In an organisation, responsibilities may be clearly defined without decision-making authority being equally clear. Yet decision-making in organisations depends directly on how roles, responsibilities and authority are distributed.

Someone may be responsible for an area but still need management approval to move forward. A team may be autonomous but unsure how far its authority extends. Some decisions may be taken to a meeting when they could be made by one person.

As an organisation evolves, these grey areas can slow decisions down and place unnecessary demands on certain people.

Responsibility also requires decision-making authority

Defining a role is not only about specifying what someone is responsible for. It also means clarifying which decisions they can make within that role.

Without this, responsibility remains partial: someone is accountable for an outcome without having all the authority needed to act.

Conversely, giving people autonomy without defining its boundaries can create uncertainty. Clarifying roles, responsibilities and decisions therefore makes it possible to provide greater autonomy while maintaining a shared framework.

Not everyone needs to decide everything

Developing more participative practices does not mean making every decision collectively.

Depending on the situation, someone may decide within their role, seek advice from people who are affected or have relevant expertise, or involve the wider group.

Consent decision-making, for example, offers an alternative to always seeking consensus. The aim is not for everyone to prefer the proposal, but to establish whether there is any reasonable objection to moving forward with it.

The challenge is therefore to have several ways of making decisions and choose the one that best suits the situation.

Clarifying decision-making in the organisation

In many organisations, ways of making decisions already exist but remain implicit.

People assume that someone needs to be consulted, that a manager has the authority to decide, or that a topic needs to be discussed in a meeting. This works until delays, misunderstandings or tensions begin to appear.

Making these rules visible helps clarify who can decide, who needs to be consulted and how a decision will be made.

It is also a question of governance

Governance is not limited to organisational structures or governing bodies. It appears every day in the way an organisation distributes roles, responsibilities and decision-making authority.

Evolving governance does not necessarily mean transforming the entire organisation. A useful starting point is to identify where decisions are difficult, clarify what is unclear and experiment with different practices where they can add value.

Evolve governance in your organisation

The Transform Governance training gives you the opportunity to experiment with different ways of distributing roles, making decisions, coordinating work and addressing tensions. You can then identify which practices suit your organisation and introduce them progressively.

Discover the Transform Governance training