on what’s really important, but you’ll still be informed about the latest management trends.

Try out a Wily Manager Membership – it’s only $17 per month or less, and it’s absolutely risk-free
Next week we’ll be talking about Performance Appraisals.  These don’t have to be stressful time-wasters – you’ll learn how to structure them so they lead to the behavior changes you really want to see.  You won’t want to miss out – become a Wily Manager Member today.

Understanding Distributed Leadership

Join Jed and Bob as they discuss the upsides and downsides to implementing Distributed Leadership.

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Understanding Distributed Leadership

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Distributed Leadership is currently a popular way to organize a business.  Below we discuss:

  • What is Distributed Leadership.
  • The positive and negative aspects of Distributed Leadership.
  • Potential Pitfalls if you’re implementing Distributed Leadership.

What is Distributed Leadership

The only thing that is generally agreed upon is that Distributed Leadership lacks a commonly understood definition.

  • Also called:
    • Shared Leadership
    • Team Leadership
    • Democratic Leadership
  • Focused on moving authority away from an individual.
  • Has caught on in Educational institutions – particularly in the UK.

The Positives of a Distributed Leadership Approach

There are good and bad things about any approach to organizational design.  The positives of Distributed Leadership are:

  • Avoids CEO celebrities (that usually ends badly).
  • Pushes authority further down a traditional organizational hierarchy.
  • It can discourage command and control cultures.
  • Forces positional leaders to rethink their authority, and other ways to exert authority.
  • Can be more inclusive

The Negatives of a Distributed Leadership Approach

  • It is likely things will move more slowly.
  • It is unclear that it would work outside of academia.
  • Authority is an illusion unless it is accompanied by accountability, and accountability could be illusive in an organization with Distributed Leadership.

Pitfalls to Implementing a Distributed Leadership Approach

If you or your organization has made the decision to move towards a Distributed Leadership approach, here are some things to consider:

  • It is unclear how difficult decisions would get made.  Often important decisions are unpopular, or are not democratic.  For example, a business decision that may result in layoffs would be difficult to arrive at in a Distributed Leadership organization.
  • Democracy is a good idea, but is never tidy.  Building consensus and majorities is hard work, so be sure this is what you want
  • If everyone is accountable, no one is accountable.  Regardless of how you are organized, accountability must be clear to get anything done.  If moving towards Distributed Leadership dilutes accountability, it will fail.
  • It could be hard to get current holders of power to let go.

3 Things to Remember About Distributed Leadership

  1. There is no magical system of leadership that will fix all your organization’s ills.  If you already have a shortage of leadership, moving to any other organizational model will not fix it.
  2. Accountability and authority should be pushed as deep into an organization as possible.  This is the most compelling reason to move to a Distributed Leadership model.
  3. Some decisions will never be appropriate for a Distributed Leadership model.  Difficult or unpopular decisions cannot be arrived at democratically, and will create nothing but gridlock.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Distributed Leadership (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

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Managers – The Ultimate Renewable Resource

Many organizations plug a new manager into a vacant position without having done anything to develop the talent required for that job, then insist the manager work 60 to 80 hours a week.  When the manager burns out, they replace him with a younger model, and the cycle is repeated.  Managers – the Ultimate Renewable Resource.

I once worked for such an organization.  We called the head office Jurassic Park because:

  • It was full of dinosaurs, and
  • It seemed like an appropriate location to produce a horror film

In this organization, the only way to advance was to have started when you were sixteen years old, and then work excessive hours your entire working life.

Education was actively discouraged.  If you had any aspirations to better yourself through post-secondary education, you had to keep it a secret or risk being put on ‘student status’ which meant your benefits were curtailed, and you were ineligible for advancement.

This company didn’t infuse their management ranks with talent from the outside, either.  They very much believed that if you did not ‘grow up’ with this company then you didn’t have any experience worth considering.  They didn’t believe their competitors had any talent, nor were skills learned in any other industry worth anything.

It was so inbred, it made the kid on porch playing the banjo in Deliverance look like a Rhodes Scholar.

Interestingly, this company was in a highly competitive industry with a number of new, aggressive entrants to the market.  Yet I was once told the company was doing well because it only lost 5% of market share and 2% of revenue in the previous year.  That’s right – they measured their success by how little their performance sucked.

You can imagine how this all ends.

In such a company, all the highest potential people leave to go where they can advance their skills and their careers.  The few who remain become more overwhelmed than George W. Bush at a Mensa meeting, and sooner or later just give up.

Until now, organizations have been able to get away with treating managers as the Ultimate Renewable Resource.  But demographics are quickly turning the tables.  The Baby Boomer mass workplace exodus has begun, and many companies are shocked to discover that they are having trouble filling those vacant positions, especially management roles.

If you work for a company where the senior leadership looks anything like the characters from Jurassic Park, how can you evolve from the age of dinosaurs?

Smart organizations have realized that they need to proactively develop potential leaders in-house.  When a vacancy arises, they have a pool of qualified talent to choose from, instead of scrambling around trying to find a warm body to fill the position.

The first step is an organizational commitment to ongoing development of leadership skills in employees at all levels.

A Wily Manager Corporate Membership gives you and your co-workers practical, ‘in-the-trenches’ leadership advice that’s actually fun, requires less than 20 minutes a week, and doesn’t take you away from the office.

And best of all, your organization pays.  They’ll be happy to foot the bill when they see how inexpensive it is, how easy it is to get started, and all the ways it will benefit the company.

You can help – put us in touch with the right person at your workplace, and we’ll suggest a Wily Manager Corporate Membership for you and your co-workers.

Succession Plans – An Introduction

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Succession Plans are an effective, but often under utilized tool that leaders can use to better manage their business.  Below we discuss in more detail:

  • Why Bother with Succession Plans
  • Where to Start with Succession Plans
  • The 9 box system of Succession Plans
  • Replacement Planning
  • Development Planning
  • Talent Management

Why Bother with Succession Plans

Many managers would not bother with Succession Plans unless their HR group insists they are done.  Good managers in competitive businesses must take on Succession Plans on their own, even if there is no organizational support.

The success of your business strategy depends on having the right talent in place to execute it.

“If I were to pick one marker above all others to use as a warning sign, it would be a declining proportion of key seats filled with the right people.”

           Jim Collins, How the Mighty Fall (Page 57).

Where to Start with Succession Plans

Any attempt to improve a business or its people is only effective if it is done within the context of better achieving business results.  Start by asking these questions:

  • Will your Succession Plans advance the strategy of the business or your department?
  • Do your Succession Plans enhance the competencies (knowledge, skills and abilities) required to achieve the business strategy?
  • Are your Succession Plans consistent with the values of the organization?

Then look at where you are now

  • What are the key jobs in your organization?
  • What percentage of those jobs are filled with the right people?
  • Do you have the organizational diversity that will drive innovation?
  • How many people in those key jobs are nearing retirement eligibility?
  • How many would you characterize as a turnover risk?

The 9-Box System of Succession Plans

Succession Plans - Talent Review

Replacement Planning

Succession Plans - Replacement Planning

Development Planning

Many organizations have significant training and development activity.  Far fewer do so in a systematic way that will advance the goals of the organization.  All training and development that does not change specific, targeted behaviors is a waste of time and money.

Targeted Development asks fundamental questions:

  • What are the future requirements of the organization?
  • What are an individual’s strengths and developmental opportunities?
  • What are the current business needs?

Talent Management

Succession Plans - Talent Management

Three Things to Remember About Succession Plans

  1. All Succession Plans must be future focused.
  2. Succession Plans must be action oriented.
  3. Succession Plans are more than simply Replacement Planning.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Succession Plans (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

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The Ugly Truth About Your Time

There are many forms of self-delusion, and “I don’t have time” is among the most common. The truth about how we manage and rationalize our use of time is uglier than Mick Jagger with a hangover on Halloween. Here are some of those truths:

1) You’re not busier than everyone else. Believe it or not, everyone feels time pressure, and in very few circumstances can you claim to be any busier than those around you. If you’re a farmer, or you’re on the London Olympic Organizing Committee, you get a pass. Everyone else needs to stop using, “I’m too busy” as an excuse.

2) Society has not conspired to give you less leisure time. With the exception of the United States, leisure time has steadily increased since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in developed nations. The fact that leisure time is completely overscheduled is an issue of how it is managed, not an issue of quantity. It’s kind of like confusing a Big Mac with actual food.

3) You do, in fact, do what is important to you. I’m always amazed that people claim not to have time to do something “important” like volunteer at their children’s school, but do have time to watch 8 or 10 hours of crap TV shows a week. Ultimately, you do do what is actually important – and it’s reflected in your schedule.

4) You can’t have it all. This is an insidious myth we all use to rationalize each other’s dysfunctional behavior. If you work 80 hours a week, you are missing out on something else in your life – like having quality time with your family. To think that you can dictate “quality time”, is to imply that all the other potential time is wasted, and that somehow you have a magic switch that can mystically transform time into “quality”. These are the same people that put “baby to take first steps” into their calendar for a weekend, when they’re around. You can’t schedule quality time.

5) The world will not slow down. Regardless of how long you think humans have been on the planet, there is one constant: the rate of change has continually accelerated. If anything, the rate of change will increase, so strap in, and wear a cup – it’s rough out there.

If you want to gain control of your schedule once and for all, we can help….but only if you’re ready to face the ugly facts about how you currently spend your time.

The Time Management Skills & Techniques Video and Cheat Sheet combo were just added to the Wily Manager membership area, and it’s one of over 90 topics available now.

In it, we show you why most time management techniques don’t work, and how to ruthlessly zero in on your critical tasks and responsibilities while fearlessly ditch the rest.

Next week we’ll be talking about Quick Decisions, and you’ll learn how to make decisions without regrets when you’re forced to think on your feet. You won’t want to miss out – become a Wily Manager Member today.

You’ll get 8 free bonus gifts worth $187, plus instant access to all the existing tools and advice already available in the members-only area. It’s jam-packed with Videos, Cheat Sheets, and other tools…and new content is added each and every week.


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